GOD THE HOLY SPIRIT-Pt.2

Ephesians 4:1-6   Psalm 51:10-11  

I John 5:1-8

In this second part of our study of God the Holy Spirit we will explore the work of the Holy Spirit in the life of our LORD and Saviour Jesus Christ. There is no better place to begin this study than in the miracle of His conception, Matthew 1:18-25 & Luke 1:26-38.  The foot-note at the end of our first study attempted to explain that Mary was the instrument used of God to bring forth the Christ into the world. We explained that  no influence outside of God the Holy Spirit was necessary and that is why we said that rather than refer to Mary as "Mater Dei or Mother of God"  it was more appropriate to use "Theotokas or God Bearer". The actual fact of the conception of Jesus being credited to the work of God the Holy Spirit is announced  by the Angel Gabri-el in Matt 1:20  & Luke 1:35.  If you will notice in Luke 1:31 and Matt1:21  this Arch-Angel  did not say that Mary would give birth, he said you will "bring forth".  In that foot-note we said that the egg or process of ovulation was not used in the conception of the Christ and we can almost hear the outburst of dis-belief from many.  You say okay, explain how there could be a genetic lineage established back to David, Jacob, Isaac and Abraham to Adam. For this we must turn to Heb 2:14-17 and Heb 10:5; The first man Adam had a body formed out of the dust of the earth (Gen2:7) and the second man Adam had a body prepared for Him by God the Holy Spirit, in the womb of the virgin, formed from her DNA. This formation of a "prepared body" was not over a period of time but in an instant. In a single instant the "Word was made flesh"..John1:14 and the Son of God was "made of a woman"..Gal 4:4.  From that instant of conception until His death on the Cross Christ was illuminated, guided and preserved by the immediate operation of God the Holy Spirit. 

It was in His Divine nature as God and His human nature as man that Jesus Christ stood on the worlds scene as the visible second person of the Triune Godhead, God the Son. In the fulness of time He came forth into the earth as fore-told by the Prophets..Isaiah 7:14-16, & 9:6-7,  Jeremiah 23:5-6,  Zechariah 6:12-13,  and

9:9-10. In His coming Jesus did not just assume human nature, He took on the flesh and blood of the seed of Abraham. And through His immaculate conception and His taking on the prepared body He became different than any man who had ever lived before Him or any man who would ever live after Him. Not only was He 100% man in His man-hood He was also 100% God in His God-hood. Both natures, one Divine and the other human were perfect in their own right and still are, and the two were never fused together.  There is no authority anywhere whereby any one may deify the nature of Jesus the man. Nor is it possibly, Biblically sound or lawful, to attempt to place into the Christ of deity, a human nature.  As we are still early in this study some may be asking this question "Since Jesus Christ was fully God in His own right, why must He need the Holy Spirit working in Him?'  To clarify;  As far as the Divine nature was concerned , none!  However, with Jesus being a complete man, there would be room and purpose for the Holy Spirit to work in Him. Lets not forget that at conception, Jesus was under the anointing of the Holy Spirit.

In His anointing of the Holy Spirit at His baptism, Jesus was formally consecrated into His public mission and was Divinely endowed with all gifts necessary for the completion of His public and official work.  It was here at the Jordan River as He emerged from the waters that the heavens opened up and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him like a dove (or gently as a dove would). At that point the Father testified of Him, "This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased"..Matt 3:16-17 & John 1:32-34..."This is my beloved Son". One of the first incidents recorded of Jesus after His baptism is found in Luke 4:1-13. Here we have a view of the Christ in all His power and righteous glory while after having been confirmed of the Holy Spirit He is made to be victorious over the tempter Satan!  That old serpent the devil offered  Jesus all of the kingdoms of the earth, in existance from that day to now and forever.  This comes very close to telling Christians of every age that earthly governments are basicly  no good. The people of this great country of ours have and still are experiencing some hard times, and I would not call them sinners in rebellion for refusing to pay homage to the anti-christ behind the scenes of our nations government.  The very next thing Jesus did was to put His ministry on record for the first time as is told in Luke 4:14-21 as He read from the prophet Isaiah 61:1-2. 

Based on what little we have covered so far we are able to see that the first anointing of Jesus was for thr forming of His human nature and  endowing it with perfect wisdom and holiness. The second anointing as  we have seen endowed Him with the supernatural powers to be used in His great work.  The first anointing was private and personal, the second public and official. Together they gave Him the gift of Ministry and Spiritual Graces. The necessity for a double anointing lay in the human nature which He had taken on Himself and the servant position required of it. And also to denote the Fathers acceptance of  Christs' person and His induction into the office of mediator...Isa 11:1-5. 

John 3:31-36..The evangelist is speaking to us of the pre-eminance of Christ Jesus, of how He is above all. We are told that Jesus being a man like we, yet so different from other men He received the Holy Ghost in fulness, not in measured out doses. This is affirmed in Colossians by the apostle Paul, "For in Him dwelleth the fulness of the Godhead bodily". In His manhood, Jesus enjoyed a 100% dose of the Holy Spirit, for this is exactly what Paul is saying.  We have further evidence that the Holy Spirit is measured out to man in doses in Ephesians 4:7-8 and John3:34.  It is true that in Jesus the man, the Holy Spirit dwelled without limit, so it must also be true that there was growth in His Spiritual life as is revealed in Luke 2:40-52. As Jesus grew physically He also grew Spiritually "And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man!  Some find this teaching difficult to accept because in their way of thinking they ask "How is it possible for the Divine and only begotten Son of God to increase in spiritual knowledge?"  Here is where we all must pause to remember that Jesus is the God/Man, and this Spiritual growth of which we read is concerned with the human nature of Jesus. His Divine nature is complete and could not grow.

Before going on onto the third anointing of Christ we should take a closer look at the work of the Holy Spirit at the baptism and during the tempting of Christ.  When the Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus at His baptism, He was consecrated and empowered to begin His public ministry. Apart from His private life, Jesus needed the Holy Spirit in order to possess all of the qualities and qualifications to properly discharge the duties of His three-fold office of Prophat, Priest and King along with the coming office of mediator. When Jesus was baptized the heavens opened up, the clouds rolled back and God the Holy Spirit descended and indwelled Him fully.  It was now time to begin the greatest ministry man would ever know. Not only did Jesus make known the power of the Holy Spirit  in His teachings, He also made it clear in His healing ministry for He had received power in all areas of Pastoral care...Matt 8:3-4 and  14-17,  Mark 3:1-5,  Luke 4:33-36 and John 9:1-7 and 11.  We read in Matt 12:14 that the jews held council against Him and in vs-24 accused Him of being in league with the devil, His answer was not one that was spoken by a passive wimp as He has been portrayed in our day. Jesus the militant Saviour of Israel was not in fear of the jews. He accused them with words of power that by linking Him with demons and the devil they had divulged their own links with the evil one and that by their very language they had been made guilty of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit...Matt 12:22-32. Acts 10:38 In spite of what the jews say, Jesus who was anointed with the Holy Spirit performed miracles, cast out demons and raised the dead. It is explicitly clear in this verse that His ministry and the miracles He performed were not from the strength of His own human nature, rather it was because He as empowered by God the Holy Spirit to do these works.

Remember this from Luke 4:  Immediately following His baptism He was led into the wilderness or deserted area by the Holy Spirit. Here in this bare surrounding He was tested of the devil for a period of 40-days. That old serpent the devil, John 8:44, who was the father of the jews, verbally assaulted and psychologically attempted to force his own will over that of Jesus Christ. Satan that old devil was a defeated rebel from the beginning, for that Spirit which led Jesus into the wilderness area was God the Holy Spirit.  The fact that it was the Power of the Holy Spirit who defeated that old devil in the wilderness is attested to in Luke 4:14 "And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee".  That entire period of time, the whole 40-days, was under the control of God the Holy Spirit...and it was by and thru the power  of the Holy Spirit that Jesus in his human nature received the strength to overcome. "Get thee behind me satan, Thou shalt not tempt the LORD thy God, man shall not live by bread alone but by every word  word of God". Victory in the wilderness was  not achieved by Jesus calling upon his Divine nature nor by fusing His Divine nature with His human nature for had He done so, he would no longer have been man in this battle. Victory was certain and won due to the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in the man Jesus and ruling his human nature....For this is the work which He performs in man!

How may we be sure that the Holy Spirit remained with Jesus throughout His ministry?  Luke 4:13 says that the devil departed from Him for a season. That season refers to the time of that moment of His betrayal by Jewdas of Kerioth. That was the night which Jesus chose to pray in the garden, just prior to His false arrest...not by Roman soldiers as many of us have been led to believe but by the guard of the Jewish Sanhedrin. His arrest subsequently led to several illegal trials and His death/murder on the Cross at the hands or bequest of the anti-christ, serpent-seed, Amalekite/Kenite  devils.  Luke 22:39-46 "If thou be willing, remove this cup from me" are the words of human nature but to show scripturally who was in control of His life Jesus went on to add "nevertheless not my will, but thine be done"...The human nature even though present and showing itself in the prayer of Christ was submissive to the will and work of the Spirit of God which was in Him. We should acknowledge this, "Christians not only owe our salvation to the outward life and death of Jesus Christ but also we owe the Farher for sending Him and th the Holy Spirit who remained with Him and ministered to Him as He lived and died".  Here then is what we must grasp as truth and hold firmly forever; "Jesus Christ is not pleased with an external showing of affection or a physical move on our part of submitting to His Gospel..we must also possess a related attitude or presence of soul and spirit. If Jesus had gone to the Cross unwillingly, but with a sense of necessity yet with diminished faith in the Father for allowing Him to go to the Cross, our salvation would not have been won for the Atonement would not have been sure. If we come to Him through the emotion filled pleadings of man rather than the sure calling of Yahweh and quickening of the Holy Spirit, we come out of a diminished faith of necesity and an unwilling spirit. We are making a move to please man rather than God and we have no Salvation. This is why scripture warns us to "work out our salvation in fear and trembling".. Philippians 2:12-13 and I Peter 1:9-10 and it is God the Holy Spirit which works in us and causes us to bow to His will and do His good pleasure. Hebrews 10:9-17,  Jesus offered Himself once...that perfect sacrifice which could take away the sins of His people for whom He came. I Peter 1:18-23,  Peter tells us that Jesus was predestined from before the foundation of the world to be that last sacrifice> Yet even though predestined of the Father, He was kept and prepared as such by God the Holy Spirit. Thru the power and works of the Holy Spirit Jesus Christ went willingly to the Cross and paid the ransom for His people Israel. He went with a total unwavering faith in God the Father, He went in complete trust and obedience to the will of His Father and out of Love unsurpassed for His people.

The third anointing was held in trust or in reserve for the exalting of Jesus Christ Acts 2:33. The work of the Holy Spirit did not come to an end with the death of Christ on the Altar of the Cross and the death of His human nature. It comes as no shock to the believer to see the Holy Spirit at work in the resurrection.....John 10:17-18, Acts 2:23-24 7 Romans 8:11. Do not allow yourself to become confused that the resurrection is attributed to Father Son and Holy Spirit, for the Triune Godhead works in concert in all things. It is the three subsistances of the One essence that makes it the Holy Trinity! The Holy Spirit was active in raising Jesus from the dead and will be active in the resurrection of the believers or the Church Triumphant. The Holy Spirit is active in our lives from the time the Father calls through the resurrection of the saints, and in between the two He applies all the Graces which Father God has given in His Eternal Decree.

The Word tells us that after being resurrected Christ ascended into the heavens and was seated at the right hand of Yahweh God the Father where even today He is mediator between God and man....I Tim 2:5-6, for He gave Himself a ransom for all His people. It is the right of Jesus Christ to send the Holy Spirit into the hearts and minds of His people for He fully acquired this right through His Atonement...Isa 53:11-12,  Matthew 3:11-12,  Gal 3:13-14.  When scripture implies that the Holy Spirit indwells men it says that their sins have been put away. The right of Jesus Christ to send the Holy Spirit and bestow Him on man and to put away sin, clearly proves the Divine dignity of Both the second and third subsistances of the Holy Trinity, for no mere servant could act in such a manner or confer such gifts.

Some Bible students and even some Pastors some times get the impression that Jesus is posed or placed as subordinate  to the Holy Spirit,  or the exact opposite. We learn that this is not possible from Isa 11:1-3 and Isa 61:1-2, John 15:24-27.  Without fear of controversy and with no confusion we allow the Word of God to set aside confusion in the heart and mind of the believer. All doubts and difficulties concerning the doctrine of the Holy Spirit in the Life of Christ are removed once we perceive from the whole meaning of scripture that there was and is a joint mission in which Son and Holy Spirit acted together to bring about the salvation of God's Elect. Any fool can butcher scripture and meaning of it by picking and choosing what he desires to see. The wise man goes to God in prayer and allows scripture to interpret scripture.

God the Son purchased redemption for His people and it was effected by the price which He paid, I Cor 6:19-20  & 7:23-24. God the Holy Spirit applies this purchased redemption to all those whom Christ bought, not to all..Eph 1:12-14 & Acts 20:28. The price paid was one which mortal man could not make for man is unable to buy back that which he never owned. Our people belong to Yahweh God and in order for Him to redeem that which He had cast aside or divorced, the price was His to pay. Under the law the price of redemption is the shed blood of the spotless and selected lamb I Peter 1:18-20, Ex 12:3-7 & Lev 23:5-12....The price for our redemption was the blood of that perfect lamb slain from before the foundation of the world, Christ Jesus. Thus being bought, we are not our own. Our heart is now His heart and our thoughts are His thoughts and our time is His time. All that we are and all that we have and all that we will ever be belong to Him who has every right to claim it. Rev 4:11 tells it like it is.."Thou art worthy O LORD to receive glory and honor and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are are were created". All belongs to Him through His right as Creator Gen 1:1 and John 1:1-4 and by right as "Kinsman Redeemer".

As we close this second part of our  study in the Holy Spirit we want to leave you with this; if you still doubt that the Holy Spirit was active with Father and Son in Old Testament scripture..Isa 48:16-17 depict the Holy Trinity as openly as any other revealed place in the Bible. We find all three using the same title "I Am" as was used in Exodus 3:14-15.  Jesus spoke to Moses and He was that Great I Am who was sent by the Father and the Spirit in vs-16.  Yes, Jesus Christ and the holy Spirit worked together in the Old Testament as well as the New, and before even that. The mystery of the Holy Trinity is not a mystery to the called out believer, neither is the far ranging and far reaching work Of God the Holy Spirit. If we find ourselves in question of some Bible doctrine we must act as is commanded and take it to the throne of Grace in fervent effectual prayer. We must pray for a great indwelling of strength and harmony which comes from the Holy Spirit, for if the man Jesus was in need of the Holy Spirit in His life, how much greater is our need....amen!

Pastor Rick Giesenschlag

Christ's  Church  Militant

Copyright @ 1990 a.d.