Amazed. Confused. Not understanding. Uncomprehending. This is how the disciples must have been conflicted as Jesus spent his last moments with them after his resurrection. They were overjoyed when he rose from the grave, but when he said he was going back to his Father it must have saddened them. Yet in spite of the fact that he said he was leaving, he also said, “Be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20).
He was going away, yet he said he would be with them always. What an apparent contradiction! But because of the mystery and perfect relationship of the Trinity, Jesus would be with them through the presence of the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit. “And now I will send the Holy Spirit,” Jesus said, “just as my Father promised” (Luke 24:49).
Ten days later as the disciples and others (about 120 believers) were gathered in prayer, something extraordinary happened. It is a matter of historical record. The Scriptures, which are reliable, explain that “there was a sound from heaven like the roaring of a mighty windstorm in the skies above them, and it filled the house where they were meeting. Then what looked like flames or tongues of fire appeared and settled on each of them. And everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in other languages, as the Holy Spirit gave them this ability” (Acts 2:2-4).
Jews from many nations had gathered in Jerusalem for the annual festival of Shavuot (Pentecost in Greek) and they came running out to see what all the commotion was about. To their surprise, they heard “their own language being spoken by the believers” (Acts 2:6). Then Peter stepped forward and said, “What you see this morning was predicted centuries ago by the prophet Joel:
‘In the last days, God said,
I will pour out my Spirit
upon all people. Your sons and
daughters will prophesy, your
young men will see visions,
and your old men will dream
dreams’” (Acts 2:16-17).
Peter continued with a message about Jesus dying and being raised to life again for the forgiveness of sin. And that day about 3000 people became followers of Christ.
Later, Peter and John went to the temple for afternoon prayers and saw a crippled man begging for money. Peter told him, “I don’t have any money for you. But I’ll give you what I have. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, get up and walk” (Acts 3:6). Amazingly, the lame man leaped up and began praising God. The disciples went throughout the city preaching and doing many miracles in the name of Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit.
What started as a band of 120 followers of Jesus grew to thousands within weeks. The message of Jesus spread beyond Jerusalem like wildfire. Each new believer became a living witness of what God could do in a person’s life. It was happening exactly as Jesus had said it would. “When the Holy Spirit has come upon you, you will receive power and will tell people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8).
Transformed lives, answers to prayers, miracles performed in Jesus’ name are all a result of the workings of the third person of the Trinity—the Holy Spirit.
Previously frightened and cowardly disciples had become bold preachers of Jesus and his message. They performed signs and wonders. The message they proclaimed resulted in millions of lives being transformed. This was not a result of nothing more than a vague, undefined influence of good, or some mystical force. It was God the Holy Spirit at work. And by the third century over 20 million people had made claim to the transforming power of Christ through the Holy Spirit.1 All this enormous growth in Christianity is evidence of God sending his promised Comforter. And for over 2000 years every true believer of Jesus has been a testimony to the living proof that the Holy Spirit is a real person who is active in the lives of people.
Transformed lives, answers to prayers, miracles performed in Jesus’ name are all a result of the workings of the third person of the Trinity—the Holy Spirit. God the Father and God the Son are in heaven. In Peter’s opening message on the Day of Pentecost, he declared that Jesus “sits on the throne of highest honor in heaven, at God’s right hand” (Acts 2:33). So are the supernatural manifestations of God on earth a result of the Father or of the Son? Or, is it the work of God the Holy Spirit?
Because of the incomprehensible mystery of the Trinity, it is simply God at work—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. That is why it is not inappropriate or incorrect to say that Jesus changes lives, or for a child to say, “God lives in my heart.” For Jesus himself said he would never leave us, but he clearly sits at God’s right hand. Yet we know he is in our hearts through the power of his Holy Spirit. In fact, Jesus said, “When I am raised to life again, you will know that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you” (John 14:20). That means the one God in his fullness dwells within us and us within him through the power of the Holy Spirit.
Although we find it impossible to grasp the absolute perfection of God’s triune relationship, that does not diminish or lessen the reality of the Holy Spirit as a person in our lives. As C.S. Lewis said, it isn’t necessary to understand the process of digestion in order for your food to nourish you. We might say that after Jesus ascended into heaven to sit at the Father’s right hand, God the Holy Spirit became the interactive agent of God to us. Jesus said, “The Father sends the Counselor [Holy Spirit] as my representative” (John 14:26). But he is more than just a being for us to know about intellectually. Someone has suggested that when the Holy Spirit was poured out, the word God was not only a noun—it also became a verb. Rather than just learning who God is or following the teaching of Jesus impersonally, the Holy Spirit brings God actually into our lives. He is the active, moving nature of God that impels us to action. God the Holy Spirit is about living, loving, responding, enjoying, embracing, comforting, supporting, accepting, encouraging, respecting, disciplining, growing, empowering, and a myriad of other such verbs.
The Holy Spirit is the dynamic, active, and ever-present person of the Trinity. We experience him in our everyday living. He demonstrates himself even in our capacity to love as God loves. “If we love each other,” John said, “God lives in us, and his love has been brought to full expression through us. And God has given us his Spirit as proof that we live in him and he in us” (1 John 4:12-13). The Holy Spirit is real. He evidenced himself powerfully on the Day of Pentecost two centuries ago. And his Spirit is additional proof that we live in him, for the “Holy Spirit speaks to us deep in our hearts and tells us that we are God’s children” (Romans 8:16).
Because of these things we can confidently know the truth that God the Holy Spirit exists. And because he is the active and interactive person of the Trinity that dwells within us, he is infinitely relevant to our lives. That is the subject of the next chapter.