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The Holy Spirit in action
buildontherock
2013-11-21

We often hear of God's omnipresence or His ability to be everywhere at once. If we take a closer look at the scriptures supporting this claim we are also forced to admit that this is by the Holy Spirit. In an earlier article I looked at how the Bible defines the Holy Spirit which is as the presence of God. Bearing this in mind I want to expand on that discovery to show how presence reveals God's personality and how He interacts with His environment. I cover other areas in my main article, The Holy Spirit and You.

It is evident from the Bible that God can be in more than one place at the same time. This feature of His godhood is demonstrated by Him employing one of His senses to demonstrate His presence while it is at the same time evident that He is elsewhere.

Personality and God's Spirit

People that are physically identical can very often be easily identified by their personality traits. Some twins may fool their parents if they are standing perfectly still but as soon as they act, their identities will be revealed. Our personalities are in whatever we do.

Communication

Since God is present by His Spirit all of the things that people experience can be accomplished by the Holy Spirit. The spirit can communicate. There are various mechanisms used nevertheless the objective is the same: to pass information to someone else. In the Old Testament this was often done through the urim and thummim, although we do not know exactly how, but we do know that God has revealed only one way for Him to interact with us and that is ultimately by the Holy Spirit, hence the urim and thummim were manipulated by the Holy Spirit. In the New Testament we connect directly with the Holy Spirit.

2 Thes. 2:2 That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. [KJV]

Paul is talking about methods of communication: by spirit - which implies the Holy Spirit or an evil spirit, by word - which suggests speech, and finally by letter or in black and white

Intellect

The spirit can transfer intellect. One of the key things that humans prize is intellect. It is a coveted trait that is associated with wealth in the modern era but this too is given to man by God. The most notable example is Solomon (1 Kings 3:3-15) but the method by which it is transferred from God is given much earlier in the Bible.

Exodus 31:2-6 See, I have called by name Bezaleel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah: 3And I have filled him with the spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship, 4To devise cunning works, to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass, 5And in cutting of stones, to set them, and in carving of timber, to work in all manner of workmanship. 6And I, behold, I have given with him Aholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan: and in the hearts of all that are wise hearted I have put wisdom, that they may make all that I have commanded thee; KJV

So the Spirit can be used to communicate and transfer intellect. A book carries the presence of the person who wrote it and can transfer knowledge but only spirit can transfer intellect.

Before I go any further I think that it is prudent to highlight a very important point to what I am discussing. God is spirit and God is holy therefore God is Holy Spirit. That He is spirit was clarified for us by John but the matter of being holy was documented much earlier in the writings of Moses.
John 4:24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
Leviticus 19:22 Speak unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say unto them, Ye shall be holy: for I the Lord your God am holy.

We know that the Holy Spirit is God instinctively but we sometimes get muddled in the mysterious way that people sometimes present it. God, while being spirit has a personality hence God's Holy Spirit has a personality. Mankind interacts with God by God's spirit and that is the only contact we have with Him hence the only way that we experience His personality. Through His Spirit we have experienced several elements of His character including the following ones.

Anger

Through God's Spirit we experience His anger. Some have treated this knowledge carelessly and as a result were swallowed up by the earth. We experience God through His Spirit and He does not have to be there bodily to be present. He can be present and express His anger by His Spirit.

Numbers 26:10And the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up together with Korah, when that company died, what time the fire devoured two hundred and fifty men: and they became a sign.

Korah, Dathan and Airam had invoked God's anger by challenging Moses' authority. They believed that they had rights to greater authority than Moses had allowed them to claim. God expressed His feelings on the matter by the Holy Spirit which caused the ground to swallow them up. The story is found in Numbers 16.

Wit

Since God is present by this Spirit all of the things that people experience can be identified with the Holy Spirit. We know that man angers Him every day but we probably make Him laugh every day as well. Look at the question of colour prejudice. God created all colours in Adam because He wanted it so and when He was finished He said that it was very good. Throughout modern history people have tried to equate one skin colour or another with levels of righteousness but God has wittingly expressed His views on that long, long ago. The children of the great Joseph were half-cast and so were the children of the great Moses. If colour was so hateful one would think that He would not have made the same mistake twice. God's wit on the subject is brought out in dealing with Miriam. Now Moses had married a black woman named Zipporah and Miriam had criticised him because of her colour. You can find the whole story in Numbers 12 but I only want to highlight one verse. Numbers 12:10 And the cloud departed from off the tabernacle; and, behold, Miriam became leprous, white as snow: and Aaron looked upon Miriam, and, behold, she was leprous. Do you get it? Miriam thought that whiter was better so God granted her wish. He made her whiter than anybody else. Be careful what you wish for.

Funny

Actually you only have to look at the creation which God made to recognise that God has a sense of humour. Have you ever seen one of those lizards that take off like a rocket across the water? Anyhow let us focus on the Bible. I want you to imagine what is happening to Balaam from God's perspective. The story is found in Numbers 22:21-30. Now remember that God laughs (Psalm 2:4; 37:13; 59:8) so picture what was happening when the donkey was schooching around to avoid the angel while Balaam was struggling to have him go straight ahead and then to top it all off a big man arguing with a donkey.

Numbers 22:29 And Balaam said unto the ass, Because thou hast mocked me: I would there were a sword in mine hand, for now would I kill thee.

I can just hear God saying is this man for real? Can you imagine a God with no sense-of-humour making a donkey talk.

Hurt

I don't think that anyone would have believed it if it was not written in black and while in the Bible. John 11:35 Jesus wept[KJV]. Of course the person has to be present to tell that they are crying but we see God's pain in other situations, especially in dealing with man before the flood.

Genesis 6:6-76 And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. 7 And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.

We know of only one way that this could have been communicated to man and that would be through the Holy Spirit.

The Five Senses and God's Spirit

People use their senses to interact with their environment. We have been blessed with five senses to detect our surroundings and respond to them. Is it so hard to imagine that this was part of our being made in the image of God? God has these senses too but since God is spirit they are not by His physical appendages but by His Spirit. That is not to say that God does not have a mouth for example but God projects everything by His Spirit.

God's Voice

The Bible records some interesting details of Christ's baptism by Matthew and Mark.

Matthew 3:16-4:3And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: 17And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
Matthew 4:1-3Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. 2And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred. 3And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. KJV
Mark 1:10-13And straightway coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens opened, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon him: 11And there came a voice from heaven, saying, Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. 12And immediately the Spirit driveth him into the wilderness. 13And he was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted of Satan; and was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered unto him. KJV

These scriptures indicate that God was present at the time (His voice was) and he was in sync with what was happening. Nobody but the Father could force Christ to go anywhere but the Father was not physically there nevertheless we see Christ being driven into the wilderness by a supernatural power (Matthew 4:1, Mark 1:12). The Holy Spirit is not the Father but who else would Christ follow to such a critical mission. The Father was not physically at the baptism because people would have seen him and died, but still in every other sense He was there while simultaneously being in heaven. He WAS present.

These facts lead to important conclusions when added to the God saids in Genesis chapter 1 . The scriptures above show that God's voice can be present when He is not there physically. God's voice is a feature of His presence and the psalms say that God's Spirit is His presence. It therefore seems reasonable to expect that God's Spirit in Genesis was to enable speech and probably other features of His presence.

God's voice was also featured in 2 Samuel 3 . The text says in v10 that the Lord came and stood but it does not appear that anyone saw God therefore it is probably a literary mechanism and not that He actually stood there bodily.

God's sight

In the Old Testament it was understood that God can see from heaven

Deut. 26:15Look down from thy holy habitation, from heaven, and bless thy people Israel, and the land which thou hast given us, as thou swarest unto our fathers, a land that floweth with milk and honey. [KJV]
Isaiah 63:15Look down from heaven, and behold from the habitation of thy holiness and of thy glory: where is thy zeal and thy strength, the sounding of thy bowels and of thy mercies toward me? are they restrained? [KJV]

Look also at the example of Nathanael. From the tone of the conversation this was an obvious supernatural event. Christ apparently saw what Philip saw.

John 1:48-50Nathanael saith unto him, Whence knowest thou me? Jesus answered and said unto him, Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee. 49Nathanael answered and saith unto him, Rabbi, thou art the Son of God; thou art the King of Israel. 50Jesus answered and said unto him, Because I said unto thee, I saw thee under the fig tree, believest thou? thou shalt see greater things than these. KJV

We saw before that God's voice can be present when he is physically somewhere else, now we see that this also applies to His sight.

God's Hearing

Nehemiah shows that Israel expected God to hear what occurs on Earth from heaven.

Nehemiah 9:27-28Therefore thou deliveredst them into the hand of their enemies, who vexed them: and in the time of their trouble, when they cried unto thee, thou heardest them from heaven; and according to thy manifold mercies thou gavest them saviours, who saved them out of the hand of their enemies. 28 But after they had rest, they did evil again before thee: therefore leftest thou them in the hand of their enemies, so that they had the dominion over them: yet when they returned, and cried unto thee, thou heardest them from heaven; and many times didst thou deliver them according to thy mercies; KJV

God confirms their expectations but sound cannot travel across a vacuum so somehow God had to connect with the Earth across the vacuum. For the younger ones who may be reading this let me explain. Sound is caused and transferred by vibrating materials. If you touch anything that is making a sound you should feel the vibration. This vibration causes the air in the vicinity to vibrate and when the vibration in the air reaches us we detect it as sound. A vacuum is an area with just space, no air to vibrate. In space there is no air to vibrate.

2 Chron. 7:14If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. [KJV]
2 Chron. 30:27Then the priests the Levites arose and blessed the people: and their voice was heard, and their prayer came up to his holy dwelling place, even unto heaven. [KJV]

Of course God can also read minds.

Matthew 9:4-7And Jesus knowing their thoughts said, "Wherefore think ye evil in your hearts?" 5 "For whether is easier, to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Arise, and walk?" 6 "But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins," (then saith he to the sick of the palsy,) "Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thine house." 7 And he arose, and departed to his house.

Here God is saying that He is reading their minds. Verse 3 actually says that they only said it within themselves, not aloud.

God's hand

Then we also have God's hand appearing on its own. We look to (Daniel 5:21-25) for this next important record.

Daniel 5:21-25And he was driven from the sons of men; and his heart was made like the beasts, and his dwelling was with the wild asses: they fed him with grass like oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven; till he knew that the most high God ruled in the kingdom of men, and that he appointeth over it whomsoever he will. 22And thou his son, O Belshazzar, hast not humbled thine heart, though thou knewest all this; 23But hast lifted up thyself against the Lord of heaven; and they have brought the vessels of his house before thee, and thou, and thy lords, thy wives, and thy concubines, have drunk wine in them; and thou hast praised the gods of silver, and gold, of brass, iron, wood, and stone, which see not, nor hear, nor know: and the God in whose hand thy breath is, and whose are all thy ways, hast thou not glorified: 24Then was the part of the hand sent from him; and this writing was written. 25And this is the writing that was written, MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN. KJV

Belshazzar (Nebuchadnezzars son/grandson) began to show off (v23) and use the utensils from the temple to praise false gods and he obviously knew better (v22). His father was converted (v21) and worshiped God but he (Belshazzar) appears to be rebellious and unruly. In v5 a hand appears and writes the judgement of God against him. Daniel later interprets them in v25 and v24 tells us that the hand came from God and it was only a part not an angel. This story is also a tragic tale of a child who knows better but neglects God and follows idiots to do foolishness but we are not focusing on that now. The point is that God's hand can be in a separate location from where he is bodily. Compare this to what Job and Psalms say about the Holy Spirit.

Psalm 104:30Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they are created: and thou renewest the face of the earth. [KJV]
Job 26:13By his spirit he hath garnished the heavens; his hand hath formed the crooked serpent.

God's sense of smell

The burnt sacrifices of Israel were smelled by God.

Genesis 8:21And the Lord smelled a sweet savour; and the Lord said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake; for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done. [KJV]
Leviticus 6:21In a pan it shall be made with oil; and when it is baken, thou shalt bring it in: and the baken pieces of the meat offering shalt thou offer for a sweet savour unto the Lord. [KJV]
Leviticus 17:6And the priest shall sprinkle the blood upon the altar of the Lord at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and burn the fat for a sweet savour unto the Lord. [KJV]

For all intents and purposes therefore God can be present on earth while actually in Heaven. He can see, hear, smell, speak and manipulate things with his hand remotely. Bear in mind that smell travels by vapours and cannot travel across space. God has to be present to smell.

Other Features of God's Presence

We learn something about the nature of spirit from the demons. Several demons can be in the same place/creature at the same time (which helps us to understand about simultaneous presence) and also people being possessed by spirits (which helps us to understand the Holy Spirit in us). There are a couple of big differences between demon possession and the presence of the Holy Spirit: (1) the Holy Spirit only comes to those who already serve God, it comes as a gift of God to those who serve Him and (2) the Holy Spirit will not do us harm. The Holy Spirit typically comes after the ritual of baptism but that is not a requirement but we must make a decided effort to follow God in order to receive the Holy Spirit because it will not come uninvited or unintentionally.

1 Thessalonians 4:8 He therefore that despiseth, despiseth not man, but God, who hath also given unto us his holy Spirit.
Romans 5:5 And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.
I Corinthians 13:4-7 Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, 5 Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; 6 Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; 7 Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.

In spite of the fundamental differences we can learn some things about the Holy Spirit from demons. There are several passages illustrating demon possession in the Bible but here we want highlight the fact that in some cases there is more that one demon simultaneously attached to the person. This was explained by Christ Himself and notice the reference to living or abiding.

Matthew 12:45Then goeth he, and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first. Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation. [KJV]
Luke 11:26Then goeth he, and taketh to him seven other spirits more wicked than himself; and they enter in, and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first. [KJV]

The background of Mary Magdalene contains one such case.

Mark 16:9Now when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven devils. [KJV]
Luke 8:2 And certain women, which had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities, Mary called Magdalene, out of whom went seven devils, [KJV]

In Mark we have an incident that took place at the synagogue; notice that this single spirit (presence) was referred to as us. God's Spirit can be both Him and Christ, US.

Mark 1:23-25And there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit; and he cried out, 24Saying, Let us alone; what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art, the Holy One of God. 25And Jesus rebuked him, saying, Hold thy peace, and come out of him. KJV

In this world we hear more of demons in people than God because this is Satans world. It stands to reason that we would see more of evil spirits living in people than God. But Christ says that he lives in us and it is reasonable to believe that it would be a similar approach to that observed by demons. I Propose: Christ lives in us by the Spirit the same way that demons live in people by evil spirits. God the Father and Christ can be in the same place/person at the same time or in several places at the same time or both.

These facts also have implications for Genesis and how God and the Word seem to be able to be the same place at the same time doing a collaborative work of creation.

Some inferences

God is omnipresent. How does he do it? I suggest by His Spirit, the Holy Spirit. I suggest that when Christ is in His glorified form His presence is omnipresent. In His glorified form Christ can be present with all his disciples simultaneously to comfort them but that was impossible as a human hence we had to wait until He was glorified to receive the comforter.

John 14:26But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you
Hebrews 13:5Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. [KJV]

Christ is present in Christians.

Romans 8:14For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. [KJV]
Romans 8:10 And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. [KJV]

We can share his mind and He ours by the Spirit and there are example of this by Daniel in his visions and Paul.

II Corinthians 12:2-4 KJV2 I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) such an one caught up to the third heaven.  3 And I knew such a man, (whether in the body, or out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;)  4 How that he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.
1 Corinthians 2:10 But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. [KJV]
1 Corinthians 2:16For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ. [KJV]

Scriptures like these take on a clear meaning when the Spirit is seen as God's presence.

1 Corinthians 12:8-9For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; 9To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; [KJV]
1 John 3:24And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us. [KJV]