1. “I send forth the promise of My Father upon you; but as for you, stay in the city until you put on power from on high”; “Wait for the promise of the Father...You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you” (Luke 24:49; Acts 1:4-8).
The Lord spoke these words after His resurrection and before His ascension. He repeated the Father’s promise in the Old Testament concerning the Holy Spirit to His disciples, promising to pour out the Holy Spirit upon them as power when He ascended to the heavens. The aspect of the Holy Spirit as power is different from the aspect of the Holy Spirit as the Comforter. As the Comforter, He enters into the disciples, but as power, He comes upon them. Therefore, the Lord’s promise before His death and His promise after His resurrection relate to the two aspects of the Holy Spirit.
1. “It was evening on that day, the first day of the week...Jesus came and stood in the midst...He breathed into them and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit” (John 20:19-22).
Most people think that the Lord’s promise concerning the Comforter was not fulfilled until the day of Pentecost. However, the Bible shows that the Lord fulfilled His promise on the evening of the day of His resurrection. On the day of the Lord’s resurrection in John 20, the Lord came, stood in the midst of the disciples, breathed into them, and told them to receive the Holy Spirit. This fulfilled His promise concerning the Comforter. This was not the fulfillment of His promise concerning power, because that promise was spoken after this event but before His visible ascension in Acts 1:9-11. Some may ask, “How could the Comforter come so soon? The Lord said that if He did not go, the Comforter could not come, but on the evening of the day of His resurrection the Lord still had not ascended.” Those who say this have not read the Bible carefully. John 20 tells us clearly that the Lord ascended to the Father on the morning of the day of resurrection. When He appeared to Mary in the morning on the day of resurrection, Mary wanted to touch Him, but He said, “Do not touch Me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to My brothers and say to them, I ascend to My Father” (v. 17). He did not let Mary touch Him because He had not yet ascended to the Father. He could not be touched by anyone before He placed the freshness of His resurrection before the Father in His ascension. Eight days later, however, He allowed Thomas to touch Him (v. 27), which indicates that He had ascended to the Father on the morning of His resurrection. Consequently, He could give the Holy Spirit as the Comforter to the disciples on the evening of the day of His resurrection, fulfilling the promise that He made to them before His death.
Furthermore, John 7:39, which says, “The Spirit was not yet, because Jesus had not yet been glorified,” also proves that the Lord could send the Spirit after His resurrection, because He was glorified in His resurrection from the dead (Luke 24:26). He rose from the dead through the Holy Spirit, through which He was designated the Son of God in power (Rom. 1:4) and through which His disciples were regenerated (1 Pet. 1:3), making them His brothers and the Father’s many sons. He was able to send the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of the Son into the disciples so that we could call His Father our Father (Gal. 4:6; John 20:17).
Thus, according to the Bible, the Holy Spirit as the Comforter came on the day of resurrection, not on the day of Pentecost. The Lord’s promise concerning the Comforter was not fulfilled on the day of Pentecost but on the day of resurrection.
1. “As the day of Pentecost was being fulfilled, they were all together in the same place. And suddenly there was a sound out of heaven, as of a rushing violent wind...And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:1-4).
This verse refers to the descending of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. This fulfilled the Father’s promise concerning the Holy Spirit of power whom the Lord spoke of before His ascension. On the day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit descended in His aspect of power, not in His aspect as the Comforter. This was different from the day of resurrection. On the day of resurrection, the Holy Spirit descended as the Comforter. On the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit was poured out as power.
1. “Another Comforter...He abides with you and shall be in you” (John 14:16-17).
This verse says that the Holy Spirit as the Comforter abides with us and is in us. This speaks of the Holy Spirit in His function as life. Therefore, the Comforter is the Holy Spirit in the aspect of life for our inward life.
2. “The Comforter...will teach you” (John 14:26).
The Holy Spirit as the Comforter teaches us how to live before God. This is a function in the aspect of life.
3. “When the Comforter comes...He will testify concerning Me” (John 15:26).
The Lord Jesus was the first Comforter sent by God (the Greek word translated as “Advocate” in 1 John 2:1 can also be translated as “Comforter”). He went back to the heavens and sent the Holy Spirit as another Comforter, the second Comforter. In reality, the Holy Spirit as the Comforter is the transfiguration of Christ. He is Christ in another form coming and living in us. He testifies to us concerning Christ, reveals Christ in us, and makes Christ known in us as our life. All these items are related to the Holy Spirit in the aspect of life; they are functions according to the aspect of life.
4. “The Comforter...will convict the world...He will guide you into all the reality” (John 16:7-13).
Since the Holy Spirit as the Comforter is for our inward life, He will convict us and guide us into reality. Therefore, the Comforter’s convicting and guiding into reality are also the functions of the Holy Spirit in the aspect of life.