Promise of the Holy Spirit

I believe through faith in Jesus we receive the promise of the Holy Spirit and that the Holy Spirit dwelling in our hearts is the power to fulfill God’s calling in our lives. In my blog post from last week, Here Are Eleven Basic Premises Of My Christian Faith In Jesus I stated that we would discuss my last two basic premises about the promise and indwelling of the Holy Spirit in detail this week.

Once I began my study, I realized how overly optimistic of an idea that I could complete such a task in one blog post. I will apologize now that I cannot complete the task in one blog post. Today we will focus on some basic biblical information about the Holy Spirit and the Promise of the Holy Spirit. Next week, we will zero our attention on the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

When I think back to my life growing up in church, I was raised in a church where the leadership taught faith in Jesus. At the same time, those same leaders avoided the Holy Spirit. I remember asking about the Holy Spirit and being told that the Holy Spirit was something we didn’t talk about because churches that focused on the Holy Spirit weren’t “like us.” The implication was that those churches were too radical. I remember struggling with what to do with the fact that the Bible spoke of the Holy Spirit but my church leaders did not.

Let’s look at what the Bible teaches us about the Holy Spirit.

Some of the most common used names or titles used in both the Old and New Testaments are:

The Holy Spirit (OT – 2 times / NT – 91 times)
The Spirit of God (OT – 6 times / NT – 12 times)
The Spirit of the Lord (OT - 23 times / NT – 5 times)
The Spirit (OT – 17 times / NT – 118 times)

That is a total of 274 times the Bible uses a name or title of the Holy Spirit.

How can we overlook the Holy Spirit if God’s Word spoke so much about Him?

If we look back at the above list and tally up the Old Testament references, we see 38 out of 274 uses come from the Old Testament. From the point Jesus entered into the picture, we see 236 Holy Spirit references in the New Testament. Therefore, I will primarily focus on what the New Testament says about the Holy Spirit.

The first mention of the Holy Spirit in the New Testament is in Matthew 1:18 regarding Jesus’ conception.

“Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows:

After His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together,

she was found with child of the Holy Spirit.”

Matthew 1:18

In Matthew 1:20 an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and told him that the baby in Mary was conceived of the Holy Spirit. Luke recorded the angel’s words in Mary about how conception would happen for her.

“And the angel answered and said to her,

"The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you;

therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God.”

Luke 1:35

Jesus’ Baptism

At the point of Jesus’ baptism, God gave testimony and signs to who Jesus was.

“And the Holy Spirit descended in bodily form like a dove upon Him,

and a voice came from heaven which said, "You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased."“

Luke 3:22

John the Baptist testified,

“I did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me,

'Upon whom you see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him,

this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.”

John 1:33

To this point we see Jesus, the one conceived and born of the Holy Spirit, was verified by God from heaven as the one who came to baptize with the Holy Spirit. (Also in Matthew 3:11 and Mark 1:8) Luke 4:1 shows us that Jesus was filled with the Holy Spirit.

“Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit,

returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness.”

Luke 4:1

So, Jesus was conceived and born of the Holy Spirit, filled with the Holy Spirit, and came to baptize with the Holy Spirit. I’m not trying to be redundant, but rather, emphasizing the presence and importance of the Holy Spirit as related to Jesus.

As related to my childhood church experience regarding the Holy Spirit, I must ask the question, “If our faith is in Jesus, how could we in any way disassociate ourselves from the Holy Spirit and His work?”

Receiving the Promise

Through faith in Jesus Christ, we receive the Promise of the Holy Spirit. As New Testament believers, we need to understand that Promise. By looking at what Scripture records about the first believers and the Holy Spirit, we see the initial promise of the Holy Spirit in Acts 1:4. Before Jesus ascended to the Father in heaven, He gathered with His apostles. He commanded them to wait for the Promise. In Acts 1:5, Jesus promised their baptism in the Holy Spirit and explained the Promise in Acts 1:8.

“But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you;

and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem,

and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth."

Acts 1:8

Receiving the Holy Spirit means receiving God’s power. To be baptized in the Holy Spirit means to be immersed in God’s power. What a magnificent promise! And what an indelible need we all have! In receiving the Holy Spirit, Jesus’ disciples were filled and speaking in God’s power. They spoke supernaturally whether with other tongues or human words anointed with gospel power for the purpose of demonstrating to all to grow and build God’s kingdom. (See Acts 2:4, 38, & 33)

“And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit

and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.”

Acts 2:4

“Then Peter said to them, "Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ

for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”

Acts 2:38

“Therefore, being exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the

Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this which you now see and hear.”

Acts 2:33

Demonstrative Power of the Holy Spirit

That power of the Holy Spirit demonstrated in Jesus’ disciples’ words continued from that point on.

“And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled

together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit,

and they spoke the word of God with boldness.”

Acts 4:31

Clearly, we can see that the promise of the Holy Spirit first constitutes power for the followers of Jesus. That power first was demonstrated in words spoken out of their mouth. As we travel further through Acts, we see that the Holy Spirit also empowered believers with wisdom and knowledge. The dramatic story of Acts 5 where Ananias and Sapphira lied to the Holy Spirit shows how the disciples were given supernatural knowledge to know what they could not know apart from God Himself giving them the knowledge.

Acts 8 tells the story of Philip empowered by the Spirit received physical abilities in his body to run so fast he overtook a traveling chariot. Ordinary people performed miracles, dreamed dreams, saw visions, and lived with extraordinary abilities because they received the Promise of the Holy Spirit. Personally, I want that too. I want to live my life, led, filled, anointed, and empowered by the Holy Spirit. And I believe that life is available to each and every one of us.