Holy Spirit, True Companion and Dear Friend
Holy Spirit, True Companion and Dear Friend.
“There is a Friend that sticks closer than a brother.” (Proverbs 18:24).
THE HOLY SPIRIT: The Presence of God appearing in Shekinah glory through light, fire, and luminous cloud; God’s divine Presence on earth; the eternal life-giving Third Person of the Holy Trinity; the intimate bond of divine love and truth shared by God the Father and God the Son; the dynamic power of God offered to every human being on earth; the supernatural Presence in the Community of God who is personal without being material; the invisible creative force with divine intelligence who truly knows the mind of God from the inside; the “ruach” of the Lord, His breath, wind and divine energy in the world; the Spirit of God who thus has all knowledge and is present everywhere in the universe; the sacred energy streaming forth from the Father and the Son, pouring love into our hearts (Romans 5:5), producing virtuous qualities in us (Galatians 5:22-23), and gradually transforming each believer into the image of Christ (2 Corinthians 3:18); God’s Holy Spirit is the Lord’s change agent in each of us and the Church; The Spirit is the delivery system of grace into our hearts; the Spirit is God’s gift of the ‘Paraclete,’ God’s Helper who is called to come alongside us; the Spirit is the biblical ‘finger of God’ who acts in power on behalf of God, distributing His gifts to believers in the Church and accomplishing God’s will on the earth.
The Father Promised the Spirit. Yahweh God made an astounding promise through His prophet Joel, “I shall pour out my Spirit on all humanity. Your sons and daughters shall prophecy, your old people shall dream dreams, and your young people see visions. Even on the slaves, men and women, shall I pour out my Spirit in those days.” (Joel 2:28-30; also in Acts 2:17-18). Similar to that promise was this one in Ezekiel 36:26-28, “I shall give you a new heart, and put a new Spirit in you; I shall remove the heart of stone from your bodies and give you a heart of flesh instead. I shall put my Spirit in you, and make you to keep my teachings, and respect and practice my judgments.” Jesus confirmed this promise Himself before His ascension in Luke 24:49, “Behold, I send the Promise of my Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high.” And He also said the same thing in Acts 1:4, “And being assembled together with them, Jesus commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, ‘which you have heard from me; for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit…” St. Peter confirmed this promise in his first sermon to the gathered at Pentecost, “Therefore being exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this which you now see and hear.” (Acts 2:33).
The Son Promised the Spirit. Jesus said Yes! to the Father’s promise of the Holy Spirit by confirming it at His ascension, but also by teaching about the Spirit in the gospel of John. He tried to cheer up His sad disciples after telling them about His impending departure, by saying that it is actually to their benefit that He returns to the Father. The result of His absence is that the Spirit will be sent in Jesus’ place. Jesus ascends to the Father, and the Holy Spirit descends to continue God’s presence on earth. The Spirit of Jesus replaces the physically absent Jesus. He tells them in John 16:7, “Unless I go away, the Paraclete will not come to you.”
The Promised Paraclete. The paraclete was Jesus’ descriptive name He gave to the Holy Spirit (in John 14 and 16). The Greek term means “called to come alongside of.” This rich term paraclete points to many different functions and personal ministries of the Holy Spirit after He comes alongside of us in love and friendship. The Spirit is the ultimate Helper to us as He lives out His personal character He shares with the Father and the Son. As Paraclete, the Spirit fulfills these roles in us as we grow in Christ. Jesus must have had a good reason to call the Spirit the Paraclete, of course. Unpacking the meaning of the term, we see that the Spirit’s helping style is fleshed out in ministering to us in these ways: The Spirit is called to “come alongside us” in order to point us to Jesus, advise and counsel us, remind us in order to understand, advocate for us, comfort us, listen to us, exhort us, teach us, and encourage us. That is the style, the method of influence that is intended for the benefit of every person being empowered by the Spirit. One Bible translator summed all these qualities up by simply naming the paraclete “Friend,” each believer’s intimate, supportive presence who befriends us on life’s journey.
A Team Project. The Father promised the gift of the Holy Spirit, but the Spirit was sent by both the Father and the Son… by Jesus who is seated in glory at the Father’s right hand, and by the Father right there along with Jesus.
(1.) John 14:16 = “And I will pray to the Father, and He will give you another Helper (Paraclete), that He may abide with you forever.”
(2.) John 14:26 = “But the Helper (Paraclete), the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my Name...”
(3.) John 15:26 = “But when the Helper (Paraclete) comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father…”
(4.) John 16:7 = “Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper (Paraclete) will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you.”
“My dear children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate (Paraclete) with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” (1 John 2:1).
Jesus the Original Paraclete. When Jesus was given the title of Advocate in 1 John 2:1, the Greek word for advocate is actually paraclete. As mentioned above, a paraclete is someone who comes alongside someone else in a personal and helpful way, a productive and meaningful way. In the context of that 1 John passage, most translations have used paraclete to mean advocate… like a defense attorney, an intercessor. Jesus, standing alongside someone who has sinned, appearing before the Father. Jesus is the Advocate because there is a hostile Accuser, the evil one, the devil, who stands ready to accuse every believer before God. Here we see Jesus as someone who will represent a sinner in the presence of the Father. A friend of sinners, indeed. A paraclete.
The Relay of the Spirit. Jesus is not the only Paraclete in the New Testament. In fact, there is a relay of paracletes as we finish the race of faith before us. The first Paraclete is Jesus Christ, who hands the baton to the second Paraclete, the Holy Spirit, who hands the baton to the third paraclete, each believer.
The First Leg of the Paraclete Relay: Jesus. What better way can we describe the ministry of Christ than as someone who comes alongside someone else? He was and is called to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with needy people and help them, whether through encouragement, counsel, comfort, advocacy, exhortation or intercession. Jesus was constantly coming alongside others in His preaching, teaching, healing and befriending ministry on earth. His helping style was always the paraclete style. Jesus started the relay, and then He handed the baton over to the Holy Spirit, or as Jesus told His disciples on the eve of His departure, “another Paraclete.” (John 14:16). It is easy to see that in saying this, He is calling Himself Paraclete as well.
The Second Leg of the Paraclete Relay: the Holy Spirit. Jesus tried to cheer up His sad disciples after telling them about His impending departure, by saying that it is actually to their benefit that He returns to the Father. The result of His absence is that the Spirit will be sent in Jesus’ place. Jesus ascends to the Father, and the Spirit descends to continue the Lord’s presence on earth. The Spirit of Jesus replaces the physically absent Jesus. The Holy Spirit continues Christ’s presence. When Jesus warned the disciples that He would be going away, He told them, “Unless I go away, the Paraclete will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you.” (John 16:7). He had just finished telling them about the Paraclete “whom I will send to you from the Father.” (John 15:26). He finished that statement by saying that the Holy Spirit “goes out from the Father.” So, it appears the Son sends the Spirit, but again that the Father sends the Spirit. There is no point in arguing about from whom the Holy Spirit is sent, the Father or the Son… Both the Father and the Son have a direct hand in sending the Paraclete, the Spirit of God, to people on earth.
The Third Leg of the Paraclete Relay: Believers. There is still another leg to the relay if we want to finish the race. The Holy Spirit is sent from God to dwell in us, so that we are enabled to be little paracletes. As St. Paul said in 1 Thessalonians 5:11, “Let us be paracletes to each other.” We are each called to come alongside one another to help fellow believers in need. We are each called to put the Spirit of Jesus into practice and demonstrate the very character and ministry of Christ. How astounding is it that the Almighty God, the divine Paraclete, would entrust us with this role? How amazing is it that we can become “partakers of the divine nature” (1 Peter 1:4) and participate in His ministry here on earth.
So who could ask for a better or more helpful Friend for each of us? A faithful companion who sticks closer than a brother, who is the Giver of Life, the Spirit of Grace and Prayer, the Spirit of Truth and Glory, the gifted Spirit who shares His gifts with us.
The Sevenfold Spirit. “There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots. The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him. The Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and godliness. His delight is in the fear of the Lord.” (Isaiah 11:2).
The Seven Gifts of the Spirit. This passage in Isaiah celebrates the profound giftedness of the Spirit as He came in full force upon the Messiah Jesus, and remained there forever. These sevenfold qualities represent the perfection of the Messiah’s anointing at His baptism, and they reveal divine gifts offered to believers which only increase in power and usefulness as the believer earnestly follows God. These gifts come in the believer’s anointing as a new believer, and are given to each Christian “according to each ones ability to receive them.” (Maurus). The Spirit’s gifts “do not come through our natural abilities, but through the divine power that confers them.” (Maximus).As we exercise these gifts in the power of the Spirit, they increasingly become that much more of an ingrained part of our redeemed nature. The Spirit offers to us the probability of becoming wise and insightful, able to guide others with God’s strength and valor, gaining in spiritual knowledge and godliness, and of developing a deep reverence for God. In other words, the Holy Spirit enables each believer to become like Jesus. Jesus the Messiah, the Anointed One. These attributes of the Spirit continue to this day as properties of the Spirit that we live into as we follow the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
The Giver of Life. “Come!” say the Spirit and the Bride. Whoever hears, echo, “Come!” Is anyone thirsty? Come! All who will, come and drink, drink freely of the Water of Life! (Revelation 22:17, MSG).
“The Holy Spirit, the Lord, the Giver of Life,” proclaims the Nicene Creed, and all God’s people say Amen! Throughout Scripture, the Spirit is symbolized by fresh water, by the waters of life. Living water from running streams is a picture of the life-saving, soul-satisfying refreshment that can only be given by God through His Holy Spirit. In the Hebrew Bible, the connection between water and the Spirit is in Isaiah 44:3, “I will pour water on him who is thirsty, and streams on the dry ground. I will pour My Spirit on your descendants, and my blessings on your offspring.” And In Isaiah 32:15, 20, “Until the Spirit is poured out upon us from on high, and the wilderness becomes a fertile field… How blessed will you be, you who sow beside all waters.” When Jesus had that momentous discussion with the woman at the well, He promised her the water that will become in her “a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.” (John 4:14). Lest anyone be confused about that water of life, John clarified the matter once and for all after Jesus shouted out His messianic invitation, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink! He who believes in me, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water!” (John 7:37-38). After which John added, “But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive.” (John 7:39). So when the Holy Spirit said ‘Come’ in Revelation 22:17, He is inviting those who are thirsty to come to Him and drink freely from His fountain of life. Only those who are thirsty, those who are “painfully conscious of his need of those things by which the soul is refreshed, supported and strengthened” (AMP), can receive the Spirit’s water of life. Only the thirsty can have their thirst quenched by the Spirit. The Bride of Christ, the Church, joins in the invitation, appealing to all who are spiritually thirsty to come and drink of the Spirit. Whoever drinks of the Spirit will have an ongoing stream of life flowing out of his heart. And this water is free of charge. “Ho! Everyone who thirsts come to the waters; you who have no money, come!” (Isaiah 55:1). John’s final appeal in Scripture is the divine invitation of the Holy Spirit to come to Him for life-giving water. As the Father made clear in Isaiah 41:17, “The afflicted and needy shall rejoice exceedingly, for when they shall seek water, but there is none, and their tongues are parched with thirst, I the Lord God, will hear them; As the God of Israel, I will not forsake them.” The Spirit’s invitation to come and drink is simply a profound gesture of God’s mercy.
The Spirit of Truth. “But when the Helper (Paraclete) comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of Truth who proceeds from the Father…” (John 15:26). “But we come from God and belong to God. Anyone who is in the process of knowing God and understanding Him listens to us. The person who has nothing to do with God will, of course, not pay attention to us. This is another way we recognize the Spirit of Truth from the spirit of deception.” (1 John 4:6).
The Spirit of Truth: (Hebrew, “emet;” Greek, “aletheia”) Truth is the only absolute in the world. If everything else in the world falls apart, only Truth will remain standing. The building blocks of all creation; the framework upon which we build our faith; the true Reality that has established the world’s reality; that which can never be truly altered or changed; that which is universally trustworthy as facts of life; the foundation of what is truly real in our experience; the plumblines from which to measure our lives; that which is common knowledge in God’s mind; that which lines up with God’s perspectives; established facts from God as opposed to a person’s changeable opinions or preferences; that which is solid and certain as opposed to a lie, deceit, an illusion or superstition; the tangible fundamentals issued forth from the intangible mind of God. Truth is always true even when discounted or disbelieved. Since the Almighty God is the ultimate source of all truth, then it follows that the Father God is Truth, the Lord Jesus is Truth, and the Holy Spirit is Truth.
The Spirit of Glory. “To the extent that you share the fellowship of the Messiah’s sufferings, rejoice; so that you will rejoice even more when His Shekinah is revealed. If you are being insulted because you bear the Name of the Messiah, how blessed you are! For the Spirit of Shekinah glory, that is, the Spirit of God, is resting on you! (1 Peter 4:13-14, from the Complete Jewish Bible, translated by Dr. David Stern).
The Spirit of Glory. Let us tiptoe into deep waters, into a tremendous mystery within this particular title of the Holy Spirit, the “Spirit of Glory.” There are so many inspiring aspects to this title, the Spirit of Glory, that we might as well take our time wading in. God’s glory can be described as the weighty, majestic, and fiery presence of God on the earth when He wants to localize Himself. God’s glory is what He looks like when He chooses to make an appearance. God is indeed everywhere, but apparently there are those times when He wants to appear on earth. The Jewish scholars between the Testament periods developed a wonderful word, for “dwells”, Shekinah, which sums up for them, and us, God’s personal, divine presence on earth. So these two terms, Shekinah and glory, have come to mean much the same thing, and the two terms are often spoken as Shekinah glory, both terms together. And now the Holy Spirit comes to mind. When we see Shekinah glory, the fire of the Holy Spirit inevitably appears as well, in the midst of the glory, as a part of the glory. Since God is a “consuming fire,” (Deut. 4:24), it is not surprising that fire usually demonstrates God’s presence. All three of these spiritual realities, God’s glory, Shekinah glory, and the fiery Spirit, seem more or less indivisible. I’m not sure how one would separate one from the other, even if we wanted to do so. All three have to do with God’s localized presence, with God settling in and making a dwelling place.
The Spirit of Grace and Prayer. “And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of Grace and Prayer; then they will look on me who they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn. In that day there shall be a great mourning in Jerusalem.” (Zechariah 12:10).
The Spirit of Grace and Prayer. One sure sign that the Holy Spirit is moving is that the Spirit of Grace and the Spirit of Prayer will certainly sweep powerfully through our individual lives and our lives at home and at our church. There will be an acute awareness of our brokenness, for God’s grace and our need for it, and the deep desire to show grace to others. And there will be a wave of the ardent desire to pray for others, for oneself, for the needs of the world. The Spirit of Intercession will roll through our own hearts and to our place of worship and our family life at home. God loves to demonstrate unearned favor on us, and He loves when we pray in the Spirit to Him. Building each other up in the most holy faith, then let us help each other as we flesh out the Spirit of Grace and the Spirit of Prayer in our lives together.
“But when you pray, go into your inner chamber, your private room, shut your door, and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” (Matthew 6:6).
THE CHAPEL OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. As we think about dwelling in God’s heart as our spiritual home, there is a sacred space there that might even be the “prayer closet” that Jesus mentioned in Matthew 6:6. It is a chapel reserved for prayer in the Holy Spirit, a private room in the inner confines of God’s heart, away from hustle and bustle, separate from the distraction of human traffic. It has no windows, just one door, contains comfortable furniture, and one candle that is burning every hour of the day. The Chapel is always guaranteed to offer privacy. God designed this secret prayer place to be fashioned in the shape of a cube, which of course is a perfect 3-dimensional square. This cubed Chapel is designed after His dwelling places on earth, the Holy of Holies of the Tabernacle and the Temple in Jerusalem. God loves the ideal shape of the cube… It is perfectly proportional, and looks exactly the same regardless of the vantage point. The heavenly cube is seen by God as a truly holy shape, perfect for encountering God’s intimate presence. The God-ordained cube has more meaning than we might think, seeing that the New Jerusalem will come down from heaven in the shape of a cube, the perfect, eternal place to house the presence of God. (Rev. 21).
Inside the Trinity. In this Chapel, one feels drawn into the presence of the Holy Spirit. Scripture is clear that believers in Jesus are welcomed into the fellowship of the Trinity itself, and are truly “in” God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. God wants His Chapel to be an experience of one entering “inside” the Holy Spirit engaging in heart-to-heart conversation with the Spirit Himself. When one prays inside the Chapel, one is literally praying “in the Spirit.” The Chapel contains the very air of permanence, stability, the ultimate in mercy. The atmosphere is so full of the Spirit that there are times when there is simply no room in the Chapel in which to pray.
God’s Womb in the Spirit. The Chapel is the closest a person can get to the inside of God’s bosom. God is love, God is sheer mercy, and it’s fascinating to see that mercy in the Greek is another word for womb. The Chapel is a space that provides security, protection, nutrition, everything that a growing believer needs to develop in Christ. So the Chapel literally feels like being inside God’s womb of love. Truly, all of God’s heart-house is sacred, for He is perfect holiness. The Chapel of the Holy Spirit, though, is a set apart place inside another set apart place. The Chapel is the place set apart for intimate communion with God through the Holy Spirit.
“May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ,
The love of God,
And the fellowship of the Holy Spirit
Be with all of you. Amen.” (2 Corinthians 13:14).
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