Having published my paper on the Holy Spirit, it was clear that I had made my point that the Holy Spirit does not leave the earth with the church at the rapture. However, it raised another question:
Do the Holy Spirit and the trinity show up in the Old Testament?
The short answer is yes, but yes is a pathetic answer.
I pointed this out in the paper on the Holy Spirit but here it is again.
Genesis 1:2 NASB “The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters.”
Spirit is the Hebrew word rûach and means wind, breath, mind, and spirit.
Mind you, this is the Spirit of the living God, and, a part of the trinity. So let's see if I can find proof of this statement.
Genesis 1:2 demonstrates that God has a Spirit, or like Jesus, represents the Father/God as a Son.
Isaiah declared that there was a Spirit working through him alongside the Father.
Isaiah 48:16 NLT “Come closer, and listen to this. From the beginning, I have told you plainly what would happen.” And now the Sovereign LORD and his Spirit have sent me with this message.”
The Book of Genesis, chapter 6, in talking about the coming destruction of the earth, spells out how God fully intended to kill everything human that had the “breath of life” in them.
Genesis 6:17 MKJV “And behold! I, even I, am bringing a flood of waters upon the earth in order to destroy all flesh (in which is the breath of life) from under the heavens. Everything which is in the earth shall die.”
If you are not careful, you could read this as God killing off the small handful that has the breath, or spirit of God, within them; that is not the case, for every human has the rûach of God within them.
Genesis 6:5 NASB Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
As you can surmise from the Genesis scenario, not everyone gives that spirit free reign over their mind, tongue, and actions.
Job 26:13a tells us that “His Spirit made the heavens beautiful.
Isaiah, speaking of Jesus, declared that God would put His spirit upon Him, and He did it in the present tense, as though it was already done.
Isaiah 42:1 NASB "Behold, My Servant, whom I uphold; My chosen one in whom My soul delights. I have put My Spirit upon Him; He will bring forth justice to the nations.
As we move into the New Testament the terminology shifts to Greek.
Matthew 3:16 NASB After being baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove and lighting on Him,
Why is it important to understand that with a migration into the New Testament we are now looking at the Greek word for Spirit?
In trying to find answers to the questions is the Holy Spirit and the Trinity in the Old Testament. I have the understanding that Greek does not translate well into Hebrew, and so I have to try to find a relationship that will assist me to find answers from the Old Testament.
The word that Matthew used for Spirit is pneúma; and like the Hebrew word rûach, means breath. While that seems like a fantastic find and a solid parallel, it may not answer the questions.
In Revelation 1:10 John says “ I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day.” When I look at the Word Study Dictionary I get an in-depth explanation, and one of those explanations leans toward words like this: a feeling, a moment, or an emotion. Since the Spirit of God, as defined by rûach, is the breath of God, what does that feel like? For me, this kind of moment happens during “worship.” It is during these times that it feels as though the Spirit takes my breath away; not in a bad way, but as in an unexplainable excitement. Maybe it is like that first good kiss you got from someone you loved.
So John was lost in the moment, and he uses the phrase, on the Lord’s day. Stuck on this island, he had kept track of the Sabbath days. (I thought I would point that out as we tend to believe this bible of ours is a Gentile invention; it is not.) No longer aware of his surroundings, he heard a voice behind him saying, “Write in a book what you see.” This moment, which started as an undefined period of being lost in God's presence, was about to become very real as John is about to see, in a vision, the end of the age of grace and the catching away of the church, God's judgment coming upon Israel and the nations, and the eternal kingdom finally arrives as Jesus comes back on a white horse with all the saints.
I often say that the New Testament was birthed out of the Old. Is that the case with Revelation 1:10?
It is, and Ezekiel had a similar experience.
Ezekiel 37:1 NASB “The hand of the LORD was upon me, and He brought me out by the Spirit of the LORD and set me down in the middle of the valley; and it was full of bones.”
John told us that he was in the Spirit, while Ezekiel says that the hand of the Lord was upon him. In both cases, the men saw very vivid visions. Ezekiel, like Abraham, was inserted into the vision as the main character.
Indeed, the Spirit can be seen interacting with man and being described as abiding in man, which we saw in Isaiah’s description of Jesus.
Now, as to the trinity, or the three personas of God, or perhaps characteristics of God’s nature. Again we turn to Isaiah.
Isaiah 6:8 CJB Then I heard the voice of Adonai saying, "Whom should I send? Who will go for us?" I answered, "I'm here, send me!"
Pay attention to both the singularity when Isaiah says, I heard the voice of Adonai saying, whom should I send; and almost immediately, Adonai then says,” who will go for us?”
Did you note the plurality about God in the same sentence?
Admittedly, Isaiah 6:8 does not define who makes up the members of the team, and far too many of us have become very comfortable with the terminology “trinity” even though that word cannot be found in the Bible, just like rapture. However, the idea, concept, and theme that backs up the trinity are all over the Bible.
Example? Just go to Genesis chapter one.
Genesis 1:1-2 CJB In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. (2) The earth was unformed and void, darkness was on the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God hovered over the surface of the water.
Without any additional information, we can identify two individuals, God and the Spirit (of God.) Now, if we take this one more research step further, we can find Jesus; but we have to go to the Gospel of John.
John 1:1-4 CJB “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (2) He was with God in the beginning. (3) All things came to be through him, and without him nothing made had being. (4) In him was life, and the life was the light of mankind.”
Initially, it sounds like God was alone, but that perception quickly changes as you see that the Word was with God. Okay, great, I got it, but how do I explain the Word being with God and yet the Word was God.
If I take the information from Genesis 1:1-2, where I see God and the Spirit, alongside John's gospel I have the full integration, or as some would say, the trinity in action. Either way, they are all God and we need to adjust our thinking.
If I chose to be argumentative and say that Jesus has been active in the Old Testament, I could do a search for “the angel of the Lord.” Genesis 18 is one of those places.
Genesis 18:1-2 NASB Now the LORD appeared to him (Abraham) by the oaks of Mamre, while he was sitting at the tent door in the heat of the day. (2) When he lifted up his eyes and looked, behold, three men were standing opposite him; and when he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them and bowed himself to the earth,
The passage tells us that the Lord appeared to him, but what does Abraham describe? He describes three men (angels) and says this to them.
Genesis 18:3 NASB and said, "My Lord, if now I have found favor in Your sight, please do not pass Your servant by.
Abraham addresses them as My Lord as if there is only one that needs addressing.
Half the translators put Lord in the lower case, and the Hebrew word for Lord, in this case, is 'âdôn. Strong's tells us it is from an unused root (meaning to rule); sovereign, that is, controller (human or divine): - lord, master, owner. Compare also names beginning with “Adoni-”.
Hagar, the servant of Sarah and the mistress of Abraham, met the Lord.
Genesis 16:6-9 NASB But Abram said to Sarai, "Behold, your maid is in your power; do to her what is good in your sight." So Sarai treated her harshly, and she fled from her presence. (7) Now the angel of the LORD found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, by the spring on the way to Shur. (8) He said, "Hagar, Sarai's maid, where have you come from and where are you going?" And she said, "I am fleeing from the presence of my mistress Sarai." (9) Then the angel of the LORD said to her, "Return to your mistress, and submit yourself to her authority."
Interesting that Hagar used a different Hebrew word to address this angel that is speaking to her.
The Hebrew is yehôvâh and means (the) self Existent or eternal; Jehovah.
How would she know to call Him this?
I don't really know the answer to this question, but it is fascinating how Jesus shows up in the dreams of Muslims and they know that it is Him.
The Book of Exodus opens another can of worms.
Exodus 23:20-21 NASB "Behold, I am going to send an angel before you to guard you along the way and to bring you into the place which I have prepared. (21) "Be on your guard before him and obey his voice; do not be rebellious toward him, for he will not pardon your transgression, since My name is in him.
In this case, it merely says “an angel.” That in itself, would not necessarily make me think that it is the Son of God, a Christophany, but if you pay attention to verse 21, it says, “since My name is in Him.” As Adam Clarke said, “this statement indicates that He is not one to trifle with.”
Deuteronomy 6:4 NASB "Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one!
Why would God feel the need to define that He is one?
Look at this passage with the Strong's numbers.
Hear,H8085 O Israel:H3478 The LORDH3068 our GodH430 is oneH259 LORD:H3068
Hear is the Hebrew word shâma‛ (shema). It is a primitive root and means to hear intelligently (often with implication of attention, obedience.
The Lord yehôvâh. (The) self Existent or eternal; Jehovah, Jewish national name of God:
Our God is the Hebrew word 'ĕlôhı̂ym. It is the Plural of H433; gods in the ordinary sense; but specifically used in the plural of the supreme God;
Genesis 1:26a tells us that God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.”
“The word "Elohim" and the pronoun “us” are plural forms, definitely referring in the Hebrew language to more than two. While this is not an explicit argument for the Trinity, it does denote the aspect of plurality in God. The Hebrew word for "God," "Elohim," definitely allows for the Trinity.” What does the Bible teach about the Trinity? | GotQuestions.org
|
This “study” came out of conversations with Christian brothers who should know these things; and a brief experience with a false teacher, who on a weekly basis berated the morning Bible study with “your sins will send you to hell.” So, after years of hearing this confusion, it is not surprising to find out that some have no hard-fast understanding of what their relationship with God is, and they are still struggling with basic concepts about this life in Christ.
If you have accepted Christ in your life, then you should know that He has tattooed you on the palm of His hands and will not let you go. If, you thought you were a believer, and have found yourself stuck in the time of God's wrath where the church is gone; then I would suggest that you get serious about faith, the Holy Spirit, and the name of Jesus. All these things will continue to work alongside your momentary salvation. In time, they will get you, especially if you are holding to the testimony of Jesus Christ they will kill you; but rejoice, for to absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.
If you have no assurance of your salvation, that is only because you played instead of praying. It's time to get serious. Ask Him into your life before the wrath comes.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Feel free to make a relevant comment. If approved, it will be posted.