The Holy Spirit Series 4

Last time we saw who the Holy Spirit is within the Godhead and how God is of a triune nature rather than 3 separate persons; as we are taught today in the doctrine of the Trinity I know there is a lot more to study about the triune nature of God; hopefully we will do it at another time. Today we will continue with the study of the Holy Spirit in particular.

The Function of the Holy Spirit (1):

The Holy Spirit, like God who neither sleeps nor slumbers, works tirelessly to carry out the Will of God. To study this topic, we will examine it under two realms of function: Heaven and Earth

1. Heaven:

The role of the Holy Spirit in heaven is always seen as the executor of the will of God, be it in creation or establishing order within creation. The Holy Spirit is the One who sees it is accomplished. Right here the question can arise if the Holy Spirit is not a separate being, as we saw in the previous session, how then does He accomplish things? If this question is arising then we haven’t understood our last session. When I say that He is the executor of God’s will it does not mean it is done by the Holy Spirit as a separate being. To explain this I am going to tap into our childhood memories. Have you seen cartoons as a child? Then do you remember any of the superheroes that had supernatural abilities? The supernatural ability is what makes him special and the way in which this ability is put to use makes this individual a hero or a villain.

                 Well now imagine God as a superhero, who has the Holy Spirit and the Word like two supernatural abilities. As I mentioned in the previous study the Holy Spirit is the power of God to do things. God creates and establishes the spoken word thus executing His will. God and the Holy Spirit and the Word are not separate as we have been lead to understand but rather the Holy Spirit and the Word together with the God is what makes God; God Almighty, just like how superpowers make a person into a superhero! This example is only to illustrate the point I am trying to make and in no way is used to demean God.

           

The Holy Spirit has His own characteristics, which distinguishes Him within the Godhead. This is one of the reasons why confusions arise. Because of these traits, people are forced to consider the possibility of Him a separate being or form of God.

“And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices: and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God.” Rev 4:5

Does this verse indicate something different as in there are 7 parts of the Holy Spirit or that the Holy Spirit is again presented as separate? Well to start with the Holy Spirit is not a lamp. The Lamp is symbolic of something deeper. When John saw the vision of Jesus, Jesus’s feet were like fine brass…it does not mean that Jesus’ feet were made of brass but rather it was the way it appeared. The Holy Spirit has been portrayed by many other symbols such as oil, dove, water, fire and wind. We may probably look at these symbols separately later. 

                This is not the first verse where the Spirit of God is shown in 7’s. Isaiah 11:2-3 is another place where the Spirit of God is shown in 7’s. From what I have understood they are the offices/ministries of the Holy Spirit. These seven offices are :(1) Spirit of the LORD, (2) Spirit of wisdom, (3) Spirit of understanding, (4) Spirit of counsel, (5) Spirit of power, (6) Spirit of knowledge, and (7) Spirit of the fear of the Lord.
                   The burning lamp symbolism is indicative of the ever continuing work of the Holy Spirit which proceeds and precedes Him, because the fire is never put out Lev. 24:2. As, most of us know that seven is the number of perfection in the Bible. Therefore, in showing the Spirit in 7’s it is indicative of the perfect workings of the Holy Spirit. I also have another revelation regarding the lampstand symbol i.e. if you look at the lampstand in the Tabernacle of Moses there is one key element that is never talked about. Let’s look at the verse:

“You shall make seven lamps for it, and they shall arrange its lamps so that they give light in front of it.” Ex 25:37

The lamps were to give light only in front of it. What was in front of the lamps? The Table of Showbread was in front of the lamps. The bread is as we know the word of God. The light shining upon the bread is indicative of the revelations of the word of God by the Holy Spirit. Likewise the lampstand we see in Rev 4:5 which precedes Him would also be there to reveal Him; for the Bible says that only the Spirit of God knows the things of God 1 Corinthians 2:10.
   
                  The Holy Spirit is the One who reveals who God is to each one of us. Did you know the Bible also symbolizes God using the Lampstand? Refer to Zechariah 4:2-3 & 14, here God is represented by the 7 branched Lampstand. I find this symbol most appropriate to once again ratify the point that the Holy Spirit and God are one and the same.

Why did I take the Lampstand in the Tabernacle and compare it to the Lampstand in Heaven? The answer is very simple: when God asked Moses to make the Tabernacle according to what he had seen on the Mountain as seen in Exodus 25:8-9, 40 /Exodus 26:30/ Exodus 27:8 and Numbers 8:4. Also This is again mentioned by Luke in Acts 7:44. I believe when Moses went up the Mountain he was translated to Heaven where he saw these articles and hence what he made was a copy of that which is in Heaven Heb 8:5.

             This study has been an eye opener to me and  one of the the lessons I take from this study is the importance of unity and how God has portrayed it. When God saw men gathered together in unity to build the Tower of Babel, He testifies in Gen 11:6 saying “…that nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them.” Imagine what we can do today if we are united under God for His purpose!! If nothing would be impossible to those men how much more it would be possible for us to achieve the unthinkable today. It is saddening to see the people of God in such disarray. But we can change and change we will. We will continue with the Heavenly Ministry of the Holy Spirit  in our next session. Till then God Bless.