Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit … (Mt 28:19)
Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? (I Cor 3:16)
Holy Spirit, You give me the presence of God inside. Hallelujah. Bless You.
When Jesus was on Earth, God was on Earth, walking, talking, eating, sleeping. Today, however, we can no longer put our hands into Jesus’s side or watch Him break bread. The physical presence of Christ is gone, but this does not mean that Christ is gone.
When Jesus was on Earth, He spoke of a Comforter He would send, a Counselor, the Spirit of God. He said that His people would be better off without His physical presence but with this Holy Spirit than they had been when they had witnessed Him raise the dead. This Spirit would now be God on Earth. He would teach people righteousness, convict people of sin, and be the presence of Christ in their midst. Thus, you can still know Jesus even though physically He is no longer here, for He and His Spirit are one.
The Christian doctrine of the Holy Spirit is a doctrine for the church age. Jesus became God with us when He came, but today the Spirit forms Jesus in our hearts. The Spirit, in one sense, is now God with us, for where the Spirit is, God is. Paul writes to God’s people and says “… you are God’s temple.” Why? Because “God’s Spirit dwells in you” (I Cor 3:16). We are now the place where God lives because we are the place where His Spirit lives.
Here are some pictures that Scripture gives us of the Spirit. The Spirit was hovering over the waters at creation (Gen 1:2). The Spirit brings new birth (Jn 3:1-8). The Spirit knows the deep things of God (I Cor 2:10-11). The Spirit is the Lord (II Cor 4:17-18). The presence of the Spirit is the presence of God (Ps 139:7-8). The Spirit, Christ, and the Father are all in you if the Spirit is in you (Rm 8:9-11). The church must baptize in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit (Mt 28:19). We could go on, but Scripture plainly attributes to the Spirit the things it attributes to God. Thus, when you have the Spirit, you have God.
For the Christian, this is rather basic. The people of Christ are to be a people of the Spirit. In the future, we shall discuss what this means practically, but for now suffice it to say that in Christ you and I have direct access to God through the Holy Spirit whom God has poured into our hearts. Christ may have ascended, but God dwells in us.
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