Jesus taught clearly in these words that the chief mission of the Holy Spirit in being sent forth from the Father to dwell in the believer was that He might make the presence of the risen, glorified, living Lord an actual spiritual reality. He also taught them that the Holy Spirit was to be both the sole and the sufficient messenger of spiritual truth and the medium of spiritual revelation. In other words all that they would ever know of, or receive from, their risen Lord was to be communicated by and through the Holy Spirit. Without Him there would be no means for the presence and power of the risen Christ to be manifested in their lives, and no way for them to realize in their spiritual experience the blessing and benefit gained for them by Jesus Christ through His death and resurrection. The Holy Spirit was to be the middleman between Heaven and earth. The salvation that had come from the Father through the Son would be applied by the Spirit. By the power invested in the Holy Spirit the believer would be lifted to the plane of the spiritual man and his life maintained there.
The Promise of Christ Fulfilled
Christ had promised that, if He went away, the Holy Spirit would come and His promise was fulfilled literally. He died and rose again. He met the disciples individually and collectively several times, revealing Himself to them as their risen Lord. He gave them a last commission; then He repeated His promise and commanded them to wait for its fulfillment.
Luke 24:49, "And behold, "I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high."
Acts 1:4-5, "And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me. For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days hence."
Jesus Christ then ascended into Heaven (Acts 1:10-11). They waited according to His command (Acts 1:12-14). God's time was fulfilled. The day of Pentecost came (Acts 2:1-4). The promise of the Father was actualized in the descent of the Holy Spirit in baptism upon the waiting group of believers.
The Twofold Aspect of the Holy Spirit's Baptism
The descent of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples had a double import: it accomplished two definite, distinct things.
First, the Holy Spirit came upon each believer filling him with himself. Through this baptism the exalted Christ took up His abode in the individual believer where He was enthroned as Lord and appropriated as Life. Through the baptism in the Holy Spirit the abundant life of the living Lord was manifested in power in each believer.
Acts 2:4, "And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit."
Second, the Holy Spirit came upon the whole group of believers and baptized them into one body, the Church. Through this baptism they were united to Christ, its Head, and to one another as fellow-members of the body of Christ. Through the Holy Spirit's descent on the day of Pentecost the exalted Christ was installed as Lord over, and instilled as Life into, the Church.
1 Corinthians 12:12-14, "For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. For the body is not one member, but many."
The Result of the Holy Spirit's Baptism
Through His death, resurrection and exaltation, the Lord Jesus not only removed the penalty of sin but He broke its power. Through union with Him by faith He had made potential for the believer on earth the same life of victory, power and holiness, which He lived in Heaven. This life was to be communicated to and maintained in each believer through the incoming, indwelling and infilling of the Holy Spirit.
One the day of Pentecost Peter, James, John and all the other believers who tarried in the upper room were baptized with the Holy Spirit. The question is bound to rise in our hearts, "Did that baptism make any difference in their lives? If so, what difference?" Even a casual comparison of the record of the life of the disciples before and after Pentecost will convince anyone that a marvelous change had been wrought. These men had been in almost daily companionship with Jesus during the years of His public ministry. They had been taught deep truths by Him, they had shared His wonderful prayer life. They had lived under the spell of that matchless personality day by day. He had been both their Teacher and their Example for three years.
But witness the failure, defeat, and sin of their lives as it is laid open to our gaze in the Gospels! See the jealousy, ambition, selfishness, pride, self-seeking, self-assertion, self-love, weakness, and fruitlessness. In spite of their fellowship with the Holy One who tried in all possible ways to help them they remained very largely what they were before they followed Him.
And why was this true? Because He was only living with them, one without, working upon them by His word and personal influence. But what a change was wrought when on the day of Pentecost, through the baptism in the Holy Spirit, Christ came down into those men to take the perfect possession, the complete control, and the unhindered use of their whole being. Self was dethroned and Christ was enthroned as Lord. Christ became the Life of their life.
~Ruth Paxson~
(continued with # 3)
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