“If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.” (John 14:15-17)
When Jesus ascended to the Father, He told His disciples that He would return soon to set up His Kingdom. In the midst of the violence and moral chaos of our present world, we wonder why He has not returned yet, something which must have been on the minds of many Christians over the last 2 millennia. The Lord has His reasons why He has not yet returned to earth. We don’t know them and we don’t have to. It is enough that He knows and works things according to His plan.
In the meantime, as Jesus said in John, He has not left us orphans. He has not left us without provision. In order for us to be able to carry out the task the Lord has commissioned us to do, He has given us His Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit can be in every believer at once. Jesus, when on earth, was limited to a physical body, to a specific time and place, even in His glorified body, He could not be every where at once. We would have to go to Him to seek healing, comfort, or answers to our questions. Imagine the logistics of such a situation. Imagine millions of people lined up for an audience with Jesus! Most people would live out an entire lifetime waiting on that line!
So instead, it was the Father’s plan to pour out the Holy Spirit on every believer. He takes up residence in the heart of every believer so that each one now has direct access and constant fellowship with the Father. In addition, the Holy Spirit strengthens every believer with power and wisdom, as He did for the disciples, to carry out the task of preaching the gospel to the ends of the earth. By His indwelling presence, each believer becomes a representative or ambassador for Christ and His kingdom on earth.