Bible Commentaries

Presentation

2 Chronicles 5:13-14

It was a dedication day. It was a day of the advent of the Holy Ghost.

I. Notice The Time of the Advent.

1. Without doubt it was a time of Prayer. Never let it be forgotten that it was when Christ was baptized and praying that the heavens were opened, and the Holy Ghost came down upon Him. Prayer is the essential condition of the advent of the Spirit to the soul.

2. It was a time of Praise.

3. It was a time of Peace. Unity is an essential condition of the advent of the Spirit. It was when the Church of later days "was with one accord in one place," when dissensions and discords were put away, it was then that the holy flame lighted upon the waiting Church, and illumined them for suffering and for service.

It was a time of Presentation when the Spirit came. The temple was dedicated. We may pray and we may praise, but if we do not present our bodies a living sacrifice, God cannot send upon us the Holy Ghost, for the flame only falls upon the altar, and if the sacrifice is not there it cannot be consumed.

II. Observe The Manner of the Spirit's Advent.

How did He come? He came—

1. Suddenly.

2. Mysteriously. The symbol of His presence was a cloud.

3. Glorious, too. Veiled though it might be under the likeness of a cloud, it was a presence, it was an appearance of the glory of the Lord.

4. Gracious also. The cloud that overshadowed the mercy-seat was not a thunder-cloud.

III. The Marks of the Advent of the Spirit in the Soul.

We have them in the passage:—

1. Self-effacement. "The priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud." Self was forgotten, and Christ was all in all.

2. Sanctity. In earlier days we read that the tabernacle "was sanctified by His glory".

3. Sacrifice. Offerings were multiplied in the service of God. We read that "the king and all the people offered sacrifices before the Lord" ( 2 Chronicles 7:4). And most true is it that the life of sacrifice follows upon the reception of the Spirit.

—E. W. Moore, Life Transfigured, p219.

References.—V:13.—Bishop Boyd-Carpenter, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xliii1893 , p289. V:13 ,14.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. vii. No375. VI:4.—H. J. Wilmot-Buxton, Thankfulness Sermons, 1822-1902.