Acts 1:4-8 “And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, "which," He said, "you have heard from Me; (5) for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now." … (8) But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
There are many differences between the Old and New Testament saints. One of the more significant differences is that God the Father has allowed the New Testament saints to be baptised with the Holy Spirit. So why did God deem it necessary for His New Testament saints to be baptised with the Holy Spirit? Our Lord Jesus answers that question in the above quoted passage of scripture when He tells us that we receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon us. And so because the baptism of the Holy Spirit is for all saints it is clear that God wants all His saints to experience His power. So why is it important for the saints to experience the power of God? It is important because by experiencing the very real power of God through the baptism of the Holy Spirit, the saints become acquainted with that power and are then more easily able to exercise their faith in His power. That is one of the reasons why the early church placed such an emphasis on believers being baptised with the Holy Spirit as soon as possible after salvation, because they recognised the truth that experiencing God’s supernatural power is essential in educating the saints to exercise their faith in God and in His power. On the other hand saints that have not been baptised with the Holy Spirit and have not therefore experienced the tangible power of God find it far more difficult to exercise their faith in God and in His power, some even to the point of denying that God’s power is available to the church today.
Michael E.B. Maher
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