Now He who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave to us the Spirit as a pledge. (II Cor. 5:5, NASB).
And I will pray the Father, and he will give you another Counselor, to be with you for ever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him; you know him, for he dwells with you, and will be in you. (John 14:16-17, RSV).
You realize, don’t you, that you are the temple of God, and God himself is present in you? No one will get by with vandalizing God’s temple, you can be sure of that. God’s temple is sacred--and you, remember, are the temple. (I Cor. 3:16-17, THE MESSAGE).
Jesus spent much time preparing His disciples for the coming of the Holy Spirit into their hearts and lives. He sought to make sure they understood the importance of having Him to keep them on track spiritually and fully within divine purposes for their lives and ministries. Jesus knew that if His disciples failed to understand the importance of their relationship with the Holy Spirit, His global vision for the Gospel would never get off the ground.
The disciples were at first grief-stricken on learning of the physical departure of their Lord. But they listened carefully as He explained the difference it would make for Him to depart in the flesh in order to return to them again in the Spirit. God in the Old Testament had been a presence with believers; God in the New Testament would be a presence in believers.
When Jesus told His disciples that the Father would send the Holy Spirit “in my name” (John 14:26), He meant in my character. The Holy Spirit would be to them another Convicter, another Comforter, another Counselor, just as Jesus had been. The Holy Spirit would not be given to replace Christ, but rather to reveal Christ. In fact, one hour after being filled with the Spirit at His Pentecostal outpouring, the disciples knew Christ much more perfectly than they had before. Christ had been with them; His Spirit was now in them. For the Holy Spirit is truly the Spirit of God (Rom. 8:9) and the Spirit of Christ (I Pet. 1:11).
Jesus promised, I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth …. It is by the Holy Spirit that we learn about our Heavenly Father and our Redeeming Christ. The Spirit internalizes truth about God and about ourselves. He helps us form our spiritual convictions, our worldview and our philosophy of life.
As the believer’s Indwelling Guest, the Holy Spirit is our Illuminator and Counselor making truth clear, intelligible and intensely real. As the Author of the Scriptures, He will interpret His Word for the obedient follower of Jesus. He will fit all of the truth into the framework of our lives, knowing just when to hold some of the truth back from us for a time and then knowing just when we are ready to understand, receive and obey it.
Our Lord and His apostles made it very clear that our success in knowing the truth, growing in grace and representing our Lord in power depends on how we relate to our Indwelling Guest. How sensitive, attentive and obedient are we to our Guest who has been sent to us from the Father and the Son? What kind of hosts are we?
