Sometimes I believe the Holy Spirit may be the most persecuted of the Godhead. Jesus was persecuted for 33 years in the flesh. The Holy Spirit, though, has been blasphemed daily since time began, when the word is mocked and when men who claim the Word as guide today walk in duplicity. I am understanding more and more why the sin for which there’s not forgiveness is that hardness against the Word of salvation (the blasphemy of the Spirit).The Spirit is not just the last best hope for the souls of men. It is the LAST hope. I love Him. I cannot believe the relevance to our day of writings that were penned by mere men 3000-plus years ago, but originated in the mind of God. When I pray the Psalms (I am praying Psalm 10 today, and it is incredibly encouraging), I love the Spirit more and more. I stand amazed at Him. You can feel pretty small knowing you can hold and read and apply the Words of the persecuted, blasphemed Spirit. I submit that, not only does the Christ know and understand our heartaches and fears and limitations, but the Spirit knows, too. Maybe that’s why Jesus called Him the Comforter. Maybe that is why, though His revelation for this world is complete, the Bible teaches that His advocacy in heaven, along with that of Christ’s is working for us. But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose (Romans 8:25-28).
I love the fact that, in John 14, when Jesus promised the miraculous Spirit to the apostles, He said that the world would not be able to see Him. Jesus would be persecuted to the cross because they could see and seize Him in the garden. The Spirit, while working miraculously in the first century could not be seen or seized.
…even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him” (John 14:17).
I’m glad He finished His revelation work and that the Word He left will never pass away (Matthew 24:35). I want to accept the Spirit, through my internalization of and obedience to the words of this Book. I want to glorify the Spirit by telling others of His work. I love Him!