On the Spirit of Elohim, Creator God

On the Spirit of Elohim, Creator God.

THE HOLY SPIRIT: 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 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).

“Ruach” – The word used in the Hebrew Bible for Spirit is “ruach” (roo-akh), which means spirit, breath, and wind. The Bible scholars report that the context of the passage determines which of those meanings would be used, but it seems that the meaning of ruach is still very fluid. This important Hebrew word is used over 400 times in the Hebrew Bible, and suggests movement of air, creative activity, dynamic power, unseen energy that has profound effects, including the giving of life and vitality. Ruach is associated in Scripture with God’s active presence. The first appearance of the Godhead on earth was the ruach of God. “The Spirit of God hovered over the surface of the water.” (Gen. 1:2). Some translations put it this way… “a divine Wind sweeping over the waters,” or “God’s wind,” or even “God’s spirit-wind.” In the New Testament, the Greek term “Pneuma” means much the same thing and is seen as the equivalent of the Hebrew “ruach.”

“The verb ‘create’ in our Bibles is used exclusively with God as its subject. Men and women and angels don’t create. Only God creates. ‘Create’ is not confined to what the Spirit did; it’s what the Spirit does. The Spirit of God who moved over the face of the primordial waters continues to move, continues to create. The Genesis creation text isn’t confined to telling us how the world first came into being. It’s also telling us that the Spirit of God is still creating, here and now, in you and in me and in everyone around us.” (Eugene Peterson, from Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places)

The Spirit’s Invitation. Because the Triune God is united and inseparable, the Father and the Son is everywhere the Spirit us. If the Spirit dwells in us and alongside us, so does the Father and the Son. If the Father and the Son have promised to make a home in us, the Spirit is right there as well, arm-in-arm in their Trinitarian Presence, establishing a dwelling place in us. Since we are welcomed inside the relationship of the Trinity, the Spirit helps make that happen. Since we are adopted into God’s family as His children, we can be sure the Spirit was a part of that process. We can be assured the Spirit will work to sustain us in the Trinitarian circle and fellowship.

Koinonia. St. Paul’s Trinitarian blessing that closes his second letter to the Corinthians contains an interesting observation concerning the Holy Spirit (2 Cor. 13:14). After praying for them to be blessed in the grace of Jesus Christ and the love of God, Paul completes the blessing by praying that they would experience the “koinonia” of the Holy Spirit. Koinonia is another rich Greek biblical term, meaning communion, participation in, companionship, intimate partnership with, deep fellowship with. We are not only joined into the community of the Trinity through the Spirit, but we are plugged into a profound fellowship with other believers as well. There would be no communion with other people were it not for the source of all communion, the intimate unity of the triune God. We are one with other believers only because of our oneness with the Trinity. Believers are welcomed into the relationship of the Trinity, and through that spiritual source of oneness we have the possibility of intimate fellowship with fellow believers. The Holy Spirit dwells within us, along with the Father and the Son, and thus we are able to live inside the Trinity while the Trinity lives within us and we live within the community of believers. The Holy Spirit, our true Companion, our intimate Friend “who sticks closer than a brother” (Proverbs 18:24).

Elohim. Since the Name referring to Creator God throughout the creation story in Genesis 1 is Elohim, in fact every creative verb in that story specifically trumpets the Name of Elohim, then all through Biblical history the name of Elohim has been especially associated with God’s creative powers. Elohim is a plural term of the singular Supreme Being of God, because only a plural word is sufficient to emphasize God’s exalted greatness and unsurpassed creative powers. It wasn’t unusual to heighten someone’s super-powers by using a plural name, particularly the universal God with transcendent skill and glory and majesty. Elohim was used as the collective term referring to God’s divine characteristics, a Name that sums up God’s divine attributes. In the story of Bezalel, we see how the Spirit of Elohim, the source of all creativity, is used to inspire creative skills in receptive people. With Bezalel we learn that the gift of creativity has only one Source, the Holy Spirit of Elohim. He is the Giver of all creative gifts to us here on earth.

“And Lord Yahweh said to Moses, ‘Look and see what I have done! I have singled out and personally chosen one of the sons of Judah, and placed on him a special calling. His name is Bezalel, the son of Uri, the grandson of Hur. I have filled him with the Holy Spirit (Ruach) of God (Elohim), and gifted him with wisdom and ability, with understanding and intelligence, with knowledge, and all kinds of craftsmanship, to devise skillful works. He is an expert designer and able to work in gold, silver, and bronze. He is able to cut and set gemstones, engage in wood-carving, and skillfully work in all varieties of craftsmanship.” (Exodus 31:1-5).

Fun Facts about Bezalel, the most inspired artist and craftsman of all time, and yet somehow is not a household name, and instead is an unsung hero in Scripture if there ever was one:

1. He was the grandson (or perhaps great-grandson) of Miriam, and so was the grandnephew of Moses.
2. His name means “in the shadow of God,” implying that the Lord was constantly covering him, protecting him, inspiring him to do his work on the Tabernacle.
3. Rabbinic tradition maintains that he was only a teenager when he accomplished his work on the Tabernacle.
4. He was the first person in Scripture to be “filled with the Holy Spirit of God.” He was gifted with the creative Spirit of the Lord, reflecting and imitating the inspired excellence of Creator God.
5. He was also inspired and equipped to be a teacher of a big team of apprentice craftsmen to construct the Tabernacle, its sacred furniture (the golden lampstand, the Table of Shewbread, the bronze basins, the altars, the Ark of the Covenant), and all the furnishings and materials( the priests’ garments, the coverings of goatskins, the holy oil, the incense, the tapestries, the outer fencing). His main assistant in all this work was also hand-picked by Yahweh…. Oholiab from the tribe of Dan.
6. They both were also gifted by the Lord to be the architects of the Tabernacle, as well as expert engravers, embroiderers with fine linen, and master weavers. (Ex. 35:30-35).
7. He was not a priest, nor a prophet, nor any type of religious leader. And yet, his calling was a holy calling with special privileges. He was the only non-priest to touch the Ark of the Covenant without dying, since he made the Ark! He was the only person other than the High Priest to stand before the Mercy Seat in the Holy of Holies, since he made the Mercy Seat and built the Holy of Holies!
8. Messianic pastor Isaac Gabizon believes that God must have been very excited about His Dwelling Place being constructed in Exodus 36, since that chapter reports Bezalel every step of the way in detail… The passage says that “he made” 36 times alone in that chapter. And in the next five chapters “he made” was mentioned 55 times. Pastor Barbizon says that there must have been great rejoicing in heaven as Scripture reports that “he joined,” “he overlaid,” “he cast,” “he inserted,” etc. Pastor Garbizon says that what started as a list became like a song.
9. Bezalel was responsible to construct a sacred space according to the very specific instructions that the Lord gave to Moses on Mt. Sinai. Bezalel must have been an extraordinary listener, and a completely obedient believer in Yahweh, to follow such explicit, detailed instructions so completely.
10. There is a rabbinic teaching that declares that Bezalel’s completed work of craftsmanship “healed the wound caused by the sin in the Garden of Eden.” Adam and Eve’s sin separated humankind from God, and the Tabernacle reunited God with humankind by creating a space for the Shekinah glory, a Dwelling Place to be in union with His chosen people. So the Tabernacle is seen by faithful Jews as “Paradise regained,” a return to Eden. Rabbinic teaching notes that the Tabernacle is designed to be like a mini-Eden, a small picture of the Garden of Eden: the entrance to both the Tabernacle and the Garden faces east and the source of light; both were guarded by cherubim; both have a purpose of joining heaven and earth through God’s real Presence; both speak to God’s desire to dwell with His people.
11. Rabbi Jonathon Sacks says that “the creation of the Sanctuary by the Israelites is intended to represent a human parallel to the divine creation of the universe. In making the world, God created a home for humankind. In making the Tabernacle, humankind created a home for God.” He goes on to say that God made the cosmos, humans made the micro-cosmos, a mini-universe, and “a symbolic glimpse of creation.”
12. Christians believe that the wilderness Tabernacle, the brilliant work of Bezalel and his team of craftsmen, is a temporary shadow of the eternal sanctuary in heaven, an earthly copy of the heavenly sanctuary. The Tabernacle served its righteous purposes for that time, but was actually a visual parable that could be used later to teach spiritual truths regarding Christ’s earthly mission and ministry. So the Tabernacle was an invaluable object lesson for mankind, full of visual aids and symbolism. The Mosaic system was adequate and God-ordained for a time. But it was only a shadow, a hint of a better system coming along in God’s perfect timing. It was a necessary beginning to what turned out to be a perfect end. In the Old Covenant, the Mosaic sacrifice was necessary but insufficient. The best was yet to come in the fullness of time with the coming of Messiah Jesus. “Under the old system, the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer could cleanse people’s bodies from ceremonial impurity. Just think how much more the blood of Christ will purify our consciences from sinful deeds so that we can worship the living God. For by the power of the eternal Spirit, Christ offered Himself to God as a perfect sacrifice for our sins.” (Hebrews 9:13-14).
13. Actually, there is a Christian organization that is doing its best to remove Bezalel from the “unsung” category by establishing a community, “The Order of Bezalel,” that extends an “invitation for all who choose to live out their creativity in covenant relationship with the Creator God and His mission for the world… a movement that invites creatives everywhere to a deeper understanding of what it means to be truly creative and to a more robust application of their creative calling, identity, gifts, and vocation for mission amid the diversity of their contexts for the building up of the body of Christ for mission.” We are reminded in their mission statement that every person has the gift of creativity to varying degrees, since we are all made in the image of a creative God. As the Order’s spokesman, Uday Balasundaran states, “Bezalel and his band of brothers in a way foreshadow the work of the Master Craftsperson in Jesus Christ in building the church. If in the OT, Bezalel and others were called and commissioned to build the tabernacle, in the NT the task entrusted to us – creatives worldwide in the capacities of apostle, prophet, evangelist, shepherd, and teacher (see Ephesians 4:11-13) – is to build-up the church for mission in order to bring people to the maturity of Jesus Christ.”