Genesis 1:1,2 This is the scripture of creation:
"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters."
As creation begins the Holy Spirit moved first to cover the formless mass and bring order to the chaos that was present. If you were to run reference on the word darkness, you will find that it means: misery, destruction, death, ignorance, sorrow, wickedness.
In verse 26 we find God working as the trinity--Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He's making man. God made man first in His own image--His spiritual and moral likeness. In verse 27 we find that God made man. There were no imperfections of the mind, spirit or body. He had harmony of nature and personality and spirit that defies our imagination today.
Man was able to worship God with understanding that was so intimate that we can't even imagine it today. He could talk to God in the most natural way, like most of us can talk to our parents or spouse now.
Then sin came. Man sold out his dominion over the earth to the devil. In doing so he lost his intimacy with God. God, His love so great for his creation, masterpiece promised a Redeemer.
Genesis 3:15 God speaks to the devil:
"And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heal."
The "heel" speaks of Jesus, the outer humanity of the coming (promised) Messiah. Despite the sin, God's love held strong. he said the Redeemer would come but would be struck by the devil and that the devil would bruise the heel or the humanity of the man which refers to the cross.
Numbers 11:16, 17 God is working through Moses by the Holy Spirit. He begins using individuals such as Moses and the seventy that are mentioned in this verse.
"And the Lord said unto Moses, Gather unto me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom thou knowest to be the elders of the people, and officers over them; and bring them unto the tabernacle of the congregation, that they may stand there with thee. And I will come down and talk with thee there: and
I will take of the spirit which is upon thee, and will put it upon them; and they shall bear the burden of the people with thee, that thou bear it not thyself alone."
In the book of Joel we see how God deals with His people today. Joel 2:28-32 (You will have to read this in order to keep this mailing shorter).
The Spirit will be poured out on ALL FLESH. Zechariah 4:6 shows us how God is going to win the battle by the Holy Spirit. "Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts."
The same Spirit that moved on the face of the waters (at creation) is going to work through the promised Redeemer, the seed of woman, which refers to Jesus. Hebrews 11 talks about the hero's of faith. Verse 13 talks about how "they died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, "
They died not yet receiving the promises. They believed but it did not come in their lifetime. They died in the faith. We look back to His birth, death, and resurrection, but they looked toward to the promise.
Hebrews 11:39, 40:
"and these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise. God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect"
We get to see with our natural eyes what they saw with their spiritual vision. That is Jesus, the Son of the Most High God. We get to experience His Spirit, His anointing.
Jesus is conceived by the virgin Mary in Luke 1:35 "The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God."
The power mentioned in this verse is the anointing. Overshadow means to envelope in a haze of brilliancy. Power means the ability or abundant strength.
When Jesus came back at Pentecost, He came back endowed with power or abundant strength. We have that same Spirit in us!!!
Jesus had to do 4 things through the power of the Holy Spirit while in the flesh:
1. He had to bruise the serpents head.
He had to destroy the devils power and that was done through the cross and by the healing and teaching that He had done for the previous 3 years. When the devil killed Jesus all he succeeded in doing was killing the humanity of Jesus (remember the bruised heel) He did not kill the Christ (anointing). Jesus was the man, Christ was WHO He was--the Anointed One. He still had control of His spirit. He released it to the Father (remember "Father into they hands I commend my spirit).
2. He had to rise from the dead after 3 days.
Jesus conquered death. Remember John 14:19 says "Because I live, ye shall live also." Jesus had to be made lower than the God. He had to be in order to face death. (Hebrews 2:6-9). When Christ left glory and became man, he became lower than God.
Ephesians 2:6:
"And hath raised us up together, and made us to sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus."
It was the work of the Holy Spirit to take Jesus out of the world so that the Christ Spirit could be released. As long as Jesus was here He was limited to time and space. Now since that Christ Spirit has been released He can be everywhere.
3. He had to bring captivity captive.
See Ephesians 4:8-10, and 1 Peter 3:18-22 Before Jesus ascended He descended to the pit of Hell, preached to those hero's of faith we mentioned earlier. (Remember many dead were seen in Jerusalem).
4. He had to send the Holy Spirit
John 16:7 Jesus is talking about His other self, The Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is Christ's personal representative on earth. That is why Romans says we are His ambassadors. His representatives. We have that Christ Spirit or the anointing dwelling in us.
The four accomplishments of the Holy Spirit are:
1. To remove the physical limitations under which the Lord Jesus lived on earth.
2. Reclothe Him in the glory He had with the Father before He came to earth.
3. Reinvest him with the power He had before He was born.
4. Reendow him with the riches that He had before He became a man.
That is how Philippians 4:19 is possible. He is no longer limited. He is the complete Christ. 1 John 4:4 declares that.
Jesus is in the Now. He is in you and in me. Everything Jesus did He attributed to the Holy Spirit. He never claimed the power for Himself. He said that He did not come in his own name, nor in His own power, but He came to do the will of the Father that sent Him and all the works are by the Holy Spirit
Jesus was both led and driven by the Holy Spirit.
There are two stages in being a Christian. 1. Be born again. you have become a child of God. You are saved by the blood of Jesus and will go to heaven. 2. Become a disciple or follower of Jesus.
Discipleship is something we do. God does the conversion, but discipleship is what we do back to God and it takes a lifetime of service. It does not happen overnight.
Let's allow the Christ Spirit (Jesus in the Now) to move in our lives and make us disciples of Christ. Upon doing that we will then go forth in power to be witnesses unto Him and heal the sick, cast out the devils, and do the greater works which He said we would do.
