Jesus taught His followers that the world cannot receive Him because they “cannot see or know him” (John 14:17). The world “cannot receive” the truth about Jesus because it follows Satan’s lies (John 8:44-45; 14:30). The world cannot “see him nor know him” because it fails to acknowledge the Spirit (Matthew 12:22-37; Acts 2:12-17). William Hendrickson remarks, “The Holy Spirit guides his people into the truth which is embodied in Christ and his redemption.”[i]

The words “You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you” are intimate and relational. According to Augustine, Christ dwelt physically with His disciples through the Holy Spirit, but also in an invisible way, as he explains commenting on John 14:17 that, “Nor can we have knowledge of Him unless He be in us.”[ii] Jesus knows the elect, those who are His, because He has opened their eyes to the truth about who He is, what He has done in His life, death, resurrection, and ascension. He now indwells them with the Holy Spirit, granting them an everlasting intimate relationship with God.

Ephesians 1:13-14 says, “In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, ¹⁴ who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.”

What is the indwelling of the Holy Spirit? What do we have to do to “get” the Holy Spirit, and what does it mean for the person who has the Holy Spirit? These are vital spiritual questions for those searching the Bible for answers to life! Paul wrote the above passage to the Church in Ephesus. In it, he explained the process of becoming “indwelt” by the Holy Spirit:

1. They listened to the gospel.
2. They believed in the gospel.

Two parts. They listened and believed. That’s it! When we hear and believe the gospel, our hearts break open at God’s love, mercy, and forgiveness, and the Spirit of God Himself comes inside our hearts! It is amazing, simple, and mysterious all at once!

The Indwelling of the Holy Spirit is a Promise

Paul tells us that the Holy Spirit comes into a believer as a seal of promise. But the promise of what? Philippians 1:6 states, “For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work among you will complete it by the day of Christ Jesus.”

The moment we are brought into faith and the Holy Spirit comes into our lives, that very moment we become part of His work and plan, and He promises that He will complete the good work He started in us. That good work consists of personal callings and growth, but also general work that God desires to accomplish in every believer’s heart. Below are some examples:

• Ephesians 2:10, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”
• Philippians 2:13, “…For God is the one working among you both the willing and the working for what pleases him.” 
• 1 Thessalonians 5:23, “Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will bring it to pass.”
• 2 Corinthians 1:20, “For as many are the promises of God, in Him they are yes, therefore also through Him is our Amen to the glory of God through us.” 
• 2 Thessalonians 1:11-12, “To this end also we pray for you always, that our God will count you worthy of your calling, and fulfill every desire for goodness and the work of faith with power, so that the name of our Lord Jesus will be glorified in you, and you in Him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.” 

The work God has for us to do, and the work He has to accomplish in us, for our good and His glory, is part of the promise we receive when the Holy Spirit comes into our hearts.

The Indwelling of the Holy Spirit is a Pledge

Paul tells us the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is a pledge. But a pledge of what? It has to do with our inheritance as children of God.

• 2 Corinthians 1:21-22, “Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and anointed us is God, who also sealed us and gave us the Spirit in our hearts as a pledge.” 
• 2 Corinthians 5:5, “Now He who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave to us the Spirit as a pledge.”
• Hebrews 9:15, “For this reason He is the mediator of a new covenant, so that, since a death has taken place for the redemption of the transgressions that were committed under the first covenant, those who have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.”
• 1 Peter 3:1-5, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” 

These verses reveal what our inheritance and pledge from the Holy Spirit mean to us. The word pledge in Greek often refers to a partial down payment. And the fulfillment of our inheritance is when we go home to live the rest of eternity in completion (no more wrestling against our sin and the sin of those around us) in heaven.

In the here and now, the Holy Spirit works in us and sanctifies us, but one day we will wake up to the soul-fulfillment of seeing God’s face and reflecting on Him just as we were always designed to. The Holy Spirit inside us is the good-faith marker Jesus leaves with us until the day He comes and gets us, either through the completion of our days here on Earth or as He comes to get all His children.

The Indwelling of the Holy Spirit is Power

The Holy Spirit inside the believer isn’t just meant as a promissory note for heaven but empowers us through all of our daily life now.

• John 14:26, “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.” 
• Luke 12:11, “When they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, do not worry about how or what you are to speak in your defense, or what you are to say; for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.”
• Acts 1:8, “…But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth…” 
• Romans 15:13, “Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”
• 1 Thessalonians 1:6, “…For our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction…”

As we walk our journey of faith daily the Holy Spirit through the Word of God is conforming us more into the image of the Lord Jesus.

“Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen” (Ephesians 3:20).

References:

[i] William Hendrickson, NTC: The Gospel of John (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker House, 1953), 277.

[ii] Aurelius Augustine, Gospel of John: Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Edited by Philip Schaff. First Series, Vol. 7 (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers. 2004), 335.