The Attributes of the Holy Spirit, Part 2

The Spirit also worked in Jesus from birth. A small incident occurred before his ministry began in earnest that often gets overlooked, but it’s the only mention of his youth. The fact that this appears to have been the only incident important enough to recall for posterity indicates its importance.

When Jesus was 12 years old, his parents were with him in Jerusalem. An entire day after they left the city, they realized their son was not with them. They searched frantically and retraced their steps to the city. I imagine their hearts leapt whenever they saw a boy who could resemble him and then sink as they realized it was not Jesus. Finally, they found him in the temple. Teachers–Pharisees and Rabbis–were gathered around him as Jesus listened to them and asked questions far too sophisticated for the average 12-year-old. When his mother scolded him, he answered her, “‘Why were you searching for me?. . . Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?'” (Luke 2:49). The Pharisees and Rabbis were amazed at Jesus’ knowledge and wisdom; knowledge and wisdom that came from the Spirit.

The Spirit was active in Christ’s teaching and his preaching throughout his ministry. The Spirit was active in the prayers of Jesus and as he taught prayer. We are to see the Spirit as a gift and know that he intercedes on our behalf as we pray (Romans 8:26).

Luke tells us that it is the role of a Father to give his children good gifts: “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your heavenly father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?” (Luke 11:13). The Holy Spirit is the best gift.

This gift was given to Jesus officially at his baptism although it was part of him–being God himself–all his life. His baptism affirmed Jesus’ nature as the son of God and Messiah. In Luke 3:21-22, we see God the Father speaking from heaven, the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove descending, and Jesus praying: the triune nature of God embodied.

John 3:5 tells us: “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” I believe the need to be “born of water” is in reference to our baptism by water–an outward sign of the inward baptism of the Spirit which is when we die and arise in the Holy Spirit as a new creation. Jesus sets the pattern for us to receive the Spirit by taking on himself the sins of the world and paying our death penalty on the cross.

His resurrection, his overcoming and defeating of death and sin restored our right-standing with God that enables the Holy Spirit to enter in and take up residence in our newly washed hearts. In this we see the great love of God. It is a love that we are not capable of alone. The Spirit who resides in us brings with it this deeper love and enables us to become hands and feet subservient to His will in this world.

Christ also prepares us for the Spirit by forging a fellowship between believers. After His death and resurrection, Jesus appeared to His disciples and showed them His wounds, telling them that He would send them out into the world to do God’s work.

“And when he had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit’.” (John 20:22)

But, they did not receive the Spirit until Pentecost. What did he mean? In Luke 24:46, and again in Acts 2, we see the Disciples coming together in the upper room sharing meals and their stories of Christ working in their lives. They were prepared by this close fellowship to receive the Spirit.

Even though the Spirit had not yet come upon them in that upper room, the Spirit was still present as they came to one accord and one mind concerning the things of God. They were being prepared in their hearts and minds to receive the Spirit. We see the Holy Spirit moving in their hearts, guiding their thoughts and actions, we see the power of the Spirit when He comes upon them as they preach to the crowd. We see the Spirit active in the crowd as they hear and receive the message and as they take the message forth. The Holy Spirit goes before us, preparing the way, just as John went before Jesus. So too, the work of Jesus paves the way for the work of the Spirit.

On the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came down from Heaven into vessels who had been prepared by Jesus to receive Him. Then the work of the Church began in earnest: the gospel message was shared in Jerusalem and moved out into the larger world.

The work of Christ still continues. The Spirit is working in the world in us as Jesus works with us in the New Testament and as God worked for us in the Old Testament. This work is not new as it began in the Garden when a Savior was promised to Adam and Eve. That Savior lives, and through his Spirit residing in us, continues to live and work in this world, bringing light to the darkness.

The Holy Spirit of God in the Old Testament

Gen 1:1-3 In the beginning God (ELOHIM) created the heaven and the earth. 2 And the earth was formless and void and darkness was over the surface of the deep; and the spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters. 3 Then God said, “Let there be light.” The triune nature of God is a mystery only in that our finite minds cannot fully comprehend the concept. However if we just accept it in faith, it is not as difficult to understand as we might think. The name for God here is ELOHIM. It is plural and could be translated gods, but it is not for there is just one God in three persons and these three verses list them as: God the creator; God the Holy Spirit; and God the Word and Light, or Son. We see God creating; the Spirit moving and the Son working as the Word and bringing light to the darkness and form to the void. All three present and all three working to bring about their will and purpose in and through their creation.

1 Corinthians 12 4 Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit, 5 and there are varieties of ministries and the same Lord, 6 and there are varieties of effects, but the same God who works all things in all persons. These verses do a great job of explaining Gen 1:1-3. The Holy Spirit is associated with water. He is the water that flows from the throne of God in Isaiah 44:3 and Joel 2:28-29.   He is the water that Jesus offers without cost that will never leave us wanting in John 4:10-15. And like water He is always moving as the bringer of the gifts of God to man that enable us to do the work that Jesus started. The very power of water that can wear down mountains, bring life to the desert, and hide the depth of the ocean’s secrets. Jesus is the minister and as such he ministers to us – God’s greatest creation – as the Word – both living and written. Touching our lives physically as in the cross as well as spiritually in that I am Christ to those around me , as Christ ministers through me. Christ also ministers as the Light. Ever try to work in the dark? “Nuf said.” God, the Father, is the chief architect and after creating all, He now sustains all, in that He upholds creation. His hand upholds the laws of nature; His hand tells the sea, “This far you may come and no farther.” His hand maintains all the bodies of the universe and sets their courses. If God were to remove His hand? Well, you get the picture.

All that background just to get to the Spirit of God as he relates to the people of the Old Testament. The Spirit moves, or works in many ways in the Old Testament and I will give a list to start. He fills us in Exodus 35:31; He came upon him in Isaiah 42:1; He spoke the words of God to us in 2 Samuel 23:2; He carries us 1 Kings 18:12;   He leads us Psalm 143:10; The Holy Spirit rests upon us in Isaiah 11:2; He gathers us in Isaiah 34:16; He gives us rest in Isaiah 63:14; He enters in us in Ezekiel 2:2; He lifts me up in Ezekiel 3:12; He takes me away in Ezekiel 3:14; He instructs us Nehemiah 9:20; He admonishes us Nehemiah 9:30. We see the Holy Spirit on the move in the Old Testament working in the lives of the believers “coming upon” but not “residing in.” With one exception: in Ezekiel 2:2 the Spirit entered into Ezekiel. Now, I don’t believe the Holy Spirit was unable to enter in, but He could not reside or take up residence because the work of salvation had not yet been fulfilled. Most importantly, He goes before us. God has promised us that He will one day put His Spirit within all His people, (Joel 2:28) and that happened at Pentecost when the Spirit came down as tongues of fire upon the believers and the work of the church began.

Genesis 5:21-24 says Enoch walked with God!  In the garden, God walked with Adam. He physically walked with him and talked with him. They had fellowship together. Enoch may or not have physically walked with God, (I will not argue that point.) but I do see this as a spiritual walk with God, in that Enoch followed the laws and precepts of God. He understood God in a way that others did not. He truly fellowshipped with God in the fullest meaning of the word fellowship. His walk was a spiritual walk in which the Spirit of God guided him and directed him and he was obedient to the Spirit.

In Genesis 6:8 Noah walked with God. Verse 9 says that Noah was blameless in his time. Neither he nor Enoch lived without sin, but they were exceptional men in their day, in that they chose to follow God when others did not. God did not give Noah a set of blueprints and a binder of specs and leave him to his work. The Spirit of God guided and directed him in the work. Noah and his three sons and his wife and three daughters-in-law all worked to accomplish what God had set them to do as they were empowered by the Holy Spirit.

In Genesis 12 Abram was righteous before God. Abram did not follow God’s instructions to the letter, but he eventually got where God wanted him and he did try to do right. He often followed his own heart and did it his way at first, but over time and as his relationship with God grew, he came to depend on the Spirit of God for direction and guidance. His willingness to sacrifice his son, Isaac, was the turning point in his life, in that from that point on, he walked with God. Most of us can not relate to Enoch or Noah, but we can, however, relate to Abraham in how he, little by little, trusted God as God proved Himself trustworthy.

In Exodus 2, Moses was God’s chosen vessel to take His people out of slavery. Moses, like Abraham, made mistakes. One, in fact, cost him the ability to enter the promise land. No one in all the Bible had a closer walk with God than Moses! No one. His face shone with the shekinah glory of God himself, and Moses had to wear a veil over his face to hide it from the people for their fear of him. Moses learned to trust the Spirit of God as he moved in the midst of the nation of Israel; to depend on the Spirit’s guidance and direction.

1 Samuel 16 says David had a heart for God. David from his youth into adulthood walked with the Spirit of God as no one before had. His trust and faith were unwavering. David, for all his faults, lived his life in the perfect unity of the flesh and the Spirit. In the flesh, David accomplished much for the nation of Israel and all the people of God. It is no wonder that God chose to have a son born of David’s line to sit on David’s throne for all eternity. David is one of, if not the very, greatest king in human history as far as his accomplishments are concerned, but do not miss that David did all this by allowing the Spirit to move in his life – by allowing the Spirit of God to guide and direct him as he walked with God.

As we look at these men, we see the attributes of Christ: Enoch was sinless (as sinless as a man could be); Noah was blameless; Abraham righteous;  Moses faithful; and David spiritual. These attributes did not belong to these men. They were given by God through his Holy Spirit, who is the giver of gifts, that men might have the abilities needed to serve God for God’s glory and man’s salvation through Christ.