In this verse our Blessed Lord spoke of the knowledge enjoyed by His people. He spoke of the present, and the future; of that which they had then at the time that He was with them, and of that which they were about to enjoy after the Day of Pentecost, when He would be taken away from them. With reference to the present He says “He dwelleth” (or, is dwelling) with you, or amongst you; with reference to the future He says “He shall be in you.” There are clearly, therefore, two great subjects to be considered, the knowledge enjoyed by the disciples when the Lord Jesus was still upon earth, and the knowledge enjoyed by all His people ever since the Day of Pentecost.
I. When He was on Earth.
“Ye know Him for He dwelleth with you.”
The expression does not describe an internal union within the soul, but an external companionship. The meaning is the same as when St. John said, “There standeth one among you, whom ye know not.” [38] There they were, a little company of disciples, and amongst them in the midst of their society, in the room where they were assembled, was abiding, or dwelling, the Spirit of Truth.
Now what was the meaning of this declaration? Was it not this? That the Holy Spirit was at that time dwelling amongst them as embodied and manifested in the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Of Him it was said by John the Baptist “God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto Him.” [39a] So it was said by St. Paul, “In Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.” [39b] And by St. Peter we are taught that He was anointed with the Holy Ghost, and God was with Him. [39c]
Consider, then, the Lord Jesus Christ as God manifest in the flesh, as the human manifestation of the mind and power of the Holy Ghost, and you will see in a moment that while He was on earth the Spirit of Truth was dwelling amongst the disciples. Where the Lord Jesus was, there was the Spirit; where He dwelt, there the Spirit dwelt; and when He and those twelve disciples sat together at the Last Supper, He could say of the Spirit of Truth, “Ye know Him for He dwelleth with, or among, you.”
II. The Knowledge enjoyed by all His People after His Departure.
It was to be very different afterwards. There is an immense change when our Lord speaks of what should take place after His departure. It is no longer “with,” but “in.” He would be not merely present in their company, but abiding in their souls.
In this promise, there are three things requiring our careful notice.
(1) The promise applies not to a company, to a society, to a Church, or to any body of men, but to each individual. The Holy Spirit will not be merely in the midst of a congregation, but a sacred guest in each soul. You see this very clearly in the history of the Day of Pentecost. [40] The Holy Spirit came on the company, on the Church, for He filled all the house where they were sitting. But besides that there was a separate personal gift to each person present, for “it sat upon each of them and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost.”