Regarding the second difficulty, our Lord repeatedly put the stamp of His divine authority
upon this prophetic conviction, announcing to His disciples the still future coming of the
Holy Spirit: “I will pray the Father and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may
abide with you forever; even the Spirit of truth; whom the world can not receive, because it
seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him, for He dwelleth with you and shall be in you” (John
xiv. 16, 17); “When the Comforter is come whom I will send from the Father, even the
Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, He shall testify of Me” (John xv. 26);
“Behold, I send the promise of the Father upon you, and ye shall be endued with power
115from on high” (Luke xxiv. 49); “It is expedient for you that I go away; for if I go not away
the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send Him unto you. And when
He is come; He will reprove the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment” (John xvi.
7, 8). And lastly: He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the
promise of the Father, “which, saith He, ye have heard of Me; for John truly baptized with
water, but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence. And ye shall receive
power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you” (Acts i. 4, 5, 8).
The third difficultyis met by the fact that the communications of the apostles agree with
the teaching of Scripture. They actually tarried in Jerusalem, without even attempting to
preach during the days between the ascension and Pentecost. And they explain the Pentecost
miracle as the fulfilment of the prophecies of Joel and Jesus. They see in it something new
and extraordinary; and show us clearly that in their day it was considered that a man who
stood outside the Pentecost miracle knew nothing of the Holy Ghost. For the disciples of
Ephesus being asked, “Have ye received the Holy Ghost?” answered naively: “We have not
so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost.”
Wherefore it cannot be doubted that the Holy Scripture means to teach and convince
us that the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost was His first and real coming into
the Church.
But how can this be reconciled with Old Testament passages such as these? “Yet now
be strong, O Zerubbabel, saith the Lord; and be strong, O Joshua, the High Priest;... for I
am with you,... and My Spirit remaineth among you: fear ye not” (Hag. ii. 4, 5); and again:
“Then He remembered the days of old, Moses, and His people, saying, Where is He that
brought them up out of the sea with the Shepherd of His flock? where is He that put His
Holy Spirit within them?” (Isa. lxiii. 11). David is conscious that he had received the Holy
Spirit, for after his fall he prays: “Take not Thy Holy Spirit from me” (Psalm li. 13). There
was a sending forth of the Spirit, for we read: “Thou sendest forth Thy Spirit, and they are
created; and Thou renewest the face of the earth” (Psalm civ. 30). There seems to have been
an actual descending of the Holy Spirit, for Ezekiel says: “The Spirit of the Lord fell upon
me” (chap. xi. 5). Micah testified: “Truly I am full of the power by the Spirit of the Lord”
XXIV. The Outpouring of the Holy Spirit