THEOLOGICAL STUDIES
THE HOLY SPIRIT
INTRODUCTION: DEFINITION OF "Messiah"
The Messiah is Anointed with God's Spirit
Probably the most dramatic relationship involving the Holy Spirit in the OT is that between the Holy Spirit and the messiahs. The word "Messiah" comes from the Hebrew word mssh which means to anoint. The "Messiah" then was the "Anointed One," that is, the person God anointed with His Spirit in order to lead His people. Just like the word tsar was used for the leader of Russia, Caesar for the leader of Rome, le roi for the ruler of France, and Kaiser for the ruler of the German empire, so Messiah was used for the ruler of Israel.
In the NT we seldom see the word "Messiah" used. Instead we see the word "Christ" used. The word "Christ" is the Greek translation of the word "Messiah." Why does the NT call Jesus "Christ" and the OT call Him "Messiah"? Because the word "Messiah" is the Hebrew word for "Anointed One," while "Christ" is the Greek translation of that word. The Jews in the days of the OT spoke Hebrew, while the Jews of Jesus' day spoke Greek. When the early Christians called Jesus "Christ," they were calling Him the Messiah of the OT.
Messiah meant that the ruler over Israel was anointed with God's Spirit. For example, what did Samuel do to David to show David that he was to be the next king of Israel (1 Samuel 16:1-13, esp. v. 13)?
This act was nothing less than a symbol that David had been anointed with the Holy Spirit to lead God's people Israel.
When God's Spirit came upon the king, the king might act with extraordinary strength and courage. When the king Saul heard that the Israelites had been attacked by the Ammonites, what did he do to the oxen he was ploughing with (1 Samuel 11:1-7, esp. v. 7)?
The Messiah/Christ in a Special Relationship with God
Because the king was anointed with God's Spirit, the king entered into a special relationship with God. Psalm 2 speaks about this king who has been anointed with God's Spirit (see esp. v. 2). According to Psalm 2:7 what kind of a relationship did the Messiah have with God?
For the longest this psalm was sung at the coronation of Israel's kings, the messiahs. They were called "God's son." After a period of time in which king after king acted wickedly, the Jews finally realized that this passage ultimately referred to a future Messiah who would actually act like God's Son because He WAS God's Son. Passages like this one pointed to the coming of a future Messiah who would truly be God's Son.
The NT likewise links the 2 ideas together, the ideas of the Messiah (Christ) and God's Son. According to Peter who was Jesus (Matt. 16:16)?
To find out how important it is that we link these 2 terms to Jesus, see what Jesus says to Peter right after Peter identifies as these 2 terms (Matt. 16:17-19, see esp. verses 18-19).
Because Peter was so spiritually sensitive that God was able to reveal this to Peter, Peter (especially his witness to Jesus) became the rock upon which God built the church.
THE MESSIAH AND THE GLORIOUS NEW AGE
The Messiah Ushers in the Glorious New Age
Earlier we saw that the Holy Spirit was the One who brought in the new age, the glorious future for God's people. The Holy Spirit does not simply bring about the glorious new age. God uses His Anointed One, the Messiah, to pour out the Spirit upon God's followers and upon the world, thereby creating the new glorious age.
Isaiah (notice how Isaiah keeps popping up) introduces a new thought in the concept of the Messiah. In chapters 40-66 Isaiah speaks of a new age that is about to dawn. This glorious new age will involve a new heaven and a new earth, a reign of righteousness, and the coming of God down to earth. Isaiah 64:1 is one of the greatest and loftiest expressions of hope and faith in the entire Bible. Listen to Isaiah's plea to God: "Oh that Thou wouldst rend the heavens and come down, That the mountains might quake at Thy presence."
This glorious new age though doesn't just simply materialize out of thin air. The HS doesn't just simply appear. Rather God sends His Messiah, the Servant of the Lord, who brings about this new age. This situation is similar to that of electricity in the electrical socket and a lamp. There must be a connection between the electricity in the wall socket and the lamp for the lamp to be lit up. A wire connects the 2 to bring the electricity from the wall to the light bulb. In the same token the HS needs a "wire," a "conduit" to connect Him to the world. That "conduit" which connects the HS to the world is the Messiah.
The Sufferings of the Messiah Produce This New Age
The Messiah does not bring about this new age, the kingdom of God (another name for this age), with military action. Rather He brings it about by suffering. Read Isaiah 52:13-53:9, and then describe the sufferings of this Servant.
Because this Servant suffered according to God's plan, what good things will come (Isaiah 53:11-12)?
The Jews made a radical mistake identifying this Suffering Servant. They claimed that the Suffering Servant was not the Messiah but was rather a separate individual than the Messiah. Yet when Isaiah further describes this Suffering Servant, what does Isaiah say about the Servant which shows that He is the Messiah (Isaiah 61:1)?
God links the idea of the Messiah and the Suffering Servant together at Jesus' baptism. God says: "This is My Beloved __________ with whom I am well-___________" (Matt. 3:17). The first half of this verse refers to Jesus as the Messiah (Psalm _______:________), while the second half refers to Him as the Suffering Servant (Isaiah 42:______). (The margins of your Bible should show you shich OT passages this verse is alluding to.)
Jesus, likewise, links the idea of the Messiah and the Suffering Servant together. According to Peter who was Jesus (Matt. 16:16)? (Note that the word "Christ" is the Greek translation of the Hebrew word "Messiah.")
Right after Peter identified Jesus as this person, what does Jesus say is about to happen to Him (Matt. 16:21)?
Not only did Jesus and the Father link together the Messiah and the Suffering Servant, the early church did too. According to Peter in Acts 2:36 who is Jesus? According to Peter in Acts 4:27 who is Jesus?
Probably the most poignant point in Gibsons' The Passion of the Christ occurred when Jesus was carrying His cross to Golgotha. His mother Mary has tried to stay close to Him; however, the entire episode has begun to overwhelm her. When Mary Magdalene and John the Beloved Disciple urge her to get closer to Jesus, she recoils in horror at what is happening to her Son. Then she sees Jesus stumble and fall to the ground. She flashes back to the time when He stumbled as a child and she rushed to help Him. Now she rushes to Jesus who is lying beneath the weight of the cross. She tells Him that she is there. He responds, almost in bewilderment or as a kind of rebuke: "Mother, I am making all things new." Gibson has correctly understood that the sufferings of the Messiah Jesus Serve to bring about the re-creation of the universe.
JESUS AND HIS RELATIONSHIP TO THE HOLY SPIRIT
The NT claims that Jesus is the Messiah/Christ who brings about the glorious new age of God's kingdom by suffering. No one doubts that Jesus suffered, especially the death on the cross. That is not the kind of story the early Christians would have made up about Jesus. What about Jesus though and the HS? If the claim that Jesus is the Christ/Messiah is true, then Jesus must have had a special relationship with the Holy Spirit because whatever else is true about the Messiah, He must be filled with God's Spirit. Below is some of the evidence the NT presents to support its claim that Jesus is the Christ, the One Anointed with God's Spirit.
Notice that the Gospels primarily mention Jesus' relationship to the Spirit at the beginning and at the end of His ministry. They say that the HS brought Jesus into the world, that the HS was present at Jesus' baptism, etc., and then they mention the HS AFTER His resurrection. Mention of the HS serves as bookends on both sides of Jesus' ministry to let us know that everything between the time of Jesus' birth and resurrection was done under the leadership of and in the power of the HS.
| SCRIPTURE PASSAGE | EVIDENCE |
| Luke 1:35 (Jesus' birth) | .................................................................. |
| John 1:32-34 (Jesus' baptism)* | .................................................................. |
| Mark 1:12 (Jesus' wilderness temptations)+ | .................................................................. |
| Matt. 12:22-28 (Jesus and miracles) | .................................................................. |
| John 7:37-39 (Jesus and His followers, part 1)# | .................................................................. |
| John 16:6-7 (Jesus and His followers, part 2)& | .................................................................. |
| John 19:31-34 (Jesus' death on the cross)% | .................................................................. |
| John 20:22 (Jesus after His resurrection)$ | .................................................................. |
| Acts 2:36 (After Jesus pours out His Spirit upon His followers on the Day of Pentecost, what does Peter say is true about Jesus?)@ |
.................................................................. |
*John 1:32-34: From childhood John the Baptist may have known that Jesus was the Messiah because of his mother Elizabeth who was Mary's cousin. Yet God instructed John the Baptist not to trust to this kind of information. Rather God had told John that upon whomever the HS descended and remained that person was the Christ/Messiah. When John saw the HS descending and remaining upon Jesus, John then knew without a doubt that Jesus was the Messiah.
+Mark 1:12: According to Mark, Jesus did not simply traipse out into the wilderness. Jesus was actually driven into the wilderness by the HS. Everything Jesus now does in His ministry is under the leadership of the HS.
#John 7:37-39: Jesus speaks these words on the Great day of the Feast of Tabernacles. On this day the priests would take water from the Pool of Siloam and pour it upon the altar in the Courtyard of the Women. The priests did this to signify their belief that one day God would pour out His Spirit upon His land and upon His people. Jesus in these 3 verses is claiming that He is the fountain of the HS, that is, from Him gushes the HS.
&John 16:6-7: this thought may surprise us; however, Jesus claims that we have it better than the 12 disciples did when Jesus lived on the earth. During those 3 years Jesus lived among the disciples but not within them. Jesus though now lives within us, a distinct advantage we have over the disciples during Jesus' ministry.
%John 19:31-34: This episode has really caught the attention of Christians throughout the century, first the fact that the water separated from the blood and second the significance of the fact. Normally right after a person has died, the water has not had time to separate itself from the blood. The fact that it did so in this case was proof for John that a miracle had just occurred. In fact he knows that his readers are going to be so skeptical of this impossible event that he is going to tell his readers that he knows for a fact that this happened because he himself witnessed it! Second, as for the significance of this event many claim that this proves that Jesus truly did die, that Jesus was not just some phantom but that even though He was God the Son, He was truly man. This interpretation may be true; however, the John 7:37-39 passage seems to help us understand this passage. In John 7:37-39 John tells us that the pouring out of water in the Feast of Tabernacles symbolized the giving of the HS which would occur only AFTER Jesus had died. In this festival the water represented the HS. In John 19 when Jesus dies and the water now is being poured out of Jesus' body, John seems to be saying Jesus' death has just released the HS. Sin which served as an obstacle in our relationship with God has been removed; now Jesus can give us His HS.
$John 20:22: In this episode Jesus breathes upon the disciples and then tells them that He has just given them His HS. This is the second time that God has breathed into men. The first time God breathed into Adam and Adam became a living soul. Now in Jesus God is breathing once more into man, this time re-creating man.
@Acts 2:16: Peter is arguing backwards or rather has been presenting all the evidence and is now presenting his conclusion. The Messiah was One who was supposed to have died and risen from the dead, and then to have given His HS to His followers. Peter and the apostles can testify that Jesus in fact did die and rise from the dead. The fact that Jesus' followers are now speaking in languages foreign to them demonstrates that Jesus has given the HS to them. All this leads to the inevitable conclusion that Jesus is not only Lord, He is also the Messiah/the Christ who has brought in to the new age of the kingdom of God.
Jesus is eternally God's Son; however, He has come into the world as God's Anointed One, the Messiah, to bring about the kingdom of God by means of His suffering.
PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS
It is all well and good that we speak about Jesus being the Messiah who ushers in God's kingdom; however, until this applies to you and me, we are wasting our breath. If I am going to enjoy the new glorious age that Jesus is bringing into existence, then I need to be rightly related to this Messiah Jesus. The only way I am rightly related to Him is by making Him Lord of my life. Anything less falls short of being in a right relationship with Him. Below are listed some of the ways Jesus' messiahship should affect us who follow Him.
Suffering
Next, I need to understand that because I have a relationship with the Messiah Jesus who suffered, I too can expect suffering. Paul states this in 2 Thess. 1:5: "This is a plain indication of God's ________________ judgment so that you may be considered _____________ of the _______________ of ______________ for which indeed you are ________________________." In other words, if Jesus' sufferings brought about the kingdom of God (this new age), then it would only make sense that those who enter into this new age should suffer. Whereas it is only the blood of Jesus which saves us, our sufferings get us ready for this new kingdom and this new age.
We also need to understand that Jesus' sufferings are not the only sufferings which brought about the new heaven and new earth. Most of us fail to appreciate the amount of suffering the Father experienced when He separated Himself from Jesus on the cross and then poured out every last ounce of His wrath upon Jesus. There is another neat scene in the Passion of the Christ in which Gibson shows the cross from God's point of view. At this point the focus becomes a little wavy; then you see that it has become watery. One teardrop falls down from heaven and hits the earth. This teardrop symbolizes the heartache the Father Himself experienced because of Jesus' death on the cross. We need to live lives worthy of this kind of sacrifice and love on the Father's behalf.
Our problem with suffering is not that we suffer but that we suffer a specific way. "If I only had financial problems, etc. and not the problems I do suffer." The problem with that attitude is that then I would not actually be suffering. God knows precisely what hits us, and that's where He causes us to suffer.
The early disciples correctly understood that they too were to suffer since they followed the Messiah Jesus who suffered. According to Acts 5:41 how did the disciples react whenever they suffered persecution for the sake of Jesus?
Our sufferings then to some extent qualify us for heaven. Second, they serve like birth pangs which produce something wonderful in us. Third, they bring others to Christ. It is by no accident that Paul's greatest sufferings resulted in the conversion of his greatest disciple. At Lystra the Jews and the multitudes dragged Paul out of the city and stoned him, leaving him for dead. In fact the Greek implies that Paul was dead. As the disciples were standing around him, Paul sprang to his feet as a type of resurrection. This dramatic event in which Paul suffered most likely led to Timothy's conversion.
Whenever we suffer, we should not take it personally. Rather we should remember that if we follow the Messiah who suffered, then we too should expect to suffer.
A Life Lived Under the Leadership Under and In the Power of the HS
Reflect back upon the wilderness temptations of Jesus. Did Jesus go to be tempted because He chose to be tempted, or did He go because the HS instructed Him to go be tempted by Satan (Mark 1:12)?
If Jesus lived His life under the leadership of and in the power of the HS, what should be true about us who follow Jesus?