Table of contents:
Holy Spirit in The Bible: Gift of Faith, Love & Truth
The Holy Spirit is the divine Author of the Bible. He is referenced 170 times in the King James Bible, 90 as the Holy Ghost, 31 as the Spirit of the Lord, 26 as the Spirit of God, 7 as the Holy Spirit, and 16 as the Spirit.
The Holy Spirit in the beginning
He was there at creation:
And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. – Genesis 1:2
The Holy Spirit also moved in the lives of people. Joseph* was so filled with the Holy Spirit that everyone around him was blessed, from the jailor to the captain of Pharoah’s guard to Pharoah himself and later the whole house of Israel, even those brothers who had hated him! (*means this person has a biography in my book SPIRITUAL LIVES)
Can we find such a one as this is, a man in whom the Spirit of God is? – Genesis 41:38
The Holy Spirit not only gave Joseph* the wisdom and leadership power he had but also expressed Himself in the creation of beauty and worship. Moses* says this of Bezalel, the one who created all the furniture, fixtures, and artwork for the Tabernacle”
And I have filled him with the spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship, – Exodus 31:3
The Holy Spirit gave the gift of prophecy too, first to Moses*, but then to others as well:
And the LORD came down in a cloud, and spake unto him, and took of the spirit that was upon him, and gave it unto the seventy elders: and it came to pass, that, when the spirit rested upon them, they prophesied, and did not cease. – Numbers 11:25
Moses’ friends were upset when some of the other Israelites began to prophesy. They thought they were trespassing on Moses’ Holy ground:
And Moses said unto him, Enviest thou for my sake? would God that all the LORD’S people prophets, and that the LORD would put his spirit upon them! – Numbers 11:29
That is God’s desire too, for me and for you!
If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him? – Jesus in Luke 11:13
The Holy Spirit creates life physical and spiritual
Job* had this to say about the Holy Spirit:
The Spirit of God made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life. Job 33:4
This is an affirmation of the Holy Spirit’s work of creation of all life in His work of creation in Genesis, but His work does not end there:
the Spirit of God remakes men, or makes them new men, new creatures; this is done in regeneration, which is the work of the Holy Spirit; hence regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost, are put together; and being a work of almighty power, is proof of the deity of the Spirit of God;
it is he that quickens men when dead in trespasses and sins, and makes them alive to God; which appears by their spiritual breathings after divine things, and by the exercise of their spiritual senses, and by their performance of spiritual actions; – John Gill 1697-1771
The Holy Spirit in Judges
As we have seen above, the Holy Spirit acts to glorify God and His purpose. In Judges, He empowers judges to act on behalf of the children of Israel when they repent and return to the LORD:
We see this in the first judge, Othniel*:
And the Spirit of the LORD came upon him, and he judged Israel, and went out to war: and the LORD delivered Chushanrishathaim king of Mesopotamia into his hand; and his hand prevailed against Chushanrishathaim.– Judges 3:10
Later in Gideon*:
But the Spirit of the LORD came upon Gideon*, and he blew a trumpet; and Abiezer was gathered after him. Judges 6:34
And so Gideon and his 300 men delivered Israel from the innumerable host of Midian.
Then Jephthah*
Then the Spirit of the LORD came upon Jephthah, and he passed over Gilead, and Manasseh, and passed over Mizpeh of Gilead, and from Mizpeh of Gilead he passed over unto the children of Ammon. – Judges 11:29
This outcast son, born out of wedlock and despised by his family was used by the Spirit to deliver God’s people from the Ammonites.
And finally, Samson*. First in killing a lion:
And the Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon him, and he rent him as he would have rent a kid, and he had nothing in his hand: – Judges 14:6.
Then in judging the Philistines who had intrigued with his wife:
And the Spirit of the LORD came upon him, and he went down to Ashkelon, and slew thirty men of them, and took their spoil, and gave change of garments unto them which expounded the riddle. – Judges 14:19
Once more when the oppressive enemies of God’s people tried to bind him
And when he came unto Lehi, the Philistines shouted against him: and the Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon him, and the cords that were upon his arms became as flax that was burnt with fire, and his bands loosed from off his hands. – Judges 15:14
The Holy Spirit acted not because these men were godly, but because they served God’s purpose. We will see this principle again as we move on.
The Holy Spirit in the Books of History
In Samuel* we see that God sent His Spirit into Saul*, the man He had chosen to be Israel’s first king:
And the Spirit of the LORD will come upon thee, and thou shalt prophesy with them, and shalt be turned into another man. – 1 Samuel 10:6
We also see that the indwelling of the Holy Spirit can be life-long or can be withdrawn:
Then Samuel* took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brethren: and the Spirit of the LORD came upon David* from that day forward. – 1 Samuel 16:13
When the Holy Spirit leaves another spirit may take His place;
But the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD troubled him. – 1 Samuel 16:14
David* tells us that not only was the Holy Spirit resident in him but spoke through him, a direct testimony that the Psalms are His work:
The Spirit of the LORD spake by me, and his word was in my tongue. – 2 Samuel 23:2
The rest of the books of history show us the role of the Holy Spirit in the lives of the LORD’s prophets:
First in Elijah*:
And it shall come to pass, as soon as I am gone from thee, that the Spirit of the LORD shall carry thee whither I know not; and so when I come and tell Ahab*, and he cannot find thee, he shall slay me: but I thy servant fear the LORD from my youth. – 1 Kings 18:12
Then in Micaiah
But Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah went near, and smote Micaiah on the cheek, and said, Which way went the Spirit of the LORD from me to speak unto thee? – 1 Kings 22:24
And finally in Elisha*:
And they said unto him, Behold now, there be with thy servants fifty strong men; let them go, we pray thee, and seek thy master: lest peradventure the Spirit of the LORD hath taken him up, and cast him upon some mountain, or into some valley.
And he said, Ye shall not send.- 2 Kings 2:16
The Holy Spirit in the prophets
The Holy Spirit filled the prophets with His wisdom and power to warn and comfort God’s people as they were judged and restored. More importantly, they foretold the coming of God’s kingdom in the person of the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ.
And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD; would God that all the LORD’S people were prophets, and that the LORD would put his spirit upon them. – Isaiah* 11:2
The Holy Spirit also prepares the Gentiles for the Gospel:
So shall they fear the name of the LORD from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him. Isaiah 59:19
The Holy Spirit gave Isaiah* the exact words that Jesus will use to announce His mission 700 years before He was born:
The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; – Isaiah 61:1
The Holy Spirit permeates the Book of Ezekiel* and gives him extraordinary visions of the future:
And the Spirit of the LORD fell upon me, and said unto me, Speak; Thus saith the LORD; Thus have ye said, O house of Israel: for I know the things that come into your mind, every one of them. Ezekiel 11:5
The Holy Spirit actually picked Ezekiel* up and carried him many times during the 13 theophanies he witnessed, famously into the valley of dry bones:
The hand of the LORD was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the LORD, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones, – Ezekiel 37:1
Finally, the Holy Spirit showed Ezekiel* mysteries that transcend time and are the basis for further prophet/apocalyptic scripture:
Afterwards the spirit took me up, and brought me in a vision by the Spirit of God into Chaldea, to them of the captivity. So the vision that I had seen went up from me. – Ezekiel 11:24
The Holy Spirit between the Testaments
The Holy Spirit continued to work through the time the scriptures were silent between Old Testament and the New.
O thou that art named the house of Jacob, is the spirit of the LORD straitened? Are these his doings? do not my words do good to him that walketh uprightly? Micah 2:7
The entire culture of the world was changed, from rulers to language and culture. All to prepare for Jesus.
But truly I am full of power by the spirit of the LORD, and of judgment, and of might, to declare unto Jacob his transgression, and to Israel his sin. – Micah 3:8
The Holy Spirit in the New Testament
The Holy Spirit is even more visible in the opening of the New Testament than He is at the beginning of the Old:
Matthew tells us Jesus’* conception was of the Holy Spirit:
Now the birth of Jesus Christ * was on this wise: When as his mother Mary* was espoused to Joseph*, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost. – Matthew 1:18
The Holy Spirit coordinated this wonderful revelation to both Jesus’ earthly parents:
But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph*, thou son of David*, fear not to take unto thee Mary* thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. – Matthew 1:20
And later Matthew reports that His purpose was to baptize with the Holy Spirit:
I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire. -Matthew 3:11
When Jesus began His earthly ministry, we see a rare visible manifestation of the Holy Spirit:
And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: – Matthew 3:16
After 3 years of teaching on the power and purpose of the Holy Spirit, Jesus closes His earthly ministry with these words:
Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: – Matthew 28:19
Luke then picks up the narrative
But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. – Acts 1:8
This great event came on the day of Pentecost when the church was born:
And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.
And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.
And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. – Acts 2:2-4
Speaking in tongues has ever since been a sign of the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Jesus affirmed this in Mark 16:17:
And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;
But He also taught that the Holy Spirit was to be a Gift to every believer:
He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.
(But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.) – John 7:38-39
The Holy Spirit gives us the power to lead others to Jesus through the streams of living water He has placed in us, His people.
And as those rivers of living water flow through us, they change us, implanting in us His love and more Fruit of the Spirit that St. Paul* describes:
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. – Galatians 5:22-23
The apostle goes on to encourage us:
If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. – Galatians 5:25
The Holy Spirit in Revelation
St. John*, the disciple Jesus loved, walked in the Spirit.
I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet,
Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia. – Revelation 1:10-11
John wrote Revelation in the Spirit, and as we read, we see more of Jesus as He is now, in heaven, we are comforted and led by His Spirit:
But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. – John 14:26
John continues and delivers the scripture’s last words on the Holy Spirit.
And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, – Revelation 21:10
What a glorious future we have, what an eternal home that Jesus is preparing for us. The Holy Spirt invites with this call:
And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely. – Revelation 22:17
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Come, Holy Spirit, like a dove descending,
Rest Thou upon us while we meet to pray;
Show us the Savior, all His love revealing,
Lead us to Him, the Life, the Truth, the Way.
Come, Holy Spirit, every cloud dispelling,
Fill us with gladness, through the Master’s name;
Bring to our memory words that He hath spoken,
Then shall our tongues His wondrous grace proclaim.
Come, Holy Spirit, sent from God the Father—
Thou friend and teacher, comforter and guide—
Our thoughts directing, keep us close to Jesus,
And in our hearts forevermore abide.
Fanny Crosby, 1891