But I believe there are many who would hold nothing back and who long above all things that the Spirit of Truth may take full possession of their souls. Their difficulty is not that they do not wish it, but that they can scarcely believe it possible that He should ever dwell in such a heart as theirs. They find so much sin there that they can scarcely imagine it possible that the Holy Comforter should not be driven from them by all that He sees within. No doubt there is quite sufficient to drive Him grieved and displeased from His resting-place, and if it were not for the everlasting covenant of God, and the precious blood of Christ, I can perfectly understand the impossibility of His making such a heart His dwelling-place. But the atoning blood alters the whole case. The blood of Christ breaks down every barrier. It is a new and living way {42} by which not only may you enter boldly into the presence of God, but through which the Spirit of God may enter your heart and take full possession of it as His own abiding-place. If you are longing to be filled with the Spirit, you must look straight to that cross of Christ. You must remember the fulness of the pardon. You must trust to that Atonement as breaking down even the barrier raised by your own dark corruption, and, pleading that precious blood, must open every avenue of your soul to the Spirit of Truth, that He may enter in and there reign supreme. THE WITNESS—THE LEADER—THE COMMANDER “Behold, I have given Him for a witness to the people, a leader and commander to the people.”—ISA. lv. 4. IT is often said that a living head is essential to the well-being of a living Church. Nothing can be clearer than the teaching of Scripture that our Living Head is in heaven now, seated at the right hand of God. It is as a Living Head that our Blessed Saviour is here predicted. Three rich promises are made by God to every hungering and thirsting heart—Life, a Covenant, and a living Head. Life, for He says, “Hear, and your soul shall live.” A covenant, for He says, “I will make an everlasting covenant with you;” and a Head, for He adds, in the words of our text, “Behold I have given Him for a witness to the people, a leader and commander to the people.” The question may arise, “Who is it that is thus given for a witness? Who is the person that the people are to recognize as their leader and commander?” The prophecy says David. But David, we know, was a typical character. He was not merely a king, but a type; a type of Him who was to be both his son and his Lord. Accordingly we are taught that the name David was applied to the Lord Jesus, for we find the words applied by St. Paul to Christ and His resurrection. {44a} We are there taught that when God raised up Christ from the dead, He gave us the sure mercies of David. The Lord Jesus Christ, therefore, is the Witness, He is the Leader, and He the Commander of His people. In other words the risen Redeemer is our Living Head.