When I was a child, I looked at a tapestry hanging above the church altar six days a week. Monday through Friday, I filed into the chapel with my class for morning prayer. On Sunday, I sat with my parents, squirming, daydreaming, and studying the enigmatic face looking down at me.
I couldn’t tell if Jesus was happy with me or shrugging his shoulders as if to say, what am I going to do with you, young lady? I hoped I wouldn’t be a disappointment to him, since, after all, he had gone to so much trouble for me on the cross.
Years later, as I began studying Jesus’s ascension, I realized the tapestry under which I had spent my childhood actually captured Jesus in the act of blessing his people. His church. His child. Me.
His first and greatest ascension blessing would be to send his people the Holy Spirit, guaranteeing that our God will be not just with us, but in us. Forever. That’s the reason Jesus reassured Mary Magdalene that she didn’t need to cling to him. And that’s the message he gave to his disciples in the upper room just a few days before his crucifixion:“I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you” (John 14:18).
On that occasion, Jesus prepared his disciples for his departure by telling them about the Holy Spirit, who would take up residence in each one of his people. By his Spirit, he would stay near to his people. And by his Spirit, he would bless his church throughout the world in all generations.
Blessed by the Holy Spirit
What blessings do we receive through the gift of the Holy Spirit? Here are three that have multiplied applications for our lives.
First, New Testament believers now experience a closer presence with our God through the living presence of his Holy Spirit within us. This means God is so near to me that he is closer than my own skin, not like some sort of invisible, make-believe playmate from my childhood, but as the one who knows me best and loves me most. Believing this truth helps me realize:
- I am never alone. Even though I may feel lonely, I have instant access through the Spirit to my Father’s ear and my Savior’s heart, “for he has said, ‘I will never leave you or forsake you’” (Heb. 13:5).
- I am not an orphan who has to fend for herself without help from anyone else, because Jesus has promised never to leave me, “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you” (John 14:18).
- I have not been abandoned like a woman whose husband has left her without money or resources to take care of herself. In fact, Jesus himself is preparing a place for his church right now because he wants us to be with him forever—“And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also” (John 14:3).
Second, New Testament believers have been given a clearer understanding of Scripture through the ministry of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit helps us understand God’s word, both personally and when it is faithfully preached. Learning to study the Scriptures has been the journey of a lifetime for me, but the dividends have multiplied over time. I started by taking notes on the pastor’s sermon, then writing one verse down to take with me during the week, asking for the Holy Spirit’s help in understanding and applying it. Why? Because he is “the Spirit of truth” who lives in his people and wants to make the truth about Jesus’s work both clear to us as believers and visible in our lives:“When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come” (John 16:13). Believing in this work of the Holy Spirit helps me realize:
- I can trust God’s word because the Holy Spirit made sure it was an accurate record of God’s revelation (2 Pet. 1:21).
- I can grow in understanding God’s word through gifted pastors, teachers, and leaders whom the Holy Spirit has called (Eph. 4:11–14).
- I can grow in following and obeying Christ as the Holy Spirit produces the fruit of Christlike character in me (Gal. 5:22–23).
Third, New Testament believers have been given a living bond with Christ and each other. It is the Holy Spirit who unites us to our ascended Savior and binds us to each other in a living expression of Christ’s body. We aren’t orphans without a proper Father. Neither are we solitary, without Christ our brother or our local brothers and sisters. We’re family, with all the benefits of belonging, not to mention the challenges of getting along. But that, too, is the Holy Spirit’s work, sanctifying us as we learn to live in community.
Believing this truth helps me remember:
- I am not just “me.” I am “we,” a member of Christ’s body locally, where I can serve and grow.
- I am gifted by the Holy Spirit to serve those around me, which gives me joy as well as purpose, as I discover and develop those gifts.
- As a member of the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ, I watch and pray for his kingdom to come while continuing to walk in the good works he puts before me (Eph. 2:10).
The Holy Spirit is the first and best gift Jesus could have given to his people. All the other gifts and graces come through the Spirit’s generous work. This is truth to rejoice in! It is doctrine to stand on. He is the power we need. The Spirit is at work in us today, literally producing this great mystery,“which is Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Col. 1:27).
