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Scripture Reading: Gen. 6:3; Psa. 51:10-12; Isa. 42:1; 61:1; Ezek. 36:27; 37:14; Zech. 4:6; 12:10
In this chapter we want to fellowship concerning the functions of the Spirit in the Old Testament. God carries out and accomplishes things as the Spirit. The Spirit of God is actually the Spirit as God. The Spirit of Jehovah is the Spirit as Jehovah. The Spirit is God in action. When God does something, He does it as the Spirit.
The first function of the Spirit as revealed in the Old Testament is the function of life-producing by brooding (Gen. 1:2). The record of Genesis 1 concerning God’s creation is a record of the producing of life. God created the heavens and the earth, and the earth became waste and emptiness. Then the Spirit of God came to brood over the death waters with the intention of producing life. As a result of the brooding of the Spirit, life was produced. First, the plant life was produced (vv. 11-12). The plant life is for beautifying the earth, but it is also for food. Genesis 2 tells us that the trees are good for food (v. 9). The plant life is food for the animal life. After the plant life was produced, the animal life was created. This animal life includes the birds, the aquatic animals, the cattle, and the creeping things (1:20-25). The animal life is for the human life. Eventually, the human life is for the divine life, the highest life. The record of God’s creation is actually a record of life-producing by the brooding of the Spirit. The brooding of the Spirit as God produced life for the fulfillment of God’s purpose.
Today in the new creation the Spirit is also brooding for the producing of life. God created man, but man, like the earth, eventually became “waste and emptiness.” Then the Spirit of God comes to brood over man. This brooding function of the Spirit of God always goes along with the preaching of the gospel. When we preach the gospel, the Spirit is brooding to produce life in the unbelievers.
The Spirit also functioned to strive with or rule in fallen man (6:3). Man fell by the time of Genesis 3, and he continued to fall. Therefore, there was a struggle between the Spirit and fallen man. Because the fallen man was still falling, the Spirit was striving with him. God’s Spirit was striving against man’s rebellion. The Hebrew word for striving here could also be translated “ruling in.” God’s striving with man implies His ruling in man. In Genesis 6 a point was reached when the Spirit of God would strive with man no longer. Eventually, man became so corrupted that God had to judge the earth with a flood. The judgment of the flood came in because of the unbridled corruption of man.
Although the situation with man had reached a point where the Spirit of God would no longer strive with him, God would never give up man. Therefore, God came to man to call him, to redeem him, and to rescue him from his fallen situation. After God brought the children of Israel into the wilderness, the Spirit, who was brooding over and striving with man, became the filling Spirit. God filled man with the Spirit of God in wisdom, understanding, knowledge, and skill (Exo. 31:3; 35:31; Deut. 34:9). The Spirit filling man “in” these items means that the Spirit is these items. The filling Spirit that fills us is the Spirit as wisdom, knowledge, understanding, and skill. In the Old Testament the people who were filled with the Spirit as wisdom, understanding, knowledge, and skill were the builders of the tabernacle. (For more fellowship concerning this, see Life-study of Exodus, Message 170.)
Another function of the Spirit is for prophesying (Num. 11:25, 29; 24:2-4; 1 Sam. 10:6, 10; 19:20, 23; 2 Sam. 23:2; 2 Chron. 15:1; 20:14; 24:20; Ezek. 11:4-5; Zech. 7:12). Today the most needful thing among us is prophesying. The practice of prophesying is exalted by Paul in 1 Corinthians 14. He indicates that prophesying is the excelling gift for the building up of the Body of Christ (vv. 4b, 12). All the verses we have listed above related to prophesying show that it is the most needful function of the Spirit as God in the Old Testament. Even in the Old Testament, prophesying is the most needful function. To prophesy is to speak God, to speak for God, and to speak forth God. We have to learn how to speak God, to speak for God, and to speak forth God.
The brooding Spirit, the striving Spirit, the filling Spirit, and the prophesying Spirit are also the warring Spirit (Judg. 3:10; 6:34; 11:29; 13:25; 14:6, 19; 15:14). The warring Spirit is the Spirit who fights against God’s enemy.
In the Old Testament the anointing of the Spirit is mainly for power (1 Sam. 16:13). But in the New Testament the anointing is for us to enjoy all the riches of God. Power is one of the many attributes of God. In the New Testament the anointing brings us all of God’s attributes. In a previous chapter we saw the Spirit typified by the compound ointment in Exodus 30. The Spirit as the compound ointment anoints us with all the elements of the consummated Triune God.
First Kings 18:12 and 2 Kings 2:16 both show the function of the Spirit in carrying man. In 1 Kings 18:12 Obadiah, fearing that Elijah would be carried away by the Spirit of the Lord, said, “It will happen that when I go away from you, the Spirit of Jehovah will carry you off, I know not where.” Second Kings 2:16 also refers to Elijah being carried away by the Spirit as God.
First Chronicles 12:18 reveals the Spirit as clothing—“Then the Spirit clothed Amasai” (lit.). The Spirit as clothing is also revealed in Luke 24:49, where the Lord said, “Stay in the city until you put on power from on high.” The clothing of the Spirit upon man is man’s uniform, not only for power but also for authority. Policemen wear a uniform, and their uniform gives them the authority. People will obey the orders of someone clothed in a police uniform. If the policeman did not have a uniform, however, who would listen to him? His uniform gives him the authority. When a uniformed policeman tells a person to stop his car, that person will stop. When the disciples put on power from on high, they put on the strongest and highest uniform. They were powerful and full of authority.
The Spirit also has the function of man-creating and life-giving (Job 33:4; Psa. 104:30; Mal. 2:15). Job 33:4 says, “The Spirit of God has made me, / And the breath of the Almighty has enlivened me.” This verse refers us to Genesis 2:7, which says, “Jehovah God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul.” God formed man’s body of the dust of the ground. The body of man is not the man himself. When a person dies, we say that he is gone even though his body is still with us. This indicates that a man’s body is not the man himself. After the formation of man’s body, God breathed the breath of life into man. That breathing was the creating of man. When the breath of life was breathed into man’s nostrils, man became a living soul. When the Bible speaks of man, it refers to man as a “soul.” Exodus 1:5 says, “All the souls who came forth from the loins of Jacob were seventy souls” (lit.). Souls in this verse is synonymous with persons. Man is a living soul. The breathing of the breath of life into man’s body was the creating of man, the making of man. This creating goes together with life-giving. The Spirit is a man-creating and life-giving Spirit.
The Spirit also teaches man to do the will of God (Psa. 143:10). Many people are working for themselves, not for God’s will. The ones who are under the teaching of the Spirit as God are being taught to do the will of God.
The Spirit functions to give man a steadfast spirit and a willing spirit (51:10-12). Psalm 51 is David’s prayer after he fell, repented, and came back to God. He prayed that the Lord would give him a steadfast spirit and a willing spirit. Much of the time during the day our spirit may not be steadfast. If someone accidentally spills something at the dining table where we are eating, do we have a steadfast spirit? We may have a spirit that condemns the person for being careless. This means that our spirit is not steadfast. Sometimes our spirit may be steadfast but not so willing. We may have a spirit that is steadfast for going out to preach the gospel, yet we may not have the morale. This simply means that we do not have a willing spirit. When our spirit is willing, we have the morale. We must confess that we do not have anything in or of ourselves to have a steadfast spirit or a willing spirit. Therefore, we must pray, “Lord, give me a steadfast spirit and a willing spirit.” Only the Spirit as God can make our human spirit steadfast and willing.
The Spirit gives man wisdom and understanding, counsel and might, the knowledge and fear of Jehovah (Isa. 11:2). The one Spirit has these six attributes. Only the Spirit as God can give us these wonderful attributes.
In the Old Testament the Spirit also functioned to be outpoured upon man (32:15; 44:3; Ezek. 39:29; Joel 2:28-29; Zech. 12:10). The Spirit is the outpouring Spirit. Joel 2:28-29 prophesied that the Lord would pour out His Spirit upon all flesh. This pouring out of the Spirit was fulfilled as the early rain on the day of Pentecost and will be fulfilled as the late rain in Zechariah 12:10 when the Jews will repent at the Lord’s coming back (Joel 2:23). Isaiah 32:15 says, “Until the Spirit is poured upon us from on high, / And the wilderness becomes a fruitful field, / And the fruitful field is considered to be a forest.” This verse says that the outpouring of the Spirit makes the wilderness fruitful. Thus, the outpouring of the Spirit is for the producing of life.
The Spirit functions to gather people. Isaiah 34:16 says, “Seek from the book of Jehovah and read. / Not one of these will be missing; / Not one will lack her mate; / For His mouth has commanded it, / And it is His Spirit who has gathered them.” It is not so easy for us to be gathered. But the Spirit as God is the gathering Spirit. He gathers man. Without the urging of the Spirit within us, we would not come to the meetings of the church. If we do not follow this urging fully, we may come to the meetings, but we will not come on time. We need the gathering Spirit.
The Spirit is also the sending Spirit. Isaiah 48:16 says, “Draw near to Me and listen to this: / From the beginning I have not spoken in secret; / From the time it took place, I was there. / And now the Lord Jehovah / Has sent me and His Spirit.” Now we need to ask who “Me” is in this verse. Actually, when we trace the antecedent of Me in this verse back to verse 1, we can see that the sender is the sent one. This is similar to Zechariah 2:8-11, which reveals that the Lord of hosts sent the Lord of hosts.
The Spirit anoints man for the preaching of the gospel (Isa. 61:1; 42:1). Isaiah 42:1 says the Lord will come as the servant of Jehovah, and the Spirit of Jehovah will be upon Him. Isaiah 61:1 tells us that the Spirit of Jehovah who is upon the servant of Jehovah is the anointing oil. This verse says, “The Spirit of the Lord Jehovah is upon Me, / Because Jehovah has anointed Me / To bring good news to the afflicted; / He has sent Me to bind up the wounds of the brokenhearted, / To proclaim liberty to the captives, / And the opening of the eyes to those who are bound.” This verse was fulfilled when Jehovah anointed the Lord Jesus with His Spirit (Luke 4:18-19).
Isaiah 63:10 and 14 unveil that the Spirit who works in so many ways is also the grieving Spirit and the rest-giving Spirit. When we grieve Him, He grieves for us. He is the One who also gives us rest. The grieving One is the rest-giving One. We may grieve the Spirit, and the Spirit grieves for us. Then we do not have rest. Eventually, once we confess our failure to the Lord and repent, the grieving Spirit becomes the rest-giving Spirit.
The book of Ezekiel strongly reveals that the Spirit is moving in God’s move (1:12, 20; 2:2; 3:12, 14, 24; 8:3; 11:1, 24; 37:1; 43:5). In Ezekiel 1 there is a vision of the four living creatures with the four wheels. This means that God is moving among His creatures. Ezekiel 1:12 says, “Each went straight forward; wherever the Spirit was to go, they went; they did not turn as they went.” Verse 20 says, “Wherever the Spirit was to go, they went—wherever the Spirit was to go. And the wheels were lifted up alongside them, for the Spirit of the living creature was in the wheels.” Ezekiel 1 gives us a vision of how God is moving on this earth. In this move of God, the Spirit moves. For more fellowship concerning this, I would encourage you to read the book entitled The Visions of Ezekiel.
When we go out to visit people for the preaching of the gospel, we have to realize that the Spirit motivated and moved us to do this. The Spirit moves us, and then we move. In our going is the moving Spirit. The Spirit is moving in our move. When we knock on doors for the preaching of the gospel, the Spirit is there. Within our move to preach the gospel, there is an inner move. The outer move is ours, and the inner move is the Spirit’s.
The Spirit causes man to keep God’s statutes and ordinances (36:27). The law has only ten commandments. Besides these ten commandments, Exodus gives us a lot of subordinate items. Statutes and ordinances are subordinate items of the law. Statutes tell us not to do certain things. Ordinances are statutes that are given with a judgment or punishment if we disobey them. Exodus 20 gives us the law, and chapters 21 through 23 give us the supplementary items of the law, the statutes and ordinances. We have no power to keep God’s statutes and ordinances. The Spirit gives us the strength and causes us to keep them.
Ezekiel 37:14 reveals that the Spirit enlivens the dead. The Spirit comes to enliven all the dead bones, so the Spirit is the enlivening Spirit.
The Spirit gives people power, justice, and might. Micah 3:8 says, “As for me, I am full / Of power, with the Spirit of Jehovah, and of justice and might, / To declare to Jacob his transgression / And to Israel his sin.” Zechariah 4:6 says, “Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit, says Jehovah of hosts.” It is not by might nor by power but by the Spirit of Jehovah that we can perform something for Him.
The Spirit of God also has the function of enduring, or abiding, among God’s people (Hag. 2:5). He endures with us. We should not think that His enduring with us does not require strength. Could we stay with someone moment by moment all the time? This would be exhausting. We need to be alone. We need some privacy. But the enduring Spirit always endures with His people. Enduring is an ability and a function. The enduring Spirit never leaves us.
Zechariah 12:10 shows that the Spirit is the grace-giving and supplicating Spirit. At the time of the Lord’s coming back, the Spirit will be grace to the repenting Israel so that they will be able to supplicate, to pray, to petition God by the Spirit. That outpouring of the Spirit talked about in Zechariah 12:10 will be the Spirit as the late rain.
Thank the Lord for the functions of the Spirit in the Old Testament. In His gracious action, God acts as the Spirit.
