July 27 And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you forever; Even the Spirit of Truth; Whom the world cannot receive, because it sees Him not, neither knows Him: but you know Him; for He dwells with you, and shall be in you (Jn. 14:16-17). Jesus said more about the Holy Spirit the last week of His Life than all the balance of His Ministry put together. There was a reason for that. He is now about to leave His Disciples. So now He will tell them how the Holy Spirit will be sent back to them in a completely new dimension, a dimension, in fact, that Believers had not heretofore known. Before the Cross, the Holy Spirit only dwelt “with Believers,” only coming into hearts and lives occasionally, and then only for a period of time to enable certain individuals to carry out the work designed for them by the Lord. However, even among the great Prophets and Sages of the Old Testament, still, the Spirit’s work with them was severely restricted and limited, even though He helped them to do great things on many occasions. John the Baptist was the one who would introduce Christ, the One to Whom all the other great Prophets had pointed. So, John could be rightly said to be the greatest Prophet born of woman under the Old Covenant. But, because of the new dimension of the Holy Spirit’s work in the lives of Believers after the Cross was a Finished Work, Jesus said that the least Believer under the New Covenant was greater than John the Baptist (Lk. 7:28). That didn’t mean that modern Believers would be greater in character, etc., but rather greater in privileges, all because of what Christ has done at the Cross. Before the Cross, animal sacrifices served as a substitute until the Substance would eventually come, Who, of course, would be Christ; however, the blood of animal sacrifices was woefully insufficient to retire the sin debt (Heb. 10:4). The sin debt, therefore, remained, which meant that the Holy Spirit was limited in what He could do. But since the Cross, where the price was paid for sin – past, present, and future - and in every capacity, at least for all who will believe (Jn. 3:16), man, as a vessel, by evidencing faith in Christ and what Christ did at the Cross, can be clean in every capacity, thereby a fit subject for the permanent indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Of all the great things the Cross afforded, one could probably say, without fear of contradiction, that the enabling of the Holy Spirit coming now in a new dimension is undoubtedly the greatest help of all. Before the Law, the Holy Spirit, in a sense, accompanied the Sacrifices, at least those ordained by God. During the time of the Law, the Holy Spirit occupied the Holy of Holies, actually residing, so to speak, between the Mercy Seat and the Cherubim. During the time of Christ, He resided exclusively within the Lamb of God, because He was no longer residing in the Holy of Holies in the Temple. Some 500 years before Christ, in fact, Ezekiel saw the Holy Spirit leave the Temple in Jerusalem because of Israel’s rebellion against the Lord regarding the worshipping of idols (Ezek. 11:23). But when Jesus died on the Cross, and then was resurrected and ascended to the Father, due to what He had done at the Cross, He could now send back the Holy Spirit in this glorious new dimension, which He most definitely did, Who now resides in the hearts and lives of Believers, and does so permanently, all made possible, as stated, by the Cross (I Cor. 3:16).
Posted on: Sat, 27 Jul 2013 11:11:40 +0000
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