Come, Holy Spirit

 

Though you lie down among the sheepfolds, you will be like the wings of a dove covered with silver, and her feathers with yellow gold.  --Psalm 68:13 NKJV

There is a meme on Facebook that has been around my feed for the past several months (or years, maybe, as my feed is not always on the cutting edge).  In various forms, it reads, "QUESTION: Do you need the Holy Spirit to go to heaven?  ANSWER: Man, you need the Holy Spirit to go to Walmart!"  The answer is intended to turn the question on its head.  Not only do you need the Holy Spirit to indwell your heart and life to assure a place in heaven forever, but you also need the Holy Spirit to consume your soul and body in the more mundane, everyday activities like shopping for groceries or replacing a light bulb.

One should not get their theology from memes or T-shirt slogans.  Last week I wrote about some who go to church expecting excitement and heart-racing thrills, like one who "rides the rapids" in a raft.  They enjoy the wind in their hair as they get bounced over rocks in the river by water that flows extremely fast but is only a few inches deep.  Experiences like this do not help them face the hard parts of life, the rocks in their path in the day-to-day life.  That's why we want to slow down and enjoy the Scripture as we would enjoy bread--one bite at a time, and chewed slowly and carefully.

In the introduction to our study of Mark last week we were introduced to John the Baptist, who preached a baptism of repentance.  His presence was a fulfillment of prophecy as "the voice of one crying in the wilderness, 'Prepare the way of the Lord.'" (Isaiah 40:3).  Part of John's message was that the large crowds who came to hear him preach should watch for another, One greater that John, who would be coming soon.  "I have baptized you with water, but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit." (Mark 1:8).  I want to move on from there.

In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan.  And when He came up out of the water, immediately He saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove.  And a voice came from heaven, "You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased."  --Mark 1:9-11

I don't know why Jesus started His ministry by being baptized--He certainly didn't need to repent, and John's baptism was one of repentance in anticipation of Jesus and His message.  That's a discussion for another day, but if you want to go down that road, then bookmark this lesson and go to Matthew 3:13-17.  The point that Mark was making was the activity of the Holy Spirit in conjunction with the beginning of the ministry of Jesus.

The Holy Spirit confirms

God the Father spoke audibly, saying "This is my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased."  The Spirit was present in the image of a winged creature descending from heaven and alighting gently on Jesus, the Son.  Very few times in Scripture is the Trinity mentioned in such close proximity.  If you look hard, you can see it in Genesis in the creation story, when God said, "Let us make man in our image."  The word used for God in that passage is the plural proper noun Elohim.  God was present in three Persons at the creation of the first Adam, and God was present in three persons in the confirmation of the second Adam.

Many Christian denominations take children of a certain age and make them go through a number of classes.  When they are able to recite the Apostle's Creed and take their first Communion, then they are said to be confirmed into the Church.  This is their "confirmation."  In Mark 1:10, the Holy Spirit confirmed that Jesus came from God. This was His confirmation.  

I like the image at the top of this post, when the photographer captured streaks of light in the shape of a bird.  In Acts 2, the image of the Holy Spirit descended upon the disciples as flames or "tongues of fire."  There are similarities in the image, especially if the source is light.  The significance of the dove is interesting.  A humble creature, a dove was used as a sacrifice in the Jewish sacrificial system for a poor person, one who couldn't afford a lamb.  Jesus was the Lamb of God who came as a sacrifice for all, rich and poor.  He came humbly into the world, born in poverty being laid in a manger.  He was a "Man of sorrow, acquainted with grief."  However, God worked His redemptive plan through the sacrifice of His Son, and the next time He comes it will be as a victorious conqueror.

Let God arise, let His enemies be scattered; let those who also hate Him flee before Him.  As smoke is driven away, so drive them away; as wax melts before the fire, so let the wicked perish at the presence of God.  But let the righteous be glad; let them rejoice before God; yes, let them rejoice exceedingly.  Sing to God, sing praises to His name; extol Him who rides on the clouds, by His name YAH, and rejoice before Him.  A father of the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in His holy habitation.  God sets the solitary in families; He brings out those who are bound into prosperity; but the rebellious dwell in a dry land.  O God, when You went out before Your people, when You marched through the wilderness....The Lord gave the word; great was the company of those who proclaimed it: "Kings of armies flee, they flee, and she who remains at home divides the spoil.  Though you lie down among the sheepfolds, You will be like the wings of a dove covered with silver, and her feathers with yellow gold."  --Psalm 68:1-7, 11-13 NKJV

This was what the Holy Spirit confirmed: That Jesus is He who rides on the clouds, a father to the fatherless, a defender of widows.  He is the Word made flesh (John 1:1-14).  He was humbly laid in a manger in a sheepfold.  Yet here, at the shore of the Jordan river, the Holy Spirit descended like a dove upon Him.

The Holy Spirit compels 

Reading further in the text, we see that after His baptism, "The Spirit immediately drove Him out into the wilderness.  And He was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan." (Mark 1:12-13a).  Jesus was compelled by the Spirit to spend time alone, fasting and praying for 40 days.  God had been preparing Jesus for His work on earth for 30 years.  From His birth in Bethlehem to His emigration to Egypt to His return to Nazareth in the region of Galilee, God's hand was guiding His steps.  From the dedication in the Temple at Jerusalem throughout His growth "in wisdom and in stature, and in favor with God and Man" (Luke 2:52), God was preparing His Son for the physical walking and mental jousting with the Pharisees who followed Him from town to town.

I've never been in the military, but I'm told that if a soldier wants to be a Green Beret or a sailor wants to be a Navy Seal, they must not only go through Basic Training and serve for a time, but then they must also go through an intense period of additional training to hone their warfare skills.  I like to think this is what Jesus went through during the 40 days of fasting and praying, with Satan attacking Him daily with taunts and tirades and temptations.

People today have this idea that the work of the Holy Spirit is to bring them health and wealth and happiness.  They don't realize that the Spirit of God compelled Jesus to go to the wilderness to be tempted. It doesn't occur to them that the Holy Spirit compelled Jesus to fashion a whip out of cords and use it to drive the money-changers and merchants out of the Temple.  They never seem to preach that the Holy Spirit compelled Jesus to go to the Cross to die a horrible death.  In the same way, they don't realize that Christ-like men throughout history have been compelled by the Spirit to preach the Gospel of Jesus to hostile peoples, often at the cost of their lives.  Television preachers don't tell their viewers that the Holy Spirit compels people to take up their cross, crucify their fleshly desires, and to follow Jesus wherever He leads them.

2 Corinthians 3:17 says, "Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom."  In context, this does not speak of freedom from want or freedom from pain and sickness or even freedom from oppression and slavery.  What it means is that the Spirit of God frees us from the veil that lay over our hearts when we were dead in our sin and despair.  We are freed by the Holy Spirit to do what He compels us to do.

The Holy Spirit comforts

The last verse I want us to look at today is Mark 1:13: "And He was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan.  And He was with the wild animals, and the angels were ministering to Him."  Amid all the attacks of Satan, the Holy Spirit was with Him, helping Him to endure.  In Luke's account of the temptation of Jesus in Luke chapter 4, once it was all over and "the devil had ended every temptation" and departed from Jesus "until an opportune time" (Luke 4:13), it then says "And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee." (Luke 4:14a).

In Mark, and in the corresponding passage in Matthew, it says angels ministered to Jesus. Something you might not know about angels: they never do anything of their own accord.  The word "angel" means "messenger".  They only do God's bidding.  When the Holy Spirit came upon Mary so that she was with child, an angel was sent to inform her.  So when it says that angels ministered to Jesus, it is only because the Holy Spirit sent them to comfort Him.

Lamentations 1:16 says, "For these things I weep; my eyes flow with tears; for a Comforter is far from me, one to revive my spirit; my children are desolate, for the enemy has prevailed."  This was our life before Jesus.  Now that we know Jesus, He has promised to provide help and comfort for us.  "And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you forever." (John 14:16 KJV).

Jesus said, "But when the Helper (Comforter, Advocate, Intercessor--Counselor, Strengthener, Standby) comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of Truth who comes from the Father, He will testify and bear witness about me." (John 15:26, AMP).  Come, Holy Spirit!  Come.