By: J.M.G. — 9/23/22
As previously said, God/YHWH chose the Hebrews to be a nation/kingdom of priests. Ezekiel (in exile) had been chosen by God to speak to the children of Israel, “I am sending you to the children of Israel, to a rebellious nation…” (Ezekiel 2:3), “…then the Spirit lifted me up… so the Spirit lifted me up and took me away, and I went in bitterness, in the heat of my spirit…” (Ezekiel3:12,14). As I said in a previous article, the Spirit was not upon each person but upon kings, priests, prophets.
Chapter 11 we find, “the Spirit lifted me and brought me to the East Gate of the LORD’s house, (v.1). Even though God’s people were rebellious – under judgment – God told Ezekiel “… I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within them (lit. “in you” (plural)), … that they may walk in My statutes and keep my judgments,” (v.19,20). Here the Priest/Prophet wrote what the Spirit of God told him – a coming restoration.
Now, turning our attention to Saul, we find the prophet Samuel anointing him to be king over Israel (1 Samuel 10:1), [note: there is a lot said in v.1, here are related texts: 2 Kings 9:3,6/Psalms 2:12/Acts 13;21/Deuteronomy 32:9/ “His inheritance”: the masoretic text, Targum (Aramaic paraphrase of Old Testament), and the Vulgate (Latin); the LXX (Greek Old Testament) has people Israel: “and you shall rule the people of the Lord.” The Vulgate adds “And you shall deliver His people from the hand of their enemies all around them. And this shall be a sign to you that God has anointed you to be a prince.”
My point is found in Samuel 10:6: “Then the Spirit of the Lord will come upon you, and you will prophesy with them and be turned into another man… so it was, when he (Saul) had turned back to go from Samuel, that God gave him another heart: and all those signs come to pass that day,” (v. 6,9).
This experience was a precursor to what Ezekiel received in 11:19,20.
The sad thing of all this was that Saul lost the anointing, the Spirit of God lifted and he sought the spirit of the devil (the witch of Endor, a medium), 1 Samuel 28:7.
Saul lost the anointing, the kingship, and finally his life (1 Samuel 31:4).
It was the Spirit of the LORD that fell upon Saul: it was the spirit of the devil that caused him to fall. But Saul received what Ezekiel would write about years and years after: “I shall give them a single heart and I shall put a new spirit in them: I shall remove the heart of stone from their bodies and give them a heart of flesh.” We know this happened (spiritually) when the Holy Spirit was poured out after Jesus had died to secure our salvation and rose from the dead – sending back the Holy Ghost (or Spirit) to dwell in the believers.
This brings me to the second Saul: Paul says in Acts 22:4 that “I (then Saul) persecuted this way to the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women.” He was a defender of Judaism against the “Way,” aka Christianity – this was before the Spirit changed his life. In Acts 22 Paul (converted Saul) spoke of his conversion to the Lord Jesus Christ. (His conversion is recorded in Acts 9). In verse 17 Ananias was sent to lay hands on Saul to receive his “sight and he filled with the Holy Spirit.”
Saul was a “religious” man (according to Judaism) but was not a “righteous” man according to Christianity. Christianity was different from Judaism, it required repentance, not just obeying the law. It offered the baptism of the Holy Spirit, not just water baptism. Acts 2 recorded the coming of the Holy Spirit i.e. the Day of Pentecost (2:1), which was accompanied with “divided tongues, as of fire” (v.3).
Verse 4 says the Holy Spirit filled the believers not merely coming upon them as it did in the Old Testament dispensation. Once filled, the believers “began to speak with other tongues” (v.4). [See my booklets on the Baptism of the Spirit]. Tongues can mean human languages and heavenly languages, (see 1 Corinthians 12-14 on spiritual gifts).
In Acts 2:16-18 Peter quotes Joel 2:28-32. Acts 10:45 speaks of Joel’s prophecy being fulfilled: “I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh,” reference to Acts 2:17 and Joel 2:28: “… because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles also,” Acts 10:45. “All flesh” referred to the Gentiles (converted Jews as well).
So, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit (or Ghost) was foretold of the Prophet Joel and fulfilled on the Day of Pentecost… and the Holy Spirit is still being poured out today. I received it back in 1971 as did my wife.
Paul coming to Ephesus (on one of his missionary journeys), “And finding some disciples he said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” (Acts 19:2 NKJV). These disciples replied, “We have not so much as head whether there is a Holy Spirit” (v.2). They had been “baptized” with a baptism of repentance (repentance of sins as John the Baptist preached, Matthew 3:2), water baptized e.g. Matthew 3:11: “(John says) I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me… He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.”
So, the disciples were “baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus” (Acts 19:5). Then Paul “laid hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke with tongues and prophesied” (v.6).
Peter, in Acts 2:38 puts it all together: “Repent (Jesus and John both preached it: Matthew 3:3 and 4:17) and be baptized (John baptized, note 3:6,11, even baptizing Jesus v.13,16), every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38).
Repent – be baptized in water – be baptized in the Holy Spirit.
Jesus was baptized in water (he had no need of repentance but demonstrated the water of baptism equipped Him for His earthly ministry, (Matthew 3:16a). After receiving water baptism, “the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him” (v.16b). This same Holy Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. Luke 4:1 tell us, “Jesus, being filled (or “full of”) with the Holy Spirit, returned from Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness.” After His ordeal with the devil, Luke recorded, “Then Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee…” (Luke 4:14). After this Jesus made His great proclamation: “The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel… heal… proclaim liberty… recovery of sight…. Free the oppressed… proclaim…” (Luke 4:18).
The Spirit that was upon Saul of old left him because of his disobedience, in turn Saul turned to the witch of Endor;
The Spirit that filled Saul changed him into a “new man,” aka Paul. This infilling was the result of Joel’s prophecy, fulfilled on the Day of Pentecost (before this day, the Holy Spirit lighted upon some of Jesus’ disciples before Jesus died and arose. Jesus told Nicodemus, “… unless one is born again (lit. “from above”), he (or she) cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3). He repeats this in v.5.
No one can be born again without the help of the Holy Spirit, for it is He who convicts/convinces the seeker John 1:12,13 gives us insight into the natural birth vs. the spiritual birth. We become children of God, not by being racial (e.g. Jewish under Judaism), but by repenting and being quickened (made alive, see Ephesians 2:1-5) in spirit, i.e. the Holy Spirit sparking life into our dead human spirit. The “from above” means being born by the Holy Spirit (see John 3:31).
I could write dozens of pages on the Holy Spirit’s person/action, but let me leave you with this: (using the modern English version) “Rivers of Living Water,” John 7:37,38,39; 7:38, “Living Water,” is not an exact quotation from any Old Testament passage; in the Gospel context the gift of the Holy Spirit is meant (see John 3:5). “From within him,” either Jesus or the believer; if Jesus, it continues the Jesus-Moses motif (water from the rock, Exodus 17:6; Numbers 20:11), as well as Jesus as the new temple (Ezekiel 47:1). Greek scholars say, grammatically, it goes better with the believer.
Jesus’ remark about, “Out of his heart shall (future) flow rivers of Living Water” was followed by, “By this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believe in Him would (future) receive. For the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified” (John 7:39). “No Spirit yet,” the codex vaticanus and the early Latin, Syriac, and the Coptic versions add “given.” In the Gospel, the sending of the Holy Spirit cannot take place until Jesus’ glorification thru His death, resurrection, and ascension (see John 20:22); “Filled with the Spirit,” Ephesians 5:18: “Do not be drunk with wine… but be FILLED with the Spirit.”
“Walk in the Spirit,” Galatians 5:16: “I say, then: live by the Spirit (other versions use “walk in the Spirit”) and you will certainly not gratify the desire of the flesh” (v.16). “… but if you are guided by the Spirit, you are not under the (OT) law,” (v.19). Paul continues with, “If we live in the Spirit, let us also follow the Spirit,” (v.25). So, walking/living in the Spirit (v. 16-26) is illustrated by concrete fruit of the Spirit, v.22,23.
Warning: We can GRIEVE the Holy Spirit, Ephesians 4:30: “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with which you were sealed for the day of redemption.” Paul starts his epistle with, “… On Him (Jesus) you also, who have heard the Word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, I have believed in Him, were SEALED with the promised Holy Spirit,” Ephesians 1:13, see also 2 Corinthians 1:21,22 in reference to the 1st installment: “But the One who gives us security with you in Christ and who anointed is God” (NAB). Verse 22 (from the MEV) reads, “He who also has sealed us and established the guarantee with the Spirit in our hearts.” [Note: Paul writes, “… that He (Father) would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the miner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith…” (Ephesians 3:16, 17).
So, Paul, ex Saul, had Jesus in his heart as well as the Holy Spirit. According to Paul’s writings, Christ and the Holy Spirit are ONE, meaning unified for the purpose of giving the believer the full benefits that the Father guarantees.
This seal (2 Corinthians 1:22) is also mentioned in Paul’s epistle to the Ephesians: “.. in whom also, having believed, you were SEALED with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession…” (Ephesians 1:13,14 NKJV).
Beware, we can QUENCH the Holy Spirit – Acts 5:3; Satan can fill our hearts as he did to Ananias and his wife Sapphira. Their deaths are ascribed to a lie to the Holy Spirit (5:3,9).
Joel’s, “I will pour out My Spirit upon all flesh” (Joel 3:1) can be summed up in 1 Corinthians 12:12-13 et al.
“As a body is one though it has many parts. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, slaves or free persons, and we were all given to drink of one Spirit.” By Spirit baptism all, despite diversity of ethnic or social origins, are integrated into one organism, i.e. the body of Christ, aka New Testament Ekklesia. At salvation all are made alive, i.e. their human spirit, then we can receive the Baptism in the Holy Spirit.
