Prayer: Lord, how we thank You for Your word. We thank You for this gathering. We believe it is sovereign of You. Lord, we can come to You around Your word. What a mercy and grace! We trust in You for the understanding of Your word. We admit our inadequacy. We are short—short of understanding, short of utterance, even short in listening. Anoint our ears and our minds. Anoint the speaking mouth. May You speak in our speaking. We like to practice the one spirit with You, especially in this hour in speaking Your word. Lord, do cleanse us with Your precious blood. How we thank You that where the blood is, there the rich anointing is. We trust in Your anointing. We look to You desperately for such a mysterious word tonight. Lord, defeat the enemy and chase away all the darkness from this hall. Visit every attendant. In Your mighty name we ask. Amen.
We have covered the first two items of the basic revelation in the Holy Scriptures—God's plan and Christ's redemption. In this chapter we come to the third item—the Spirit's application. This is the most mysterious item in the divine revelation.
Printing may be used as an illustration of the application of the Spirit. In printing there is first the draft, the manuscript. This manuscript is then typeset onto a page, which is then made into a negative. Then the printing press, using the negative, produces however many copies are wanted. This last stage, producing the copies, illustrates the Spirit's application.
Christ did a great work of "typesetting" what God purposed in His plan. He became incarnated and lived on earth for thirty-three and a half years. Then He died on the cross, was resurrected, and ascended to the heavens. By such a long process, from incarnation to ascension, the Lord Jesus has done the wonderful typesetting work. This work produced a "negative." Now the Spirit comes and applies to us what Christ has done. The Father planned, the Son accomplished, and the Spirit comes to apply what Christ accomplished according to the Father's plan.
For the best printing results clean, pure paper must be used. This is why the first thing the Spirit applies to us is the cleansing of the precious blood of the Lord Jesus (Heb. 9:14). The Spirit cleanses us with the redeeming blood of Christ. Through the precious blood, we have been washed and cleansed. Now we are clean, pure paper, good for this spiritual printing.