“Adonai said to Moshe, “Bring me seventy of the leaders of Israel, people you recognize as leaders of the people and officers of theirs. Bring them to the tent of meeting, and have them stand there with you. I will come down and speak with you there, and I will take some of the Spirit which rests on you and put it on them. Then they will carry the burden of the people along with you, so that you won’t carry it yourself alone.“-Numbers 11:16-17
Concerning how the RUACH HA-KODESH (Holy Spirit) works, I don’t think we could find a clearer word-picture than what is presented to us right here in Numbers 11.
It is in this section of the Torah where the divine pattern is established, the divine pattern we will see repeat itself hundreds of years later in the New Testament.
Notice that it is through Moses, God’s appointed and anointed mediator, from whom the Spirit will be drawn.
Wasn’t this the exact same thing that occurred in the Book of Acts?
In the Book of Acts, it was through Messiah Yeshua, again God’s appointed and anointed mediator, that all of the Jews in the Upper Room who had travelled from afar to observe Shavuot were baptized in the Holy Spirit.
Let’s take a look at another pattern that applies to us believers today.
Notice how the 70 elders were anointed by the Holy Spirit so that they would share the burden of God’s work with Moses.
Now isn’t that the same with us Spirit-filled believers today?
Have we not been given the Holy Spirit to share the burden that Messiah bore while he walked the planet?
Have we not also been called to feed the flock, take HASHEM’s message to the nations and make new disciples?
In other words, just as the 70 elders were given the Spirit to share Moses’ burden, are we not to share the burden of Messiah to care and grow the body and be bold witnesses for him?
Isn’t that what “to take up one’s cross and follow him” means?
Finally, there is one other significant point I would be remiss if I didn’t point out.
Notice that before receiving the Holy Spirit transplant, the 70 elders had to be brought BEFORE ADONAI in front of the Wilderness Tabernacle.
This was important because it had to be demonstrated that it was NOT by Moses’ power that this miraculous Holy Spirit transplant was taking place.
Now isn’t the exact same principle reflected in what Messiah said and did?
Yeshua gave them this answer: “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.”-John 5:19
Yeshua therefore said, ‘When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he, and I do nothing on my own initiative, but I speak these things as the Father taught Me”-John 8:28
“I can’t do a thing on my own. As I hear, I judge; and my judgment is right; because I don’t seek my own desire, but the desire of the one who sent me.”-John 5:30
“Father, if you are willing, take this cup away from me; still, let not my will but yours be done.”-Luke 22:42
The pattern established is as crystal clear as can be.
The men who God anoints and appoints are subject to Him.
And when God’s anointed and appointed fully surrender themselves to ADONAI, they become ONE with Him.
CONNECTING THIS TEACHING TO THE NEW TESTAMENT
“I do not pray for these alone,
but also for those who will believe
in Me through their word;
that they all may be one,
as You, Father, are in Me,
and I in You;
that they also may be one in Us,
that the world may believe that You sent Me.
And the glory which You gave Me
I have given them,
that they may be one just as We are one:
I in them, and You in Me;
that they may be made perfect in one,
and that the world may know that
You have sent Me, and have loved them
as You have loved Me.”
-John 17:20-23
“Yeshua said to him,
‘Have I been with you so long,
and yet you have not known Me, Philip?
He who has seen Me has seen the Father;
so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?
Do you not believe that I am in the Father,
and the Father in Me?
The words that I speak to you
I do not speak on My own authority;
but the Father who dwells in Me does the works.
Believe Me that I am in the Father
and the Father in Me,
or else believe Me for
the sake of the works themselves.'”
-John 14:9-11
“Most assuredly, I say to you,
he who believes in me,
the works that I do he will do also;
and greater works than these he will do,
because I go to My Father.”
-John 14:12
Leave a Reply