I see that in different translations of the same text there can be an entirely different message.

John 7:39
In the Dutch translation ordered by the Estates General in the 17th century, which has the reputation of being the most accurate ever made in Holland (the most faithful to the words actually used), there is this sentence that "the Holy Spirit wasn't yet there".

Huh??? The Holy Spirit wasn't yet there?
How do I know what the original text in the original language said?
It's only my sense of logic that is protesting at such a moment.
For I noticed earlier in the New Testament that the Holy Spirit did exist already. And that was early in the book of Matthew when the Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus while he was baptised by John the Baptist.
It could be possible that I stumbled upon a translation problem here.
In such cases only, I seek for other translation possibilities, on the Internet.
And there are.

Various English translations:
"It was not yet [given]""
"The Spirit wasn't yet."
Not always called the HOLY Spirit, apparently. Perhaps it's found self-evident that it's Holy or its saves some ink and paper while still understandable.

In every translation, this "being [given] of the [Holy] Spirit" is linked to the glorification of Jesus.
But which glorification? There are more glorifications in the Gospels.
- The glorification on the mountain, where there was the apparition of Moses and Elisah.
- The glorification in Jerusalem, only mentioned in the Gospel of John, in the presence of a crowd who hears a thunder or an angel.
- The glorification after the crucifixion, where Jesus in His apparitions afterward, announces that His powers even have become greater.

The sentence of John 7:39 reads like a footnote to make things more "understandable", as if it is from a commentator or composer. It is a sentence which raises more eyebrows with me than the text itself the note is about. Isn't that funny?

Of course the Holy Spirit already exists as Jesus is baptised by John the Baptist.
The first mention of the term Holy Spirit in the Bible is in this passage of the New Testament.
Before, in the Old Testament, the same "something" is called the Spirit of God.
It is what is over Moses, Eliah, Elisa, enabling their miracles and crystal clear access to information and availability of more direct contact with God.
Of course, back then it is also Holy, because it comes from God. If angels or the Ark make the ground holy on which they come, then also this.
It makes me think that the Holy Spirit and the Spirit of God are the same, only differently worded by the ones who wrote down the bible in different times. The language may have changed a bit into a more modern version, that's all.

Like in the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit is distributed by a request from persons with a remarkable religious position.
When Moses was close to a burnout when the circumstances became more threatening from within the people of Israel, God took the measure that the Holy Spirit was distributed over the 70 elders, who started to prophesy.
The Holy Spirit as a "dose of spirit over a human being" can be expressed in quantities. Elisah requested twice the amount which was with Eliah. And he was granted it by God, even though he asked a heavy thing. Jesus said to His disciples that His cup to drink was unlike that of the disciples or ordinary human beings. He may have been talking about a likewise effect belonging to a likewise phenomenon.

If in the Old Testament as well as in the New Testament, there is something spiritual that has the following properties:
- manipulation of matter
- curing people
- access to crystal clear information
- access to more direct contact with God, more readily available
- seeing into the mental structure and thoughts of other people

So in fact I'm glad that if people are requested to have the Bible as their instruction book for life, that there is a lot of continuity (consequentness) between Old and New Testament. Jesus freshed up people's memories about the Law, stayed within its framework and actually forgave people what this framework sees as trespassing, if they themselves believed. While recommending them to sin no more thereafter. No wonder that the same Holy Spirit is active in the Old as well as in the New Testament, from exactly the same faith but only with different accents within that framework (like curing or preaching on sabbath yes or no).

Greets, Divinespark