The Book on the Holy Spirit for the Common Believer

We have a loving God who is not satisfied just keeping an eye on us from a distance. In the Old Testament times, God the Father spoke directly to the Israelites and tabernacled with them for 40 years in the desert. In fact, God’s Tabernacle was right in the center of the camp surrounded by the 12 tribes of Israel. God the Father was with His chosen people.

In fulfilment of the Old Testament prophecies, God who is spirit, became flesh to tabernacle among His creation:

All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”). ~Matt 1:22-23

His disciples could talk to Him and touch Him, and they got to eat with Him and watch Him perform the most amazing miracles. They learned that God is humble, compassionate, loving and sacrificial. They realized that He was not only God with us, He was also God for us. Those who saw Jesus saw His Father in Heaven.

When the time came for Jesus to face the cross, He told His disciples that He would not leave them as orphans:

And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever—the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. ~Jn 14:16-18

As born-again Christians, God is not only with us, He is God in us. Whereas Jesus, being fully human (and fully God), limited Himself to being only in one place at any one time during His earthly ministry, the Holy Spirit is with all of us at the same time. He connects us to the Father and to Jesus at all times. No wonder the psalmist says, “Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there” (Ps 139:7-8). We are not only covered by the blood that Jesus shed, but we also have the Spirit of God living in our hearts. God is truly with us.

The thing about having God in us is that there is no hiding from Him. After Adam and Eve ate from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, they hid from God among the trees in the Garden of Eden. They thought that God would not see them. Now with the Holy Spirit in us, He would still ask us “Where are you?” if we try to hide from Him or seem lost in our own world. He will help us recognize our sins and remind us that Jesus has crushed the head of the serpent. He will get us to put on the cloak of righteousness.

We the Temple

As if that is not enough, God makes our body His temple. The Gospel of Matthew tells us that at the very moment that Jesus died, the veil in the Temple was torn into two. The sacrifice that Jesus made for us immediately gives us direct access to God, into the Holy of Holies. The worship of God was no longer limited to the Temple, but is from our hearts. God has made our bodies His temple where his Spirit resides:

Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies. ~1 Cor 6:19-20