Humble Hero

The Chief Purpose of the Spirit

Jesus worked to inspire His disciples with the joy and hope that inspired His own heart. He rejoiced because the Holy Spirit was the highest of all gifts He could ask from His Father for His people. God would give the Spirit to regenerate us. Without this, the sacrifice of Christ would not have accomplished its purpose. The power of evil had been strengthening for centuries, and the submission of men and women to satanic captivity was amazing. They could resist sin and overcome it only through the mighty agency of the Third Person of the Godhead, who would come with all divine power. The Spirit makes effective what the world’s Redeemer worked out. The Spirit makes the heart pure. Christ has given His Spirit to overcome all hereditary and cultivated tendencies to evil and to imprint His own character on His church. The very image of God is to be reproduced in humanity. The honor of God, the honor of Christ, is at stake in His people’s perfection of character. HH 312.5

“When He [the Spirit of truth] has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment.” The preaching of the Word will be of no use without the presence of the Holy Spirit. Truth will awaken the conscience or transform the life only when the Spirit accompanies it to the heart. Unless the Holy Spirit impresses the truth on hearts, no sinner will fall on the Rock and be broken. No advantages, however great, can make anyone a channel of light. HH 312.6

Christ has promised the gift of the Holy Spirit to His church, and the promise belongs to us as much as to the first disciples. But like every other promise, it is given on conditions. Many who profess to claim the Lord’s promise talk about Christ and about the Holy Spirit, yet they receive no benefit. They do not surrender their lives to be guided by the divine agencies. We cannot use the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is to use us. But many want to manage themselves. God gives the Spirit only to those who wait humbly on Him. This promised blessing, claimed by faith, brings all other blessings along with it. Christ is ready to supply every person according to the capacity to receive. HH 313.1

Before leaving the upper room, the Savior led His disciples in a song of praise. He lifted His voice, not in the strains of some mournful lament, but in the joyful notes of the Passover hallel: HH 313.2

Praise the Lord, all you nations! Extol Him, all you peoples!
For great is His steadfast love toward us,
And the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever.
Praise the Lord!
Psalm 117, NRSV HH 313.3

After the hymn, they made their way out of the city gate toward the Mount of Olives. Slowly they walked along, each busy with his own thoughts. As they began to descend toward the mount, Jesus said, “All of you will be made to stumble because of Me this night, for it is written: ‘I will strike the Shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’” Matthew 26:31. In the upper chamber, Jesus had said that one of the Twelve would betray Him and that Peter would deny Him. But now His words included them all. HH 313.4