The Holy Spirit in the Life of Jesus Christ

"I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance; but He that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear; He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire."—Matt. 3:11

These words from the lips of the Forerunner intimate that there was to be a great distinction between the old Dispensation which he was closing, and the new, which Jesus Christ was about to usher in.

The distinction was to be very marked in connection with the manner and measure in which the Holy Ghost would be poured out upon the people of God and manifested in connection with the work of redemption.

The two natural emblems of water and fire are used to denote the difference between the two dispensations.

We have seen that the Holy Ghost was present on earth during the Old Testament age, speaking in the prophets and messengers of God, and working out the Divine purpose in the lives of God's chosen agents, and instrumentalities. But the New Testament is pre-eminently the age of the Holy Ghost, and we might, therefore, expect that there would be a great and infinite difference. The principal difference between the old and new dispensations, with respect to the presence and manifestations of the Holy Ghost, might be summed up in the following particulars.

1. In the Old Testament, the Holy Ghost was given to special individuals to fit them for special service; and in the New Testament, the promise is that the Spirit shall be poured out upon all flesh, and they shall not need io say one to another, "Know the Lord, for all shall know Him," through the Divine unction, "from the least to the greatest."

The universal outpouring of the Holy Ghost upon all believers is the striking feature of the New Testament.

2. The Holy Spirit was with men and upon men rather than in them in the Old Testament. In the New Testament Dispensation, the Holy Ghost comes to dwell in us and to unite us personally with God, and to be in us not only a Spirit of power and a preparation for service, but a Spirit of life, holiness, and fellowship with The Divine Being.