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Who is The Holy Spirit?
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Are you prepared for the Outpouring of The Holy Spirit?
Will you be ready when Jesus returns? Are you sealed in The Holy Spirit? Did you receive The Holy Spirit when you believed?
Before we cover this and more, it is important to know WHO the Holy Spirit is
and what the scripture tells us about the person of The Holy Spirit.
Be sure and study the Word for yourself and let God speak to you
personally.
The Ministries of the Trinity
The marvel of the Trinity – Important words from scripture in establishing the validity of the trinity -- is the appearance and participation of all three Persons of the Trinity in a variety of ministries of God. Consider:
In Creation:
The Father: Genesis 1:1
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
The Son: John 1:3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was
made that was made.
and
Colossians 1:16
For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth,
visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers.
All things were created through Him and for Him.
Genesis 1:2 The earth was
without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit
of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
In the sending of Jesus, the Son:
Luke 1:35 And the angel answered and said to her,
"The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will
overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called
the Son of God.
One of the key factors of Scripture is that Christianity is a relationship between God and man. This relationship is special to God -- and should be special to us as believers. In fact, the relationship should be special enough that we believers will attract non-believers to Jesus Christ as the unbeliever witnesses our relationship with God. As Peter writes (quoting the Old Testament)
1 Peter 2:9-10 9 But you are a chosen generation, a
royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim
the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; 10
who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained
mercy but now have obtained mercy.
This idea of a relationship may help us to understand the concept of the Trinity in clearer terms. Between the Persons of the Trinity , there is no inferiority. Each fully possess the attributes of God.
A review of Scripture demonstrates how each of the Persons of the Godhead is active in all areas of "theology." But, at the same time, they have some duties that are more attributable to one than the other.
The scheme of how the Godhead interacts is sometimes referred to as progression or generation. It is pictured in Scripture as follows:
Of the FATHER
1 Corinthians 8:6 Yet for us there is one God, the
Father, of whom are all things, and we for Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ,
through whom are all things, and through whom we live.
Through the SON
John 3:17 For God did not send His Son into the
world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
By the HOLY SPIRIT
Ephesians 3:5 Which in other ages was not made
known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy
apostles and prophets:
Unto the FATHER
Ephesians 2:18 For through Him we both have access
by one Spirit to the Father
Or you may think of it this way: of GOD, through GOD, by GOD, for the glory of GOD. This is why the way of the Cross brings salvation.
In sending the Holy Spirit:
John 14:26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom
the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your
remembrance all things that I said to you.
John 15:26 "But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me.
Galatians 4:6 And
because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts,
crying out, "Abba, Father!"
In indwelling believers:
John 14:16-17 And I will pray the Father, and He
will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever-- The Spirit of
truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him;
but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.
John 14:23 Jesus
answered and said to him, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My
Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.
In entering into the presence of
God:
Ephesians 2:18 Now all of us, both Jews and
Gentiles, may come to the Father through the same Holy Spirit because of what
Christ has done for us. NLT
In providing redemption and
salvation
Hebrews 2:3-4 How shall we escape if we neglect so
great a salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was
confirmed to us by those who heard Him, God also bearing witness both with signs
and wonders, with various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to
His own will?
1 Peter 1:12 They were told that these things would not happen during their lifetime, but many years later, during yours. And now this Good News has been announced by those who preached to you in the power of the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. It is all so wonderful that even the angels are eagerly watching these things happen.
Hebrews 9:14 How much
more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself
without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living
God?
In identification of Jesus
as the Messiah:
Matthew 3:16-17
After his baptism, as Jesus came up out of the water, the heavens were opened
and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and settling on him.
And a voice from heaven said, "This is my beloved Son, and I am fully
pleased with him."
In raising Jesus from the dead:
The Father, Romans 6:4 For
we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised
from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new
lives.
The Son, John 10:17-18 Therefore
My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. No one
takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and
I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My
Father."
The Holy Spirit
Romans 8:11 The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as he raised Christ from the dead, he will give life to your mortal body by this same Spirit living within you.
In Baptism:
Matthew 28:19 Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing
them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
In Blessings:
2 Corinthians 13:13-14
All the saints greet you. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of
God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.
The Person of the Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit acts with all the personality necessary to define Him as a "person, " one having will, intellect, and emotions. Consider:
He reproves:
He teaches:
He speaks:
Galatians 4:6 Because
you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying,
"Abba! Father!"
He leads:
Galatians 5:18 But if
you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law.
He ministers:
Ephesians 4:30 Do not
grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of
redemption.
He is grieved and quenched:
1 Thessalonians 5:19 Do
not quench the Spirit
He separates men to service:
Acts 13:2 While they
were ministering to the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, "Set apart
for Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them."
Just as The Spirit is a person, He is also GOD.
Reflect further upon the following verses and see the
same implications:
Isaiah 6:8-9
The Holy Spirit is God.
The Holy Spirit is called the Anointing, the Deposit, the Seal, the Spirit of the Living God, Water, Oil, and many more names in the Holy Scriptures. Ray Pritchard's book Names of the Holy Spirit, Moody Press 1995, lists some 87 names for the Holy Spirit. And, as you read, either this book or the Bible, consider the implications for you personally of each of these names.
God is at work through the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is a Person. The Holy Spirit testifies of Jesus. Jesus is God. God is One. The doctrine of the Trinity is the only method to explain this relationship.
Luke 4:18-19 " The Spirit of the Lord [is] upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord."
This is Jesus speaking. This is Jesus quoting from Isaiah 61:1-2. This is Jesus talking about the third Person of the Trinity.In Conclusion:
God is not, by our human terms, a
ghost. We know from studying that God is a living Person. He is the Living God.
Psalm 84:2
My soul longeth, yea, even
fainteth for the courts of the LORD: my heart and my flesh crieth out for the
living God.
What about the fact that God is invisible? We cannot see God the Father nor God the Holy Spirit. In fact, in this age, we cannot see God the Son either! But we do not see Jesus because He has chosen to return to Heaven.
Nonetheless we can still know God. We can learn about Him through reading the Word. We can talk to God through our prayers. God will talk back to us by means we do not understand. He talks back to us through His Spirit, the Holy Spirit, who dwells in every believer. Because God is spirit, He may freely exercise many of the attributes of His essence. Since God is spirit, He does not have a body. This allows Him to accomplish things a body cannot accomplish.
Luke 24:39 Look
at my hands. Look at my feet. You can see that it's really me. Touch me and make
sure that I am not a ghost, because ghosts don't have bodies, as you see that I
do!" (NLT)
Scripture does, at various times, speak of God as having a body, or at least, parts of a body. These are human form descriptions symbolic in nature designed to help us understand God and His plan for us. Otherwise we wouldn't be unable to understand what God is intending for us.
The exception is Jesus. God the Son lowered Himself by moving from spirit to body. He did this to help us find God. He did this to die on the Cross as the ultimate sacrifice for sin, because of God's great love for us.
So, when we say that God is spirit, maybe this does help to better explain the Trinity. Perhaps we can understand just a little more how God can be One and Three, all at the same time.
Next, coming soon, we'll explore the Power of The Holy Spirit.
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