Know the Holy Spirit: Put it all together

On Wednesdays we “walk in the Word” through study & application of Biblical doctrine. Rightly understanding Biblical doctrine fuels doxology, delight in Jesus, & gospel centered discipleship. Today is our last post in this short survey of the Doctrine of the Holy Spirit (Pneumatology). Previous posts are included at the end of the meditation.

                         Power vs Person
Simon the magician wowed the people of Samaria with magic, but he wanted more power. When Simon saw the apostolic miracles of Phillip, Peter, and John, he offered them money for Holy Spirit power. Peter rebuked Simon, condemning the magician for his transactional approach to relationship with God (read Acts 8:9-24).
 
Christians today are often more like Simon than we want to admit, approaching God transactionally for “our best life now.” Satan has deceived disciples into believing the Holy Spirit is a conduit of His power through whom we accomplish our purposes. Popular pastors teach God’s people to seek a “personal Pentecost” for filling with the Spirit so many Christians go to God begging to be filled with the Spirit as if our faith is like a phone that needs charging and God is the outlet. Satan wants us to believe that if we receive regular outpourings of the Spirit then we will be prosperous, powerful, prominent, or productive. But until then, we are not profitable for the kingdom.
 
The sad truth is that a transactional approach to relationship with God marginalizes many disciples from kingdom service by promoting a self-focused, self-serving, experience driven faith. Simon’s misunderstanding of knowing the Holy Spirit was condemned as “wicked” and he was commanded to repent. Christians today must repent of our transactional approach to knowing God’s Spirit. The Holy Spirit is personal, wanting you to know Him. The Holy Spirit is God, calling you to glorify Him (and through the Spirit to glorify Jesus). Your “best life now” is not discovered in a transactional relationship with God but a transforming understanding of who God is so you can glorify Him and enjoy Him, forever.

To know God, to Glorify God, and to enjoy God- forever
The first place in Scripture where someone is “filled with the Spirit of God” is not Pentecost. Pentecost was a one-time redemptive historical event like Christ’s death on the cross. The people were in Jerusalem for the feast prescribed in Leviticus 23:15-21 when fire fell from Heaven. During Pentecost, Babel was reversed (Genesis 11), the promised Spirit of the New Covenant came upon believers, (Ezekiel 36:26; Jeremiah 31:33; Joel 2:28-32), and the “last days” (17; Joel 2:28) were beginning. The life, death, resurrection, and ascension of King Jesus was the outworking of the Father’s covenant plan that ushered in an intimate invitation of participation with God’s Spirit for all who received God’s word (Acts 2:41).
 
The first place in Scripture where God’s Spirit is said to fill God’s people is in Exodus 31.  Below is a 30,000-foot perspective highlighting the Biblical invitation to know the Holy Spirit.
 
Exodus 31:1-7 The Lord said to Moses, 2 “See, I have called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, 3 and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with ability and intelligence, with knowledge and all craftsmanship, 4 to devise artistic designs, to work in gold, silver, and bronze, 5 in cutting stones for setting, and in carving wood, to work in every craft. 6 And behold, I have appointed with him Oholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan. And I have given to all able men ability, that they may make all that I have commanded you: 7 the tent of meeting, and the ark of the testimony, and the mercy seat that is on it…
 
Bezalel was an ordinary man with ordinary skills, but he was filled with the Spirit of God for extra-ordinary work. Specifically, he and his fellow craftsman were called to construct the tent of meeting, the ark of the covenant, and other prescribed things so God could dwell with His people . This historical moment introduces us to knowing the Holy Spirit in (at least) four distinct ways:

1. The Spirit’s story is bigger than expectations. Beyond Pentecost or personal power, the story of God’s Spirit is eternal. Scripture reveals the Spirit of God existing before creation (Hebrews 9:14), working in creation Genesis 1:2, and continuing to work after the consummation (Revelation 22:17). We should endeavor to know the Holy Spirit as He has revealed Himself, as an end in itself, to know God and enjoy Him.
2. The Spirit’s work is covenantal. The priority of God’s presence is a primary covenant promise. God’s desire to possess a people to be present with was first purposed in the covenant of redemption and finally accomplished through the covenant of grace. God's covenantal purpose of dwelling with His people is proclaimed at the culmination of history: ““Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.” (Revelation 21:3) In our lives, the Spirit of God applies the work of Jesus to believers as “the promised Spirit” (Galatians 3:14) who seals covenant relationship with God. By the Spirit of God believers become children of God who celebrate the intimate presence of God through crying out, “Abba, Father!”
3. The Spirit uses God’s gifts in God’s people for God’s purposes. God desired to use Bezalel and his fellow craftsman to accomplish what was needed for His presence to dwell with His redeemed people. Likewise, Christians respond to Christ's redemption through Spirit empowered discovery, development, and deployment of the gifts God has given so that His glorious presence may be known in and through the church.
4. God’s Spirit sets apart God’s people. The Israelites were unique among the nations in having God dwell with them. Likewise, Christians are holy, sanctified, set apart as a people with whom the Lord of the universe is pleased to dwell. There are no other people in the world for which this is the case! As the temple of God's Spirit, Christians must respond to this reality with joyful obedience. Personal and corporate revival should be expected and anticipated when we walk by the Spirit.

 
The rest of Exodus 31 is saturated with covenant realities pointing us to Jesus and His work. Specifically, we read of God’s promised presence in the tabernacle, the covenant sign of Sabbath prescribed, and the covenant obligations are revealed in the stone tablets given to Moses. Jesus Christ is our faithful covenant representative who fulfilled all covenant obligations perfectly, offers believers true rest through His finished work, and is the fullness of God’s presence with God’s people. Through faith in Jesus, believers are filled with the Holy Spirit that we may know Him, enjoy Him, and glorify Him forever.  
 
Other posts in this series go deeper into the four specific points above. They include:
 
Know the Holy Spirit (1)
​Know the Holy Spirit’s Story (2)
Know the Holy Spirit: Covenant (3)
Know the Holy Spirit: Union with Christ (4)
Spiritual Gifts-Why I am an (open) cessationist (5)
Know the Holy Spirit: Help for Spiritual Growth (with Greg Perry- 6)
Know the Holy Spirit: Sanctification (7)
Know the Holy Spirit: Revival (8)