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We have already seen in lesson ten that the Holy Spirit is the ultimate expression of the Triune God and that He is the Triune God reaching and entering into the believers. Therefore, the Holy Spirit is for our experience of the Triune God. To experience the Triune God, we must have the practical experience of the Holy Spirit. A great part of our practical experience of the Holy Spirit is related to our being filled inwardly and outwardly with Him.
The Bible clearly shows us that the Holy Spirit is with us in two aspects.
1)“The Spirit of reality…shall be in you” (John 14:17).
Here the Lord tells us clearly that the Holy Spirit will be in us.
1)“…the Holy Spirit has come upon you” (Acts 1:8).
On the one hand, the Lord spoke of the Holy Spirit being in us; on the other hand, He spoke of the Holy Spirit being upon us. To be upon us is outward and is absolutely different from being in us.
1)“And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Comforter…even the Spirit of reality…shall be in you” (John 14:16-17); “If I go, I will send Him [the Comforter] to you” (John 16:7).
These are the words of the Lord before His death, promising the disciples that He would go in order to send the Holy Spirit as the Comforter.
1)“I am sending forth the promise of My Father upon you…until you are clothed with power from on high” (Luke 24:49); “Wait for the promise of the Father…you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you” (Acts 1:4-8).
The Lord spoke these words to the disciples after His resurrection and before His ascension, speaking again of God’s promise in the Old Testament concerning the Holy Spirit. He promised that after He ascended to the heavens, He would send forth the Holy Spirit to be their power. The “power” is different from the “Comforter.” The Comforter was the One who would enter into the disciples and be “in” them, while the power would come “upon” them. Thus, what the Lord said before His death and what He said after His resurrection are two different promises.
1)“When therefore it was evening on that day, the first day of the week…Jesus came and stood in the midst…He breathed into them and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit” (John 20:19 22).
This is the Lord, on the evening of the day of His resurrection, coming among the disciples and breathing into them for them to receive the Holy Spirit. This fulfills His promise made before His death concerning the Comforter.
1)“And when the day of Pentecost was being fulfilled, they were all together in the same place. And suddenly…out of heaven like a rushing violent wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting… and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:1-4).
This describes the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, fulfilling the promise of the Spirit of power, which was given by the Father and spoken of by the Lord to the disciples just before His ascension. Therefore, the Holy Spirit who descended was in the aspect of the power, not in the aspect of the Comforter, being different from what the Lord brought on the day of His resurrection. The Holy Spirit brought in on the day of resurrection is the “Comforter,” and the Holy Spirit who descended at Pentecost is the “power.”
1)“Comforter…may be with you…and shall be in you” (John 14:16-17).
It says here that the Holy Spirit as the Comforter is to be with us and in us. This speaks of the function of the Holy Spirit in the aspect of life. Therefore, the Comforter, that is, the Holy Spirit in the aspect of life, is for our inward life.
1)“You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be My witnesses…” (Acts 1:8).
It says here that the Holy Spirit’s coming upon us is that we may have power to witness for the Lord. This shows us that the Holy Spirit’s function as power is not for the life which we have inwardly from the Lord, but for the work which we do outwardly for the Lord. For our life within, God gives us the Holy Spirit as the Comforter, a Person to be our Lord within us, that inwardly He may be our life and the supplier and maintainer of our life. For our work without, God gives us the Holy Spirit as power that outwardly He may be for us to use as the power, authority, capability, and skill of our work.
1)“He breathed into them and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit” (John 20:22).
This is the Lord’s breathing of the Holy Spirit, who is the Comforter, as breath into the disciples on the evening of the day of resurrection. Breath is for life and signifies life. Thus, breath here is a symbol of the Holy Spirit as the inward Spirit of life.
1)“Out of his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water. But this He said concerning the Spirit [the inward Holy Spirit of life], whom those who believed in Him were about to receive” (John 7:38-39).
The Lord’s words here indicate to us that the Holy Spirit will flow out as the living water from within us. Surely this refers to the Holy Spirit as life within us, drunk by us as the living water to be our life supply. Therefore, the living water is also a symbol of the inward Spirit of life.
1)“A rushing violent wind…and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:2-4).
This is the disciples’ receiving the Holy Spirit of power upon them on the day of Pentecost in the upper room in Jerusalem. This is not like the breath breathed from within the Lord into them on the day of resurrection, but a rushing violent wind blowing upon them from without, signifying the Holy Spirit of power. Wind is naturally powerful and signifies power. Therefore, wind here is a sign of the Holy Spirit being the outward Spirit of power and is different from breath.
1)“I am sending forth the promise [the outward Spirit of power] of My Father upon you…until you are clothed with power from on high” (Luke 24:49).
The Lord’s word here also shows us that we are to be clothed outwardly with the Holy Spirit of power, promised by the Father, as a mantle worn by us to be our power. This is typified by the mantle Elisha received from Elijah (2 Kings 2:13-14). Therefore, this mantle is also a sign of the outward Holy Spirit of power and is different from the living water. This mantle Spirit, like the uniform of a public servant, brings authority and is useful for us to execute God’s commission. The inward Spirit of life is the living water, which we can drink for our inward supply; the outward Holy Spirit of power is the mantle, which we can wear for our outward authority.
1)“That which is begotten in her [Jesus] is of the Holy Spirit” (Matt. 1:20).
The Lord Jesus was conceived and born of the Holy Spirit. The life within Him is altogether the element of the Holy Spirit.
2)“And having been baptized…the Spirit of God descending as a dove and coming upon Him” (Matt. 3:16).
Although the Lord Jesus was conceived and born of the Holy Spirit, and the life within Him was totally the element of the Holy Spirit, He experienced the Holy Spirit coming upon Him to be His power to work for God only after He was baptized.
1)“It was evening on that day, the first day of the week…Jesus came and stood in the midst…He breathed into them and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit” (John 20:19-22).
By the breath the Lord breathed into the disciples on the evening of the day of resurrection, the disciples received the Holy Spirit into them.
2)“And when the day of Pentecost was being fulfilled, they were all together in the same place…out of heaven like a rushing violent wind”; “…the Holy Spirit has come upon you” (Acts 2:1-4; 1:8).
Although the disciples had received the Holy Spirit into them on the evening of the day of resurrection, the Holy Spirit still came upon them on the day of Pentecost.
