Session 1: The Holy Spirit in the Old Testament
Our life is more than physical and emotional existence.
What we can see is the physical and emotional reality. You eat, you plan your day. When good things happen, you feel good, but when situations do not happen as you expect, you feel angry.
That’s what you experience. The physical and emotional realities.
But that’s not everything about our life.
You have hope in hopeless situations. You believe everything will be all right when your situation is not very good.
Wain sent me this text message last Sunday: Just had a chance to listen to your sermon, “Confidence and Belief”, so good. Thank you for reminding us where our confidence comes from.
In that sermon, I said,
Confidence comes from your belief. You don’t need more degrees, more successes, more affirmations, more fanfare to be confident. You can do all things through God who strengthens you. If you have this belief, you will have confidence.
That is spiritual reality. It is not your response to the situation. It is your response to what the Spirit is doing in your life.
There is the Spirit who guides you, empowers you, awakens you, and shapes you. You are not alone. The Spirit is with you. Without faith, you cannot live a spiritual life.
This weekend, we will study the Holy Spirit. How can we have a comprehensive understanding of the Holy Spirit? But we will see some examples of how the Spirit works in people’s lives.
The Holy Spirit is hard to study and hard to understand. That’s why people said that the Holy Spirit is the Unknown Person of the Trinity.
When you think of Jesus, you have a clear picture of who he was like. We studied Jesus last year at the retreat. We examined the three synoptic Gospels to see their perspectives on Jesus. Their particular understanding of Jesus.
But the Holy Spirit is hard to study like that.
The Holy Spirit is abstract, mysterious, and unpredictable. No shape. We can only understand the Holy Spirit through symbols and images. Like wind, breath, water, dove, fire, and so on.
We don’t see the Holy Spirit, but we can see the effects of the Spirit. It’s like wind. We don’t see the wind, but we see the effect of the wind.
Sometimes, the wind is like a gentle breeze that refreshes us on a hot summer day. But other times, the wind is like a hurricane, strong and mighty. We don’t see the wind, but we see the effect of the wind.
We don’t see the Spirit, but we see the manifestations of the Spirit. The Spirit leaves marks and traces. When you see your life, you will see the traces of the Holy Spirit.
Peter saw that. Paul saw that. And many people saw that. We will examine some of their witnesses. But right now, we don’t have the eyes to see the works of the Spirit.
Jesus described the Spirit is like wind. You don’t know where it comes from and where it is going to. Beyond our control.
So Goatley, a black theologian, said, the movement of the Holy Spirit is like jazz. He said, the Holy Spirit is the improvisation of God. There are melodies, harmonies, and rhythms. But there is also syncopation, improvisation, and inspiration.
I once saw a documentary on Miles Davis. He went to Paris to record a soundtrack for a French movie. He spontaneously played the music while watching the film. That was wonderful. Just inspiration. I don’t know how he does that.
The work of the Holy Spirit is like playing jazz. Unpredictable. Creative. Beautiful. There is a rule but not bound by rules or boundaries
The Spirit has his own way of working, but it is mysterious to us. You cannot understand the Spirit only with your brain.
St. Augustine said,
Talk about the Spirit cannot be based on pure theory but must touch an experienced reality.
The Spirit is invisible, but she inspires you. You need inspiration of the Spirit to live a creative life. The Spirit gives vitality to your life.
The word “inspiration” comes from the Latin word “inspirare”. It means to breathe into. Breath of creativity. Breath of vitality. Breath of life.
Jesus breathed the Spirit into the disciples, and they became bold. It wasn’t their own will to be bold. It was the Spirit.
And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” (John 20:22)
The situation was the same. But the disciples changed. Before Jesus breathed on them, they were timid. They hid behind the locked doors. They were scared. But after Jesus breathed on them, they became bold and lived their lives with boldness.
If I perish, I perish. That was what I said to Edward, my brother, when he first found out about his cancer.
If you live with that attitude, you will not perish. You will be bold.
St. Paul said,
Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?’…
But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Corinthians 15:55, 57)
The Spirit helps you in your weakness. The Spirit knows what you really desire.
St. Paul,
Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness, for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with groanings too deep for words. (Romans 8:26)
Paul saw how the Spirit was working. The Spirit helps you in your everyday life.
Unfortunately, some people limit the scope of the work of the Spirit to their charismatic experiences or manifestations. Like speaking in tongues. Seeing visions and having prophecies.
So, many people think the Spirit is only for those with a deeply religious life. I am not saying that charismatic manifestations do not happen. But it had depended so much on these charismatic experiences that the understanding of the Spirit became problematic.
The work of the Spirit is much bigger. The Spirit is working not only within me, but also in our church and in the world. The Spirit not only gives personal help to us but also brings justice to the world. The Holy Spirit moves history.
You cannot understand the Holy Spirit only through certain phenomena and feelings. You have to see the works of the Spirit.
Let us see what the Scripture understands about the Spirit. The Scripture and the Spirit go hand in hand. It’s like blood and blood vessels. If the blood is outside of the vessels, it goes bad. So you have to understand the Spirit through the Scripture.
Many people think that the Holy Spirit came out only after Jesus. So, it is very much a New Testament thing. That’s not true.
The Holy Spirit was very much active in the Old Testament too. But their understanding of the Holy Spirit was limited. They didn’t know the Holy Spirit as an independent person of the Trinity. Just as God’s Spirit.
When God created heaven and earth, the Spirit was there.
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was without shape and empty, and darkness was over the surface of the watery deep, but the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the water. (Genesis 1:1, 2 NET)
So right from the beginning, the Spirit was there.
The Hebrew word Ruach has three different meanings: Spirit, wind, and breath. So, the ancient people already knew the nature of the Spirit even though they didn’t see the Spirit as an independent person of the Trinity.
The predominant image of the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament was power.
But the spirit of the Lord took possession of Gideon, and he sounded the trumpet, and the Abiezrites were called out to follow him. (Judges 6:34)
Gideon destroyed 135,000 Midianites with only 300 people. The Spirit gave power to Samson.
The spirit of the Lord rushed on him, and he tore the lion apart barehanded. (Judges 14:6)
Samson, Gideon, and David – they all received the Spirit. Whenever there was a crisis, God chose certain people and poured out power upon them so that they could carry out what God wanted to do.
Yes, still the Spirit gives you the power so that you can live your life full of passion. Empowerment is very much what the Spirit does.
Jesus recognized what we could do.
Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. (John 14:12)
Yes, you can do greater works than Jesus did. He is going to the Father, he said. He meant I won’t be with you, but with the help of the Spirit, you will do greater works than I did.
They actually did. Jesus did most of his ministry in Galilee, but the disciples went from Jerusalem, all Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.
The Spirit gives you the power, and you can do amazing things. The disciples had no power of their own. They had no education, no connections with powerful people, no position in their society – but they did unimaginable things.
All throughout the Old Testament, the Spirit was busy doing unimaginable things. The Spirit empowered Moses, empowered David, empowered prophets, and they did wonderful things.
Remember that when amazing things occur in your life, it’s the Spirit at work, not your own capability. You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you.
Confidence, which is second only to love in importance, will be yours when you have the Spirit. The Holy Spirit can give you power when you feel weak, so ask Him.
Discussion Questions:
- What was your understanding of the Holy Spirit until now? Did the lecture give you any new understanding of the Holy Spirit?
- The Holy Spirit is working in your life, even though you may not recognize it. After this lecture, do you recognize the Holy Spirit working in your life? How can you cultivate an awareness of the Spirit, and allow the Spirit to lead you?
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