God talk: Holy Spirit
i've been thinking alot about the Holy Spirit lately. not just about what He does, but who He is. because sometimes people act like He's something ethereal, i think we can get put off by the whole subject, but i think i can demystify Him a bit.
we hear the names 'Holy Spirit' or 'Holy Ghost' or 'Spirit of God' and it sounds a bit spooky. really He's one of three aspects of God. the names Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost are a bit archaic, but that's what He's been called for at least a thousand years, so that's how we know Him.
the easiest way to know who He is would be to look at His role (for lack of a better word) in the Godhead. wherever you see the Holy Spirit in scripture you see Him revealing God the Father. in john 17:13-15 Jesus (God the Son) talks about how He will be going away (speaking of His death and later ascension), but how He's sending the Holy Spirit to guide them. Jesus said,
"When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not be presenting his own ideas; he will be telling you what he has heard. He will tell you about the future. He will bring me glory by revealing to you whatever he receives from me. All that the Father has is mine; this is what I mean when I say that the Spirit will reveal to you whatever he receives from me."
Jesus pretty much summed it up. the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Truth. He is Truth, and because of that He is Revelation. to be perfectly accurate i think could call Him 'God the Truth and Revelation'.
think about this - when Jesus was baptized was when God the Father audibly said, 'This is My Son that I'm proud of' and the Holy Spirit shows up and touches on Jesus in a visual way that can only be described as 'like a dove'. this was the moment of Jesus being revealed as the Son of God, or God the Son, the One come to lead us to knowing the Father and bridge the gap of our sin nature that kept us from the Father. later, when everyone was in the upper room and the Holy Spirit came over them, again in a visual way that could only be described as 'like flames of fire', they ended up speaking different languages they'd never learned. as they went out into the streets and crowds gathered to see this amazing thing, peter got up and addressed the crowd. what he said under the prompting of the Holy Spirit revealed truth to thousands of people that day.
God the Revelation. it's not just what He does, it's who He is. whatever He is involved with will always bring us to understand the nature of God the Father. healing, deliverance, miracles, wisdom are all the work of God the Revelation, because in the end they all point out the Father. i was thinking about all this yesterday and it just struck me how, even though i know this stuff, i still treat Him like an It; a mystical being that is floating around me like casper or something giving me subconscious suggestions on how to be good and sending me peaceful vibes. if He is the One that will lead me in all Truth, and He is the One that will Reveal the compassion, love, grace, peace, patience, faithfulness, mercy, justice, beauty and all other aspects of the heart of God the Father, i need to deepen my relationship with Him. He is the personification of the unveiling of God. He is the One that discloses the nature of God, and Jesus sent Him to help me understand and get to know all the aspects of God...Father, Son and even Himself, Revelation.
as i was processing this all yesterday i was thinking about how that pertains to my prayer life. it struck me how little i've understood what i was praying in the past when i've said, "come Holy Spirit". what a powerful prayer! what would happen if the Revelation of Truth was actually welcome when He came? if we really did give Him the freedom to burn away the fog of pain and accompanying fear and lies that cloud our understanding of the love of the Father? i realized how desperately i need to know Him even more, and my friends need to know Him more, and my church community, and the body of Christ in this city. and as we do He will become more and more free to open heaven to this city so we can see God.
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In class a few weeks ago we were talking about how the Western Christian Church focuses on the divine aspects of Christ while the Eastern Christian church focuses on the humanity of Christ. i.e. The high liturgical western church holiday is Easter, the resurrection of the divine Christ. The high liturgical eastern church holiday is Christmas, the birth of God in human form.
This isn't to try to separate the divinity or the humanity from the person of Jesus, but to recognize that we in the West focus more on His divinity than on His humanity often.
Consider, in Phil 2:5-11 it says that Christ emptied himself of his divinity, took the form of a slave, humbled himself.
The point of all this is that when Christ did miracles and healings, how often does it say the Spirit came upon him? Or the Spirit drove him into the wilderness? Or the spirit came to him as he preached? The implications of this are amazing...
When one considers the humanity of Christ, it makes him more realistic as a role model than if you focus on the divine - Churchill, as a human, is more encouraging of a role model than Superman, as a greater than human.
I think the Spirit is such an amazing entity, something I think we don't focus on enough... I always like the Roman's description of the Spirit groaning for us with words too deep to understand....
Yeah...
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