Soon before His ascension, the Lord told the disciples to wait in Jerusalem until the Holy Spirit would come upon them (Acts 1:4, 8). After the Spirit came upon them, they would go to be His witnesses in Jerusalem as a start and unto the remotest part of the earth, as the consummation of His ministry in the New Testament. On the day of resurrection, the Spirit of life, the essential Spirit, was breathed into the Lord’s disciples (John 20:22). Then on the day of Pentecost the Spirit was poured upon them economically (Acts 2:4, 17). Now all of us as the disciples of the Lord have the Spirit within us essentially and the Spirit upon us economically.
Some may say that they do not have any sensation or feeling concerning having the Spirit within essentially and the Spirit upon them economically. We need to realize, however, that neither do we have any feeling concerning the Lord’s incarnation, human living, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension. These are divine facts that are substantiated not by feeling, but by faith in what Jesus has accomplished. Jesus has died for me. Jesus was resurrected for me. Jesus breathed His Spirit into His believers and Jesus poured out the Spirit economically upon all His believers. He has baptized His entire Body into the Spirit (1 Cor. 12:13). We do not need to have any feeling concerning these divine facts. We just have to claim these facts and say, “Thank You, Lord Jesus, that You died for me, You were resurrected for me, You breathed Your Spirit into me, and You have poured out Your Spirit upon me. Thank You, Lord.”
Merely to say that we need to claim the essential and economical aspects of the one Spirit by faith, though, is still too objective. Acts 2:38 and 5:32b tell us that if we are going to receive, enjoy, and experience the Spirit, we need to repent and we have to obey. God gives the Spirit to those who obey Him. If we mean business to believe that the Spirit has been given to us within essentially and has been poured out upon us outwardly and economically, we have to repent of all of our sins, our weaknesses, our filthiness, our mistakes, our wrongdoings, our offenses, and whatever is an evil and sinful thing in the eyes of God, toward God, and toward man. You must have a thorough repentance. Then you obey. To do this is to rise up. You can never go without rising up.
In the New Testament the principle is that we need to rise up and go. You can only go by rising up. How can we rise up? A balloon can only rise up by being filled within with air. Just to have the air within the balloon, however, will not make the balloon buoyant. The air outside the balloon is also needed. When the balloon is filled with air inwardly and outwardly, it becomes buoyant. We all need to go, but shall we go by our own effort and our own resolution? This does not mean anything. We need to go by rising up, by being filled with the consummated Spirit.
The Spirit has been consummated and has been breathed into us and poured upon us. He is here waiting for us to participate in Him. The food and drink may be here, but you can only participate in the food and drink by eating and drinking. How are you going to drink the Spirit, and how are you going to eat the Spirit? By repenting and obeying. Sometimes a mother may tell a naughty child that if he does not behave, he will get nothing to eat. To obey is to behave. We all need to behave by obeying what the Lord says. Then we will get something divine to eat, with which to be filled.
We need to obey and repent to empty out all the dirt, the filthiness, within us to be filled with the Spirit. We need to get ourselves cleared up fully. We cannot redeem ourselves, but we have to repent. The Lord has redeemed us and His blood has been shed for the forgiveness of our sins. He is ready to forgive us and wash us all the time, yet the forgiveness and the washing of the blood need our repentance. Without repentance, even God cannot forgive us. The basic principle for both the unbelievers and the believers is that we all need to repent. God cannot forgive anyone unless that person repents. First John 1:9 tells us, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous that He may forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Confessing is the practical repentance. If you repent, surely you would confess. You would confess specific sins, failures, and wrongdoings.
Every day that we live on this earth we get dirty to some extent. This is why we need to wash our hands at least several times a day. This earth is full of dirt which requires our regular washing. Even our physical body itself discharges waste. Because we sweat, we need to wash regularly. In the spiritual realm, we also need much washing, but the washing, the forgiveness, depends upon our repenting.