04 Who is the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament?

Krisan Marotta: Thank you for joining me today for Wednesday in the Word. I'm Krisan Marotta, and this is my podcast about what the Bible means and how we know. Today we're going to be looking at several Old Testament passages. This is the fourth talk in my series called Who is the Holy Spirit? The lecture notes for today's talk are on the link below the podcast, or you can find them on the website. Just go to wednesdayintheword.com slash Holy Spirit 4. Thanks for listening today. My goal in this series is to understand what Scripture says about the Holy Spirit and to build an understanding from the bottom up. So I'm not coming at this series with specific questions I'm trying to answer. Rather, I'm approaching the passages with the goal of seeing what the passage says. What picture do those passages paint? So in the first podcast, I introduced you to two themes that we're going to see in this series. First, we saw that the Holy Spirit is God's agent of change. And second, that one of his most crucial works is the inner transformation of the hearts of believers. The Holy Spirit acts in the world to accomplish God's purposes, and one of his most important works is bringing about saving faith in the lives of believers, and without that change, we cannot be saved. In the second podcast, I made a distinction between the universal and the individual works of the Spirit. The universal work of the Spirit is the work that the Holy Spirit does in every believer to give us faith. Paul says that the mark of the Holy Spirit working in our lives is that we can say and believe in a profound way that Jesus is Lord. And that is something the Holy Spirit does in everyone who has faith. That's why I'm calling it the universal work of the Spirit. Then there's the individual work of the Spirit, and these are things that the Spirit does in one believer's life, but not another's. So the Spirit gives different believers different roles to play in the body of Christ. And these particular gifts or roles or opportunities are meant for the common good. They are meant to accomplish God's purposes here in this life. And this distinction between a universal and an individual work of the spirit is crucial to understand. As we approach our passages, we want to ask ourselves, which kind of work is the author talking about? So in this passage, is the author talking about an individual work of the spirit, something that is true for some believers but not others, or is the author talking about something that would be true in the life of every believer? In the third podcast, we made the distinction between understanding and revelation. So God gives his prophets and apostles revelation through the Spirit. He reveals his words, his thoughts, his purposes, and his plans through the Spirit to particular individuals and charges those individuals with telling the rest of us. Revelation is something no one has understood up until the time God chooses to reveal it to his particular messenger. And this is an individual work of the Spirit. It is something given to a few chosen people. The universal work of the Spirit is understanding. Understanding is the receptivity to receive and embrace God's message as wisdom. And understanding is a universal work of the Spirit. It is something given to all believers. He opens our eyes so that we see and our ears so that we hear, and we understand and embrace God's message as truth. So far in this series, we've looked at several passages in the New Testament. Today I want to begin exploring what the Old Testament teaches us about the Holy Spirit. It's common for us to think that the Holy Spirit is a largely New Testament phenomenon. After His ascension, Christ sent us the Holy Spirit, and we begin this new age of an outpouring of the Spirit. It's true that we experience the Holy Spirit now in a way that believers before Christ's ascension did not experience him, but that does not mean that the Holy Spirit had no role to play before the coming of Christ. So that's what we want to look at today. And what we're going to find is that most of the discussion of the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament concerns the individual works of the Spirit. We see the Spirit working in particular individuals to accomplish specific, often miraculous purposes. And these miraculous works of power or prophecy are done by selected individuals for the benefit of the larger community, which is typically the nation of Israel. We'll also see that much of the Spirit's work is related to the covenant that God made with the nation of Israel. God led the descendants of Abraham out of slavery in Egypt, he conquered the promised land through Joshua, and he settled them in it, and he made a covenant with the nation of Israel that he would be their God and they would be his people. And in various ways we're going to see the Spirit of God intervening in the lives of particular individuals in order to protect, defend, and guide Israel as God keeps his covenant promises. So I want to start by looking at Moses, but I don't want to go to Exodus. I want to start with Isaiah 63 9. Let me orient you to where we are in Isaiah. After Solomon's death, two of his sons fought over the throne, and that plunged the nation of Israel into a civil war. The civil war eventually split the nation in two. The two southernmost tribes united around one of Solomon's sons and became the kingdom of Judah, and the ten northern tribes united around a different of Solomon's sons and they became the kingdom of Israel. And for about two hundred years Israel existed as these two separate kingdoms, and rarely do those kingdoms get along. It's kind of like a family feud. There are a few times when they reluctantly cooperate with each other, but most of the time there's tension and strife between them. Isaiah ministers during this period of the divided kingdom. He saw the fall of the northern kingdom, Israel, in seven hundred twenty two during the reign of Hezekiah in the south. So when the Assyrians conquered the northern kingdom, Isaiah was there to see it. He writes about the fall of the Southern Kingdom and Jerusalem to Babylon. He writes about the exile and the return from exile, but he does not live to see that. The last section of his book, chapters forty through sixty-six, is set against the Babylonian captivity. It's addressed to a group of people who will live about a hundred or one hundred and forty years after Isaiah ministered. So it's addressed to those who will be captives in Babylon, but they aren't captives yet. So in this section, Isaiah is prophesying to the captives in Babylon, but they aren't there yet. Isaiah's kind of a unique prophet in that way. He not only prophesied to his contemporaries, but he also prophesied to a generation that would come after him. And in this passage, Isaiah is looking back to the time when Moses led the people to the promised land, and he is reminding the Israelites how God blessed Israel in the past. So speaking of the Lord here, Isaiah writes, this is chapter sixty three, I'm going to start in verse seven and read to fourteen. I will recount the steadfast love of the Lord, the praises of the Lord, according to all that the Lord has granted us, and the great goodness to the house of Israel that He has granted them according to His compassion, according to the abundance of His steadfast love. For he said, Surely they are my people, children will not deal falsely, and He became their Savior. In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of His presence saved them, in His love and in His pity He redeemed them. He lifted them up and carried them all the days of old. But they rebelled and grieved His Holy Spirit, therefore he turned to be their enemy and himself fought against them. Then he remembered the days of old of Moses and his people. Where is he who brought them up out of the sea with the shepherds of his flock? Where is he who put in the midst of them his Holy Spirit? Who caused his glorious arm to go at the right hand of Moses, who divided the waters before them to make for himself an everlasting name, who led them through the depths, like a horse in the desert they did not stumble, like livestock that go down into the valley, the Spirit of the Lord gave them rest, so you led your people to make for yourself a glorious name. Isaiah is remembering the time of Moses. The northern kingdom rebelled against God and he judged them by sending them into exile. Isaiah knows the southern kingdom is next, and he's writing to the people who will be captives in Babylon. He knows that they're going to feel abandoned by God, and he reminds them how God dealt with them in the past through Moses. And look at the language he uses in sixty three ten, but they rebelled and grieved his Holy Spirit. In sixty three eleven, where is he who put in the midst of them his Holy Spirit? In sixty three fourteen, like livestock that go down into the valley, the Spirit of the Lord gave them rest. Many miraculous events happened during the ministry of Moses, and those events had a powerful effect on the nation in leading them and guiding them and keeping them safe. And Isaiah is telling us the Holy Spirit was behind those events. Now think back to all the miraculous things God did through Moses. There were the plagues before they left Egypt, their sons were spared in the Passover, Moses stretched out his staff and the Red Sea parted, he struck the rock and they had water in the desert, and we could go on and on. Isaiah is picturing God sending his Holy Spirit to guide and protect Israel through the ministry of Moses. So through the Spirit, God miraculously intervenes to keep the promises that he made to Abraham. So the first way that we see the Holy Spirit at work in the Old Testament is empowering the leader of Israel to lead and guide the people, and in this case it's Moses. After Moses, there's Joshua and then the judges. The author of Judges selects twelve judges whose story tell the same basic recurring cycle. First, Israel sins, second, God judges their sin by giving their enemies victory over them. They suffer at the hands of these cruel oppressors until finally they cry out to God for relief, and when they do, God sends them a judge who delivers them from their oppressors. When that judge dies, the cycle starts all over again, and we see that cycle repeat in each of the twelve judges. Let me read you one example. This is Judges three verses seven through eleven. And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. They forgot the Lord their God and served the Baals and the Ashtoth. Therefore the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of Kushan Rashiathim, King of Mesopotamia, and the people of Israel served Kushan Rashiathim eight years. When the people of Israel cried out to the Lord, the Lord raised up a deliverer for the people of Israel, who saved them, Othiel, the son of Kines, Caleb's younger brother. The spirit of the Lord was upon him, and he judged Israel. He went out to war, and the Lord gave Kushan Rashiathim, king of Mesopotamia into his hand, and his hand prevailed over Kushan Rashiathim. So the land had rest forty years, then Othniel, the son of Kines, died. So you see this cycle. The people did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, the anger of the Lord was kindled against them, and he sells them into the hand of the king of Mesopotamia. They serve him, then they cry out to the Lord, the Lord raises up Othniel, who delivers them, the land has rest, then Othniel dies, and then the cycle's going to repeat. We see this cycle a number of times in judges. The people abandon God, God judges them, they cry out for mercy, God raises up a warrior judge to deliver them, and then they have rest, and then that judge dies. But notice we saw in three ten it says the spirit of the Lord was upon him and he judged Israel. And that language is repeated with most all of the judges. So speaking of Gideon in six hundred thirty four, but the spirit of the Lord clothed Gideon and he sounded the trumpet. Then we see again in 1129, the spirit of the Lord was upon Jephthah, and he passed through Gilead and Manasseh. And in thirteen twenty five and the spirit of the Lord began to stir him, this is Samson. Sometimes it says the spirit of the Lord came mightily upon the judge or it rushed upon him, and it's often followed by some kind of military deliverance. We see this frequently with Samson. This is Judges fourteen six. Then the spirit of the Lord rushed upon Samson, and although he had nothing in his hand he tore the lion in pieces as one tears a young goat. In fourteen nineteen, and the spirit of the Lord rushed upon Samson, and he went down to Ashkelon and struck down thirty men of the town and took their spoil and gave the garments to those who had told the riddle. And then Judges fifteen fourteen, When Samson came to Lehi, the Philistines came shouting to meet him, then the spirit of the Lord rushed upon him, and the ropes that were on his arms became as flax that has caught fire and his bonds melted off his hands. So when the people get into the land, we see this cycle of rebellion, oppression, repentance, and deliverance repeat for approximately two hundred years. And each time the cycle repeats, the rebellion gets worse, the judge is less honorable, and the cycle is a downward spiral. The nation deteriorates. The judges become more self-centered and self-serving. Each cycle of sin and rebellion is more horrific than the one before. They keep turning to different judges to save them, they're delivered from the pagan nation, oppressing them in the moment, but then they turn away from God and find themselves oppressed again, and it's even worse. But during this time of the judges, we see the Spirit of the Lord working in the judge to deliver the people from their oppressors. The Spirit of the Lord gives the judge the necessary wisdom or the necessary power or the military might necessary to free the people from their enemies. And in each case, Scripture tells us it is the Spirit of the Lord coming upon this warrior judge that makes him fit to deliver the people from their oppressors. This is an individual work of the Spirit. The Spirit comes upon God's chosen deliverer to equip him to deliver the people. So what can we learn from Judges? Why do we have this picture of the Spirit of the Lord coming upon a warrior leader? I think it's because God is keeping his promise to Israel to establish them in the land. This is part of the covenant he made with Abraham. God said, If you turn to me and trust me, I will deliver you and give you peace and prosperity in the land. And when they repent and they call out to God, God raises up a judge through his spirit to deliver the people and free them from their oppressors. Now most of the nations of the world pray to their gods for blessing and protection, peace, prosperity, abundance, and God's relying on that mindset with the Israelites. He tells them if they embrace his moral law, if they follow him, he will protect them, and when the Lord makes a promise, he keeps it. So we see him conquering the enemies of Israel to keep his people safe and to keep his promises, and he does that through his spirit empowering and equipping a judge. But notice the second thing we can learn from judges, and that is in judges the Spirit of God is not portrayed as sanctifying the judge. In other words, we don't see the universal work of the Spirit giving the judge saving faith. In fact, each judge is worse than the one before. We see the Spirit miraculously empowered the judge to free the people from their oppressors, but we don't see the Spirit sanctifying the judge's heart or changing him to have faith. We had the most detail of the life of Samson, and he's not a particularly honorable character. Samson was not such a great guy, but the Philistines were the enemies of God and they were enemies of God's people, and God empowered Samson to defeat them in spite of Samson's many failings. In the book of Judges then we see the Spirit giving power to an individual to be a wise and mighty military leader so that that individual can free the people from their oppressors and their enemies. The nation has repented and God frees them from the consequences of their rebellion through this warrior judge, but we don't see any spiritual transformation in these judges. And finally, judges portrays the sorry state of affairs in both the people and its leaders as preparation for the kingship of David. The narrative of judges explicitly links the moral chaos of Israel during this period of the judges with the need for a king. Several times we see the refrain in those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes. By repeating this refrain in those days there was no king, the author of Judges invites his readers to reflect on what kind of leader Israel needs. While the judges are a temporary solution to their current oppression, the judges are not the permanent solution. They are a sign that God has not abandoned them. When they repent and turn back to the Lord, the Lord delivers them, but they aren't really solving the problem. The judges are not a permanent solution to either their physical well being in the land or their spiritual well being. They were a temporary, usually military deliverance after the people have repented of their rebellion, but the judges can't stop the cycle from starting all over again. Eventually then Israel cries out for a king, and as we see in 1 Samuel, God gives them a king, but God has a lesson to teach the nation about kingship too. Just like the judges, they learn that the king is not a permanent solution to their problem of this unending cycle of sin, judgment, and deliverance. They have to learn that they don't need a human king, they need a perfect covenant keeping king. While the nation will hit its high point under the united monarchy of David and Solomon, the cycle of sin and judgment will continue to show them that they really need a different kind of king. And David's kingship lays the foundation for and foreshadows the eternal kingship of the Messiah. So his kingship prepares the way for what will prove to be the real solution to their problem, the Messiah, a Savior, a king who will not turn away from God, a king who will die for their sins, paying the price once and for all, so that God's judgment is fully satisfied and who will fully deliver them completely from the tyranny of sin. Without a Savior who can replace our hearts of stone with a heart for God, we will remain prisoners of sin and we cannot escape this cycle of sin and rebellion. And that's a lesson we all have to learn. But let's look at the kingship. Saul was the first king of Israel. God blessed his rule, but Saul proved faithless, and the kingship was ultimately transferred to David. That is a great story that is told through the books of Samuel, but for now I just want to look at the involvement of the Spirit of God in the story of Saul and David. We are told that the Spirit of God came upon Saul when he was anointed king by the prophet Samuel. This is first Samuel chapter ten, verse one. Then Samuel took a flask of oil and poured it on. And Saul's head and kissed him and said, Has not the Lord anointed you to be prince over his people Israel? And you shall reign over the people of the Lord, and you will save them from the hand of their surrounding enemies, and this shall be the sign to you that the Lord has anointed you to be prince over his heritage. And then I'm going to skip the first sign and go down to verse five. After that you shall come to Gibbeth Elohim, where there is a garrison of the Philistines, and there as soon as you come into the city, you will meet a group of prophets coming down from the high place with harp, tambourine, flute, and lyre before them prophesying. Then the spirit of the Lord will rush upon you, and you will prophesy with them and be turned into another man. So here again we see this language of the Spirit of the Lord coming upon the leader of Israel to equip that leader to lead. And in this case we see the sign that he has been equipped, as Saul now prophesies. Later, when the people need a military victory, we read this this is in 1 Samuel 11, 5 and 6. Now behold, Saul was coming from the field behind the oxen, and Saul said, What is wrong with the people that they are weeping? So they told him the news of the men of Jabesh, and the Spirit of God rushed upon Saul when he heard these words, and his anger was greatly kindled. So again we see the Spirit of God comes upon him when he's needed to be king, to fulfill his role as warrior deliverer. The nation of Israel is still under a covenant relationship with God. God has committed himself to bringing them peace and prosperity if they remain faithful to him, and we see the Spirit of God at work in their king, in this case Saul, to bring that about. So what is it that equips Saul to be king? Well, just like the judges, the Spirit comes upon Saul to equip him to do what he needs to do as king. But the key statement I think that's going to help us figure out this picture is in 1 Samuel 16 13. Saul is still king, but the prophet Samuel anoints David as the next and new king. This is 1 Samuel 16, 13 and 14. Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed David in the midst of his brothers, and the spirit of the Lord rushed upon David from that day forward, and Samuel rose up and went to Rama. Now the spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and a harmful spirit from the Lord tormented him. Notice this language that we see used of David here is the strongest language we've seen so far. This is the first time we see the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon David from that day forward. Up to this point we've seen one time events. We've seen the Spirit coming upon the judges and coming upon Saul when he's needed and then leaving. So prior to David, the Spirit would empower a judge for the task of delivering the people, and when the deliverance was accomplished, it seems the Spirit left the judge until he was needed again. But that's not so with David. The Spirit comes upon him and stays with him from that day forward. Spirit of God continually does mighty things through David when he's king. Now you'll recall that later in his life David committed a horrible sin by taking another man's wife and having that man killed in battle. Eventually David repented and he wrote a beautiful psalm about that experience, it's Psalm fifty one, and in that psalm David writes, this is fifty one verses ten through twelve, create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit. Well, this psalm has always been a great source of comfort for us sinners. But 511 always puzzled me. Why does David pray, Take not your Holy Spirit from me? Are we believers in danger of losing the Holy Spirit every time we sin? If that's true, I'm on really shaky ground. But I think what David is talking about here is his experience as king with the Spirit of God empowering his kingship. To use the distinction I've been making, David is not talking about the universal work of the Spirit that gives him faith. David is talking about the individual work of the Spirit that equips him to be king. David as king has the Spirit of God working in him in a unique individual way, empowering him with the wisdom, the courage, the military might and understanding he needs to fulfill his role as king. We saw this language, the Spirit of God came on him from that day forward. I don't think that means that up until the moment when Samuel poured oil on David's head, the Spirit of God had no place in David's life. I expect the Spirit of God had been at work in David doing his universal work of faith for many years before that. What happened at David's anointing as king was the spirit began to prepare and equip him for the individual role he would play as king. So I think in Psalm 51, for God to remove the Holy Spirit from David is to remove that equipping for the kingship. And we saw that happen to Saul. David is asking that his punishment not include removing the kingship from him as the kingship was removed from Saul. So that distinction also helps with the puzzling question of whether or not Saul was a believer. If God removed his spirit from Saul, as he did when David was anointed, did he take away Saul's faith? Well the answer is no, not necessarily. I think what that verse is referring to is God removing from Saul the individual role of kingship that was empowered by the Spirit. Saul may or may not have had the universal work of saving faith. Now I've read arguments both ways from the evidence. Some people look at the scriptures and say clearly Saul was a believer, and other people look at the same scriptures and say clearly he wasn't. I go back and forth myself, but I like to think that he was. I think it's just really hard to tell from the evidence we have. But at least I would say that when God removes his spirit from Saul, he's removing the individual empowerment to be king, and he's not necessarily removing Saul's faith, assuming he had saving faith. So Saul lost the blessing to be king, that individual work of the spirit, but not necessarily the blessing of faith that God gives all believers, the universal work of the spirit. I think scripture is clear that having given us saving faith, God does not later take it away. So I don't think that David is worried about that in Psalm 51, and I don't think the verses in Samuel suggest that Saul's faith was taken from him. Rather, David is praying that God not punish his sin by removing the kingship from him and removing the Holy Spirit that enables him to be king. So what have we seen so far? We've seen the individual works of the Holy Spirit to empower the leaders of Israel to lead and bless the nation. From Moses through the judges to the kings, we see the Spirit of God coming upon the leader to give that leader whatever he needs to fulfill his role. So the Spirit gives him strength or wisdom or courage or military might, whatever he needs to fulfill his role as deliverer or king. Sometimes we see the spirit giving them raw physical power, as with Samson, sometimes it's military victory or wisdom in battle, as with Saul, and sometimes it's the overtly miraculous acts of partying the Red Sea, as we see with Moses. But clearly God is blessing the nation of Israel through giving the Holy Spirit to her leaders. That's one of the main themes we see in the Old Testament regarding the Spirit of God, is that God empowers Israel's leaders through his spirit in order to bless the people. So we've looked at judges and kings, and in the next podcast, we're going to continue in the Old Testament looking at prophets and priests. You've been listening to the Wednesday in the Word podcast. My mission is to explain not only what a passage means, but how we figure it out. Please subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcast. You can also find hundreds of past episodes on my website, so you can press for any topic of passage. Our theme music is graciously provided by Reggie Coates of Heartfeltmusic.org. I invite you to check out his other music. Thank you for joining me today. I'm Krisan Marotta, and I hope I'll see you again at Wednesday in the Word.