A Permanent Guest

One of the lessons Jesus gave His disciples when preparing them to receive the Holy Spirit was that the Spirit’s coming would not be a temporary visitation—He would abide in them forever. In the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit provided temporary supplies of power to individual people for certain tasks. When these purposes were accomplished, He returned to heaven. The disciples were no doubt aware of this aspect of the Spirit’s ministry, but now Jesus gives them the breathtaking news that the Holy Spirit’s coming would be permanent: “He will abide in you and be with you forever.” What a revelation this must have been to the disciples! The occasional would give place to the permanent; the special would give way to the general. Jesus was saying, in effect, that the Holy Spirit would not come and go—a kind of “hide-and-seek” experience—but He would move within the inner recesses of their beings and abide with them forever.

This is probably one of the most important truths we can grasp from the Scripture, for there are many Christians who think of the possession of the Holy Spirit as tentative and momentary. However, that would defeat the very point and purpose of redemption, for as someone said: “The Holy Spirit is the applied point of redemption.” His coming into our lives must be permanent, or our redemption (at least its application) will be temporary. The Holy Ghost becomes a Holy Guest! And, thank God, a permanent guest!

Further Study

Gn 1; Ezk 36:27; 1Jn 3:24; Heb 9:14; Rv 22:17

What was the Holy Spirit’s ministry in the beginning?

What is His ministry since Pentecost?