Let us briefly consider a few of the New Testament references to the believer being filled with the Spirit. There are at least three effects of this filling:we have filling for service, filling for joy and praise, and filling for testimony.
Filling for Service
"And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost, returned from Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness" (Luke 4:1). It is not ordinarily remembered that our blessed Lord was filled with the Spirit for service, just as His people are to be. The life of our blessed Lord was of perfect dependence; He did not use His divine prerogatives directly, but did all by the Spirit of God who filled Him. Thus we read how "God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power, Who went about doing good" (Acts 10:38). Thus our blessed Lord was filled with the Spirit for service.
We find in Stephen another example of one filled with the Spirit for service:"Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business . . . and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost" (Acts 6:3,5). At the close of his brief career, we are again told that Stephen was full of the Holy Ghost. While the stones were crushing the life out of his body, "He, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God" (Acts 7:55). Thus we find linked together in Stephen the lowliest service and the highest glories. He was filled with the Spirit for attending to the needs of the widows, and he was full of the Spirit as he gazed upon Jesus in glory. Well do we know it was all one in the eyes of our blessed Master who said, "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these My brethren, ye have done it unto Me" (Matt. 25:40).
Filling for Joy and Praise
"And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Ghost" (Acts 13:52). The connection here is of much interest. The disciples, after faithfully preaching the gospel at Antioch, had been expelled from the city. This is what the servant of Christ may expect, according to his Master’s word. But what was the effect of this persecution upon the minds of these devoted servants? Were they depressed and discouraged? No! "They were filled with joy and with the Holy Ghost."
The word "filled" in the preceding reference expresses the thought of a habitual state, but capable of particular manifestation as occasion required. The same is seen in the following scripture:"Be not drunk with wine wherein is excess, but be filled with the Spirit; speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord" (Eph. 5:18,19). Without question we have here a warning against actual drunkenness; but I am sure you will agree with me that far more than that is suggested. Wine is that which exhilarates the natural man. It is a stimulant. It is also a type of joy. Here then we are warned against mere earthly joy, anything that merely exhilarates the natural man. How often is there the mere exhilaration of nature in the professed worship of God. How often is feeling, excitement, or fleshly energy made to take the place of the Holy Spirit. It seems that this is the intent of the passage. They were to sing and make melody in their hearts to the Lord. Filled with the Spirit there would be neither room nor need for the empty frivolities of nature; the joy of the Lord would eclipse it all.
Filling for Testimony
"And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance" (Acts 2:4). The promised time had come and the Spirit had been poured out. His presence was visible and audible, though more yet, it was personal and abiding. It is significant that the form in which the Spirit appeared in coming upon the disciples and upon our Lord was entirely different. Upon Him He came as a dove; upon the disciples, as a tongue of fire upon each one. The reason is simple and beautiful.
The dove in Scripture is the bird of sacrifice. In the burnt offering particularly it was used. Further it was the bird of love and of sorrow. Our blessed Lord was taking His place publicly as the sacrifice. He was, we may say, at His baptism offering Himself to God. What more fitting than that the eternal Spirit through whom that offering was to be exhibited, should come upon Him in the form which set forth the sacrifice, the love which led Him to it, and the sorrow over the sins of men which made it necessary.
With the disciples it was different. The service to which they were called was chiefly testimony, and so, most fittingly, the Spirit of truth came upon them as a tongue. The fire speaks of the holiness of God in judgment, and you will remember the Spirit’s work in conviction included judgment (John 16:8,11). But the beautiful part of it is that if men bow now to the judgment of God and accept His salvation, they will be saved from judgment to come.
Thus this filling with the Spirit was directly connected with the testimony which they all began immediately to give in the various languages of those who were assembled. The wonder of it was that untutored men, heretofore ignorant of the languages, should be able to declare in them "the wonderful works of God."
Later on, when the apostles faced much opposition to the preaching of the gospel, they prayed, "Lord . . . grant unto Thy servants that with all boldness they may speak Thy Word. . . . And when they had prayed . . . they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the Word of God with boldness" (Acts 4:29,31). Notice that they did not pray to be filled with the Spirit; they prayed that they might speak the word of God with all boldness. We never find the disciples waiting for an enduement of the Spirit after Pentecost. They had the Spirit; He dwelt in them; they were full of the Spirit, so to speak, and needed but to realize the necessity constantly for the power of God. Then, as the occasion arose, the Spirit took possession of them and used them as the instruments of His mighty energy.
What It Means to Be Filled with the Spirit
God fills everything; He is omnipresent. So is the Holy Spirit. When we speak of Christ filling all things, we think simply that His glory, honor, and power are to be everywhere manifest. Thus, when we speak of being filled with the Holy Spirit, we simply mean that He has complete, entire control of our whole being. He occupies the entire man.
The Holy Spirit has taken up His abode with us forever, not only as a guest, but as sovereign ruler and guide. And yet, with what divine tenderness and gentleness does He dwell in us! He allows us to treat Him as a guest_yes, as we would treat no other guest. He permits us to thrust Him out of the way, perhaps, or at any rate, to exclude Him from the everyday part of our lives. However, a sense of the blessedness of His presence, of His help where we have yielded up to Him, and above all, His own power working through these means and making us realize our helplessness, compel us at last, step by step, to give Him His place in all things. Thus He fills us. May we give place to the Spirit, allowing Him to be ungrieved, unchecked in his complete administration of our entire life.
(From The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit.)