Psalm 8:1

My Shepherd called me into His green pastures to 1 John 4. The Mind of the Spirit stirred up the spirit of my mind in verse 4:

1 John 4:4 ¶ Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.*

Chapters 3-4 are divided into five sections. Each section develops the theme statement of 3:1: “Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not” (1 John 3:1).

The five “Beloved” sections are 3:2-20 (Beloved, now are we the sons of God,” 21-24 (Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then we have confidence toward God—and He hears our prayers); 4:1-6 (Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God), 7-10 (Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God), and 11-21 (Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another).**

Along the still waters, my thoughts were stirred by the middle verse of the middle Beloved passage. And I think it is the essential truth holding the “Beloved” to Christ and to one another: We have overcome “them” because “Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world” (1 John 4:4).

The “them” refers to the seducing spirits (see 1 Timothy 4:1-4) that have gone out into the world by the false prophets that teach doctrines of devils (compare 1 John 4:1-4 with 1 Timothy 4:1-4). The Spirit has given us a very straightforward test to know what spirit is operating in and through those we encounter in the world: every spirit that confesses Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit that denies this is not (1 John 4:2-3). The spirit that denies Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is antichrist.

The spirit of antichrist is the spirit of the prince of the power of the air, Satan (Ephesians 2:1-2). Satan’s spirit works in and through the false prophets to deceive the world. Those who love darkness rather than light are glad to hide from God in his lies (John 3:17-21). But those who “do truth” come to the light (Acts 26:17-18).

Christ’s Spirit is in us. He is “greater than” the spirit that is in them.

I am grateful that Christ has overcome Satan, and that His Spirit in us is greater than the spirit that is of and in this world.

Greater is a relative term. When the spirit of antichrist is compared to the Spirit of Jesus Christ, Christ’s Spirit is greater. The word greater means more than something else in strength, in glory, in honor, in abilities, in purpose—there is no category in which the Spirit of Christ is not greater than the spirit of antichrist. Interestingly, the word translated as ‘greater’ also indicates what is elder, first, or before. The Spirit in us is the Spirit of GOD (John 4:24), the Spirit of GOD, Who created all the angels spirits (Psalm 104:4; Hebrews 1:7).*** His Spirit is greater than all other spirits.

The spirit of antichrist moves into the world through Satan’s “prophets,” the “children of disobedience” (Ephesians 2:1-2; read 1 John 4:1 carefully and notice that these false “spirits” have come “because many false prophets are gone out into the world.”) The Spirit of Jesus Christ moves into the world through the children of obedience, who are the children of GOD (John 7:38-39). The Spirit in us is greater than the spirit in them. We “have overcome” them!

How does the spirit of antichrist gain so much influence in this world that lieth in wickedness (1 John 5:19)? By sin we grieve the Spirit of Christ (Ephesians 4:30-31). Some grieve Him until they quench Him (1 Thessalonians 5:19). To grieve is to vex, to make sad, sorrowful—no wonder the Spirit groans (Romans 8:26). To quench is to extinguish, to snuff out the fire that lights the candle—the wick remains, but the fire’s gone, the light is out.

When the Spirit is grieved, darkness prevails. When the “light of this world” is withdrawn, dims, fades to a flicker, and then only a quickly dissipating spiral of smoke retreats to the hidden man, buried beneath the flesh. No longer does Jesus manifest in mortal flesh (2 Corinthians 4:11). If this continues, the Spirit departs from this body, which is His Temple! There is a “sin unto death” (1 John 5:16). When the “spirit returns unto God who gave it” (Ecclesiastes 2:7). As with the Temple of the Old Testament, the Shekinah arose from within the veil and covered the Temple with the Holy smoke showing Himself to His congregation, a token of His approval (Exodus 40:34-38), but retreated to hide in the darkness behind the veil between the cherubim withdrawing His glory from His congregation, but remaining with the ark (1 Samuel 4:4, 21), but finally departed from the Temple (Ezekiel 10:18-22). But in our case, when the Spirit departs from this Temple, the body is laid to rest, and the Temple is destroyed. If we serve sin unto death, we are removed by His Spirit from the earth (Romans 6:16).

If the fire has gone out over our heads (Acts 2:3), and the Spirit has not removed His glory from His Temple, then as Hezekiah prayed to Him Who dwelt between the cherubim (2 Kings 19:15), we may pray to Christ Whose Spirit dwells in our hearts (2 Corinthians 1:22; Galatians 4:6), in the hope He will reignite the flame and revive the saint (Psalm 85:6).

In the valley, my heart kneeling in the shadow of His Cross, and “whiles I was speaking and confessing my sin, and the sin of my people” (Daniel 9:20), the Spirit said, “I am greater.” I paused and reflected on this and realized the Spirit was telling me He is greater than the power of sin. His grace is greater than all our sin! So long as we have life in this body, we have access to His power and authority and right to forgive. The Spirit said, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just (righteous) to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). He said, If your heart condemns you, remember that I am greater than your heart (1 John 3:20). He said I wrote 1 John to you that you would learn to walk in His righteousness, and also for another reason: “And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous” (1John 2:1). He said, I am interceeding on your behalf with the Son and He is interceeding with the Father for you right now (Romans 8:26, 34). In the end, Satan does not win because he trips up a saint in sin. He only wins when the saint elevates the condemnation of his own heart above the witness of the Father and the power of His blood (1 John 1:7; see Acts 20:28).

Jesus spoke to me, “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me” (Luke 9:23).

At the table, He anointed my head with His oil and filled my cup with His grace. Goodness and mercy were present to encourage me to rise and follow Him into His harvest.

Praying for revival! Grateful that He is greater! 🙏

Going live asap: (Probably after 1 PM)

https://rumble.com/v72a3ai-shepherds-pasture.html

[*There are three “Greater” passages in 1 John: “If our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart” (1 John 3:20), “Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world” (4:4), and “If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater” (5:9). The Father, the Spirit, and the Son, Who is the Word, Who shows us the Father, and Whose Spirit dwells in us.]

[**Many have attempted to outline 1 John and given up, or created hopelessly complex outlines. I find several beautifully simple and elegant “outlines” in the book that intersect at key points. For one example, the Beloved segments intersect chapters 3-4 to 5 with the “Greater” segments. The Book develops circularly, with key repeating expressions developing multiple themes: “That your joy may be full” (1 John 1:4), which comes from our refusal of the darkness and fellowship with the Light (1 John 1:5-10). “That ye sin not,” and if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous” (1 John 2:1-2). And “these things write I unto you that ye may know that ye have eternal life” (1 John 5:13).]

[***The Sadducees and Pharisees made a distinction between angel and spirit (Acts 23:8-9). I think the Pharisees distinguished the fallen angels as spirits who had lost their status as angels, or messengers of God. We distinguish these similarly, using angels for spirits that are messengers of God and devils for spirits that are messengers of Satan.]