God promised to make a better covenant.
When Jesus was baptized, He received the Holy Ghost.
The Bible
records, “Jesus also being baptized, and praying, the heaven was
opened, and the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove
upon him, and a voice came from heaven, which said, Thou art my
beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased” ( Lu 3:21-22).
The Father anointed Jesus when He gave Jesus the Holy Ghost.
Peter taught, “God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost”
(Acts 10:38). The title Christ, which is added to Jesus’
name means anointed.
The anointing of Jesus testifies that he is the Messiah, the Christ.
Jesus revealed his Messiahship when he read, “The Spirit of the
Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to
the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach
deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty them that are bruised” (Lu 4:18).
Those who receive the Holy Spirit are anointed of God like Jesus
was.
Paul wrote, “Now he which stablisheth us with you in
Christ, and hath anointed us, is God. Who hath also sealed us, and
given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts” (2 Cor 1:21-22).
Jesus anoints his followers with the Holy Ghost.
The Gospel
records that Jesus “breathed on them, and saith unto them,
Receive ye the Holy Ghost” (John 20:22). Christian is Greek for
anointed ones.
Those who are baptized receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
Peter taught at Pentecost, “Repent, and be baptized every one of
you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye
shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost” (Acts 2:38).
The apostles gave the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands.
The
Bible records, “They sent unto them Peter and John: who, when
they were come down, prayed for them, that they might receive the
Holy Ghost: (For as yet he was fallen upon none of them: only they
were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.) Then laid they their
hands on them, and they received the Holy Ghost” (Acts 8:14-17).
The presence of the Holy Ghost makes our body a temple of God.
Paul wrote, “Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy
Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your
own?” (1 Cor 6:19). A temple is the physical place that houses
God.
The Holy Spirit’s abiding presence in us continually testifies that
God lives in us.
John wrote the church, “Hereby know we that
we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his
Spirit” (1 John 4:13). Elsewhere, he said, “We know that he
abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us” (1 John
3:24).
The presence of the Holy Ghost confirms that we Jesus is our
brother.
Paul wrote, “Because ye are sons, God hath sent
forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.
Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then
an heir of God through Christ” (Gal 4:6).
The presence of the Holy Ghost says we are the children of God.
Paul wrote, “As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are
the sons of God” (Rom 8:14), adding, “The Spirit itself
beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God”
(Rom 8:16).
The Holy Spirit unites believers into the family of God.
Paul
explained, “For through him we both have access by one Spirit
unto the Father. Now therefore ye are no more strangers and
foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household
of God” (Eph 2:18-19).
The Spirit empowers us to do the Father’s will.
“It is God
which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure”
(Phil 2:13).
The Holy Spirit sanctifies us for salvation.
Paul said, “God
hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through
sanctification of the Spirit” (2 Thes 2:13).
The Holy Ghost is the Father’s seal on us of our redemption.
Paul wrote of the “holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto
the day of redemption” (Eph 3:30).
The Holy Ghost is God’s earnest deposit of eternal life:
“Ye
were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest
of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession”
(Eph 1:13-14).
Those sealed by the Holy Spirit are raise to life.
“If the
Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead, dwell in you, he
that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal
bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you” (Rom 8:11).
