Coming clear

I've been doing a Bible study about the Holy Spirit.  Usually I try to study books of the Bible.  Topical studies are not my forte, but I've been impressed by the importance of this particular topic.

I don't think we understand nearly as much as we could, or should, about the power available to us through the gift of the Holy Spirit.  I'm not talking about speaking in tongues or similarly outward (and sometimes sensational) manifestations.  I'm talking about being filled with the presence and power of God, through His Spirit, and walking in victory.

Here is a diagram we are using in our Holy Spirit study:

(You can click on this image to see it bigger.
I should have included the reference Revelation 22:2 with the tree on the right)

Chiasm is a literary device that uses symmetry to create a central idea. What comes before the central idea points ahead to the central idea.  What comes after the central idea points back at the central idea.  The things leading up to and out from the central idea reflect each other symmetrically in a pattern that can be described as:

A B C D X D C B A

where X is the central idea.

I explained the Story of the Bible in a previous post, where I wrote:

The Bible is the story of God's plan for humanity.  The Bible begins with a perfect garden that contained two very significant trees, one whose fruit would lead to eternal life, and another whose fruit would burden humanity with the knowledge of evil.  The Bible ends with a city that has a river running through it, and on each side of the river stands the tree of life, yielding fruit every month, with leaves for the healing of nations.  At the center of the Bible, at the heart of this story, there is a single tree, a bare, cursed tree.  This tree bore no leaves, nor any fruit.  From its limbs hung our precious Lord and Savior, with nails through His hands and feet.  He was undoing the curse of the tree that brought the knowledge of evil, so that eventually all evil will be eradicated, all trees will bring forth pure blessings, and paradise will prevail for all eternity.

Can you see how this relates to the above diagram?

God's eternal purpose is to dwell with the people He created, with us.  This is what it means to say, "Thy Kingdom come."  It is all for our good and His glory: The dwelling of God with man.

During the time after the fall into sin, and before the triumph of the cross, God instituted the Law as a way for people to access and relate to Him by seeking forgiveness through sacrifice.  The Law explains what is good, what is righteous in the sight of God, what is beneficial for health and well-being.  The ceremonial parts of the Law provided pictures and symbols to illustrate what God would one day bring to pass in perfection, through His Messiah, Jesus Christ.  You can read more about that in my post called, Sin, the Promise, the Law and the Word of God.  God instituted the guidelines for worship through cleansing and sacrifices at the tabernacle (and later the temple), so that He could dwell in the midst of His people.

Of course, the cross of Christ is the focal point of all history.  Jesus became God in flesh, a mystery I don't know if we will ever be able to fully comprehend.  The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, (John 1:14).  Yes, Jesus dwelt on earth, among men.  Yet, constrained by space and time, Jesus could only minister to a limited number of people during His time here.  "I must go away, and you think you need to grieve this, but actually, it is better for you!" Jesus told His disciples right before He was crucified. "It is better for you if I go, because only then can the Holy Spirit come to you and live in you and be your constant helper and guide," (see John 14 and 16; I've very loosely paraphrased).  Only if Jesus went away could His Spirit come, transcending time and space to indwell all who will accept Him.

Jesus told the truth.  Jesus always tells the truth.  Jesus is, in fact, Truth.  So it happened just as He said.  He was crucified.  He gave up His Spirit, and the curtain in the temple tore in two from top to bottom.  The Holy of Holies no longer embodied the presence of God, as it had for so many centuries.

Through Jesus, God made a new way to relate to us, to dwell with us.  He sent His Spirit at Pentecost, to enter and indwell each believer, uniting us to form the body of Christ, the church.  "He raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus," (Ephesians 2:6).  Raised us.  Not "will raise us," but raised, already.  We are seated with Christ.  We are united with Him, now.  We are indwelt by the very Spirit of God.  We are indeed partakers of the divine nature (2 Peter 1:4), and, from the moment we ask Him to forgive our sins and make us His own, we are immortal.  We carry eternal Truth in our physical bodies.

I hope you are amazed as you read this.  I hope it takes your breath away.  This is the promise and the gift of God to us.  Think about it.  Take a minute and just stop and think: we are filled with the divine nature of God, the almighty power of God, and the immortal life of God.  If that doesn't encourage you, I don't know what will.

Anyway, I had all these thoughts in my head the other day, while I was reading the story of the Samaritan woman at the well, in John 4.  And, for the first time, I clearly understood what was going on in the conversation Jesus had with her.

First, they talked about Living Water, which is the Holy Spirit (compare John 4:10-14 with John 7:38-39).  Jesus told the woman that if she knew what He had to offer, she would ask for water that would bubble up in her to eternal life, and she would never thirst again.  He was promising the future to her.  He knew what He was on earth to accomplish.

Then the conversation took a strange turn, and Jesus brought up the uncomfortable issue of the lack of marital faithfulness in this woman's life.  Perhaps feeling awkward, she turned the conversation to a question about the law:  "So tell me, why is it that you Jews insist that Jerusalem is the only place of worship, while we Samaritans claim it is here at Mount Gerizim, where our ancestors worshipped?"

In essence, she was asking, "Where is the dwelling place of God?"

Jesus told her, "My dear woman, the time is coming when it will no longer matter whether you worship on this mountain or in Jerusalem..." (John 4:21).  I believe He said this because He knew she needed cleansing so she could fellowship with God, and He also knew that the temporary, imperfect cleansing of the ceremonial sacrifices were not the cleansing she needed, whether on an unholy mountain or at the temple in Jerusalem.  She needed the cleansing of Jesus' own precious blood, soon to be poured out on her behalf.  And she needed the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit, who would live in her and transform her into the holy image of God.  No longer would people need to figure out where to go to worship, because God was coming to dwell with us in a new way, through His Holy Spirit.

Jesus said, "The time is coming--indeed it's here now--when true worshippers will worship the Father in Spirit and in Truth.  The Father is looking for those who will worship Him in that way.  For God is Spirit, so those who worship Him must worship in Spirit and in Truth" (John 4:24).

Jesus knew that He stood at the fulcrum of all time, when the way for God to dwell with man would change fundamentally: God's Spirit now comes to indwell all who surrender to cleansing from sin by the sacrificial blood of Christ.  The Spirit of Jesus dwells in our hearts through faith: living water, quenching our thirst for righteousness.  "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness; they shall be filled," (Matthew 5:6).

This is the guarantee and downpayment on our eternally glorious future inheritance in paradise, when we will dwell face-to-face in His unveiled presence forever.

Oh, Jesus.  How You understood Your mission and loved the people You came to save.  You spoke in mysteries that we can only begin to unravel.  Help us understand and appreciate what You have done for us, and what Your Spirit is doing in us.  Help us worship You in Spirit and in Truth.  Thank you for the incomprehensible grace of Your gift of Your Spirit, for giving Yourself to us.  How can You, Holy God, give Yourself to us?  And yet, You made us and You love us.  Thank you, Jesus.  Show us Your glory.