ough an important part of the Spirit's great mission is to
the world yet it cannot receive Him. But chapter sixteen, verses seven
and eight gives the explanation: "I will send Him _unto you_, and He
when He is come (unto you) will convince," and so on. That is to say, a
message from God to one who has come within the circle of personal
relation with Jesus--that message comes along a straight line without
break or crook. But a message to one who remains outside that circle
comes along an _angled_ line--two lines meeting at an angle--and the
point of that angle is in some christian heart. The message He sends out
to the outer circle passes through some one within the inner circle. To
make it direct and personal: He needs to use you to touch those whom you
touch.

God's Sub-Headquarters.

Let me bring you a few illustrations of how God uses men, though the
_fact_ of His using them is on almost every page of this Bible. Back in
the old book of Judges is a peculiar expression which is not brought out
as clearly as it might be in our English Bibles. The sixth chapter and
thirty-fourth verse might properly read: "_the Spirit of Jehovah clothed
Himself with Gideon_." It was a time of desperate crisis in the nation.
God chose this man for leadership among his fellows. If you take his
life throughout you will not think him an ideal character. But he seems
to be the best available stuff there was. He became the general guiding
an army in what, to human eyes, was a perfectly hopeless struggle. Men
saw Gideon moving about giving orders. But this strangely significant
phrase lets us into the secret of his wise strategy and splendid
victory. "The Spirit of Jehovah clothed Himself with Gideon." Gideon's
personality was merely a suit of clothes which God wore that day in
achieving that tremendous victory for His people. The same expression is
used of Amasai, one of David's mighty chieftains,[4] and of Zechariah,
one of the priests during Joash's reign.[5]

A New Testament illustration is found in the book of Acts in the account
of Philip and the Ethiopian stranger. This devout African official had a
copy of the old Hebrew Scriptures, but needed an interpreter to make
plain their newly acquired significance. The Holy Spirit, _the_
interpreter of Scripture, longs to help him. For that purpose He seeks
out a man, of whom He has control, named Philip. He is directed to go
some distance over toward the road where this man is journeying.