This past Sunday, we looked at the attributes of the Holy Spirit as they were displayed through the birth of Christ, the life of Christ, and the continued work of Christ today. An attribute is a quality or characteristic. The Holy Spirit testifies and bears witness (John 15: 26); the Holy Spirit glorifies Christ (John 16: 14); He convicts the world of Christ, He convicts us of sin, righteousness, and judgment (John 16: 8-15); and the Spirit transforms us into the image of Christ (2 Corinthians 3: 18). The Spirit of God was active in the lives of Zachariah and Elizabeth. Luke 1: 5 – 25 tells the story of how God blessed them with a son in their old age. The son would be John the Baptist who would make the paths straight for the Lord. In verse seventeen, Luke says, “And it is he who will go as a forerunner before him in the Spirit and power of Elijah.” “He” is John the Baptist, but he was not Elijah reincarnated. Rather, the “Spirit and power of Elijah” was the same Holy Spirit through which Elijah had prophesied the Lord’s words. This Spirit, living and working through John the Baptist, miracle son of Zachariah and Elizabeth, would baptize Jesus. As Jesus came into His ministry, John’s decreased. The Spirit worked in the lives of Zachariah and Elizabeth. Elizabeth’s mouth proclaimed the blessing of Mary to bear the Son of God (Luke 1: 39-45). When John was born, Zachariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied the coming of Christ. Through the working of the Holy Spirit, the gift of prophesy was poured out on John’s parents. The Spirit also worked in the lives of Mary and Joseph. Mary is told by an angel that the Holy Spirit will conceive in her virgin womb a child of the Most High God and that her barren aunt, Elizabeth, is also miraculously with child (Luke 1: 34 – 37). These women could not have become pregnant: Mary had never known a man and her aunt had been barren her whole life. The power of God’s Spirit created these miracles. In Joseph’s life, the Holy Spirit gave him the courage and faith to believe the messenger of God — that his fiance had conceived by the power of the Spirit and her child would be the Son of God (Matt 1: 18-25). The Spirit worked even in the life of an ordinary citizen, Simeon. It had been revealed to Simeon that he would not die without seeing the Messiah. The Spirit led him to the temple where he saw the baby Jesus and prophesied to Mary and Joseph (Luke 2: 21-35). Simeon was given the gift of hope by the Spirit and the revelation of the working of God in the world by the Spirit. John the Baptist was filled with the Holy Spirit while still in the womb. This is a measure of the great works God would do through John through the Spirit within him. When the pregnant Mary greeted her pregnant Aunt Elizabeth, Elizabeth felt her unborn child leap with joy when he sensed the Christ in Mary’s womb. John’s career, outlined in chapter 3 of Luke, included the baptisms of many and culminated in the baptism of Jesus. John did not perform these simple miracles through his own strength. Because of his faith, John trusted the Spirit to work through him for God’s purposes.
paulssermonindepth 