Search
Scripture Reading: John 7:37-39; Luke 24:49; Acts 1:5, 8; John 20:22; 14:16-17; Rom. 8:2; Eph. 1:13-14; 4:30; 1, 1 John 2:20, 27; John 14:26; 15:26; 16:7
The work of the Holy Spirit is a great and deep subject. In these messages we cannot go into detail on this subject, but we will cover some main points.
As we know, God is one God in three persons. Therefore, we call Him the Triune God. This does not mean that there are three Gods but rather one God in three persons—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. The Father is the source, the Son is the expression, and the Spirit is the communion, the divine transmission. The Father is the source in eternity, in a realm to which we cannot go and which we cannot touch (1 Tim. 6:16). The Son is the expression of the Father. He is the Word of God, the expression of the invisible God. However, we still need another person, the Spirit, so that all that God is as the Father and is expressed in the Son might be transmitted, communicated, to us. Therefore, the Spirit is the transmission, the communion, of what the Father is and what the Son of God expresses.
We may illustrate the Triune God in His divine economy with water in three stages. The first stage is the water in the source, the fountain, and the second stage is the water in the spring. The water comes out of the fountain as the source, and the spring contains the water. The third stage is the flow, the current to flow out the water, to bring the water to reach other places with the water. These are not three different waters but one water in three stages—the water at the source, the water in the spring, and the water in the current. God the Father is the source; Christ, who is God the Son, is the divine well, the divine spring; and the Holy Spirit is the divine flow, the divine current, to reach us.
It is as the Holy Spirit that God in Christ can visit us and reach us. In Himself, God the Father cannot reach us, and even when expressed in God the Son, He still cannot reach us today. It is as the Spirit and by the Spirit that God the Father in God the Son can reach us, visit us, come upon us, and come into us. Therefore, in the divine economy, the Spirit is the third and last stage in which God comes out to visit us.
According to the teachings of the Scriptures, the work of the Holy Spirit is in two aspects. If we are not clear about the two aspects of the work of the Holy Spirit, we cannot properly know the truth concerning the Spirit. Several verses speak clearly concerning these two aspects. John 7:37-39 says, “Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes into Me, as the Scripture said, out of his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water. But this He said concerning the Spirit, whom those who believed into Him were about to receive; for the Spirit was not yet, because Jesus had not yet been glorified.” In this passage, there are two main points to remember. First, the Spirit, whom the disciples were about to receive, would be in them and would flow out from within them. Second, the Holy Spirit here is likened to water for drinking. Anyone who thirsts can come to the Lord and drink of this living water, who is the Holy Spirit. In addition, John 14:17 says, “Even the Spirit of reality, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not behold Him or know Him; but you know Him, because He abides with you and shall be in you.” These verses clearly say that the Spirit is the living water to drink, and He is within us. This is one aspect of the Holy Spirit.
Luke 24:49 shows us the other aspect of the Holy Spirit. It says, “Behold, I send forth the promise of My Father upon you; but as for you, stay in the city until you put on power from on high.” The promise of the Father is the Holy Spirit. Please notice the word upon; it is different from in. We all know the difference between upon and in. In this verse the Holy Spirit comes upon us, not into us. To put on power is to be clothed with power. In the Gospel of John the Holy Spirit is likened to living water to drink, but in the Gospel of Luke the Holy Spirit is likened to clothing upon us. Water is different from clothing. When we drink water, it is within us, and when we put on clothing, it is upon us. The Spirit upon us as clothing is the power from on high, and the Spirit within us as the water that we drink is for life. On the one hand, we have the Spirit within us as life, and on the other hand, we have the Spirit upon us as power. The Spirit within us as life is likened to water for drinking, and the Spirit upon us as power is likened to clothing.
In the Old Testament, when Elijah was taken up into the heavens, he left his outer garment, his mantle, to Elisha (2 Kings 2:9-15). In that way Elisha received the power that Elijah had. The mantle is an item of clothing, signifying that Elisha was clothed with power from on high. The Lord ascended to the heavens as Elijah did, and He sent His Spirit as clothing down from the heavens. Now we are clothed with this power. On the one hand, the Holy Spirit is within us as the water that we drink, and on the other hand, the Holy Spirit is upon us as our clothing. These are two different aspects.
Luke also wrote the book of Acts. Acts 1:5 says, “John baptized with water, but you shall be baptized in the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” Verse 8 continues, “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you.” Verse 5 says the disciples would be baptized in, not merely with, the Holy Spirit. When we are baptized in water, we are put into the water, and the water is upon us. In the same way, we have been baptized in the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit is upon us. This is the power in verse 8. This baptism was accomplished on the day of Pentecost. On the day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit came down from heaven upon the disciples, and they were baptized in the Holy Spirit.
We may now apply the principle of the two aspects of the work of the Holy Spirit. First, we can see the work of the Holy Spirit with the Lord Jesus. Both Matthew and Luke tell us that the Lord Jesus was born of the Holy Spirit (Matt. 1:18, 20; Luke 1:35). Before He came out to work for God at the age of thirty, He was already filled with the Holy Spirit. However, it was at the time of His baptism in water that the heavens opened, and the Holy Spirit came upon Him as a dove (Matt. 3:16). This does not mean that before the Holy Spirit came upon Him, He did not have the Holy Spirit. Because He was born of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit had been in Him and filled Him for thirty years. However, at the age of thirty, when He came out to work for God to preach the gospel, He needed to be baptized, on the one hand, in the water and, on the other hand, in the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit needed to come upon Him as power so that He could preach the gospel. These two aspects are very clear.
We may also apply these two aspects to the first group of disciples, including Peter and John. When did those disciples receive the Holy Spirit? When I was young, I was taught by certain books and teachers that those disciples received the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. In actuality, the disciples received the Holy Spirit on the day of the Lord’s resurrection. On the evening of the day in which the Lord was resurrected, He came to His disciples. John 20:22 says, “When He had said this, He breathed into them and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit.”
In chapters 14 and 16, when the Lord was about to die, He promised the disciples that after His death and resurrection He would send the Spirit of reality to them. Verses 16 and 17 of chapter 14 say, “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Comforter, that He may be with you forever, even the Spirit of reality, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not behold Him or know Him; but you know Him, because He abides with you and shall be in you.” This promise concerning the coming of the Holy Spirit in chapters 14 and 16 was not fulfilled on the day of Pentecost but in the evening of the day of resurrection, in chapter 20, when the Lord came to them with the Spirit, breathed into them, and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” This was the Holy Spirit of life, the Spirit who came into the disciples as life. This is the first aspect of the work of the Spirit.
The first promise concerning the Spirit was that the Lord Himself would ask the Father to send another Comforter, the Spirit of reality. This promise was fulfilled on the day of resurrection. Forty days after the resurrection, when the Lord was about to ascend to the heavens, He promised the disciples again, telling them to stay in Jerusalem until He sent the promise of the Father, the Holy Spirit of power, from on high. This was another promise concerning the Holy Spirit. This second promise, concerning not the Spirit of life but the Spirit of power, was fulfilled on the day of Pentecost.
Before the day of Pentecost, the disciples already had the Spirit of reality. The day of Pentecost is in Acts 2. Before that time, the one hundred twenty disciples prayed together for ten days in one accord, and they understood how to expound the Psalms (Acts 1:14, 20). We may compare this to the prior situation of the disciples. When the Lord was going to the cross, the disciples quarreled with one another about who would be the greatest. This was because at that time they did not have the Holy Spirit within them. It was on the day of resurrection, when the Lord came to them and breathed on them, that they received the Spirit of reality and life. Because of this, they were able to stay together and pray with one accord before the day of Pentecost.
Moreover, they prayed in the spirit. Without the Spirit dwelling in them, they could not have done this. They gave up their country, their home in Galilee, and they stayed in Jerusalem under the threatenings of the people. At that time in Jerusalem the people were threatening them, but they had the boldness to stay there and pray in one accord for ten days. How could they have done this without the help of the Holy Spirit dwelling within them? It would have been impossible. However, they had the Spirit of life, the Spirit of reality, within them already. Therefore, they could do these things. This is a strong proof that before the day of Pentecost, the disciples already had the Holy Spirit of reality and of life.
They had the Holy Spirit of life within, but they had not received the Holy Spirit of power without. It was on the day of Pentecost, as they were praying together in the upper room, that the Holy Spirit of power came down from heaven upon them, and the Lord Jesus as the Head of the Body baptized them as the Body. On that day the Lord was the Baptizer, and the one hundred twenty were the representatives of the Body. The Head baptized the Body in the Holy Spirit.
To drink water is to take water into us, but to be baptized in water is not to drink it; it is to get into the water. On the one hand, the water is in us, and on the other hand, the water is upon us. Resurrection is a matter of life. On that day of life, the day of resurrection, the disciples received the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of life. The day of Pentecost, however, was a day for the work of the preaching of the gospel. Therefore, the disciples needed power, so the Holy Spirit came down as power upon them. These are two aspects. One is the inward aspect, and the other is the outward aspect. One is the aspect of life, and the other is the aspect of power.
Now we must see what the Spirit is to us when He comes into us. As we have seen, He is the Spirit of life to be life to us (Rom. 8:2). Second, He is the Spirit of reality (John 14:17). He is within us as the reality. Reality is not merely doctrine. The Spirit is the reality of all that God and Christ are. God is love, but without the Spirit of reality within us, we do not have the reality of love. If we have the Spirit of reality within us, we have the reality of love. God is also light, but if we do not have the Spirit of reality, we do not have the reality of light. All that God and Christ are is in the Holy Spirit as the divine reality to us.
Third, the Holy Spirit within us is a seal (Eph. 1:13; 4:30). When we believe in the Lord Jesus as our Savior, we belong to God, and God puts a seal upon us. When I buy a new book, I put my seal on it. This means that the book is mine. When we believe in the Lord Jesus, we become God’s. We belong to God, so God puts His seal upon us, or within us. This seal is the Holy Spirit. Moreover, to put a seal on something that we possess makes that thing exactly the same as the seal. The seal of the Holy Spirit within us is an element within us that is exactly the same as God.
Fourth, Ephesians 1:14 says that the Spirit is also a pledge. A pledge is a down payment. The Holy Spirit is the pledge, the guarantee, that all that God is and all that God has are our portion. The Spirit as the seal within us testifies that we belong to God, and the Spirit as the pledge within us is a guarantee that God belongs to us, that all that God is and all that God has are our portion. We may say, “O Father, You must give me all that You have and all that You are, because I have the Spirit as the guarantee.”
Fifth, the Spirit is the anointing (1 John 2:20, 27). We have the Spirit within us who is always anointing us. While He is anointing us, He also is bothering us.
Sixth, the Spirit is the Comforter (John 14:16, 26; 15:26; 16:7). The Greek word translated “Comforter” is paraclete. In 1 John 2:1, this word is translated as “Advocate.” The Paraclete has a daily application and a legal application. In daily life the Paraclete is always with us to serve us and care for us. In the legal sense, the paraclete is an attorney, a lawyer, in a court of law who pleads for us. In our daily life the Holy Spirit always accompanies us to care for us and to meet all our daily needs. Concerning the righteous law of God, however, Jesus Christ as the Advocate is the attorney in the heavenly court always pleading for us.
The Holy Spirit as life, reality, the seal, the pledge, and the anointing is everything to us, and as the Comforter, He takes care of us in our daily life. However, if something happens to us in the heavenly court, the Advocate is our attorney to defend us and plead for us. These are the aspects of the Holy Spirit within us.
