“Jesus worked to inspire His disciples with the joy and hope that inspired His own heart. He rejoiced because the Holy Spirit was the highest of all gifts He could ask from His Father for His people. God would give the Spirit to regenerate us. Without this, the sacrifice of Christ would not have accomplished its purpose. The power of evil had been strengthening for centuries, and the submission of men and women to satanic captivity was amazing. They could resist sin and overcome it only through the mighty agency of the Third Person of the Godhead, who would come with all divine power. The Spirit makes effective what the world’s Redeemer worked out. The Spirit makes the heart pure. Christ has given His Spirit to overcome all hereditary and cultivated tendencies to evil and to imprint His own character on His church. The very image of God is to be reproduced in humanity. The honor of God, the honor of Christ, is at stake in His people’s perfection of character.”
Humble Hero, page 312