All who have read the Bible understand the idea that Jesus Christ was filled with the Holy Spirit. It is referenced all over the New Testament:
“Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness” (Luke 4:1).
“Then Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and news of Him went out through all the surrounding region” (Luke 4:14).
“When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him” (Matthew 3:16).
“But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you” (Matthew 12:28).
“For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit” (1 Peter 3:18).
“[G]od anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him” (Acts 10:38).
This is a widely embraced truth in the Christian faith, but what does it tell us Christians? What do we glean from the fact that Christ lived in dependence on and did His work in the power of the Holy Spirit? Two things.
First, it tells us that our Savior Himself lived the Christian life. He walked the walk that we are all called to, in every step living to the fullest extent our human experience, only without sin. It is both comforting and encouraging to know that Christ does not expect the Christian to live out a life and perform duties that He Himself was unwilling and unrequired to fulfill. No matter the hardship and toil within the soul of the Christian, Christ has already been there. He has already defeated that inner enemy, and we walk in His footsteps.
Second, it also tells us that the same Holy Spirit that anointed Christ also anoints us. Yes, Christ was the perfect and sinless God-man, but even for Him, the only way to walk in obedience to the Lord was through the Holy Spirit. When we look at His earthly life, teaching in the countryside of Judea or going alone to pray and seek the Lord in the earliest hours of the day, we should see a life that is attainable because we have the same means Christ possessed.
As full of sin as we are, the power of the Holy Spirit given to us is not diluted. For the man or woman that desires to live close to God, this is the greatest comfort and encouragement.
