Exploring the Finger of God

Exploring the Finger of God.

“O the depth of the riches and the wisdom and knowledge of God! What a deep wealth of wisdom and knowledge He has! How incomprehensible are His decisions, how unsearchable His judgments! How undiscoverable are His paths, how mysterious His ways, beyond finding out! Who has understood the mind of Yahweh? Who knows how the LORD thinks, or what His thoughts are? Can anyone discern the LORD’s intentions, His motivations? Who knows enough to give Him advice? Is there anyone qualified to be His counselor? Who has given Him so much that He needs to pay it back? Who could ever have a claim against Him? For everything was created by Him, everything lives through Him, and everything exists for Him; So to Him must be given the glory forever! Amen!” (Romans 11:33-36, also Isaiah 40:12-14).

WANTED: Adventurers who want to explore creation’s Final Frontier, the greatest Wonder of the World; must be extremely curious about the nature of God’s Being; motivated to know more about God than you know presently; inspired by the thrill of discovery;  need to be challenged and changed in the process of exploration; have the courage to step into a safe unknown; able to invest considerable mental energy to pursue life inside God with a mustard seed of trust in Him; be comfortable with the certainty of endless exploring; have the patience to pursue the quest one step at a time for as long as it takes; must explore with the vision of C. S. Lewis in his Narnia tales, “Further Up and Further In!”

Contemporary Frontiers. What are the most compelling frontiers in our world that we could explore… Outer space with its 100 billion galaxies, each of them having 100 billion stars? Inner space where protons and electrons and all the subatomic particles seeming to be dancing in joy? The ocean floors across the earth, 80% of which are unexplored? Or perhaps land areas such as remote mountain ranges, untraveled deserts, impenetrable jungles and rainforests, the frozen tundra of the Arctic, isolated islands in the middle of nowhere, or virgin caverns and caves that are largely hidden from humanity? These are all worthy frontiers, but there is a final frontier that tops them all… God. And whatever might be discovered about the Person of God, it’s only the tip of the eternal iceberg. 

Exploring the Finger of God:

“And Jesus told them, ‘If it is through the Holy Spirit, the finger of God, that I cast out demonic spirits, if it is actually God’s finger that I am pointing at those demons, then the Kingdom of God has swept over you unawares, and the reign of God has already come upon you.”  (Matthew 12:28; Luke 11:20). 

The Spirit in Action. God leaves His fingerprints everywhere, because that finger of His is always working. God has a finger? Scripture and Christian thinking ever since the early church supports the idea that the “finger of God” is a symbol of the Holy Spirit. God’s finger represents the power of the Holy Spirit, and in fact is the working member of the Godhead that demonstrates God’s power and accomplishes His will. God’s finger is always ready to spring into action, He is restless to demonstrate the power and love of God. “Most clearly supported in the Bible is that the finger of God indicates the working power of the Holy Spirit as He is made manifest in actions that are out of the ordinary, like casting out demons and working wonders.”  (Father Raneiro Cantalamessa, Come, Holy Spirit).

“Many non-Jewish people are coming into obedience to the Faith by the power of the Spirit of God, which is displayed through mighty signs and wonders, both in word and deed.” (Romans 15:19). Early Christians were convinced that the Holy Spirit, the finger of God, was inseparable with Jesus when He worked miracles in His ministry. They attributed the signs and wonders to the Holy Spirit, as Paul clearly states in Romans 15:19 above. The Holy Spirit is the meeting place where God meets with God’s creatures. It is where His supernatural power touches human need by the finger of God. The miracles accomplished by the finger of God were an important part of the Christian message, and validated the legitimacy of what the apostles were asked to do after the ascension of Jesus.

“Signs and wonders are not all that the power of the Holy Spirit can achieve. They are simply the high notes in a song whose melody continues lower notes too. They are lights that surprise us in order to show us what sort of energy is at work in a quieter way everywhere in our everyday life.”  (R. Cantalamessa).

Finger, Hand and Arm. Like any human finger, the finger of God does not function independent of the hand and the arm. Because of the deep union in the Trinity, the Holy Spirit does not have a mind of His own. A finger is only useful if it is connected to and has a working relationship with the hand and the arm. There is an intricate network of nerves and muscles that enable the arm and the hand and the finger to function together, perfectly in synch. The Trinity enjoys an even more intricate and mysterious network of interdependent parts.  There were some early church theologians that went so far as to suggest that Christ was the “hand” of God. “The divinity is a body that represents the unity of the Godhead; the right hand represents Christ; the finger of the hand represents the Holy Spirit. We use the word finger to draw attention to the Spirit’s power at work.” (St. Ambrose, circa 350 AD). So we can see the finger of God, His mighty hand, and His outstretched arm all at work (Deuteronomy 26:8) to deliver, heal and renew the earth. The finger of God works in partnership with the hand of Christ and the arm of the Father to accomplish God’s will. The fingerprints of the Holy Spirit reveal the magnificent handiwork of God.

The Finger of God Gives Life. “For the Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.” (Job 33:4). Michelangelo, the unsurpassed Renaissance painter and sculptor, is famous for numerous works of high artistic genius. One of his masterpieces is the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in Rome, on which he painted a series of dramatic biblical scenes. One scene in particular has always captured the imagination of the public. Creator God, in the appearance of an astounding Father God, is stretching out His very muscular right arm, His power arm according to Scripture, and His extended right hand is pointing His forefinger at an inert Adam, just sitting there, waiting to be given life. The finger of God is reaching out to Adams’s hand and almost touching it, but not quite. Michelangelo wanted to reach that emotional peak of what happened just before the first person was given life. The artist envisioned the finger of God’s hand “breathing” life into Adam. Adam was “inspirited” by the Holy Spirit, touched into life by the powerful finger of God. “I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the Giver of Life.'” (Nicene Creed).

The Finger of God Wages War.  “This is the finger of God!” (Ex. 8:19). The Finger of God was fighting God’s battles long before He pushed Jesus into the wilderness for His temptation against the devil. The Holy Spirit has been on the front lines of spiritual warfare ever since, to this day. Here in Exodus, we find ourselves in the Palace of Pharaoh with Moses and Aaron trying to convince the Pharaoh to let the Israelites leave Egypt. To this point, Yahweh has already promised the Israelites that “with a strong hand” He would rescue them from Egyptian slavery. But the Pharaoh is stubborn and won’t let them go. So Yahweh started His war against Pharaoh and his gods by turning their precious Nile River into blood, thereby destroying their drinking water, irrigation and their fishing trade. Seven days later, Yahweh struck Egypt with an invasion of frogs. Scripture says that the frogs literally “covered the land” of Egypt (Ex. 8:6). Pharaoh’s heart was hardened once again, so Moses and Aaron inflicted the land of Egypt with a plague of gnats, or perhaps lice. At this point Pharaoh’s magicians and sorcerers finally admitted “This is the finger of God! (Ex. 8:19). In other words, these miraculous plagues are truly the handiwork of God, an act of their powerful Lord. The finger of God, a symbol of the tremendous power of God.

“When Yahweh finished speaking to Moses on Mount Sinai, He gave him the two tablets of the Testimony, the tablets of stone inscribed by the finger of God…And the tablets were written on both sides; on the one side and the other they were written. Now the tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God engraved on the tablets… And Yahweh said to Moses, ‘Cut two tablets of stone like the first ones, and I will write on those tablets the words that were on the first tablets which you broke.”  (Exodus 31:118; 32:15-16; 34:1). 

The Finger of God Writes on Stone. One wonders how God literally wrote the Ten Commandments with His finger on stone tablets. The finger of God was a symbol for the Holy Spirit, so did the Spirit of God physically inscribe His words on rock? There was fire over the entire mountain because of God’s glory, so perhaps the Pentecost tongue of fire was the writing instrument? Is it that surprising that God’s finger was taking dictation from the mind of the Eternal? However it was literally done, there was spiritual work being accomplished by the Spirit of God which ended up producing a tangible product, the stone tablets, which were later stored in the Ark of the Covenant. Miraculously, the Holy Spirit was God’s tool of choice as the spiritual effected the physical.

“Suddenly the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall, near the lampstand in the royal palace. The king watched the hand as it wrote. His face turned pale, and he was so terrified that his knees knocked and his legs gave way.” (Daniel 5:5-6). 

The Finger of God Writes a Prophecy. “Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin.” Sometimes God likes a lot of drama to get our attention and make a point that will not be forgotten. Here in Daniel 5 we find king Belshazzar, a distant relative, perhaps, of Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon, and Belshazzar evidently learned nothing from the royal archives about how to be a proper king of Babylon. These events occurred in 540 BC, and Nebuchadnezzar had died 22 years earlier. There were of course many Jewish exiles in Babylon, and the most highly esteemed Hebrew was Daniel. His reputation remained impressive as he enjoys the uppermost leadership in Babylon. The Babylonians said that Daniel had “deep insight, keen intelligence, understanding, and the wisdom of the Spirit of God.” Daniel was considered the wisest of the king’s wise counselors, and so he was brought to interpret the writing on the wall for the petrified king. Sure enough, Daniel said that God is judging the king for his arrogance and pride, for misusing the sacred vessels stolen from the Temple in Jerusalem, and for their idolatry at this notorious orgy of his. God has decided enough was enough, and wasn’t going to tolerate his blatant sacrilege, his deliberate misuse of what is holy and set apart for sacred use. The Holy Spirit wrote Aramaic words on the king’s wall… that the days of his kingdom would soon come to an end, that he has been weighed and found wanting, and that his kingdom has already been divided by the Medes and the Persians. And yes, Daniel’s interpretation held true. The king’s life was taken from him that very night, and his kingdom was overtaken by the Medes and Persians. God used His Finger to spell out Belshazzar’s doom.

“This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time,’ declares the Lord. ‘I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.” “I will give you a new heart, and put a new Spirit in you. I will remove from you your heart of stone, and give you  a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and obey my laws.”  (Jeremiah 31:33; Ezekiel 36:16-27).

The Finger of God Tattoos the Heart. The finger of God, the powerful presence of the Holy Spirit, will inscribe the Word of God on each individual heart. He will write God’s instructions in each believer’s heart and mind so we can follow Him and keep His commandments. The Holy Spirit will inspire each believer to obey God’s expectations for those who follow Him, because the Spirit of God has tattooed His thinking on each heart and mind. “What is this law of God written in our hearts by God Himself, if not the very presence of the Holy Spirit who is the finger of God?” (Augustine). We can take His word everywhere we go, and His inscriptions will remind us of anything of God’s Word we have forgotten. It’s interesting that the writer of Hebrews in the New Testament paraphrased Jeremiah’s passage above (Hebrews 10:16) by saying that the Lord will write God’s words on our “minds” rather than the “hearts” mentioned by Jeremiah.

“For we know how dearly God loves us, because He has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with love; God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit whom He has given us; We can now experience the endless love of God cascading into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who lives in us!” (Romans 5:5, various versions).

The Finger of God Pours Out Love. “ekkechytai” = to pour out in abundance; a lavish outpouring to the point of super abundance; a pouring out that began at some point earlier (the Cross, or perhaps one’s conversion), and continues to the present time; a continuous pouring out that floods the heart and is immeasurable; an ongoing soaking stream that is never withdrawn. Can we not clearly imagine the fingers of God picking up a silver pitcher of love that was just filled by the Father and the Son. The Trinity always has more love to offer, they never run out. We can see the hand of Christ guiding those fingers of God as the pitcher of love is tipped and pours out that love into the heart of every believer. We can then envision God’s love gushing out extravagantly from the heavenly container into our hearts of flesh. It has been said that the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Love shared by the Father and the Son, that the love between the Father and the Son is literally the Holy Spirit. So we can see the Godhead joyfully pour this living Spirit of Love, God’s love, into the pitcher till it is full to overflowing, then the hand of Christ splashing that love into our hearts, the Spirit in a sense pouring Himself into our lives.

“The Holy Spirit is the finger of God when He distributes the gifts that shine forth among the faithful.”  (anonymous source, dated to medieval era).

The Finger of God Distributes His Gifts. “Remember, it is the same Holy Spirit who distributes, activates, and operates these different gifts as He chooses for each believer… Every believer has received grace gifts, so use them to serve one another as faithful stewards of the many-colored tapestry of God’s grace.” (1 Cor. 12:11; 1 Peter 4:10). The Greek word here is “charismata” which is plural for “charism.” It is derived from “charis,” which means grace. So the gifts of the Holy Spirit have often been called grace gifts, finding their origin in the unmerited love God offers to all believers as we seek to minister to each other for the common good. As has been often said, a charism, a spiritual gift, is given for the benefit of others, not oneself. A gift is given by the Spirit to enable believers to do or say something beyond one’s natural ability. The gifts are given for the building up and strengthening of Christ’s Body. These gifts are sparks from the holy fire of God so that it will be a light to the world. A gift is not a mere human talent, it is not a gift of natural heredity. A spiritual gift is a supernatural ability, not a natural one. The gifts are given to believers to meet the needs of their local body of believers, to help that local faith community founded on Christ to function effectively and enable that church to increase in maturity as they grow in faith and ministry. The most excellent spiritual gift is the Spirit’s pouring of agape love into our hearts (Ro. 5:5), a love that is not basic human love, or the natural love received by all people, but instead a love that is only possible when given by the Lord above through the Holy Spirit. Agape love, the greatest gift of the Spirit, is a true litmus test of faith in Jesus.

“Serve one another in love. For the whole teaching of Christ is summed up in this one sentence: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is nothing in Scripture that stands against such things.” (Galatians 5:14, 22-23).

The Finger of God Plants the Pure Seeds of the Kingdom. The finger of God is the spiritual farmer who plants the kingdom seeds in the garden of our hearts. The Holy Spirit then directs the growing process until the grapevine starts bearing fruit. The dynamic Spirit of God in this way produces the character qualities of Jesus within each of us, the fruit of the Spirit. Bearing fruit by the Spirit, we take on the personality of Christ Himself. When we live in the Spirit and let Him guide and enable us, the virtues of the Lord will grow naturally. Cultivating the fruit of the Spirit can only lead to a harvest of righteousness if we let the Spirit have His way, according to the designs of the Father and the life of the Son. If we are serious about flourishing in God and bearing good fruit for the kingdom, the finger of God points the way.

A Concluding Word about the Holy Spirit, the Finger of God. Since we are living by the power of God’s Finger, let our behavior be guided by that same Spirit. Let us follow after God’s pointing finger, walking in the Spirit of God in every part of our lives. Because we have chosen to have our hearts tattooed by the Spirit, let us make sure that we do not just hold it as an abstract idea in our heads, or an emotional sentiment in our hearts, but instead we work out the Spirit’s implications in every detail of our lives. Since it is through the Spirit that we have Life, let it also be through the Spirit that we order our lives day by day. Let us keep in step with the Holy Spirit, walking intimately with Him, following God’s pointing finger everywhere we go.