II. THE KNOWLEDGE ENJOYED BY ALL HIS PEOPLE AFTER HIS DEPARTURE.
It was to be very different afterwards. There is an immense change when our Lord speaks of what should take place after His departure. It is no longer “with,” but “in.” He would be not merely present in their company, but abiding in their souls.
In this promise, there are three things requiring our careful notice.
(1) The promise applies not to a company, to a society, to a Church, or to any body of men, but _to each individual_. The Holy Spirit will not be merely in the midst of a congregation, but a sacred guest in each soul. You see this very clearly in the history of the Day of Pentecost. { 40} The Holy Spirit came on the company, on the Church, for He filled all the house where they were sitting. But besides that there was a separate personal gift to each person present, for “it sat upon each of them and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost.”
(2) The sacred gift is no longer localized or specially enjoyed in one place. So long as the Lord Jesus was amongst them where He was, there was the Gift. But now, wherever the believer is, there is the Gift. See the unspeakable blessedness of this sacred promise. The gift of the Spirit is not confined to this place or that. It is the inestimable privilege of each individual believer wherever he is, and in whatever position it may please God to cast his lot. You may be cut off from the means of grace in which you have delighted, but wherever you are, you are not cut off from the Spirit of Truth, from the indwelling of the Holy Ghost, for He is not limited to time, or place, or circumstance, and wherever you go at the Lord’s command, there you will carry His presence with you.
There is this great difference between His presence and that of the most faithful and loving of friends. The friend can only judge by the outside; the anxious look, the tear in the eye, or the words of sorrow. But the Spirit of Truth is within, and He takes note of the inner secrets of the soul. He does not wait for any external evidence of what is passing. The hidden springs of thought are all open to His eye: the secret pain that is never breathed to any one; the hidden hope that smoulders in the heart; the subtle temptation that is beginning to grow up unperceived, and the yearning of soul after a higher life,—all these things are open to Him, and He, dwelling within and knowing all that is passing within, can check, can guide, can heal, can help, can supply any possible need “according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” { 41a}