We’re setting out to discover what the Gospel of John tells us about the Holy Spirit, starting with what John the Baptist has to say in chapter one.
There are three players in this scene—John, Jesus and various Jews. And the story shows that the presence and power of the Holy Spirit is needed by each one.
These three experiences demonstrate that the Christian life is not an ethic or ideology or an experience to seek. It’s a life from God. And God graciously provides this by sending his Spirit in abundance.
First, John needs to be filled with the Spirit.
John is not full of himself and his place in history. He’s full of what God has promised—in Isaiah and in other prophecies. The Lord is coming to comfort his people[i].
John has been directed by the Spirit all his life[ii]—and it shows. He understands that God is coming to put all their terrible past behind them. He sees the need for Israel to be ready to greet him, and that he is the voice to announce that the Lord is near.
John understands that his baptism in water isn’t the comfort and renewal God is promising. That will require a special coming of the Spirit to launch people into a new life—a baptism in the Spirit.
And, best of all, he’s expecting the Lord to be revealed. And this Lord is already among the people gathered around John[iii]. The Lord is a man! But John is not relying on Jesus being his cousin and a better man than himself to guess that Jesus must be the one[iv]. The Holy Spirit will need to reveal this.
And he does. The Spirit alights on Jesus, visibly—in the appearance of a dove. Now John knows that Jesus is the one who will bring comfort to the world, and will baptize believers in the Holy Spirit.
Events like this are not the sort of thing we imagine. Our thinking tends to build on what we can do and what we deserve, and what we see and feel. But the coming of the Lord, and the salvation he has for us don’t come in the ways we imagine. They are revealed by the Holy Spirit. John has needed this help at every point.
Then Jesus also needs the Spirit.
It may seem surprising to say Jesus needs the Holy Spirit, but there are reasons why this is so.
First, Jesus can’t simply ‘do his own thing’. Prophets, priests and kings in Israel’s history needed God’s anointing, and needed to be filled with the Spirit to fulfil their role. In this way, people could recognise that their leaders were acting for God.
When the Holy Spirit alights on Jesus, he is appointed to all three offices. As prophet he will speak God’s word. As priest he will make atonement for the people, and as King he will rule over God’s people. Jesus needs this anointing to begin his work.
Second, God is revealing who he is—not a solitary Deity but a community of persons. The Father sends, the Son comes and the Spirit enables. As he is in his very being, so he is in the way he comes to save us. For God to reveal who he is, the Spirit must be part of the action.
Third, Jesus has come among us as a human being—a second Adam. His task is to be a real man—made in God’s image. His goal is to make us like himself—a re-formed humanity. So, he must live among us as a man. He must be dependent on the Holy Spirit.
From this point, it is clear that the Spirit enables everything Jesus does, especially being the Lamb of God who bears away the burden of sin that we carry[v].
But now, we also need the Spirit.
John is very aware that he can only baptize in water. This won’t bring about the changes that are needed! Israel is religious but they’re living as though God is not around. They don’t love him. John’s baptism is ceremonial. The Spirit baptism will be a new creation.
Three years later, the time comes for John’s prophecy to be fulfilled. Jesus has been killed by the very people God prepared to receive him. Spiritually speaking, they need a heart transplant!
And this is what the Holy Spirit’s coming is all about—providing broken and barren people with a new heart and a new spirit. It is what had been fore-told centuries before[vi].
Just as God breathed life into Adam, so Jesus will breathe spiritual life into us—the Holy Spirit[vii]. Apart from this, we are dead to God.
On this day, when the church is born, everyone who is baptized in Jesus name is forgiven. But this forgiveness is conveyed to them by receiving the gift of the Spirit[viii]. Jesus has been the Lamb who bears away the sin of the world. He has ascended to God’s right hand, and he has poured out this gift for our blessing[ix].
We may get baptized in water. We may be a church worker. We may believe everything in the Bible. But none of these things can make us alive to God. Only the Spirit can do this.
And, like John the Baptist, it is right that we feel unworthy to be Christ’s lowliest servant. Just look at who he is! And see what he has sent!
The visible life we live as Christians is flowing to us from Christ—through the Spirit he has sent. So, the Spirit comes to us full of all the blessings Christ has won for us. And this new life in the Spirit flows through our whole being. It flows back to God in praise and out to others in service. Jesus Christ is remaking the world we broke!
[i] Isa. 40:1, 3
[ii] Luke 1:15
[iii] v. 26
[iv] Matt. 3:14
[v] Heb. 9:14
[vi] Ezek. 36:27
[vii] John 20:22
[viii] John 2:38
[ix] Acts 2:33
Simply True 