John 3:1-8 “There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. (2) This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, "Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him." (3) Jesus answered and said to him, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." (4) Nicodemus said to Him, "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?" (5) Jesus answered, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. (6) That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. (7) Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.' (8) The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
The first encounter that every believer has with the Holy Spirit is when they are born again, for as our Lord Jesus taught us in the above passage of scripture, everyone who believes in Him is born of the Spirit. And so, obviously this encounter with the Holy Spirit is the most important encounter that anyone could have, for without it, one cannot be saved, for it is He that creates our new spirit in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17). It is because we are born of the Spirit, that as children of God, the Holy Spirit then indwells our spirits, for the apostle Paul clearly taught us that as believers, we are the temple of the Holy Spirit Who we have from God (1 Corinthians 6:19). This is one of the main differences between the saints of the new covenant and the saints of old covenant, for even though all believers under the old covenant had righteousness accounted to them (Romans 4:3), they could not be born again because Jesus had not yet been raised from the dead, and thus they remained spiritually dead and separated from the life of God. And so, even though the Holy Spirit came upon the prophet, the high priest and the king, to enable them to stand in their offices, He could not indwell them because they had not yet been born again, and as such they were still spiritually dead. This is the reason why our Lord Jesus taught the apostles during His earthly ministry, that although the Holy Spirit was with them (to enable them to stand in the office of apostle) He was not yet in them, and would only indwell them after Jesus had been glorified (John 14:17). Jesus re-enforced this teaching when He taught us that new wine (the Holy Spirit) must be put into new wineskins (the born-again spirit) (Luke 5:38).
Michael E.B. Maher
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