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When we watch a movie and suddenly a character acts out of character or someone we thought was dead reappears, we realize we must have missed something. We pause, rewind, and search for the missing link. Similarly, if we're not paying close attention to Scripture, we might think the Holy Spirit only entered the scene in John 14-16 and Acts 1-2. But that would mean we missed something crucial: the Holy Spirit has always been on the scene.
The presence of the Holy Spirit goes back as far as Genesis 1. In Genesis 1:1-2, as God created the heavens and the earth, "the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters." The Holy Spirit was present from the very beginning.
Throughout the Old Testament, we see the Spirit of God at work. In Genesis 41:37-39, Pharaoh asks, "Where can we find a man in whom is the Spirit of God?" when seeking to appoint the next Prime Minister of Egypt. In Exodus 31:1-3, God commissions Bezalel, a creative craftsman, saying, "I have filled him with the Spirit of God" to build the sacred artifacts where God would meet His people.
We see the Spirit empowering judges and leaders: Othniel, Gideon, Jephthah, and Samson all experienced the Spirit of the Lord coming upon them. In 1 Samuel 16, when David is anointed as king, "the Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day moving forward." Ezekiel encountered the Spirit repeatedly—"The Spirit entered me," "The Spirit lifted me up," "The Spirit of the Lord fell upon me."
The Holy Spirit's presence spans the entire Bible. He appears in Genesis 1:2 and again in Revelation 22:17, which says, "And the Spirit and bride say come." The Spirit is present in the first chapter of the first book and the last chapter of the last book.
Who wrote the entire Bible? Second Peter 1:20-21 tells us: "Above all, you must realize that no prophecy in scripture ever came from a prophet's own understanding nor from human initiative. Those prophets were moved by the Holy Spirit and they spoke from God." Job 33:4 says, "The Spirit of God has made me and the breath of the Almighty gives me life." The Holy Spirit is the author of Scripture, inspiring all the writers. The Bible calls God's word "the sword of the Spirit"—that's how intricately involved the Holy Spirit is in Scripture.
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Just as there are prophecies about Jesus's coming in the flesh, there are also prophecies about what God intended to do with the Holy Spirit. These prophecies appear throughout the Old Testament.
Isaiah 32:15 declares: "Until the spirit is poured upon us from on high. And the wilderness becomes a fruitful field and the fruitful field is counted as a forest." Isaiah 44:3 continues this promise: "I will pour water on those who are thirsty and floods on the dry ground. I will pour out my spirit."
The intention of God has always been to pour out the Holy Spirit upon His people. Joel 2:28 captures this radical promise: "It shall come to pass afterwards that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh. Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy and your young men shall dream dreams. Your old men shall dream dreams and your young men shall see visions. Even on the male and female servants in those days I will pour out my spirit."
Understand how radical this was. In those days, women were not even allowed into the space where they worshipped. Yet God was promising that there would come a time when men and women would have equal experience of God, equal access to God. Jews and Greeks, male and female—it didn't matter their age, creed, or standing. They would all have one unified experience: the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
In the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit would come upon people and then leave. He would empower them, lift them up, accomplish great things through them, and then depart. He never stayed. The first person with the permanent, staying presence of the Holy Spirit was Jesus.
This was the sign God gave to John the Baptist, the forerunner who announced Jesus's coming. John 1:29-34 records: "The next day John the Baptist saw Jesus coming towards him and said, 'Look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.' I did not recognize him as the Messiah, but I have been baptizing with water so that he may be revealed to Israel. I saw the Holy Spirit descending like a dove from heaven and resting on him. The one on whom you see the spirit descend and rest is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.'"
John testified: "I saw the Holy Spirit come and go, but for the first time I saw Him come and stay." The permanent, personal presence of the Holy Spirit was the identifier that Jesus was the Son of God and the one who would baptize people with the Holy Spirit.
Jesus promised to send the Holy Spirit to fulfill the prophecies of Joel. John 15:26 records His words: "But when the helper comes, whom I will send to you." Acts 2:33 confirms: "Jesus being exalted to the right hand of God and having received from the Father the gift, the promise of the Holy Spirit, he poured it out."
Luke 3:16 records John the Baptist's announcement: "I baptize you with water, but one mightier than I is coming whose sandal straps I cannot undo. He will baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire."
God sent the Son. The Son sends the Spirit.
God presented His Son to us. The Son poured out His Spirit over us. Jesus stood at the great feast in John 7:37 and cried out: "If anyone thirst, let him come to me. The one that pours out, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in me, as the scriptures have said, his heart out of his heart will overflow rivers of living water. I'm not just going to quench their thirst. I'm going to fill them with so much water that they will overflow."
John 7:39 explains: "He spoke concerning the Spirit of God, concerning the Holy Spirit whom those believing in him would receive, for the Holy Spirit had not yet been given because Jesus had not yet been glorified."
The glorification of Jesus—His death, resurrection, ascension, and exaltation at the right hand of God—made possible the outpouring of the Spirit. All the prophecies of the Old Testament, all the promises of Jesus in the New Testament, all the declarations of John the Baptist culminated in one day: Pentecost.
Fifty days after the death of Jesus, ten days after His ascension, Acts 2:1-4 records: "When the day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place and suddenly there was a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind. It filled the house where they were sitting and there appeared to them divided tongues as of fire. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. There appeared on them divided tongues of fire and sat upon each of them. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit."
This was both an individual experience and a collective experience. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit.
It's crucial to understand an important distinction: the salvation experience is different from the baptism in the Holy Spirit. When Jesus spoke to His disciples in Acts 1:3-8 during the 40 days after His resurrection, He commanded them: "Do not leave Jerusalem until the Father sends you the gift he promised you. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you." This refers to something different from their salvation.
What is the salvation experience? John 3:16 says: "For God so loved the world that whosoever believes in him should not perish." Romans 10:9 declares: "If you openly declare the Lord Jesus as your Lord and you believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved." Salvation requires two things: believing that God raised Jesus from the dead, and confessing Jesus as your Lord—not just vocal admission, but total surrender of your life to Jesus.
The purpose of the salvation experience is to get us in Christ and Christ in us. These are two distinct aspects.
Ephesians 2:5-6 tells us: "Even when we were dead in trespasses, he made us alive together with Christ. By grace have you been saved. He raised us up together and made us to sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus." Romans 8:1 affirms: "Therefore now there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus."
Galatians 3:26-28 explains: "In Christ Jesus, you are all sons of God through faith. As many of you as are baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is now no distinction between Jews and Greek, male and female, slave and free. You are all one in Christ Jesus."
When we say yes to Jesus, we are baptized into Jesus. Who baptizes us into Jesus? The Holy Spirit. First Corinthians 12:12-13 says: "For just as the body is a unity and yet has many parts, and all the parts, though many, form only one body, so it is with Christ. By the means of the one Holy Spirit, we were all baptized and united into one body, and we are all made to drink of one Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit that gets us in Christ."
Galatians 2:20 declares: "I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me." Colossians 1:27 says: "Christ in you, the hope of glory."
How does Jesus get inside us? Galatians 4:6 reveals: "Because you are God's sons, God sent his Holy Spirit of his son into your hearts." The way Jesus is in you is through the Holy Spirit. Romans 8:15 confirms: "You received a spirit of adoption by whom you cry, Abba Father." Second Corinthians 1:22 states: "God has identified us as his own by placing the Holy Spirit in us."
The Bible doesn't use symbolic language here—it is literal. Just as water is in a container, the Holy Spirit has been placed in you. It's not on the outside; it's inside. First John 4:13 assures us: "God has given us his Spirit as proof that we live in him and he lives in us."
Ezekiel 36:26 records God's promise about the future: "I will give you a new heart. I will give you a new spirit. I will put my spirit in you." At salvation, when we say yes to Jesus, we receive a new heart and a new spirit that can host and house Christ in the person of the Holy Spirit.
The disciples in John 20 received the Holy Spirit through Jesus breathing on them—they were saved. Yet in Acts 1-2, Jesus told them to wait for a different experience: the baptism in the Holy Spirit, the outpouring. Acts 8 and Acts 19 show believers who were saved—they believed in Jesus—yet when asked, "Did you receive the Holy Spirit?" some replied, "I did not even know there was a Holy Spirit." The disciples laid hands on them, and they were filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke in other tongues. This is a different experience from salvation.
The third crucial point is this: the Holy Spirit is here to help. Everything about the Holy Spirit is to help.
Salvation makes us heaven ready. The Holy Spirit makes us earthly relevant.
Salvation helps us get to heaven. The Holy Spirit helps us live here on earth. You can be headed to heaven but have a miserable life here on earth. It is possible to live with abundant joy as you journey to heaven. The decades you spend waiting to be united with God forever don't have to be miserable.
That's why Jesus said in John 16:7: "Nevertheless, I tell you, it is to your advantage that I go away. For if I do not go away, the helper will not come. But if I depart, I will send him to you." The Holy Spirit in you is better than having Jesus physically present beside you.
