Pentecost

The Spirit of God had been active in the world since the beginning of creation. In the second verse of the Bible we read: 'The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters' (Genesis 1:2). Throughout the Old Testament and the Gospels, the Holy Spirit is mentioned numerous times. So, the coming of the Holy Spirit upon the believers on the day of Pentecost was not the coming of someone who had never before been active on earth.

What was different about the coming of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost was not so much the fact that the Holy Spirit came to people, not so much the fact of his coming, but the permanence of his coming. At other times, the Holy Spirit came upon believers at significant times in their spiritual life. Indeed the Holy Spirit was seen to alight on the Lord Jesus at his baptism (Mark 1:9-11) when Jesus began his public ministry. What was different about the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost was that the Spirit now came upon all believers—'they were all filled with the Holy Spirit' (Acts 2:4) and that the Holy Spirit now came to make his home inside believers, coming alongside them and residing in them as the helper, guide, comforter and advocate (the 'paraclete' that Jesus promised his people—John 16:7).

The Holy Spirit does not only work in the hearts of some who believe in Christ. He is with and in everyone, including you, if you trust and follow the Lord Jesus.

This is not something to make us worried or afraid. It is something to rejoice in. In the coming of Christ, he is Emmanuel, 'God with us'. In the coming of the Holy Spirit, he is 'God in us.' And so we can know we are never far from God because God is never far from us. Indeed, he is as close to us as the minds in our heads and the hearts in our chests. And he is in us to work God's love and holiness in us, to make us more and more like the Lord Jesus. So, let us welcome him afresh today and seek to follow his guiding light in us as he helps us better understand the Word of God and the Saviour to whom the Scriptures testify.