Continuing Pastor Herk's message: The third purpose of the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament was to reveal sin and rebuke when we rebel against God and His ways. Sin is defined as: The voluntary departure of a moral agent from a known rule of rectitude or duty, prescribed by God; any voluntary transgression of the divine law, or violation of a divine command; a wicked act; iniquity. Sin is either a positive act in which a known divine law is violated, or it is the voluntary neglect to obey a positive divine command, or a rule of duty clearly implied in such command. Sin comprehends not action only, but neglect of known duty, all evil thoughts purposes, words and desires, whatever is contrary to God's commands or law. In Nehemiah 9:30a it says, “You [God] bore with them for many years, and admonished them by Your Spirit through Your prophets. The Holy Spirit used His prophets to reveal sin and the consequences of sin. The prophet Micah 3:8 says, “I am filled with power—with the Spirit of the Lord—and with justice and courage to make known to Jacob his rebellious act, even to Israel his sin.”
The fourth purpose of the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament was to equip God’s people. We see this equipping of the saints (those who have been sanctified) in two ways. (1) Equipped to serve God. Ephesians 2:10 explains, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.” God gives His people tasks, then equipping them to accomplish them. God says in Exodus 31:3 “I have filled him with the Spirit of God in wisdom, in understanding, in knowledge, and in all kinds of craftsmanship.” In the Old Testament, the equipping of the Holy Spirit in order to serve God consisted, primarily, of equipping His children to be His representatives in the fallen world.
Numbers 11:24-25 tells us, “So Moses went out and told the people the words of the Lord. Also, he gathered seventy men of the elders of the people, and stationed them around the tent. Then the Lord came down in the cloud and spoke to him; and He took of the Spirit who was upon him and placed Him upon the seventy elders. And when the Spirit rested upon them, they prophesied.” In 1 Samuel 16:12b-13 the Lord said, “Arise, anoint him; for this is he.” Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers; and the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon David from that day forward. God was equipping people in the Old Testament, but only giving the Holy Spirit temporarily. The Spirit was placed and rested upon them, but did not permanently reside and abide in them then.
The other aspect of the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament was the process by which he gave the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament. The Holy Spirit in the Old Testament was limited by God for specific purposes and temporary. The finished atoning work of the Messiah, Jesus Christ, in justification on the Cross made it possible for the Holy Spirit to indwell and abide within the “born again”, “born anew”, “born from above” and transformed Believer and be consistently at work in our lives, warring against the sin nature in our life, prodding and leading us on paths of righteousness. In John 14:25-26 the Lord Jesus tells us, “These things I have spoken to you while abiding with you. 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 that I said to you.”
The work of the Holy Spirit was the sovereign choice of God. The people of the Old Testament used by God and experienced the work of the Holy Spirit in their lives, neither expected the giving of the Holy Spirit or did anything to prompt the work of the Holy Spirit upon them. They didn’t pray for the Holy Spirit to come upon them; it was God’s sovereign choice and initiative in order to achieve His purposeful steps in the Plan of Redemption and Salvation. There is no evidence that all of the biblical patriarchs experienced the power of the Holy Spirit. It’s God’s plan and God’s choice.
Even though, on this side of the atoning death of Jesus Christ, His Resurrection, His Ascension and Pentecost’s promised receiving of the Holy Spirit in repentant Believer’s (present in our lives today), it is no guarantee that we are automatically a spiritual or godly person; this side of eternity, we are still in the flesh nature with desires of sin. That is why Galatians 5:16-18, 24-25 says, “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law. Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.”
We have to choose to listen to and walk in the Spirit. But, it is our choice to plug into the power of God. We need to make sure that we do not hinder God’s work in our lives. He has Kingdom purposes, tasks and goals that He wants us to accomplish in this very time and place on His over-arching Plan of Redemption of the world. That is why God sent the Holy Spirit to indwell and reside in us. When we put everything together of the purpose and work of the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament, we find that it is the same Holy Spirit at work in the world and our lives today; just working differently than in the days of the Old Testament. Even though the design and most of the individual elements of how the Holy Spirit operates since Jesus rose from the grave and ascended to the right hand of the Father in Heaven, the basics are the same - God’s Divine power for God’s Divine work. How blessed we are to have the Holy Spirit with and in us today!
In Christ, Brian
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