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November 2008
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Dividing the Word of Truth
(2
Timothy 2:15)
This is
good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who
desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 1Timothy 2:3-4
Romans by the Book Lesson 55
Welcome
to Home Bible Study. I pray you are enjoying
your time with your Bible either with your spouse, a friend, or with a small
group and in the process developing a “hunger” for the Word of God (Jeremiah 15:16;
1 Corinthians 10:11). I pray that many
more Believers will come to realize the relevance and the value of Bible
study.
An
experience I remember well while serving in the Navy was a “happening” they named,
Mail Call. Doesn’t sound like much, does
it? But
believe me when you’ve been away from loved ones for months, even years; any
word from home is special indeed.
I
was stationed on a destroyer and spent a good deal of time at sea so word from
home was rare. At times our exact
location was a military secret, which means no mail arrived on our ship at all.
When
Mail Call was announced over the 1MC, the men who were not on duty immediately went
to collect their mail – if there was any.
The “mailman” would call out the name on the letter or package and that individual
would step forward to gather his mail. Often
sailors would not hear their name called out, so in turn this could be one of
the loneliest moments aboard ship.
However, those who received mail immediately returned to their bunks or
found a quiet place to be alone and began reading their letters from home. I don’t know of one who didn’t do this!
I
can’t remember one sailor who got mail and then decided he didn’t want to read
it because he was too busy, because the handwriting was subpar, or they just
didn’t care.
That
would be strange. And yet, that’s how
many Believers treat their Bible.
Do
you not know the Bible is God’s love letter to His children? In the Bible God is communicating to us how
much He loves us, and showing how He demonstrates His love toward us. God wants us to experience His love. The Bible tells us how we are to live our
lives according to God’s will. Therefore,
God wants the best for us and for our children.
It’s all there in His letter to us from home.
I
commend you for your efforts and encourage you to continue the good work you’ve
started. I know you’ll be blessed and
may you be a blessing to others. *************************************************************************************************
I
ended the Bible lesson last week with this statement; the role of the Holy Spirit under
the Kingdom Gospel and His role under the Gospel of Grace have changed.
In
this lesson we’re going to look at these two administrations in order to
recognize their differences and learn God’s purpose for each of them.
This
is not meant to be an in-depth study of the Holy Spirit. I am only going to look at three “Roles of
the Holy Spirit,” - back then and now.
Role of the Spirit
John 14
16: ”I will
ask the Father, and He will give you another (allos) Helper, that He may be with you forever;
The
11 apostles were gathered together in the upper room with Jesus Christ
who desired to prepare them for His departure by way of the cross. They were deeply troubled by His words; at
this time they lacked understanding, so the Lord attempted to comfort them by
promising to give them “another” Helper.
Jesus
uses the Greek term “Allos” in John 14:16 to communicate that He will
send them another Helper, of the
same
kind, who would teach them
and bring all things to their remembrance (John 14:26).
When
was this promise fulfilled - on the day of Pentecost, right?
Before
we look at this event let’s go to Acts, chapter 1.
I’m
going to take the time to lay the groundwork for this lesson because there are new
visitors who may not be aware of some of these things. For the rest of us, repetition is the key to
learning.
For
those who may not be aware the book of Acts is known as a transitional book.
By
that I mean to say the Jewish Prophetic Program is fading from the scene and
the Church (the Body of Christ) as revealed in Paul’s letters is becoming
predominant.
Drop
in at Acts 1:4. Before Jesus Christ ascended
He gathered the apostles together and instructed them, “…not to leave Jerusalem but to wait for what the Father had promised
(John 14:16).”
Please
flip over to Acts, chapter 2.
So,
this is where we find the 12 apostles (Matthias
had just been selected to fill Judas’s vacancy), 120 faithful men, and an
untold number of women, in Jerusalem, in the upper room, and obediently
celebrating the Jewish holiday of Pentecost.
In
Judaism, Pentecost is also called Shavuot, and was the 50th day after
the Passover offering of a sheaf of wheat. Pentecost was originally a harvest festival
that came to be associated with Moses' law-giving at Mt. Sinai – the giving of
the Torah to the Jews.
The Day of
Pentecost
Acts 2
1: When the day of
Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place,
2: And suddenly
there came from heaven a noise like a violent rushing wind, and
it filled the whole house where they were sitting.
3: And there appeared
to them tongues as of fire distributing themselves, and they rested on each one
of them.
4: And they were all
filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues
(foreign
languages), as the Spirit was
giving them utterance.
The
Hebrew word for breath, wind, or Spirit of God is Ruach.
The
Greek word Pnuema could mean spirit, breath, or wind depending on the
context.
One
of the first things we learn from these four verses is this: the Spirit is power and the Spirit empowers. When the Spirit is present, the implication
is power!
For
example God used the Holy Spirit in the creation of the world (Genesis 1:2;
Psalms 104:30) and in the creation of the heavens (Job 26:13; Psalms 33:6). The Holy Spirit was involved in the creation
of man (Genesis 1:26-27).
Our Spiritual gifts whatever they may be are from the
Spirit of God who can empower those gifts to accomplish the purposes and
plan of God.
If
you take the time to carefully examine the entire account of the activities that
took place at Pentecost and then consider the people who were involved, it’s
not so difficult to surmise that this is a continuation of the God’s Prophetic
Program, or the Old Testament principles and practices. To sum up:
God has not forgotten the Jews.
The
King and the Kingdom could still be realized despite the fact that both the
Jews and the gentiles conspired to kill God’s Son (Psalms 2: 1-3). But for this to occur every Jewish
man, woman, and child had to believe in the name of Jesus (Acts 2:38).
Read
the first few chapters in the book of Acts carefully and you will discover that
this is Jewish territory. By this I mean
the Jewish program is still under a full head of steam, the Jewish Temple is up
and operating and the Mosaic Law is still being observed.
If
you’ll turn to Acts, chapter 5, I want you to read for yourselves what Peter
has to say.
Acts 5
29: But Peter and
the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men.”
30: “The God of our
Fathers (Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob) raised up Jesus, whom
you had put to death by hanging Him on a cross.
31: “He is the One
whom God exalted to His right hand (Psalm 110:1) as a Prince and a Savior, to grant repentance to (who) Israel, and forgiveness of sins.
From
these verses we learn that the Lord Jesus Christ was “raised” up twice
to be the nation of Israel’s Savior, once in “incarnation” (when He
became flesh) and again at His “resurrection.”
With
all this in mind the feast day of Pentecost is being celebrated by Jews, “devout
men from every nation under heaven.”
(Acts 2:5)
When
we see that these devout, Jewish men (there’s not a gentile in the bunch) had
come to Jerusalem from every nation to celebrate Pentecost, we must realize that
not every Jew spoke Hebrew. Note
what the book says in Acts 2:7-12.
These
devout Jews traveled great distances, from many nations, to celebrate
Pentecost because this is what God commanded them to do (Leviticus 23) and
there were thousands of them, speaking different languages, but of the same
faith.
This brings us to
the first role of the Spirit:
signs, wonders, and miracles.
I
don’t believe in coincidence – I believe in God. God was prepared for this event.
After Christ baptized the 12 with the Holy
Spirit and empowered them to speak foreign languages they were prepared
to preach the good news to all these men (a remnant).
I
mention these devout men again because it may not be so obvious to some that
there were many not so devout men who did not bother to come to
Jerusalem for Pentecost despite God’s command.
It’s no different today. Is it? Thousands were missing…
Now,
let’s return to Acts 2:4.
Acts 2
4: And they were all
filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues
(not
incoherent gibberish but foreign languages),
as the Spirit was giving them utterance.
Do
you see the connection now?
There
are thousands of devout Jewish men
in Jerusalem, on this #4 out of #7 required feast days, from every nation under
heaven, who speaks many foreign languages.
The Spirit of God descends upon the now 12 apostles and empowers
them with the gift of tongues or the ability to speak
foreign languages.
This
isn’t just a miracle it’s a sign for the entire nation of Israel (1
Corinthians 1:22).
Have
you ever tried to communicate to someone who did not speak your language?
It’s
difficult and sometimes downright impossible.
Been there; done that.
After
the 12 disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit, they immediately began
speaking in various foreign languages and the Jews in the crowd were able to
understand them word for word even though they came from different
nations. The skeptics thought they were
intoxicated and mocked them. This is
typical. When some people don’t like or
understand the message, they ridicule it and often try to discredit the
messenger.
But
others, asked, “What does this mean?”
Peter
and the eleven have some good news. Jesus
Christ was raised from the dead, He is the Son of God, and He’s coming back! The King and the Kingdom is still feasible.
Skip
to verses 37-42 to pick up the rest of these details. I want to focus on verse 43 for just a minute
because we are looking at the empowerment of the Holy Spirit.
Acts 2
43: Everyone (the Jews who
witnessed these events) kept feeling a
sense of awe; and many wonders and (what) signs were taking place through the
apostles.
The
apostles went out preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom (to Jew only: Acts 11:19)
and confirming His Word through accompanying signs.
For
example: in the early chapters of Acts,
we find Peter and John healing the lame beggar.
Later, with a word, Peter ended the life of Ananias and Sapphira who
held back some money from the apostles. In
fact, as it states in Acts 5:12, “At the
hands of the apostles many signs and wonders were taking place among the
people;”
Why
did the Holy Spirit empower these twelve men with such abilities?
The Spirit gifted the apostles with the ability to
perform signs and wonders in order to authenticate them and their
message
(Mark 16:17; Hebrews 2:1-4).
However,
after God shifted His attention and His administration to the gentiles, this confirmed
to the Jewish nation that God had elected to do something different.
The
Apostle Peter observed this change first hand when the Lord commanded him to go
to the home of Cornelius, a Roman Centurian, and a gentile who feared
God.
But
Peter did not want to go… (Acts 10)
The
miracles (signs) performed by the Apostle Paul, and others who were “sent,” were
“confirming” signs as they were with the original 12 apostles.
2 Corinthians 12
12: The signs of a true
apostle were performed among you with all perseverance, by signs and
wonders and miracles.
Secondly, Jesus
Christ promised to ask His Father to send “another Helper” and He said this
Helper would be with them forever.
This
is where the major difference between the Holy Spirit’s roles in the Old
Testament and New Testaments is most evident.
The New Testament affirms the permanent indwelling of the Holy Spirit in
Believers (1 Corinthians 3:16-17, 6:19-20).
Scripture
calls this, “the guarantee of our
inheritance” (Ephesians 1: 13-14).
In
contrast to this, in the Old Testament the indwelling of the Holy Spirit was
“selective” and “temporary.”
After
the LORD God chose the nation of Israel to be His people, the Spirit’s work was
exclusively with those people with some exceptions. For
example the Spirit of God came upon young David (1 Samuel 16: 12-13) and King Saul
(1 Samuel 10:10).
Now
the nation of Israel consisted of Believers and unbelievers alike, yet the Holy
Spirit ministered to all the people by being present and guiding them. He did this by empowering the prophets (Zechariah
4:6) to speak the truth even though it was rejected (Nehemiah 9:30; Ezekiel
2:1-3; Isaiah 63:10).
In
the book of Judges, we read where the Spirit came upon various judges whom God
raised up to deliver Israel from their oppressors. This was done to perform specific tasks. When the task was completed, the Spirit left
them (Joshua/wisdom – Deuteronomy 34:9; Gideon/ a military victory – Judges 6:34;
Samson/great strength – Judges 14:6).
In
addition, the Spirit coming upon an individual in the Old Testament doesn’t
always indicate that person’s spiritual condition (e.g. Saul, Samson,
and many of the judges).
So,
while in the New Testament the Holy Spirit only indwells Believers and
this indwelling is permanent, the Holy Spirit came upon certain
Old Testament individuals for a specific task, not necessarily related to their
spiritual condition, and in whom God was showing favor.
The
third work of the Holy Spirit that I want to mention
before closing is this.
The
Spirit’s ministry to people in Old Testament times was not the same as
it has been since the Day of Pentecost. Whatever
it was, the Lord made it quite clear it would be different after Pentecost. Notice how repeatedly the Lord spoke of the “coming” of the Spirit (who was already
present) in His conversation with the disciples in the Upper Room (John 15:26,
16:7-8). This indicates the Spirit was
at work then and that His work would take on a different
character after Pentecost.
The indwelling of the Holy Spirit in Old Testament times
was selective and temporary.
Nevertheless, He was working in the lives of individuals, doing
the same things as we see listed in John 16:8-11. But the object of faith was different. In the Old Testament the coming of the Christ
was “anticipated” through the tabernacle, the priesthood, and the
sacrifices. The Holy Spirit worked in
the hearts of people to “enlighten” and “convict” them to believe the
content of the LORD God’s message as it existed at that time. God’s message pointed to Christ and what was
at the heart of God’s message - salvation.
Although it is difficult to understand the salvation
process in the Old Testament this we know.
Faith has always been a key element in God’s salvation plan (Hebrews
11:6).
For example: in the
garden, after the sin, Adam believed God.
Later, Abram believed God and
this was credited to him as “righteousness.”
In the
Church Age, the Spirit of God first “convicts” the unsaved
person of their sin and then He leads them to Jesus Christ. We Believers may carry the gospel message
(Romans 10:15) to any and all and recite it boldly but only
the Holy Spirit can open a person’s heart
to receive it (Acts 16:14).
(To
be continued)
©
Copyright 2011
GJ
Heitzman’s Ministry
All
Rights Reserved
