1)“When therefore 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).
This is the Lord, on the evening of the day of His resurrection, coming among the disciples and breathing into them for them to receive the Holy Spirit. This fulfills His promise made before His death concerning the Comforter.
1)“And when the day of Pentecost was being fulfilled, they were all together in the same place. And suddenly...out of heaven like a rushing violent wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting... and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:1-4).
This describes the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, fulfilling the promise of the Spirit of power, which was given by the Father and spoken of by the Lord to the disciples just before His ascension. Therefore, the Holy Spirit who descended was in the aspect of the power, not in the aspect of the Comforter, being different from what the Lord brought on the day of His resurrection. The Holy Spirit brought in on the day of resurrection is the “Comforter,” and the Holy Spirit who descended at Pentecost is the “power.”
1)“Comforter...may be with you...and shall be in you” (John 14:16-17).
It says here that the Holy Spirit as the Comforter is to be with us and in us. This speaks of the function of the Holy Spirit in the aspect of life. Therefore, the Comforter, that is, the Holy Spirit in the aspect of life, is for our inward life.
1)“You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be My witnesses...” (Acts 1:8).
It says here that the Holy Spirit’s coming upon us is that we may have power to witness for the Lord. This shows us that the Holy Spirit’s function as power is not for the life which we have inwardly from the Lord, but for the work which we do outwardly for the Lord. For our life within, God gives us the Holy Spirit as the Comforter, a Person to be our Lord within us, that inwardly He may be our life and the supplier and maintainer of our life. For our work without, God gives us the Holy Spirit as power that outwardly He may be for us to use as the power, authority, capability, and skill of our work.
1)“He breathed into them and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit” (John 20:22).
This is the Lord’s breathing of the Holy Spirit, who is the Comforter, as breath into the disciples on the evening of the day of resurrection. Breath is for life and signifies life. Thus, breath here is a symbol of the Holy Spirit as the inward Spirit of life.
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