Posted on January 5, 2024

Day 1 – The Holy Spirit is God.  Christians do not believe in polytheism, or belief in multiple gods, so when we talk about God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, outsiders think we are talking about three different gods, hence the introduction from RC Sproul and Shawn Henderson.  Entire books have been written on just who the Holy Spirit is.  This book is intended to draw you closer to Him by looking at all aspects and characteristics.

Our guiding Scriptures today are Acts 1:4-5 and Acts 2:1-4.  In Acts 1:4-5, Luke writes, “And while staying with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, “you heard from me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” And in Acts 2:1-4, Luke states, “When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.”  Today, in day one, we will be looking at three aspects of the Holy Spirit; The Holy Spirit is God, The Holy Spirit and God, and the Holy Spirit and God’s Son.

As a characteristic of God, the Holy Spirit is eternal.  He has always existed.  The author of Hebrews in 9:14 states, “How much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.”  We see in Genesis 1:2, “The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.” In verse 26 we see Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”  Note the “in our image,” the Holy Spirit existed from the very beginning.

He is also Omnipresent, a big word meaning He is everywhere.  In Psalm 139:7-12, David writes, “Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence?   If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!   If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me.  If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night,” even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you.”  This is a distinct difference between the Holy Spirit and Satan; Satan can only be in one place at a time, but the Holy Spirit is everywhere.  As humans, we do not know what it is like to be out of the presence of God because the Holy Spirit is everywhere.  To be out of the presence of God is the literal definition of hell.  Only Jesus experienced this when God removed His presence from Him when our sins were poured out onto Him.

In addition to being everywhere, another big word, omniscient, means He knows everything.  1 Corinthians 2:10-13, Paul tells us, “These things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.  For who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.”  The Holy Spirit knows what we need before we say a word.  Paul tells us in Romans 8:26-27, “Likewise, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.  And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.”

Additionally, the Holy Spirit is omnipotent, all-powerful.  Luke reminds us in Acts 10:38 that God anointed Jesus with the power of the Holy Spirit to be able to do His ministry.  Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 6:11, “And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.”  And Peter goes on to tell us in 1 Peter 1:2, “According to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood: May grace and peace be multiplied to you.”  In Romans 8:11, Paul says, “If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.”  When you accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, the Holy Spirit was invited in and resides in you, and so does His power.  The power used to raise Jesus from the dead is alive and dwells in you.  This is why this book is so important so that all Christians realize the power they have residing in them and to draw closer and know deeper the person who has that power, the Holy Spirit.

After talking about all the omni attributes, we cannot neglect to talk about the holiness of the Holy Spirit, after all, it is part of His name.  John talks a lot about the Holy Spirit and in 14:16-17 John tells us, And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, 17 even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.”  Following in the next chapter, 15:26, Jesus says, “But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me.” And in his first letter, John reminds his readers in 1 John 5:6, “This is he who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ; not by the water only but by the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one who testifies because the Spirit is the truth.”  The Holy Spirit is part of the Godhead; thus, His holiness is secured and is unquestionable.

Finally, under the category of the Holy Spirit is God is the characteristic of Him being self-existent.  Paul in Romans 8:2 and 2 Corinthians 3:3 addresses this.  In Romans, Paul says, “For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.”  The law of the Spirit not of the Father or of Jesus, thus indicating the self-existence attribute of the Holy Spirit.  In 2 Corinthians he says, “And you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.”  Peter in 1 Peter 4:14 not only speaks on the self-existence but also on the glorious nature of the Holy Spirit, “If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.”

How does the fact that the Holy Spirit is eternal affect your view of Him?

Which omni-attribute is most meaningful to you and why? (Omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent)

After today’s reading, how will commit to deepen your understanding of the Holy Spirit or your relationship with Him?