God reveals Himself to special select people under the
Law and to all believers under Grace.
Amos
3:7 Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing,
but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.
John
14:26 But the Comforter, which is the
Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all
things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto
you.
(To deny this is to say that the so-called ‘Great
Commission’ of the end of Matthew does not apply to every believer but only the
Apostles).
The Lord Jesus Christ, while walking in biological flesh on the
earth, also had a human spirit, a human will, being fully man and fully God.
This spirit also manifested itself to us.
Luke
22:42 Saying, Father, if thou be
willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.
There was a great argument in the Roman Empire’s church regarding
whether Christ even had two natures. Some focused on His divinity while others
His humanity. The issue was somewhat settled at the Council of Chalcedon in
451AD in Bithynia in Asia Minor, in what is the country of Turkey today. It was
understood that Christ was one person with two natures, divine and human, God
in the flesh. This does not mean that they just figured that out but that they
declared the other ideas as incorrect.
It is said here that Christ gave commandments to the Apostles
through the Holy Ghost, the very mind of God, His Spirit in its action, but the
Holy Ghost, referred to as He, in His identity. The Bible seems to suggest, if
I have this down correctly, that we have a soul, the “I” or sense of self-awareness,
our consciousness. We and many animals exist and we and they know we exist, an
absurdity if evolution were true. This self-awareness is limited to humans and
creatures that are not merely driven by electro-chemical impulses or are
biological machines but creatures that are aware that they are themselves and
not another. It is the seat of our will, our will flowing from it.
For animals that have souls see;
Numbers
31:28 And levy a tribute unto the LORD
of the men of war which went out to battle: one soul of five hundred, both
of the persons, and of the beeves,
and of the asses, and of the sheep:
Job
12:10 In whose hand is the soul of every living
thing, and the breath of all mankind.
For the soul as the seat of our self-awareness, our consciousness,
and our “I will” see that the soul does things. In Genesis 37:4 a soul is said
to bless someone. In Genesis 42:21 a soul can experience anguish. In Leviticus
4:2 a soul can sin. The soul can do evil and experience tribulation and anguish
as per Romans 2:9. My soul is basically what I am. It is the “I”. It can
experience the death of the flesh and then suffering in Hell. See Psalm 49:15;
86:13; Ezekiel 18:4; Revelation 16:3; & Luke 16:19-31, Acts 2:27.
Our spirit is our mind, as shown before, but it is more than that
as it is our also our heart, emotions, without which no rational mind can
function, and our talents and inclinations given to us by God or tarnished by
the fall of man.
Deuteronomy
2:30 But Sihon king of Heshbon would not
let us pass by him: for the LORD thy God hardened his spirit, and made his heart
obstinate, that he might deliver him into thy hand, as appeareth this day.
Psalm
34:18 The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.
The phrase the comes after a colon often helps define what went
before it.
Psalm
51:17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.
As for talent and skills given by God through things like
practice, apprenticeship, and learning unless you believe that Bezaleel woke up
one day and suddenly knew how to do marvelous works.
Exodus
31:1 ¶ And the LORD spake unto Moses,
saying, 2 See, I have called by name
Bezaleel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah: 3 And I have filled him with the spirit of God,
in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of
workmanship, 4 To devise cunning works,
to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass, 5
And in cutting of
stones,
to set them, and in carving of
timber, to work in all manner of workmanship. 6
And I, behold, I have given with him Aholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of
the tribe of Dan: and in
the
hearts of all that are wise hearted I have put wisdom, that they may make all
that I have commanded thee;
If you want to be wise
hearted get to work. Wise hearted
first, then wisdom from God. God searches man and woman’s mind, heart,
inclinations, sin-nature, and all of the things that make up what we are.
Proverbs
20:27 The spirit of man is
the candle of the LORD,
searching all the inward parts of the belly.
The Holy Ghost gave commands to the Apostles whom Jesus showed
Himself to for forty days after His resurrection. The apostles were ordered to
assemble together at Jerusalem and to wait for the Holy Ghost to be given to
them. What do we say then to this passage in John?
John
20:22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost:
It appears then that, at least for the early believers in Christ,
that the Holy Ghost could be given more than once, possibly for different
reasons, renewed in them, filling them, like a little bit of water in a bottle
can fill the bottle with water vapor when heated.
Titus
3:5 Not by works of righteousness which
we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of
regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; 6
Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; 7 That being justified by his grace, we should
be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
The question I have to ask is if while we are sealed and secure
with the indwelling of the Holy Spirit does God renew it in us as we are
sanctified for Him in life? Could that be what the following means more fully?
Ephesians
5:18 And be not drunk with wine, wherein
is excess; but be filled with
the Spirit;
We are saved once and indwelt with the Spirit as Paul relates the
absurdity of being saved and lost again and again in Hebrews 6:1-6. In the
following passage Paul shows that if you could lose your salvation you could
not get saved again. It appears he is trying to get Christians to move beyond
salvation to our sanctification.
Hebrews
6:1 ¶ Therefore leaving the principles
of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the
foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God, 2 Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on
of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. 3 And this will we do, if God permit. 4 For it
is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of
the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, 5 And have tasted the good word of God, and the
powers of the world to come,
6 If they shall fall away, to renew them again
unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and
put him to an open shame.
So, the question would be, are we praying to be filled with the
Holy Spirit, to be renewed in the power and mind of God over sin and self? Or
are we satisfied and complacent about this unspeakable gift?
Jesus walked among His disciples after His resurrection. Paul told
us;
1Corinthians
15:6 After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto
this present, but some are fallen asleep.
The disciples were to stay in Jerusalem and wait for the Holy
Ghost to be given to them.
No comments:
Post a Comment