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The Promise of the Spirit, January 1
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And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter,
that he may abide with you forever.
John 14:16
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When Christ gave His disciples the promise of the Spirit, He was nearing
the close of His earthly ministry. He was standing in the shadow of the cross,
with a full realization of the load of guilt that was to rest upon Him as the
Sin Bearer. Before offering Himself as the sacrificial victim, He instructed
His disciples regarding a most essential and complete gift which He was to
bestow upon His followers—the gift that would bring within their reach the
boundless resources of His grace.
“I will pray the Father,” He said, “and he shall give you another Comforter,
that he may abide with you for ever; even the Spirit of truth; whom the world
cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know
him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you” (
John 14:16, 17
). The
Saviour was pointing forward to the time when the Holy Spirit should come to
do a mighty work as His representative. The evil that had been accumulating
for centuries was to be resisted by the divine power of the Holy Spirit....
The promise of the Holy Spirit is not limited to any age or to any race.
Christ declared that the divine influence of His Spirit was to be with His
followers unto the end. From the day of Pentecost to the present time, the
Comforter has been sent to all who have yielded themselves fully to the Lord
and to His service. To all who have accepted Christ as a personal Saviour, the
Holy Spirit has come as a counselor, sanctifier, guide, and witness. The more
closely believers have walked with God, the more clearly and powerfully
have they testified of their Redeemer’s love and of His saving grace. The men
and women who through long centuries of persecution and trial enjoyed a
large measure of the presence of the Spirit in their lives have stood as signs
and wonders in the world. Before angels and men they have revealed the
transforming power of redeeming love.—
The Acts of the Apostles, 47-49
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