JU3-9: How The Holy Spirit Connects Us From The Physical Plane To The Spiritual World

“The spirit of Adonai came upon him, and he judged Israel. Then he went out to war, and Adonai gave Kushan-Rish‘atayim king of Edom into his hands; his power prevailed against Kushan-Rish‘atayim.”-Judges 3:10

Today and over the next couple of posts, I wanna talk about the Holy Spirit.

We’re told the spirit of Adonai came upon Othniel and that this gave him supernatural power to judge Israel.

Don’t forget that “to judge” here means to save or rescue Israel from her oppressors.

Now there’s a lot of controversy about the Holy Spirit.

Some folks assert the way the Holy Spirit manifested in “Old” Testament times is different than how He manifested in New Testament times.

In other words, some people claim the Holy Spirit only came UPON men before the coming of Yeshua.

But with the advent of Yeshua, we’re told the Holy Spirit finally began dwelling INSIDE of men.

And that this first happened during Shavuot in that upper room (the gentiles call this event Pentecost) when the Holy Spirit descended in great power upon a gathering of Jews from many different nations who suddenly began speaking in other tongues.

However, if this was really the first time the Holy Spirit began dwelling inside of men, how do you explain verses like this in the “Old” Testament?

“And you, speak to all the craftsmen, whom I have filled with a spirit of wisdom, and they shall make the garments of Aharon, to set him apart, for him to serve as priest to Me.-Exodus 28:3

“And Yehoshua son of Nun was filled with the spirit of wisdom, for Mosheh had laid his hands on him. And the children of Yisra’ĕl listened to him, and did as יהוה had commanded Mosheh.”-Deuteronomy 34:9

“There is a man in your reign in whom is the Spirit of the Set-apart Elah. And in the days of your father, light and understanding and wisdom, like the wisdom of the elahin, were found in him. And Sovereign Neḇuḵaḏnetstsar your father, your father the sovereign, made him chief of the magicians, astrologers, Chaldeans, and diviners.”-Dan 5:11

“I have heard of you, that the Spirit of Elah is in you, and that light and understanding and excellent wisdom are found in you.”-Dan 5:14

“And the Spirit of יהוה turned aside from Sha’ul, and an evil spirit from יהוה troubled him.”-1 Samuel 16:14

“Do not cast me away from Your presence, And do not take Your Set-apart Spirit from me.”-Psalms 51:11

“The Spirit of יהוה has spoken through me, And His word is on my tongue.”-2 Samuel 23:2

Well, before we get into the argument of whether Holy Spirit only dwelled upon men in OT times as opposed to dwelling inside of men in NT times, let’s go over some fundamentals.

What exactly is the Holy Spirit of God?

In a nutshell, the Holy Spirit is the life essence or life force of God Himself.

It sparks life into all of the nature we see around us such as the trees and flowers.

And it is the life force inside of us human beings as well.

I like to think of the Holy Spirit as a kind of bridge that connects us from this physical plane we currently inhabit to the spiritual realm where our souls will eventually reside for all eternity.

First, the Spirit of God initiates life in humans via pregnancy and child birth.

And then enables a select group to enter the kingdom of God by being born again.

We’re looking at a sort of generation and re-generation process here.

We’ll continue this discussion the next time we meet.

CONNECTING THIS TEACHING TO THE NEW TESTAMENT