When we study about the Holy Spirit, there are two events that are crucial to the work of the Spirit in us. We need to study these two events to understand the process that God uses to impart the presence and the power of the Holy Spirit in His children.
These two events, the death and resurrection of Jesus and the enthronement of Jesus, are tied to the presence and empowerment of His church.
Death of Jesus, enthronement of Jesus
Transformational presence, empowerment of His church.
John 16:7
7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you.
John 14:16-18
16 And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever — 17 the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. — 18 I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.
“He dwells WITH you”: present
“Will be IN you”: future
There seems to be a difference in the Presence of the Holy Spirit Being WITH and being IN US.
Remember, no one comes to God or obeys God without the Spirit of God. So the Holy Spirit was always present with God’s people but it seems that now, the Holy Spirit was going to be present in every believer as He was in Jesus.
The point of the New Testament is that the Holy Spirit is in us in the same way as he was in Jesus.
Jesus leaves two times.
John 16:16
16 A little while, and you will not see Me; and again, a little while, and you will see Me, because I go to the Father.
1. To die, resurrect, and give the H.S.
John 20:21-23
21 So Jesus said to them again, “Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” 22 And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”
This receiving of the Holy Spirit changed their hearts and brought them together as one body. “When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.” (Acts 2:1)
This is the transforming ministry of the Holy Spirit that transformed the disciples and brought them together to be empowered. This is actually the fulfillment of the prophecy, “I will take away your hearts of stone and I will give you a heart of flesh.”
You can’t be empowered by the Holy Spirit unless you allow yourself to be transformed by the Holy Spirit.
Our problem is that we want to be empowered without being transformed.
Galatians 4:19
19 My little children, for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you, so the Spirit gives us life and empowers us for service.
What prepared the disciples to receive the power of the Holy Spirit was when Jesus breathed on them as He breathed on Adam and gave him life.
The breath of God is what gives life to spiritually dead people who call themselves Christians.
This breath of Jesus does not only give spiritual life but it also is what forms Christ within us.
We need this air, we need this breath because we have found too many ways to be Christians without being Christ-like.
This is the air I breathe; This is the air I breathe; Your Holy presence living in me
This is my daily bread; This is my daily bread; Your every word spoken to me
And I’m desperate for you; And I’m lost without you.
He breathed on those that were in His presence. We need to put ourselves in his presence so that Jesus will breathe on us.
2. To sit on His throne to empower them.
John 16:7
7 Nevertheless, I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you.
Why did Jesus need to leave so the Holy Spirit would descend with power over the disciples?
Acts 1:8
8 But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.
Jesus wasn’t just offering His believers a transforming force within them; He was offering us the same supernatural force that had been with Him here on earth.
Mark 16:17-18
17 And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name, they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; 18 they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.
Matthew 28:18-20
18 And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.
According to the scriptures and John the Baptist, this baptism of the Holy Spirit was going to be carried out by Jesus. But for Jesus to do that, he needed to be in a place of authority.
Matthew 3:11
11 I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.
Read Revelation 5
The enthronement and coronation of Jesus and the use of His authority to bestow Devine supernatural powers over His believers culminated in His authority over Humanity and that could only be done from His throne.
By Jesus staying on earth in his limited human body, the gospel would not have reached the whole world as it did through the power of the Holy Spirit in all of the believers because everything would have been sensualized in him as a person in Galilee.
