The Holy Spirit Indwells

Imagine the disciples’ despondency after having spent 3 years with Jesus and now facing His absence. Who would they turn to for help in casting out a demon or knowing the right words to say in a Gospel encounter? Who would take the teachable moments in their life and seize them? With Jesus’ leaving, there was discouragement (John 14:1). And in John 14, Jesus set out to encourage these men with the promise of a reunion in heaven (vs. 3) and the guarantee of eternal life to those who believe (vs. 6-7).

And in John 14:16-17, we read this, “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.”

At the time Jesus said this, believers were still under the Old Covenant and hadn’t received the permanent indwelling of the Spirit. But now the promise would be for the Spirit to actually indwell them “for good.” In Ezekiel, we are told of this New Covenant promise. “And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules…And I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I am the Lord; I have spoken, and I will do it, declares the Lord” (Ezekiel 36:37; 37:14).

The Spirit takes up residence in the believer; that is His indwelling. A simple definition of indwelling is “the presence or abiding of the Holy Spirit within each individual believer that abides in him forever.” The indwelling validates one is genuinely saved. On this side of the cross, you cannot be saved and not have the Spirit’s indwelling (Romans 8:9-11).

On the other side of the cross, under the Old Covenant, you could be part of the family of God and not have His permanent indwelling. In the O.T., the Spirit would come upon someone temporarily or alongside but never permanently.

Why would the Holy Spirit do this? Why does He indwell? Let me give you 5 reasons the Holy Spirit indwells us.

• To partner with His sealing our salvation (e.g., guarding the good deposit in II Timothy 1:14) and thus building our assurance

• To change us unto the image of the Son (e.g., being transformed into the image of His Son from one degree of glory to another in II Corinthians 3:18)

• To enable us to use our gifts in the body of Christ (I Cor 12-14)

• To teach us (I John 2:27)

• To strengthen us for obedience (e.g., keeping his commandments because He abides in us in I John 3:24)

The Spirit does not come, take up residence, and just sit around idle. He is active and at work in our hearts.