In Sidney Greidanus' book, Preaching Christ from Genesis, he writes the following story about the nuclear submarine Thresher.*  Thresher had heavy steel bulkheads and heavy steel armor, so it could dive deep and withstand the pressure of the ocean. Unfortunately, on a test run in 1963, the Thresher's nuclear engine quit, and it could not get back to the surface. It sank deeper and deeper into the ocean. The pressure became immense. The heavy steel bulkheads buckled; the Thresher was crushed with 129 people inside.

The Navy searched for the Thresher with a research craft that was much stronger than submarines. It was shaped like a steel ball and was lowered into the ocean on a cable. They finally located the Thresher at a depth of 8,400 feet: one and a half miles down. It was crushed like an egg shell. That was not a surprise, for the pressure at that depth is tremendous-3,600 pounds per square inch.

What was surprising to the searchers was that they saw fish at that great depth. And these fish did not have inches of steel to protect them. They appeared to have normal skin, a fraction of an inch thick. How can these fish survive under all that pressure? How come they are not crushed by the weight of the water? They have a secret. Their secret is that they have the same pressure inside as they have on the outside. Survival under pressure.

John assures us, "The one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world." We will be victorious in the battle against Satan because Jesus poured his Spirit into our hearts. "You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world."

In today's passage we read about the Holy Spirit being given to the believers in Samaria.  This unique passage records the unusual experience of the Holy Spirit being given a while after they had professed faith in Christ.  God in His own divine providence by His own divine perrogative chose to delay the giving of the Spirit in order to confirm that the gospel had indeed spread beyond the walls of Jerusalem, and that now Samaritans and all people were included in the New Covenant promises.  The normal way God works is to give all believers the Holy Spirit upon their confession of faith in Christ Jesus.  Christians are not to wait for a second experience in order to receive the Holy Spirit.  All true believers have God's Spirit living in them, empowering them, at the moment they trust Christ.

The Holy Spirit power is necessary to live in this world and to be witnesses for Christ.  Jesus said in Acts 1:8 that He would give us power to be witnesses for Him.  Without the presence of the Spirit in our heart there is no power to survive.  Without the Holy Spirit's presence in our lives we would be crushed by the pressures of this sinful world.