Holy Spirit Part 7

Part 7 

The Holy Spirit in The Congregation 

John 14:16–18 (ESV) — “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever,  even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know  him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.” 

A Trinitarian Promise 

Last month I wrote about the Holy Spirit’s presence in our worship. When we worship in Spirit and in Truth, we can know that the Holy Spirit is present with us. This is a knowledge that we have by faith though, not by feeling. Feelings can certainly reinforce this truth, but if we are asking the question “Is the Holy Spirit here in this worship?” we need to answer it by faith (which trusts what the Word says) not by emotions (which put trust in the fallen whims and insights of our human hearts.) 

It's a wonderful thing to know that the Lord God is present with us in our times of need, times of joy, and everything in between. Jesus always knew that we would need the assurance of knowing He is near to us and present with us in everything. That’s the power of the promise He spoke to us in John 14:16-18. We’re not left alone like orphans without a spiritual father or guardian. The Lord God is our Father and Guardian.  

Notice in this text that Jesus says, “He will send you the helper/the Spirit of truth” and then immediately in the next verse Jesus said “I will come to you.” The depth of the mystery of the Holy Trinity is on display in these two verses, but the practical application for our lives is no mystery. Just as Jesus the Son and God the Father are one (John 10:30), Jesus and the Holy Spirit are One (Deuteronomy 6:4). They are one God, and the presence of the Holy Spirit among and in you is the presence of Jesus Christ. Yet Jesus is also interceding before God the Father and asking that the Holy Spirit might be sent to you. The Holy Spirit and Jesus are distinct persons, but the presence of one is the presence of both. It's, admittedly, a mystery how that works, but it’s also a great  blessing to know that Jesus and His Spirit are both with us. 

An Abiding Promise 

It’s important, then, for us to remember that the promises that He will send the Helper to us and that He is with us even to the end of the age (Matthew 28:20) are promises that are unshakably given to all believers in Jesus Christ. We know that the Holy Spirit is with us because God’s Word says it is the case. This promise remains even when the wicked voices of the world or even the sinful impulses of our hearts would lead us to doubt it.  

Throughout history, God has made many “presence” promises to His people. I’ve written in the past about the  Holy Spirit’s “empowering” presence (1 Corinthians 12:27, Romans 12:4-5) and how it equips the saints to do the work of ministry and build His Kingdom. Holy Scripture also speaks of the “Indwelling” presence of the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:9) which unites us together into one body (Ephesians 4:4) and leads us to cry out in faith to our heavenly Father (Romans 8:15, Galatians 4:6). These are both ways that the Bible describes the Holy Spirit’s presence and power in our lives. God also promises that the Holy Spirit will be “with” or “among” us. This is a “congregational” presence. The Holy Spirit promises not only to be here with me, but also that He will be among us.  

Leviticus 26:11–12 (ESV) — I will make my dwelling among you, and my soul shall not abhor you. And I will walk  among you and will be your God, and you shall be my people.

The Promise Remains, The Form Changes  

The interesting thing about the promise of the Holy Spirit’s Congregational Presence is that the form of it has changed over time, while the substance of it has remained unchanged forever. Time and time again, throughout the Bible and human history, God has promised to be with His people. The forms and places of worship that He has attached those promises to have changed though. 

For instance, God promised Isaac that He would be present with him. This promise of presence wasn’t nailed down to a single location, but was given to wherever Isaac should happen to be sojourning.  

The Holy Spirit Present in Isaac’s Sojourn 

Genesis 26:2–3 (ESV) — And the Lord appeared to [Isaac] and said, “Do not go down to Egypt; dwell in the land of which I shall tell you. Sojourn in this land, and I will be with you and will bless you, for to you and to your offspring I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath that I swore to Abraham your father. 

Isaac did nothing to earn this promise, but Isaac was commanded to remain faithful to this promise. Isaac and his clan did not yet have possession of the land; they were sojourners. The Lord did not give Isaac a specific mountain to worship on or building to worship in, but He did say “sojourn in this land.” As long as Isaac remained faithful to the promise given to him, the Lord’s presence in his life was guaranteed by the Word of God.  

The Holy Spirit in the Tent of Meeting 

Eventually, the Lord built the people of Jacob into a mighty nation and led them out of their captivity. This moment was, in some ways, the “debut” of the congregation of God’s people on the world stage. The Lord had assembled for Himself a nation (think of “nation” as a group of people rather than as a nation-state) and the defining difference between them and every other nation in the world was the gracious presence of the Lord with them.  

Exodus 33:14–16 (ESV) — And [The Lord] said, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” And  [Moses] said to Him, “If your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here. For how shall it be known that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people? Is it not in your going with us, so that we are distinct, I and your people, from every other people on the face of the earth?” 

It’s not at all a stretch to say that Christians are similarly distinct. We also have been graciously given the promise of the Lord God’s Holy Spirit with us (John 16:16-18). The notable difference is, we are not confined to worship in a single tent like the people of Israel were.  

Exodus 29:42–45 (ESV) — It shall be a regular burnt offering throughout your generations at the entrance of the tent of meeting before the Lord, where I will meet with you, to speak to you there. There I will meet with the people of Israel, and it shall be sanctified by my glory. I will consecrate the tent of meeting and the altar. Aaron also and his sons I will consecrate to serve me as priests. I will dwell among the people of Israel and will be their God.

God gave a promise to His people, “I will consecrate this Tent. I promise to meet you here.” They did nothing to earn this gift and promise from God by doing good works (Deuteronomy 9:5-6). In fact, it was very much because of the grace of God that they weren’t destroyed (Deuteronomy 9:14).  

The Holy Spirit Departs the Tent 

The Holy Spirit’s presence cannot abide with unrighteousness though. In earlier times the Lord had warned His people that He was Holy and His righteous presence can break out in judgement against those who treat Him with disregard (Leviticus 10:1-7).  

When the Israelites entered into the land, they set up the Tent of Meeting at Shiloh (Joshua 18:1). For many years, the Lord met with His people there, but their wickedness grew. They set up idols right alongside the Tent of Meeting (Judges 18:31) and did many awful things in the lands around Shiloh (Judges 21). Because of this, the Lord God allowed the enemies of His people to conquer them and to capture the Ark of the Covenant (1 Samuel  4:12-22).  

1 Samuel 4:21 (ESV) — And she named the child Ichabod, saying, “The glory has departed from Israel!” because  the ark of God had been captured and because of her father-in-law and her husband [who both had died].

When the Ark departed, so did God’s promise of presence. God no longer protected His Ark because His Holy Spirit could no longer dwell with the wantonly unrepentant. The Holy Spirit had again turned and became their enemy (Isaiah 63:10). 

Psalm 78:58–61 (ESV) — For they provoked him to anger with their high places; they moved him to jealousy with their idols. When God heard, he was full of wrath, and he utterly rejected Israel. He forsook his dwelling at Shiloh, the tent where he dwelt among mankind, and delivered his power to captivity, his glory to the hand of the foe. (See also Jeremiah 7:12-14).

The Holy Spirit in the Temple 

Eventually the Ark was returned to the Israelites. The Philistines who captured it were also unrighteous in the eyes of God and so equally unfit to be near the presence of the Spirit. God struck them with death and tumors until they returned it to Israel (See 1 Samuel 5 and 6).  

And after that, King David endeavored to build a house more suitable to the Ark of God’s Presence (2 Samuel 7:2 and 1 Chronicles 17:1). Eventually the Lord allowed Solomon to build a magnificent Temple for His presence. The Lord God promised to dwell among His people and not forsake them (1 Kings 6:13), but also stated that they must remain faithful to His Word (1 Kings 6:12). The grace of God is received by faith in God. Faith in God involves a willing obedience to His Word.  

Solomon acknowledged that even the magnificent temple that he had built for the Lord could not “contain” God  (1 Kings 8:27). The purpose of the Temple was not to serve as the beautiful place to “attract” God to us. Instead, it was a glorious house designed to attract men and women to God. The whole point of the Temple was to be a place for sinners to come and cry out to the Lord, in faith, for forgiveness (1 Kings 8:35-36).  

Time and time again, this was forgotten (Jeremiah 7:11). Time and time again, the Lord’s house was a house of idolatry (Ezekiel chapter 8). Eventually, the Glory of the Lord departed the Temple (Ezekiel 11:23) just as He had departed the tent of meeting at Shiloh. The difference was, after the Holy Spirit departed the Temple in Ezekiel’s day, He never again returned with a promise to dwell at a certain location. 

The Holy Spirit in the Congregation  

Instead of a localized presence where the unrighteous can draw near and imperil themselves, the Holy Spirit now dwells among the righteous: the saints who have been justified by the shed blood of Jesus Christ. God’s Temple is no longer a building but instead is a people  (2 Corinthians 6:16). 

God’s congregational presence will never again be confined to a single building. Jesus has promised us that He is with us always and to the end of the world (Matthew 28:20). As long as this world remains, the Holy Spirit’s  presence will not be tied to a location, but instead it is tied to a people (Ephesians 2:21, 1 Corinthians 3:16). After this world ends and the new one begins, we won’t need a single Temple building, because He will dwell with us for eternity. 

Revelation 21:3 (ESV) — And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. 

The shift from a physical temple to a Spiritual Temple also brings with it a shift in religious regulations (Hebrews 7:12). When God drew near to a physical location, laws regarding physical purity were necessary. The purpose of this was to teach heavenly truths through physical object lessons (Hebrews 8:5). It’s these regulations regarding physical purity that were abolished by Christ’s incarnation, death and resurrection  (Ephesians 2:15). The congregation is righteous, pure and holy because of the spiritually cleansing power of  Jesus' blood (Ephesians 5:25-27), not because of the purity of her flesh or works (2 Corinthians 5:16). 

The True Temple of the Spirit 

The physical temple and her furnishings were copies designed to show heavenly things. Similarly, the physical Tent and Temple were buildings designed to give testimony to an even greater thing: the God who dwells with His people (John 1:14-18). The Kingdom of God is not centered on a physical temple, but rather, a spiritual one. We must always remember that God no longer ties His “presence promise” to physical locations, but instead, to spiritual truths. The Holy Spirit can and does work anywhere.  

Wherever the Word of Jesus Christ is being proclaimed, the Spirit of God is present and working, and wherever people are obeying and believing that Word, God is building a Temple for His Holy Spirit to dwell in (1 Corinthians 3:1-17). The Temple of God is wherever two or three are gathered in the name of Jesus Christ (Matthew 18:20). God has promised that His Holy Spirit is present among us. No matter what it “feels” like, as long as we hear and do not disregard His Word we never have to doubt that the Holy Spirit is dwelling with us.