…tarry in the city of Jerusalem until
you are endued with power from on high. —Luke 24:49
The disciples had to tarry, staying in
Jerusalem until the day of Pentecost, not only for their own preparation but
because they had to wait until the Lord was actually glorified. And as soon as
He was glorified, what happened? “Therefore being exalted to the right hand of
God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He
poured out this which you now see and hear” (Acts 2:33). The statement in John
7:39— “…for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet
glorified”— does not pertain to us. The Holy Spirit has been given;
the Lord is glorified— our waiting is not dependent on the
providence of God, but on our own spiritual fitness.
The Holy Spirit’s influence and power were at
work before Pentecost, but He was not here. Once our Lord was
glorified in His ascension, the Holy Spirit came into the world, and He has
been here ever since. We have to receive the revealed truth that He is here. The
attitude of receiving and welcoming the Holy Spirit into our lives is to be the
continual attitude of a believer. When we receive the Holy Spirit, we receive
reviving life from our ascended Lord.
It is not the baptism of the Holy Spirit that
changes people, but the power of the ascended Christ coming into their lives
through the Holy Spirit. We all too often separate things that the New
Testament never separates. The baptism of the Holy Spirit is not an experience
apart from Jesus Christ— it is the evidence of the ascended Christ.
The baptism of the Holy Spirit does not make
you think of time or eternity— it is one amazing glorious now.
“This is eternal life, that they may know You…” (John 17:3). Begin to know Him
now, and never finish.
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