THE PRESENCE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
David J Hutson
1 Timothy 3: 14, 15
1 Corinthians 3: 16, 17; 6: 19 (from “Do”), 20
I was impressed, beloved, on Lord’s day with the fact of the presence of the Holy Spirit here, thinking of who that blessed Person is. It says as to Christ, “who is over all, God blessed for ever” (Rom 9: 5), but think of the Holy Spirit and the greatness of who He is. I have often thought - and no doubt others have thought of it - of the place that He has in the divine record. We often speak of the place He has taken in what we speak of as the economy, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit; the Holy Spirit Himself being here in wonderful grace, as we say, in service. And yet, in the divine record, it is the Holy Spirit who is spoken of distinctively at the very beginning of Genesis: “the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters”, Gen 1: 2. How wonderful that is! And there are other references to Him, to that glorious Person, throughout the Old Testament. It is very wonderful that, though taking such a place as He has done in this divine arrangement, yet there is that distinctiveness of His Person in the divine record in what we speak of as the Old Testament. How great He is! How glorious! Wonderful! I have just been impressed with it. Beloved, I am very dependent in what I say as to the greatness of His Person. If the Holy Spirit is here, God is here, dwelling in the assembly. His presence is to be known also in the local assembly and then to be known individually, hence I read these three scriptures. But I ask myself if I realise the immensity of this present time in which we are when God Himself is dwelling here in the Spirit?. It speaks of God as “dwelling in unapproachable light; whom no man has seen, nor is able to see” (1 Tim 6: 16); it speaks of Him as inhabiting eternity (Isa 57: 15); and yet the wonder of it is that that God is dwelling here in the Spirit. It is really too profound for us to comprehend, and yet it is true. But what effect does it have upon us? That is why I read these three scriptures.
Paul was concerned as to Timothy, that he should know how to conduct himself. It is remarkable he puts it that way. He does not say, ‘how you ought to conduct yourself’, but “how one ought to conduct oneself”; so it applies to each one of us, “how one ought to conduct oneself in God’s house”. My house is where I live; God’s house is where He dwells, and He dwells in the assembly by the Spirit. Again He is referred to as God, “God’s house, which is the assembly of the living God, the pillar and base of the truth”. How wonderful that is, that there is a vessel in which God is able to dwell by the Spirit, and it is so because it is the product of His own work. That house has been built by God Himself, by the Spirit, and it is here, and God is dwelling in His house, in the assembly, by the Spirit. How wonderful that is!
And it finds its expression in our local companies. Paul is speaking to the Corinthians, and here he uses the word, “Do ye not know that ye are the temple of God,” - He is speaking to the saints as together - “and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?”. It is not that we can speak of being the local assembly; it is hardly necessary to say that now in this day of fragmentation. How many more there are in this place who belong to the assembly, who are not available to us! Thank God! Do we value the local assembly enough? Do I value enough that I have been brought where the light of the assembly is so that I can know something of the blessedness of what it is that God is dwelling by the Spirit in the local assembly? As I say, we cannot claim to be that, but we can know something of the blessedness of the dwelling of the Holy Spirit as we come together and have some experience of assembly life. As we were reminded, I think, on Lord’s day, the Lord’s supper would introduce us into it. We come together individually, and we celebrate the Lord’s supper. The Lord Jesus comes in, and we honour Him, but He comes in in view of finding what is here that He can identify with Himself as of the assembly. So, as soon as He comes in among us, we are expanded in our hearts and thoughts and go beyond what we are just locally, and we think of Him in relation to what He has in that for which He has delivered Himself up: “Christ also loved the assembly, and has delivered himself up for it”, Eph 5: 25. He comes that He might find something of that character for Himself. We prove the reality of it as we are dependent on the Holy Spirit. So there again, having that experience, we immediately turn in acknowledgement of the presence of, and the worship due to, the Holy Spirit Himself as we proceed in the service of God. How these things should be living with us! I feel that for myself, that they are not just the routine movements on the Lord’s day morning, but something fresh and real. I think I can say for myself I had a distinct sense on Lord’s day, perhaps as not always realised, of the reality of these things in freshness and power, and all due to the presence here of the Holy Spirit. “Do ye not know that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?” So in the local assembly we prove something of the reality of that and what accrues to God Himself as the result of His presence here.
But then there is the other side, very searching to us: “Do ye not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit which is in you …?”. It is wonderful that Paul speaks of that! We cannot say, each one of us, that the Holy Spirit is in us without measure; that could only be said of Christ. Nevertheless, it says, “Do ye not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit which is in you, which ye have of God; and ye are not your own?”. How this would affect us! It is not a matter which is only true just at a certain time of the week or when we are gathered with the saints, when we come to the meeting, as we speak, but it is all the time. “Do ye not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit which is in you, which ye have of God; and ye are not your own? for ye have been bought with a price”: these precious bodies, as they are at present, although mortal and although to be changed into bodies of glory, “into conformity to his body of glory”, Phil 3: 21. “Ye have been bought with a price”: what a price has been paid in order that these bodies might be “the temple of the Holy Spirit … which ye have of God”.
And so it says, “glorify now then God in your body”. Again, as I say, it is not related to a particular time or a particular place, but it is all the time; so it comes as a challenge to us as to whether our movements here are in any sense for the glory of God. It is a challenge: just our normal occupation at work or domestically, whatever it be, is there something in it which God Himself can find His pleasure in? It says, “glorify now then God in your body”. I believe that means that there would be in it, in our bodies, some expression of what He found such infinite and perfect delight in in the life of Jesus. I find it a challenge, beloved, but I would encourage ourselves tonight that it might be so. It would be for God’s glory, but it would be for our blessing and for our infinite delight too to feel that there is something here, even at the present time, which is for God’s pleasure, which He finds as we realise the way these bodies have been taken account of, as being purchased at such a price, in order that the Holy Spirit might be here and there might be in them that which is expressed for the pleasure of God Himself.
I feel so searched in what I say. I feel the reality of the fact that “the word of God is … sharper than any two-edged sword”, Heb 4: 12. It strikes home as much to me as to any, but I trust it may be for His glory and pleasure as we take account of these things.
In the Name of the Lord Jesus.
Word in a Ministry Meeting, Edinburgh
16th February 2016