And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever—the Spirit of truth, who the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.
Joh 14:16-18
We have been recently studying Act 8, a passage that some would use as a proof text to say that as believers we should look for a “second blessing” of the Spirit of God. In other words, some teach that after salvation, there is a baptism of the Holy Spirit we should seek. In Act 8:16-17, after the people of Samaria believed the word of God, we do read the following concerning the Spirit: “For as yet He had fallen upon none of them. They had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then they laid hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.” So, should we be dissatisfied after salvation until we receive a “second blessing”? To answer that question we must acknowledge the uniqueness of this period in the early New Testament church. Miraculous events were happening in order to prove the fulfillment of the promised Spirit. Now that we are fully on this side of Pentecost (i.e., we know the promised Spirit has indeed been given), Rom 8:9 teaches us clearly that, if we are saved, we possess the Spirit of God: “But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.”
If you don’t have the Spirit dwelling in you, you’re not saved. That passage can’t be any clearer on that point. So, if you are saved, the Spirit of God dwells in you!! I say all of that because my desire is that we understand the fullness of that which is presently ours if we have indeed been born again. We live in a thrilling time being on this side of Pentecost, and the promise by Christ in our text above has now become reality! There is a distinct difference between the presence of God’s Spirit then and now, and Christ sums it up by saying of the Spirit: “He dwells WITH you and will be IN you”.
The Old Testament church was not without the aid and influence of the Holy Spirit. There are multiple instances where we see the Spirit active in the lives of men for some special purpose. One example is in the life of Samson. In Jdg 14:6 we read, “the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him, and he tore the lion apart”. This superhuman strength was not of Samson’s doing. Rather it was the Spirit of God acting through him. We read a second time in v. 19, “the Spirit of the Lord came upon him mightily, and he…killed thirty of their men,” and then again in 15:14, “the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him; and the ropes that were on his arms became like flax that is burned with fire”. But when Samson’s hair was cut (an act of disobedience to God), we find that his strength failed because “the Lord had departed from him”. (16:20)
We find then that the church’s relationship with God’s Spirit in the Old Testament was conditional and transient. The Spirit would come in response to a present need or leave as a result of disobedience. We see the saints’ awareness of this coming and going of the Spirit in David’s confessional psalm. One of the fears following his sin with Bathsheba was that the Holy Spirit would leave him. He cries out in Psa 51:11, “Do not cast me away from Your presence, and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.”
If this Old Testament experience describes the present relationship of the church to the Holy Ghost, then we absolutely should seek a “second blessing”, and a third, and a fourth, etc. But, I’ve got some good news, brethren! The Spirit of the living God is in you to stay!! He was merely WITH the church before, but now He is IN you. When Peter writes concerning the saints suffering for Christ’s sake in 1Pe 4:14, he says this suffering is evidence that “the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.” That word “rests” is the same word Jesus uses of the rest He will give those who come to Him! (Mat 11:28) We know Christ’s rest to not be a temporary thing but rather an eternal one; likewise, the Spirit is now a permanent resident with the believer! Let us rejoice today at the fulfillment of that which Christ promised in Joh 14:16-17: ” And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever—the Spirit of truth”.
Jamie