0:38
some discussion of the the topic that we've been look looking at this uh semester I guess we call it call it um with some questions um meant to lead
0:50
us into our thinking of the distinction between what we see in the Old Testament and and the New Testament about the Holy
1:02
Spirit uh several of the authors that I looked at looked at have basically these three questions I'm um I think using a paraphrase from
1:16
Warfield um when he asked these questions but other as I said other authors basically asked these three questions as we uh come to um kind of summarize um
1:30
the work of the spirit in the Old Testament but
1:42
this the final word or the total distinction of the spirit in the Old Testament and we just move smoothly into the New Testament or is there more to be said I think you know
1:54
the answer to that question but it's worth asking these questions about it essentially as Warfield States it or asks it how far does the Old Testament
2:04
conceive of the distinction of the persons in the trinity in other words may may the Christian properly see in the spirit of
2:14
God in the Old Testament the personal Holy Spirit in the New the New Testament and I I think the answer to that question is yes qualified yes I
2:27
think this the spirit is spok of as we've talked about over the weeks uh of resting upon men or coming upon men um
2:38
we we had the words in some of the passages he falls upon men or or Springs upon men that's that's a thing that you
2:49
see a a physical kind physical kind of way of looking at the Spirit as as a as a person this the things that people
3:01
do and he engages with people in a rational relationship we we see in passages where he speaks to to men they
3:12
hear a voice they they are they are LED there's there's this idea of um he's he's dealing with real people the the
3:24
people of God in in a a relationship of of some kind um so I I I think we can say again
3:34
qualify that yeah there there is the person there um again as as I've said many times that there are those and still in our day who who do not see the
3:46
spirit as a person at all Old Testament or new testament but when I look at it when I see these kinds of words that The Testament uses um I lean that direction
4:01
obviously ly the second question is are there any hints in the Old Testament anticipating or foreshadowing the revelation of what's called and this is
4:11
the 25 cent word hypostatic Spirit of the New Testament and that that word hypostatic means do we see an individual do do we see the complete um substance
4:25
existing entirely in himself in other words if when we speak of the Trinity we we do we uh we see the Father the Son
4:36
and the spirit but are they in the Old Testament seen as three distinct persons is it even faintly indicated or
4:49
symbolized somehow that the spirit is a separate person from the father son and
5:02
the question of is his activity like the father and the son is it Divine it Divine activity is it personal and I I think
5:13
again the answer to that is is yes I think we see in the Old Testament in creation obviously it's divine activity he's part of of what God is doing in
5:25
creating the world in in The Exodus leading people leading people uh the people of God out of bondage th those are to me Divine activities uh and
5:39
then later we see the governing of the Kingdom as he strengthened uh different men at different times to to govern to lead the people uh in the Kingdom of of
5:52
Israel but the question again it could be phrased this way is the spirit a mode of God's being being is in other words it's the spirit
6:03
just an extension of of God and again in our day there are many people who who practice that or or um believe in in
6:15
modalism that the spirit is simply a mode an energy uh emanating from God if you will uh and not a separate person
6:25
and again we're asking the question do we see these things what what do we see in the Old Testament um leading us is it is it foreshadowing that there would be a
6:38
distinction in the New Testament um are there hints that are so absolutely clear that they actually reveal the doctrine of the Trinity three
6:51
and one three persons in one God and I would say no that the old test doesn't reveal that specifically without the New
7:04
Testament and the rest of what I'm going to say this morning and look at this morning um I think helps us to understand uh why that is because I
7:17
think there is a why to that yes curious this is on the border line to speak um
8:20
theology yeah but I would say that it wasn't I I guess I'm thinking about Nicodemus and and Jesus called him down for that you should see some of these things you shouldn't have to ask this
8:31
question that you're you're asking um when he had that conversation with him so it wasn't all Jews that saw that um
8:43
and the case of Mary she had the personal encounter uh mother of John Baptist oh John the B
8:58
well I I'm trying to I don't know if they would see any in Jeremiah speaking of being upon him his mother wom separating him separating him would they wouldn't have seen
9:10
necessarily any of the Trinity no in the fact that the spirit
9:23
very much in tune with that from their experience of the prophetic Ministry throughout Israel's history but it would again I don't think it would have been any different in their mind than what
9:48
yeah Sinclair Ferguson uh wrote this any biblical Theology of the spirit's work must recognize the progressive and cumulative character of the historical Revelation um I think
10:02
we recognize that God did not reveal everything in the Old Testament there's you know the the foreshadowing and the the things as as some have said hidden
10:15
in the old revealed in the new and I think that's what we see with the spirit not necessarily that it is um that that we're missing
10:27
something but God has spoken of in the Old Testament as as sending the spirit um in some cases it's putting or
10:41
placing the spirit and certainly we spent a day looking at the concept of pouring out of the Spirit uh the emptying his Spirit upon man is a phrase
10:52
used so that the activity of the spirit is identified with with God being with with God and
11:03
so yes he does the spirit does things that we would recognize or think of as a person doing something um that that a
11:14
person would or could do yet there is only a hint between the ex the distinction of of God as the source and yes we have seen the spirit
11:26
as the executor of God's will but there is that and there is that identification of of God's work and and
11:36
being but then in the Old Testament we also read uh the stress upon the unity of God and his personality we we think
11:47
of Deuteronomy 6 here o Israel the Lord Is Our God the Lord is one you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with
11:58
all your might um Warfield writes he reveals the whole truth but in diverse portions and in diverse manners and it was incident to the
12:09
progressive delivery of doctrine that the unity of the godhead should first be made the firm possession of men and the trinity in that Unity should be unveiled
12:21
to them only afterwards when the times were right for it um I I I think that what we see is
12:31
that the time was right I and I think he's referring to Hebrews 1 one when he when the writer writes God after he
12:42
spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways in these last days has spoken to us in his
12:56
son um and to me that's the why that's where we see a different connection yes we just came across this this week
13:09
in preparing message for Romans 11 where Paul says for who has known the mind of the Lord for has become his counselor
13:19
quoting from Isaiah 40 and I looked at that and I kind of was dropped y because what Isaiah says who has directed The
13:30
Spirit of the Lord or who has as his counselor has informed him I think that while it's absolutely true that the
13:40
full revelation of the person of the Holy Spirit may not be clearly revealed it's not like we're making
13:50
something up right Isaiah 40 who has been his counselor refers to the spirit of the Lord so you know looking all can very easily
14:02
just simply insert Lord there Isaiah is actually speaking with the spirit so I don't think we have to be in any way ashamed in thinking roping
14:15
some type of theology that attacks monotheism it is it is there right but I think as you said it cannot be clearly seen without
14:26
seen without Revelation yeah um um yeah um I I do think sometimes about the the apostles um the Jew the Jewish
14:38
men who would certainly have you know read and recited um as we see in Deuteronomy 6 with their children and uh those around them um and thinking about
14:53
the that God is one and yet we we do see that Unity even in that that passage in Isaiah 40 the the the Divine way in which the spirit works the
15:06
personal way in which he works it's all within the godhead it's all um for the revealing of of God's Will and uh so there is certainly that that Unity of of
15:19
the godhead as he says and then later the the trinity in that unity and I I think we we should never think of the
15:30
Trinity and again reading this in the last days he uh spoke in his son it doesn't mean that the spirit is now set aside um in fact for us uh hopefully
15:44
that that will see that it it is um him speaking in his son that is the key to us understanding the
15:56
spirit um one of the authors um asks again three three questions in order to kind of U
16:09
stimulate our our thinking uh in this direction um some refer to the New Testament as as the dispensation of the
16:19
Spirit uh I'm not sure I read that directly um but just one asked that question um why does John say as we look at John 7 that the spirit was not yet
16:33
given because Christ was not yet glorified you've read that passage before but I'll read a couple of verses from John from John 7 um now on the last day the great day
16:45
of the feast uh which is the Feast of Boos Jesus stood and cried out saying if anyone is thirsty let him come to me and drink and he who believes in me as the
16:56
scripture said from his innermost most being will flow rivers of Living Water but this he spoke of the spirit whom those who believed in him were to
17:06
receive for the spirit was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified it doesn't mean that the spirit was not present that the spirit
17:18
was not active because we've seen that over the centuries in the Old Testament but he's using a a different language the spirit was not yet given because
17:30
Jesus was not yet glorified another question how can Jesus say what he says in John 20 when he says
17:41
and this is after the resurrection when he meets the disciples so when it was evening on that day the first day of the week and when the doors were shut where the disciples
17:52
were for fear of the Jews Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them peace be with you and when he had said this he showed them both his hands and
18:05
his side the disciples then rejoiced when they saw the Lord and Jesus said to them again peace be with you as the father has sent me I also send you and
18:16
when he had said this he breathed on them and said to them receive the Holy Spirit if you forgive the sins of any their sins have been forgiven them if
18:28
you r the sins of any they have been retained so here again we see them saying the spirit has not been given and
18:40
here after the Resurrection the spirit is given to them as he breathed on him and said to them receive the Holy
18:50
Spirit but then what is the meaning of Pentecost in Acts 2 when the day of Pentecost has come they were all together in one place and
19:03
suddenly there came from Heaven A noise like a violent rushing wind and it filled the whole house where they were sitting and there appeared to them tongues as of fire Distributing
19:13
themselves and they rested on each one of them and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues as the spirit was giving
19:25
them utterance um again asking the question we see the spirit in the Old Testament but in the New Testament we
19:37
read those words it's not he's not yet given because Christ is not glorified and now Christ is glorified and he's giving the spirit and then the spirit
19:48
comes on all the Believers there at at Pentecost why the difference what is the what is is the change
20:10
um if you were to try to summarize the work of the old uh in the Old Testament of the spirit um I I think again based on the things that I read and the way um we saw
20:24
the the writings of the of the prophets this idea is
20:51
um this preparation for the pouring out of the spirit that um upon all men um I think you could say that is one of the objects
21:04
of of the Old Testament um and we certainly see that that the
21:23
spirit was involved in in keeping the remnant of the Believers of they were kept safe they were kept uh pure uh preserved uh if you will the the
21:34
seed for uh the planting and harvest to come but now in in the New Testament the
21:46
spirit's work I think is is now directed to a different end uh not a a foreign end to that but coming from that it's
21:58
not directed to um perfecting the fruit and gathering in that Harvest um Ezekiel
22:08
and other other Old Testament uh prophets write this but particularly we see in Ezekiel 36 one that we've read several times before um speaking of Christ I will put
22:21
my spirit within you um sorry of men I will put my spirit within you and cause you you to walk in my statutes and you will be careful to
22:32
observe my ordinances there will be this is different this is again it's it's being foretold in the Old Testament of
22:43
what would come in the new but again the there there is a reason for this uh let me preface that
22:54
by reading um this is this is Fergus quoting uh Warfield and somehow I missed it in warfield's book so I'm going to read it out of here
23:13
um our approach to how we see the revelation of a personal spirit in the New Testament Warfield writes this the Old Testament may be likened to
23:23
a chamber richly furnished but dimly lighted the ruction of light brings into it nothing which was not in it before but it brings out into clearer
23:36
view much of what is in it but was only dimly or not at all perceived before the mystery of the Trinity is not revealed in the Old Testament but the
23:47
mystery of the Trinity underlies the Old Testament Revelation and here and there almost comes into view thus the Old Testament revelation of God is not
23:59
corrected by the Fuller Revelation which follows it but is only perfected extended and enlarged um that word picture helps me
24:21
we to to quote a a phrase we we see is in a mirror dimly we we see it as as in a room where there is no no light reaching the corners and helping us to
24:32
see the distinction of the the different Furnishings that are there they're still they were there before but now they're being
24:44
revealed but I again there to me there is there is a why but um we get a we get a glimpse of it
24:56
in in Paul's writing to the second uh to the Corinthians his second uh Corinthians chapter 3 um and in it's in the midst of um where
25:10
Paul at least to me is is um he's defending his ministry and I don't know that I I can understand all the background from uh just you know
25:23
picking up but he he uses the word in Chapter 2 he says we're not we're not like pedlers pedling the gospel that that we're trying to make a buck here and and
25:34
we're just trying to sell this to you trying to convince you um and he says you know are we commending ourselves because of you and then writes this not
25:47
that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves but our adequacy is from God who also made us adequate as C vants of
25:59
a new covenant not of the letter but of the spirit for the letter kills but the spirit gives life and he's referring to
26:09
he's called them you are our letter uh you are the letter to us the letter of the of the spirit um written on your hearts um and so he's referring to that
26:22
letter in that manner not of of the letter that kills but the the letter of the spirit which gives life but if the ministry of death in letters engraved on
26:35
Stones came with Glory so that the sons of Israel could not look intently at the face of Moses because of the glory of his face fading as it was how will the
26:47
ministry of the spirit fail to be even more with Glory see there's there's more to be revealed more glorious than the
26:58
the the the the old will be revealed in the new and the the letter uh written on tablets of stone is
27:10
as he says it's the later on in in second Corinthians 3 he calls it the letter of letter of condemnation and yet he says here not the letter that condemns not the letter
27:22
on tablets of stone but the letter of the spirit the spirit and how can it fail to be that much more
27:32
glorious than what we already had a glory of its own but the glory that will be with the spirit um so to me the
27:45
revelation of the fullness of what the spirit is going to do had to wait for the Incarnation for the Revelation for the
27:56
baptism of of Jesus to reveal the spirit's work um Isaiah talks about that fullness that that will come um and and the spirit will be
28:09
there but again that Unity of the godhead continuing through into the New Testament but again a in a in
28:20
a as as uh Warfield says not not in a correcting correcting way but in a new way Isaiah writes then a chute will spring
28:31
from the stem of Jesse and a branch from his roots will bear fruit the spirit of the Lord will rest on him the spirit of wisdom and understanding the spirit of counsel and strength the spirit of
28:43
knowledge and the fear of the Lord um and we we see the spirit again come from God sent
28:54
from God on Christ the three there together as as Warfield writes um in his little sentence about um the the
29:06
baptism of Christ he says we we see God in heaven God on Earth and God descending from Heaven to Earth Matthew
29:17
3 after being baptized Jesus came up immediately from the water and behold the heavens were opened and he saw the spirit of God descending
29:28
as a dove and lightning on him and behold a voice out of Heavens the heavens said this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased there there's the
29:41
the godhead uh revealed there's the three persons to me revealed as he says God in heaven God on Earth and God descending from Heaven to
29:54
Earth um all there in the the baptism of Christ so there is a continuity um in from the Old Testament
30:06
to the New Testament there is the continuity of of the Divine work and even a personal work of the spirit and there is a
30:17
foreshadowing that in the latter days will come the spirit will rest upon Christ and that fullness will be evident
30:29
from the resting on Christ um and that foreshadowing and that um moving us on from the Old Testament to the New
30:39
Testament showing us more glory in the spirit's work and yet um again I I would use the word incomplete uh there is an incompleteness
30:52
in the Old Testament revelation of the spirit again not that it wasn't there but incompleteness to our view from what
31:09
revealed one writer wrote of the of the spirit this kind of a concatenation of of big words here the spirit was active in the Old Testament but his quote his
31:19
activity was enigmatic sporadic Theocratic selective and in some respects external respects external we we we saw I think hopefully all of
31:31
those kinds of things he was there he was active he was working in and or upon men and yet there
31:41
was something more to re be revealed and I believe that that Revelation is Revelation is this that the spirit does not come to be
31:54
known because of Christ's coming but only in
32:10
16 Jesus speaking to his disciples in the upper room discourse says this but when he the spirit of truth comes he will guide you into all the truth for he will not speak
32:23
of his own initiative but whatever he hears he will speak speak and he will disclose to you what is to come he will
32:33
glorify me for he will take of mine and will disclose it to you all things that the father has are mine therefore I said
32:44
that he takes of mine and will disclose it to it to you I don't think the spirit is fully
32:54
known apart from Christ I I it just as I look at the scripture I don't think that can happen that he is fully known only
33:06
as part of yes part of the godhead but um in Christ not because of Christ and he first had to rest on
33:20
Christ and then he would rest on all those who are in Christ and to me that's why the Revelation had to be as it was waiting
33:34
for the revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ for us to fully know the spirit and his and his personality as he glorified Christ
33:48
in taking what was his and disclosing it to us and I still think that is the ministry that the holy spirit is is
33:58
on that he would first rest on Christ and then rest on all those who are in Christ and I believe that's a good place
34:09
to stop and pray our heavenly father you have given us much in your your
34:20
scripture that is hard to understand and yet we we do now have the Holy Spirit who takes of
34:31
what is Christ the things even the things that have been revealed in in the writings of the old and the New Testament and instructs us and teaches
34:42
us and guides us and we rejoice and we we thank you that this is so that we have that one who comes alongside us
34:56
that one who comes to instruct us and and help us and father father we give you glory and we give Christ glory and the Holy Spirit Glory because it is not
35:08
our idea that this would be so and yet you've revealed it to us and you've given us great joy in it so I pray father that as we go along again as we
35:22
look at a new year and we think about new things and think about different I I do pray that we would be rejoicing
35:32
in what you have given us and we would be looking at our efforts our continuing on to devote ourselves to the the
35:44
reading of scripture meditating upon it and learning from the Holy Spirit to obey and to honor you in all things we
35:56
ask that you would continue to build your church for your glory in Christ's name we pray amen
