A Gospel Presentation - Part 5 (Charismatic Witness)

Previous Posts in this Series:
A Gospel Presentation: Part 1 (Two-Age Worldview)
A Gospel Presentation: Part 2 (Creation/Curse)
A Gospel Presentation: Part 3 (Covenant/Commitment)
A Gospel Presentation: Part 4 (Confirmation)

“By all reason and logic, there is no reason that Christianity should have gone forward. It was a marginal Jewish sect that proclaimed a crucified Messiah and everything about it is contrary to the ways of the World; it has no power, no power base, it contradicts having a lot of money and storing up wealth…it contradicts all of the things that make a movement happen, historically speaking. The cross itself contradicts it all. And so it should have faded into oblivion long, long ago, rather quickly. Yet, it’s the Holy Spirit that continues to bring it forth and bring it to the forefront, in the midst of every way in which the spirit of the world contradicts it.” – John Harrigan

 

"We gave you very strict orders not to continue teaching in this name," he said. "But look! You have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are set on making us responsible for this man's blood!" "It is God whom we must obey, rather than mere men," Peter and the other apostles replied. "The God of our ancestors 'raised up' Jesus, whom you murdered by having him 'hanged on a tree.' This man God has exalted to his own right hand as Ruler, yes, and Savior, to give Israel opportunity to repent and receive forgiveness for her sins. We are witnesses to these things, as is the Holy Spirit, who is God's gift to those who obey him." (Acts 5:28-32, BHT)

The Spirit Present at Creation

In many ways, the Holy Spirit is the glue that holds everything in this Gospel presentation together. If you read Christian theology, you will get a lot of different takes on the Holy Spirit, but what I present here is fairly simple. At the beginning of the Gospel of John, there is the famous passage, “In the Beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was fully God. The Word was with God in the beginning. All things were created by him, and apart from him not one thing was created that has been created.” Looking back at Genesis, we see that this is true. Genesis 1:2, “Now the earth was without shape and empty, and darkness was over the surface of the watery deep, but the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the water.” Job 26:13 and Isaiah 32:15 also speak of the Holy Spirit’s presence and activity at Creation.

‘Spirit’ in Hebrew is ‘ruach’ which could be translated as ‘breath’, ‘wind’ or even ‘mind of’. In my mind, a straight-forward understanding of the Holy Spirit is that of the ‘voice’ or ‘proclaimed will’ of God. I’ll leave it to the theologians to debate the essence of that voice and will.

 

The Spirit as a Witness to the Promises (Covenant)

The holy spirit is also at the heart of God’s promises that we looked at in the Covenants made with Abraham and David. In Genesis 12, the opening line is, “And God said to Abram…” In 2 Samuel 7, the opening line of God’s pronouncement of his covenant with David is, “The Lord declares (says, announces) to you [David]…” God is not standing before either of these men when these words are said, it is the Spirit of God that says these things. We know this because in Exodus 33, there is a story where Moses asks to see the Glory of God – he wants to see God face to face. God says, in Exodus 33:20, “You cannot see My face, for mankind shall not see Me and live!” It is the Spirit of God that is in the pillar of cloud that led Israel by day and it is the Spirit of God that is in the pillar of fire that led Israel by night. We very clearly read, in the writings of the Prophets that it was the Spirit, or Word, of God that was uttered through them – echoing the words of the promises made to Abraham, Moses and David and admonishing the people, through the individual prophets, to turn from their wicked ways and return to the God of their ancestors.

 

“Hear the word of the Lord” – Isaiah 1:10

“Now the word of the Lord came to me…” – Jeremiah 1:4

“On the fifth of the month in the fifth year of King Jehoiachin’s exile, the word of the Lord came expressly to Ezekiel the priest…” – Ezekiel 1:2-3

“The word of the Lord which came to Hosea the son of Beeri….” – Hosea 1:1

“The word of the Lord that came to Joel, the son of Pethuel:” – Joel 1:1

“This is what the Lord says:” – Amos 1:3

“This is what the Lord God says concerning Edom…” – Obadiah 1:1

 

Further evidence that the spirit of God is the one speaking through the prophets is found in Acts 1. Immediately following Jesus’ Ascension, we read that Peter talks about the Holy Spirit being involved in confirming that Jesus had to die, be raised, and return to Heaven: “In those days Peter stood up among the believers and said, “Brothers and sisters, the Scripture had to be fulfilled in which the Holy Spirit spoke long ago through David concerning Judas, who served as a guide for those who arrested Jesus.”” (Acts 1:15-16) It is the Holy Spirit who speaks through people concerning God’s Will.

 

The Spirit Confirming Jesus as the Son of God

In all four Gospels we read the story of Jesus’ baptism (Matt 3, Mark 1, Luke 3, John 1). All four of them include the detail that the Spirit of God descended on Jesus and three of the four (Matthew, Luke and John) report that a voice (word, breath) came from Heaven saying, “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” In John 15 it says, “When the Advocate (Holy Spirit) comes, whom I will send you from the Father – the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father – He will testify (speak, proclaim) about me, and you also will testify, because you have been with me from the beginning.” (John 15:26). In Acts 5, during Peter’s testimony before the Jewish Council (Sanhedrin) he says, “And we are witnesses of these events, and also the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey him.” (Acts 5:32) As I mentioned in the last post about Jesus, Jesus’ function during his ministry on Earth was that of a prophet, which is in keeping with this idea that the Lord God himself, through the Spirit, SPOKE through Jesus. Doing what? Proclaiming the promises of God made to the ancestors and admonishing the people to turn their hearts fully toward God, in repentance. Jesus then confers his own message to the Apostles shortly before his Ascension: “But you will receive power when the Holy Sprit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the farthest parts of the Earth.” (Acts 1:8)

 

The Spirit as Power to Live as Disciples

Besides the Spirit’s work in witnessing and confirming, the Spirit bears integral relevance to us right this very moment, giving us the ability to remain in the Faith and to walk out our own witness regarding God in this life (discipleship). In John 14, Jesus says to the Apostles, “But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and will cause you to remember everything.” (John 14:26, reiterated in John 15:26) There are many, many other verses throughout the New Testament letters that speak to the Spirit being the one who enables miracles, who gives wisdom and understanding, who encourages and who convicts of Sin. Here are just a few:

 

“So then, does He who provides you with the Spirit and works miracles among you, do it by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith?” (Galatians 3:5)

 

“I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus the Messiah, the Father of glory, through his Spirit, would give you wisdom and continue to reveal truth to you so that you may grow in your knowledge of him.” (Ephesians 1:17)

 

“Similarly, the Spirit also comes to our aid in our times of weakness. Though we don’t know, you see, what it is that we should pray for, the Spirit himself appeals to God on our behalf with groans too deep for words.” (Romans 8:26)

 

“Now, I say this: It is under the governance of the Spirit that you are to conduct yourselves; then the evil thing that the mortal nature wants you to do you will certainly not carry out. The mortal nature, you see, seized as it is by sin, craves the opposite of what the Spirit wants. The Spirit, meanwhile, desires the opposite of what the mortal nature craves.” (Galatians 5:16-17)

 

And a little later in the same chapter, “But the fruit (evidence) of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law.” (Galatians 5:22-23)

 

The Spirit’s Testimony of the Certainty of What is to Come

The future, the culmination of all history on the Day of the Lord, is the topic of my next post, but for the purposes of this post, the Spirit certainly testifies to what is coming. Follow me here: if the End is the Beginning, which I talked about in the post on Creation, then full restoration of the Earth and the glorification of our bodies and hearts is what we have to look forward to (the Cure for the Curse!). In Revelation it says, “He will ‘wipe away every tear from their eyes,’ and death will be no more. There will be no more mourning or wailing or anguish, for the present order of things is destined to pass away.” (Revelation 21:4, quoting from Isaiah 25:8) The prize to which we are all hoping for and persevering for is that restored Creation.

Does it ever strike you as odd that the vast majority (maybe all?) of the miracles recorded in the Gospels revolve around three things: healings, provision (feeding 5,000, etc), and driving out demons. Why these things? This author would humbly suggest that those kinds of miracles (i.e. works of the Holy Spirit) are ‘first fruits’ of how it will be here on Earth when Jesus returns. A) Believers will have new bodies that, as we just read in Revelation, will no longer be bound by death. B) There will be unlimited provision, there will be no more poverty or hunger. C) There will be no more demons! None of us knows what it is like to have a body that only says “Yes” to God. Our daily, and sometimes moment-by-moment experience is that of having a body that struggles against God. I’m not suggesting that we all have demons, but the demonic and sinful influence that is part of this world and this Age will no longer be. What a glorious hope!

 

The role of the Holy Spirit with individuals in this age is as a) a witness to what is true, b) as an encourager to the Faithful, to keep going and pressing toward the end and c) a further confirmation of what the coming Age will be like through signs, wonders, dreams, visions, and spiritual gifts. In the wrap-up post to this series, I will talk about the culmination of this Age and the Cure for the Curse and how all of redemptive history will come down to the ‘great & terrible’ (Joel 2:31) Day of the Lord.

 

Areas for Further Study:

- The way that Paul talks about The Holy Spirit is of particular interest. In different places he refers to the Spirit as a Seal (Ephesians 1:13, 2 Corinthians 1:22), a Pledge (Ephesians 1:14), a deposit or down-payment (2 Corinthians 5:5) and as a 'first fruit' (Romans 8:23). Far be it from me to be definitive about what the Holy Spirit is or isn't - I only point this out to highlight the mysteriousness of the Spirit.

- In some ways Paul seems to view the Holy Spirit as something static and unchanging - as in a seal or guarantee (you either have the Spirit or you don't), in other ways he seems to speak of the Holy Spirit as a dynamic thing. In my own thinking, I tend to come down more on the side of the Spirit being a dynamic thing - not something that is always within us (or 'on' us) at all times, at least in This Age anyway. Rather, I think of the Spirit's presence as something that can visit me from time to time, or if given for a special mission, can be 'on' or 'with' someone for a longer period of time. In my thinking - when we receive new glorified bodies is when we will have the Spirit 'in' or 'on' us all the time because we will have bodies in which a) sin does not exist and b) that always say "yes" to God. I'm open to changing that view, but this is how I currently think about it.

- There is clearly something different about the availability of the Spirit between the Tanakh (OT) and the Messianic Writings (NT). Defining what this difference is, is tricky. When Jesus tells his disciples that he is sending 'a helper' or 'the spirit', they don't exclaim "what's that?" (or at least that isn't recorded) I believe they had an understanding of what the Holy Spirit was and what it is for. Given the nature of the Spirit in the Tanakh (empowering prophets to speak God's will to the people), the function of the Holy Spirit appears to be the same between the OT and NT but the availability is different. Before the Spirit spoke through certain people - now it can speak through anybody (Jew and Gentile alike). It is a question worth considering and one that I continue to wrestle with.