Weekly Reflection: 5/1/23

“Fellowship With the Holy Spirit – He Dwells in you.” Bible Reflection to go along with message on 4/30/23

• Having left everything to follow Jesus the disciples heard some alarming words: “Little children, yet a little while I am with you. You will seek me, and just as I said to the Jews, so now I also say to you, ‘Where I am going you cannot come.’” John‬ 13‬:33‬ ESV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬
• He had spent the past three years inviting people to follow Him. Now He is going away.

The Presence of God

• Throughout the Word of God you see a God who desires to be with His people, a God who seems to be continually moving toward His people, moving toward a restoring of the intimacy that we were created to have with Him.
• We see that in the accounts of Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, and Moses. God choosing and moving toward His people to be with them. (verses that were referenced on Sunday – Genesis 12:1-3, Exodus 19:10-20, Exodus 25:8, Exodus 33:15-16, Exodus 40:33-34)
• You see it in with the judges, prophets and kings; His people wandering away and God going after them and bringing them back.
• Than the New Testament starts with God moving even closer to His people in the person of Jesus. (Matthew 1:23, John 1:14)

But Jesus is going away

• But one day He said, “ I Think about this. 
• “He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” Matthew‬ 16‬:15‬-16‬, 18‬ ESV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬
• What would the church become? 
• A group of people gathering around a fading memory of what it was like to have God with them?
• will be with you only a little while longer.”
• Into that uncertainty, fear, despair Jesus spoke words that offered new hope: “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.” John‬ 14‬:18‬ ESV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬
• But what did Jesus mean when He said, “I will come to you.”?
• How would He come?
• This has been understood a couple different ways.
• Jesus could be referring to His resurrection appearances.
• Or Jesus could be referring to the fact that there is a day coming when He will return, the Second Coming.
• Or thirdly, and I believe this is what Jesus meant, that this promise that He would come to them was fulfilled at Pentecost when the Holy Spirit was poured out.
• What Jesus is saying is that His departure will not be like that of a father whose children are left as orphans when he dies.
• Jesus is saying that, “In the Spirit I am Myself coming back to you.” (Galatians 4:6, Philippians 1:19)
• The Holy Spirit’s coming would be like having Jesus with them.
• This seems like it must be the basis for Jesus’ startling statement in John 16.
• “Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.” John‬ 16‬:7‬ ESV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬
• Better not worse, superior not inferior, surpassing their previous experience of being with Jesus, better than touching Jesus, walking with Jesus, leaning on Jesus.
• How could it be better?

He dwells with you

• “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.” John‬ 14‬:16‬-17‬ ESV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬
• “You know Him, for He dwells with you.” – that’s written in the present tense.
• Jesus is teaching them that they have been in the company of the Holy Spirit for three years.
• They had witnessed the power of the Holy Spirit in their daily experience of being with Jesus.
• “how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.” Acts‬ 10‬:38‬ ESV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬
• The disciples had first-hand exposure to the power of the Holy Spirit; “You know Him, for He dwells with you.”
• “And will be in you.” – that’s written in the future tense.
• Jesus is teaching that sometime in the future the Holy Spirit that they now know will be in them.
• This promise is immediately followed by the promise we already looked at, ““I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.” John‬ 14‬:18‬ ESV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬
• Their new and powerful experience of the Spirit in them was to be understood as Christ coming to them in a new way.
• They would not be orphans and left alone. They would have an internal experience of the Holy Spirit that would be in keeping with the mighty activity of the Spirit that they had observed in Jesus’ life and ministry.
• So in many ways the book of Acts would look very much like a continuation of the gospel accounts. (Acts 1:1-2)
• Similar power would be present. Similar boldness would be observable.
• These uneducated and untrained men” would astound the Jewish religious leaders, who were amazed and recognized them as having been with Jesus (Acts 4:13).
• On the Day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit was poured out and they were clothed with power from on high I have to think that someone shouted, “He’s back!”
• Their glorious Lord was manifestly among them again.
• God with us. Jesus coming to us.
• It was about God with His people in the beginning, it was God with His people in the middle and it is going to be God with His people for all eternity.