When I say Holy Ghost some people cringe. I prefer that terminology. I’m OK with Holy Spirit but the nomenclature seems to be a little soft. I have always liked the words Holy Ghost because He’s Holy and He comes like a Ghost. Like the Wind. We see the result but not the person. He’s an unseen activator of things and people.
He, the Holy Ghost (I use He in the Royal sense since He has no gender) is God; Has always been God; always will be fully God. The essence of the I AM. He is was and always shall be.
At creation He is the creative force that hovered above the formless and void waters causing order to come into being. Gen 1:2 In people’s lives He still does the same thing. Many lives are formless and void until they become ordered after the infilling of the Holy Ghost.
He has been in action constantly from the beginning of Creation. In Genesis 6:3 He declares that as the Spirit he will not always strive with sin.
He manifests himself from time to time before Pentecost by filling various people for certain tasks. There was a builder of temples in Exodus 31:3 who by the Holy Ghost was enabled to great works. Kings, Prophets and others captured a glimpse of Heaven, said or did something they couldn’t do in the flesh. That is the Anointing of the Holy Ghost. Even a Pagan King was moved on by the Holy Ghost to action in 2 Chronicles 36:22.
Sometimes there was an action of the Holy Ghost that seemed at the time to be destructive. There was a confusion of tongues at the Tower of Babel. Who caused that? The Devil? That confusion was resolved at Pentecost when we all spoke the same tongues again. Then there was the confusion of the Midianite hoards when Gideon attacked. Who did that? Or, how about Ananias and Sapphira. Killed by the Holy Ghost. He’s not to be trifled with. Not to be dismissed. But he is by much of the Modern Church.
Saul the King by the anointing of the Holy Ghost became a different Man. He prophesied. He walked with new confidence. But then one day the Holy Ghost left him after his rejection and disobedience. Same with Sampson. He knew NOT that the Spirit had left him.
David from time to time was overcome by the power of the Holy Spirit. He wrote Psalms. He prophesied. He knew God. In Psalm 139:7-10 he spoke of the omnipresence of the Holy Ghost.
Isaiah prophesied the effect of His outpouring. In Chapter 61 the description of the Anointing was rehearsed later by Jesus when he said “The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is Upon Me. He has anointed me to bring GOOD NEWS.” That’s the work of the Spirit of God.
Like Jesus and The Father, God the Holy Spirit is not different in the Old Testament from the new. He’s the same yesterday today and forever. When we sing the song, “Jesus Never Changes” we could sing the same about the Spirit of God. I have often said that to truly understand the unchanging character of God in all his manifestations and character you have to put the words of God in Red in the “Old Testament” and treat them as reverentially as you do the Words of Jesus in the flesh in the New Testament. Same God - Same Person – Same Red Letters.
The creative Power of The Holy Ghost was manifested on not only Saul and David but on Moses, Joshua, Gideon, Jeremiah, Balaam, Samuel, Nathan, Elijah, Elisha, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Zechariah, and all the prophets. They couldn’t prophesy unless the Holy Ghost had come upon them. They couldn’t do any mighty works except by the power of the Holy Ghost. Look at every Miracle manifested by the Prophets Elijah and Elisha. Who did that?
This empowerment only happened from time to time as the Spirit came on them. There was no consistent infilling. Only short term anointing as God enabled the word or action as needed. When the Anointing of God came upon Men they did great and mighty works. That was true then, it’s true now.
His voice is consistent, correcting, encouraging and forward looking. He hasn’t changed. It still is. If you hear a prophetic word it will harmonize with the word of God from Genesis to Maps. There is no turning at all.
His voice was silenced for a time due to a rejection of his word by a religious system that would rather have predictability than hear his voice. Those are the silent years between Malachi and Matthew. It happens when religious systems reject the Holy Ghost. We have just come out of this period of silent years. Thank God they are passing away and again the power of the Word of Prophecy is alive again.
Zechariah said: It’s not by power or by might but by my Spirit says the Lord God of Hosts.
We can trust that He the Spirit will be faithful to perform it.
Joel said: In those days I will pour out my spirit on all flesh and my sons and daughters will prophesy and dream dreams.
That religious system that silenced the prophets looked backwards to tradition not forward to the promise. It was inconsistent and unteachable. It was unable to be corrected. Just like today. That’s why I write this essay.
Some people during the silence of God heard the voice of God and tried to bring it out but they were silenced. The silencing of the prophets is nothing new. In fact most prophets are killed or ridiculed. Nothing is new under that sun. The prophetic is still feared and ridiculed.
When the promised Messiah shows up on the scene the Glorious Manifestation of the Holy Ghost is displayed:
- Mary has a visitation
- Joseph confirms the vision
- Elizabeth hears and conceives
- Zechariah hears and goes dumb
- John the Baptist full of the Holy Ghost leaps in the womb of his mother
- Simeon stands on a prophetic promise fulfilled
- Anna trusts God who rewards her for her faithfulness
The word of the Lord begins to rumble. The Spirit Begins to speak. Jesus is Born. The Spirit of the Living God celebrates. He points all men to Jesus even at his birth.
Next; Jesus receives the Fullness of the Spirit and is prepared for his earthly Ministry as a pattern for us to follow. Jesus speaks often while walking this planet about the coming Holy Ghost outpouring which happened at Pentecost. We will look at those passages and what they mean today.
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