Free The Communion of the Holy Spirit by Watchman Nee Page A

needed to learn what was meant by the Holy Spirit dwelling in men.
    These teachers would also teach us, saying: “Gifts are kindergarten stuff. We are now grown-ups. We do not need to play with things such as tongues. Our faith has made much progress. We are more advanced than the apostles. So we will throw all these things away.” On the other hand, too many of those who advocate the gifts of the Holy Spirit think that aside from gifts there is nothing more, they ignoring the importance of the development of the inward life. They despise people who have not had the same experience as they; namely, that of the outpoured Spirit. They boastfully declare, “On such and such a day, I received the baptism of the Holy Spirit.” Both of these concepts are wrong: the word of God indeed saying, “forbid not to speak with tongues” (1 Cor.14.39b); and it also saying, “moreover a most excellent way show I unto you” (1 Cor. 12.31b)- which is the way of love that is introduced in the verse immediately thereafter (13.1) and fully discussed in what follows in this now famous “love chapter” of the Bible.
    In the New Testament we see the two sides of the Holy Spirit. From about the time of the Lord’s last supper with His disciples to the day of Pentecost the Bible mentions the Holy Spirit four times:
    (1) at around the time of the Last Supper Jesus spoke of the Holy Spirit as the Comforter: “I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, . . . for he . . . shall be in you” (John 14.16-17);
    (2) after the Last Supper the first mention of the Holy Spirit occurred on the evening of the Lord’s resurrection. Jesus breathed on the disciples and said to them, “Receive ye the Holy Spirit” (John 20.22b); (3) before His ascension the Lord said, “Behold, I send forth the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city, until ye be clothed with power from on high” (Luke 24.49); and (4) the Holy Spirit came on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2.1-4).
    The belief is commonly accepted that the promise of the Comforter was fulfilled on the day of Pentecost, but this interpretation is not according to the word of God. John wrote John 14, but he also wrote John 20. In Chapter 14 the Lord is recorded as promising that “the Father ... shall give you another Comforter” (v.16). Then in Chapter 20, that promise is shown to have been fulfilled. Before the death of the Lord there is no mention in the Scriptures of the promise of the Holy Spirit coming upon men. No, before His death the Lord had only promised that the Holy Spirit would dwell in men. Then, on the day of His resurrection, He breathed on His disciples and said, “Receive ye the Holy Spirit” (20.22). What is breath? Breath is life. If we cease to breathe, we cease to live. Christ breathed on His disciples and said, “Receive ye the Holy Spirit.”
    Now did the Lord also say to His disciples at this time, “You must wait for fifty days”? No, He breathed on them; and there and then they received the Holy Spirit. So John 14 was fulfilled in John 20. The promise made at about the time of the Last Supper was fulfilled on the day of the Lord’s resurrection. Only after forty days further had passed did the Lord say to His disciples, “Tarry ye in the city, until ye be clothed with power from on high” (Luke 24.49). Hence Pentecost was the fulfillment of Luke 24, the final chapter of that Gospel. Both the Gospel of Luke and the book of Acts are written by Luke; and therefore, the material in Acts 1 can be reckoned as Chapter 25 of Luke, for it is a continuation of Luke’s Gospel. Acts is but Luke’s continued narration of events. This would only be natural.
    From all the above we can see that the indwelling Holy Spirit is given by the breathing of the Lord. It is based on His resurrection and is for life . That Spirit that comes upon me comes through the glorification of the Lord, and it is for service .

B. THE OUTPOURING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
    In