Charles H. Spurgeon
What is meant by the presence of the Holy Ghost in the Christian assembly? There is a sense in which he is necessarily present in such assemblies. He is God, and God is everywhere present. But in this sense he is present in a drinking or a gambling saloon as truly as in a church. In this sense his presence in an assembly for worship signifies no more than it signifies in the depths of an impenetrable forest, in the cave of a mountain, or in the solitudes of a desert. In this sense, also, the Father and the Son are equally present. The presence of the Spirit in the Christian assembly must mean something more than this natural and necessary determination of his omnipotence.
The analogy of similar conceptions of the divine presence may guide tot he meaning. Although the divine being is everywhere present, he is frequently spoken of in the Scriptures as “coming,” coming to a place or to a person, and for different purposes: “The Lord came down upon Mount Sinai.” “The Lord came down to see the city and the tower of Babel.” “The Lord met him and sought to kill him.” “He cometh to judge the earth.” It is obvious that all these forms of expression about a being, naturally everywhere present, simply mean some peculiar manifestation of his presence for different purposes, and the nature of the purpose in each case gives its peculiar coloring to the coming or presence which it qualifies.
Thus when he comes in judgement, it is God manifesting himself in the actual infliction, or in his official announcement of his purpose to inflict his judicial vengeance. When he comes or is present as the God of peace and love, he manifest himself in the grant of peace and in the expressions of his tender mercies. From these analogous forms of expressions it is safe to conclude that the peculiar presence of the Holy Spirit in the Christian assemblies is the manifestation of that blessed agent in all the relations which he sustains to the worship of the church, and in such acts as he pleases to perform in the progress of the service. As Gd he is the object of the worship offered; but his peculiar relations to the worship, determined by the great covenant of salvation, present him prominently as the animating and guiding influence which controls the worship, and enables its offering in an acceptable manner.
It becomes clear, then, that the first in the official order of divine worship is the Holy Spirit, who enables the worshipper to offer it to the Father. This priority, of course, implies no precedence of dignity or honor, but merely indicates the appointed official relation to the worship to be offered. The first of the three sacred and mysterious persons of the Godhead in meeting his worshippers is the Holy Spirit of God. The Christian dispensation is emphatically called “the dispensation of the Spirit”; it is so called from the declared prominence given in the gospel to his part in the work of salvation. The Spirit meets the worshipper to prepare his approach, to enable him to exercise faith in the Savior, and thus through the mediation of the Son, realized and secured in its gracious functions by faith, to approach the Father, and to call him Abba, in acceptable worship.
To enable the worship of the Father through the Son, the Spirit takes the lead in the worship of the saints. No ordinance has any effective spiritual power, except as the Spirit gives it. No worshipper’s heart is ever in a proper frame for worship, except as the Spirit gives it. Without faith it is impossible to please God, and there is no true faith except that which is the fruit of the Spirit. The great fact, then, which is presented to us in this doctrine of the relation of the Holy Spirit to the worship of the Christian assemblies, is one of very high and solemn significance, a fact that ought to be fruitful of constant and profound practical effects on all who assemble for divine worship. That fact is, that the Lord is in his holy temple, in a peculiar posture, waiting to meet them. The Holy Ghost is pervading every sanctuary where the assembly meets to worship the Father through the Son. How striking the conception when we fully master it! How solemn the thought! To what searching inspection is the heart of every worshipper about to be subjected!