Tag Archives: the Holy Spirit and power

JESUS AND THE HOLY SPIRIT

Christian Life, ,

JESUS AND THE HOLY SPIRIT

“…How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him.” Acts 10:38

Jesus and the Holy Spirit were inseparable. They were “joined at the hip”. For the thirty-three years that He was on earth, Jesus was the Holy Spirit’s assignment. The Holy Spirit was there, in the secret places of Mary’s body, supervising the selection of the ovum that was to become the infant Jesus. He was there, without the agency of a human father, energising the ovum to begin its mysterious journey from a single cell to a unique, complex human being who was both God and man.

He was there, the unseen companion of the child Jesus through His growing-up years. He was there at His baptism, descending on Him in visible form and remaining on Him to accompany and empower Him on His long and tortuous road to the cross. He was there during those forty days of relentless harassment by the arch enemy of God in the wilderness, watching, listening, and prompting Him with wisdom and the Word.

Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. (Matt. 4: 1)

He was there when Jesus encountered every kind of suffering in the people around Him. He was there to pour power through the Son of God, releasing the captives, healing broken hearts and bodies, exchanging sorrow for joy, and raising the dead to life.

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because He has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour. (Luke 4: 18-19)

He was there to fulfil the matchless prophecy about Messiah recorded by Isaiah:

A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse, from his roots a branch will bear fruit. The Spirit of the LORD will rest on Him – the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of power, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD – and He will delight in the fear of the LORD. (Isa. 11: 1-3a)

This is another one of those chiasms which appear all over the Scriptures. Did you recognise it?

A¹ The Spirit of wisdom

    B² And of understanding

       C³ The Spirit of counsel

  • (The Servant of Yahweh)

       C³ The Spirit of power

   B². The Spirit of knowledge

A¹. And of the fear of the Lord

The centre point in this chiasm is not stated. The ancient rabbis called the focal point – D – the Servant of Yahweh. If one turns this chiasm on its side, it resembles a menorah, the seven-branched candlestick that gave light to the Holy Place in the tabernacle. How symbolic of Messiah – filled with the oil of the Holy Spirit, the Light of the World and coming to earth as the Suffering Servant of the Lord!

The powerful work of the Holy Spirit through Jesus was the witness that the kingdom of God had come. At no time did Jesus use His divine power to do the works of God. It was the Spirit’s anointing that confronted the demonic intruders and sent them packing. The religious leaders accused Jesus of being in league with the devil. “How can that be possible?” He retorted. “A kingdom divided against itself cannot stand.”

But if I drive out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. (Matt. 12:28)

The Holy Spirit was there in those terrible hours when all hell broke loose against Jesus, piling on Him every vicious and heinous thing that human beings could do to an innocent man. He was there when Jesus died. It was through Him that Jesus offered Himself up to the Father as an atoning sacrifice for the sin of the world.

How much more, then, will the blood of Christ who, through the eternal Spirit offered Himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death to serve the living God. (Heb. 9: 14)

He was there in the gloom of the tomb, awaiting the moment when He would breathe life into the lifeless body of the Son of God as He did into the clay form of the first man, Adam. The blast of His breath awakened Jesus and He rose from death, the transformed, never-to-die-again, eternal Son of God.

(He), through the Spirit of holiness was declared with power to be the Son of God by His resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord. (Rom. 1: 4)

What made this rabbi unique?

Jesus did not ape the sages who went before Him, or His contemporaries, by simply piling His opinions on top of theirs, increasing the already top-heavy load on the common people and, as He said to the Pharisees, making them

Twice the son of hell (gehenna) as you are. (Matt. 23: 15)

Unlike any rabbi before or after Him, this rabbi not only reflected the truth and the spirit of Torah in His teaching as He received it from the Father, but He also supplied the power to His disciples to be and to do what He expected of them. He promised that the same Holy Spirit who had partnered with Him throughout His earthly life would come upon them in power and enable them to be what He was and to do what He did.

Scripture is taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

THE THREEFOLD WITNESS

Christian Life, ,

THE THREEFOLD WITNESS

God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him. Acts 10:38

What was the difference between His Messiahship and His Sonship? As Messiah, Jesus carried the anointing of the Holy Spirit to fulfil His mission. As the Son of God, He was the Father’s personal representative, revealing the nature of the Father because He and the Father are one. According to the requirement of Torah, there had to be two or three witnesses for a claim to be verified. Despite the refusal of the religious leaders to recognise Him, Jesus appealed to three witnesses to ratify His identity and authenticate His claim:

  1. The testimony of John the Baptist

You have sent to John, and He has testified to the truth. Not that I accept human testimony; but I mention it that you may be saved. John was a lamp that burned and gave light, and you chose for a time to enjoy his light. (John 5: 33-35)

In what way did John bear testimony to Jesus as the Son of God?

Then John gave this testimony, ’I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on Him. I would not have known Him, except that the one who sent me to baptise with water told me, ‘The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is He who will baptise with the Holy Spirit.’ I have seen and I testify that this is the Son of God.’ (John 1: 32-34)

  • The testimony of the works themselves

Although John’s testimony was valid and acceptable as a witness to Jesus’s identity as the Son of God, Jesus drew attention to an even more powerful witness than John’s.

I have a testimony weightier than that of John. For the very work that the Father has given me to finish, and which I am doing, testifies that the Father has sent me. (John 5: 36)

Did He clarify what He classified as “work”? He said to His disciples in the Upper Room,

Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or at least, believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves. (John 14:11)

Part of His work was to do the miracles assigned to Him by the Father as proof that He was sent by the Father and that He was “in” the Father and the Father “in” Him.

  • The testimony of the Father

The greatest testimony of all was the witness of the Father.

And the Father who sent me has Himself testified concerning me. (John 5: 37)

When did the Father bear witness to Jesus as His Son?

When all the people were being baptised, Jesus was baptised too. And as He was praying, heaven opened, and the Holy Spirit descended on Him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven; ‘You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.’ (Luke 3: 21-22)

Three powerful, independent witnesses, whether the Jews liked it or not, were enough to authenticate Jesus as the Son of God.

No amount of positive witness would convince the religious leaders that Jesus was both Messiah and the Son of God. Whatever He said or did, they rejected as evidence of His identity. They even went as far as accusing Him of casting out demons in the name of Beelzebub. Imagine that! Jesus showed them how ludicrous it was to attribute His power to the devil.

Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them, ‘Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand. If Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then can his kingdom stand?’ (Matt. 12: 25-26)

Instead of His miracles giving them a reason to accuse Him of being in league with the devil, Jesus pointed out that they were the very reason to believe that God’s kingdom had come among them.

But if I drive out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. (Matt. 12: 28)

What is the point of this testimony for us as believers? It is important that we have the absolute assurance that the one in whom we have put our confidence for time and eternity is reliable and trustworthy because our eternal destiny is at stake. Jesus pointed to His works – His miraculous intervention in the lives of people and in nature, even raising the dead to life again, to reassure those who believe in Him that He is who He says He is – the Son of God.

We can have the utmost confidence in His promises because He revealed the power of the Holy Spirit through whom He lived, to do in us and through us what He did through Jesus. 

Scripture is taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.