Spirit
now reveals himself through the church; as Christ was the image of the
invisible God, so the church is appointed to be {25} the image of the
invisible Christ; and his members, when they are glorified with him,
shall be the express image of his person.

This then is the mystery and the glory of this dispensation; not less
true because mysterious; not less practical because glorious. In an
admirable work on the Spirit, the distinction between the former and the
present relation of the Spirit is thus stated: "In the old dispensation
the Holy Spirit wrought _upon_ believers, but did not in his person dwell
in believers and abide permanently in them. He appeared unto men; he did
not incarnate himself in man. His action was intermittent; he went and
came like the dove which Noah sent forth from the ark, and which went to
and fro, finding no rest; while in the new dispensation he dwells, he
abides in the heart as the dove, his emblem, which John saw descending
and alighting on the head of Jesus. Affianced of the soul, the Spirit
went oft to see his betrothed, but was not yet one with her; the marriage
was not consummated until the Pentecost, after the glorification of Jesus
Christ."[1]

3. A still more obvious reason why before the day of Pentecost it could
be said that "the Holy Ghost was not yet," is contained in the words,
"_Because that Jesus was not yet glorified_." In the order of the
unfolding ages we see each of the persons of the Godhead in turn
exercising an earthly {26} ministry and dealing with man in the work of
redemption. Under the law, God the Father comes down to earth and speaks
to men from the cloud of Sinai and from the glory above the mercy-seat;
under grace, God the Son is in the world, teaching, suffering, dying, and
rising again; under the dispensation of election and out-gathering now
going on, the Holy Spirit is here carrying on the work of renewing and
sanctifying the church, which is the body of Christ. There is a
necessary succession in these Divine ministries, both in time and in
character. In the days of Moses it might have been said: "Christ is not
yet," because the economy of God-Jehovah was not completed. The law must
first be given, with its sacrifices and types and ceremonies and shadows;
man must be put on trial under the law, till the appointed time of his
schooling should be completed. _Then_ must Christ come to fulfill all
types and terminate all sacrifices in himself