FOR THE LOVE OF GOD

The Holy Spirit Ministers To Believers

“When He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you.” – John 16:13-14.

Before Jesus’ passion, He promised that the Father and He would send his disciples “another Counselor” (John 14:16, 26; 15:26; 16:7). The Counselor or Paraclete, from the Greek word parakletos (meaning one who gives support), is a helper, adviser, strengthener, encourager, ally, and advocate. Another points to the fact that Jesus was the first Paraclete and is promising a replacement who, after He is gone, will carry on the teaching and testimony that He started (John 16:6–7).

Paraclete ministry, by its very nature, is personal, relational ministry, implying the full personhood of the one who fulfills it. Though the Old Testament said much about the Spirit’s activity in Creation (for example, Genesis 1:2; Psalm 33:6), revelation (for example, Isaiah 61:1–6; Micah 3:8), enabling for service (for example, Exodus 31:2–6; Judges 6:34; 15:14–15; Isaiah 11:2), and inward renewal (for example, Psalm 51:10–12; Ezekiel 36:25–27), it did not make clear that the Spirit is a distinct divine Person. In the New Testament, however, it becomes clear that the Spirit is as truly a Person distinct from the Father as the Son is. This is apparent not only from Jesus’ promise of “another Counselor,” but also from the fact that the Spirit, among other things, speaks (Acts 1:16; 8:29; 10:19; 11:12; 13:2; 28:25), teaches (John 14:26), witnesses (John 15:26), searches, determines (1 Corinthians 12:11), intercedes (Romans 8:26–27), is lied to (Acts 5:3), and can be grieved (Ephesians 4:30). Only of a personal being can things such as these be said.

The divinity of the Spirit appears from the declaration that lying to the Spirit is lying to God (Acts 5:3–4), and from the linking of the Spirit with the Father and the Son in benedictions (2 Corinthians 13:14; Revelation 1:4–6) and in the formula of baptism (Matthew 28:19). The Spirit is called “the seven spirits” in Revelation 1:4; 3:1; 4:5; 5:6 partly, it seems, because seven is a number signifying divine perfection and partly because the Spirit ministers in His fullness.

The Spirit, then, is “He,” not “it,” and He must be obeyed, loved, and adored along with the Father and the Son.

Witnessing to Jesus Christ, glorifying Him by showing His disciples who and what He is (John 16:7–15), and making them aware of what they are in Him (Romans 8:15–17; Galatians 4:6) is the Paraclete’s central ministry. The Spirit enlightens us (Ephesians 1:17–18), regenerates us (John 3:5–8), leads us into holiness (Romans 8:14; Galatians 5:16–18), transforms us (2 Corinthians 3:18; Galatians 5:22–23), gives us assurance (Romans 8:16), and gifts us for ministry (1 Corinthians 12:4–11). All God’s work in us, touching our hearts, our characters, and our conduct, is done by the Spirit, though aspects of it are sometimes ascribed to the Father and the Son, whose executive the Spirit is.

The Spirit’s full Paraclete ministry began on Pentecost morning, following Jesus’ ascension (Acts 2:1–4). John the Baptist had foretold that Jesus would baptize in the Spirit (Mark 1:8; John 1:33), according to the Old Testament promise of an outpouring of God’s Spirit in the last days (Joel 2:28–32; compare Jeremiah 31:31–34), and Jesus had repeated the promise (Acts 1:4–5). The significance of Pentecost morning was twofold: it marked the opening of the final era of world history before Christ Jesus’ return, and, as compared with the Old Testament era, it marked a tremendous enhancing of the Spirit’s ministry and of the experience of being alive to God.

Jesus’ disciples evidently were Spirit-born believers prior to Pentecost (John 20:22), so their Spirit-baptism, which brought power to their life and ministry (Acts 1:8), was not the start of their spiritual experience. For all who have come to faith since Pentecost morning, however, beginning with the Pentecost converts themselves, the receiving of the Spirit in full new-covenant blessing has been one aspect of their conversion and new birth (Acts 2:37; Romans 8:9; 1 Corinthians 12:13). All capacities for service that subsequently appear in a believer’s life should be seen as flowing from this initial Spirit-indwelling, which vitally unites the sinner to the risen Christ.

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from the New King James Version®, NKJV © 1982 by Thomas Nelson.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture References: Habakkuk 3:2-6; 17-19

In the midst of horrid circumstances tainted with implication that God somehow caused the pain as a means of judgment, Habakkuk is singing, and his song says he will rejoice in the Lord anyway, not in what has happened, but in the Lord. His song says he will be joyful, not in the pain caused by the difficulties, but in God, the source, of his salvation. That, my brothers and sisters, is an amazing statement of confidence in God, and it is only in this way that he can hope to lean upon God for strength. God has the power to be the source of strength; that is established as fact for Habakkuk. God is capable of acting in mercy even toward disobedient children; that, too, is established as fact in Habakkuk’s mind. Whatever else might be said or thought of God, these facts settle for Habakkuk that God is the real source of strength in life’s strained, confusing, and painful times: “The Lord God is my strength” (verse 19).

“The Lord God is my strength.” Habakkuk concludes that God is his strength because, in addition to God’s mercy, Habakkuk finds the feeling of safety and security in his relationship with God: “He makes my feet like the feet of deer, And sets me on my high places.” – Psalm 18:33. The deer, also known as the “hind,” was known for its speed and surefootedness. Habakkuk felt secure in the face of insecurity because of what he knew that God could do for people. He felt this security as a deer was secure in its ability to leap rocks and streams and to move with agility through precarious mountain passages. In the heights, no harm could come to the deer, and in the same way, Habakkuk felt safe because God sustained his life as if in high places.

Can we ourselves come near such a confidence in God’s power? Remember Paul’s writing reminds us that our confidence in God cannot rest on human wisdom, our ability to figure how and why, but must rest in the fact of God’s power alone. (See 1 Corinthians 2:5). With all the questions and reservations in his mind, Habakkuk still comes to this moving confession: “The Lord God is my strength.” It is not unlike the eloquent conclusion reached by the nineteenth-century poet, John Greenleaf Whittier. In his poem, “The Eternal Goodness,” Whittier wrote:

I see the wrong that round me lies,
     I feel the guilt within;
I hear, with groan and travail-cries,
     The world confess its sin.

Yet, in the maddening maze of things,
     And tossed by storm and flood,
To one fixed trust my spirit clings;
     I know that God is good!

I know not what the future hath
     Of marvel or surprise,
Assured alone that life and death
     His mercy underlies.

And if my heart and flesh are weak
     To bear an untried pain,
The bruis’ed reed He will not break,
     But strengthen and sustain? ¹

The Lord God is our strength also. If we believe it, we will believe it because of God’s mercy, a fact about which we will have become convinced through inner conversation with God as our Father. But, we will always have to believe it in spite of our reservations and possible confusions about the why of evil in the world and how it relates to our own pain. Even so, let it be our praise as well:

Though the fig tree may not blossom,
Nor fruit be on the vines;
Though the labor of the olive may fail,
And the fields yield no food;
Though the flock may be cut off from the fold,
And there be no herd in the stalls—
Yet I will rejoice in the LORD,
I will joy in the God of my salvation.
The Lord God is my strength. – Habakkuk 3:17-19.

¹ Roy J. Cook, compilation One Hundred and One Famous Poems (Chicago: Contemporary Books, 1958).
Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from the New King James Version®, NKJV © 1982 by Thomas Nelson.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture References: Habakkuk 3:2-6; 17-19

Light dominates the sight of God who comes to deliver the people. Rays, like rays of the sun, shone forth from divine hands, but while the light tells of God’s splendor and might, it also veils the extent of God’s power (verse 4). Even when God has done mighty deeds and we are praising Him for His greatness, there is much more that we have not seen; and we cannot see because we cannot know all of God. Habakkuk was not out of line in approaching God with reverent caution; that is still today our basis of approaching God.

It follows, for Habakkuk, that if God’s people are liberated, then what has kept them from freedom will be destroyed. As God the warrior comes to deliver them, pestilence comes ahead, and plague follows behind as tools of destruction to those who oppose God (verse 5). Pestilence seems to refer to disease, and plague evidently alludes to disasters of nature. The Egyptians had experienced these as severely as they had refused to let God’s people go.

God the warrior, in Habakkuk’s prayer-vision, now takes a position from which He examines the conditions in all the world: “He stood and measured the earth.” And as God looked, nations shook; people became fearful because of what might come to them as a result of this warrior’s judgment. The earth itself feared such acts of judgment: the mountains scatter or crumble, and the hills sink. The earth quakes in fear of the judgment of God because God has been said to have so acted in the past; God’s “ways are everlasting” (verse 6).

If this is how God acts, fear alone is inappropriate; utter terror is called for. Habakkuk is never able to put this out of his mind. His prayer is very honest and genuine. His problem is our problem: What to do with all that is attributed to God? Is God a God of mercy as many have said? Is He a God of judgment as others insist? Or both? Without the benefit of God’s revelation in and through Christ Jesus, Habakkuk moves into the realm of hope and faith and comes, in verses 17–19, to a powerful affirmation of his faith in God’s mercy.

His vision is over. His rehearsal of the dramatic acts of God as warrior has been offered to God and the people who worshiped with Habakkuk. Back into his present, things have not changed. He and His people are still “in the midst of the years,” still in need, still despairing.

But, somehow in spite of all this, Habakkuk, still in worship and dialogue with God, breaks out into song. His song is a magnificent song of trust, and the basis for his desire to find his strength in the Lord.

Though the fig tree may not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines; though the labor of the olive may fail, and the fields yield no food; though the flock may be cut off from the fold, and there be no herd in the stalls— yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation. – Habakkuk 3:17-18.

What if the difficulties continue? What if Habakkuk tells his people there is no relief in sight? What if our crops are destroyed and we end up without basics like figs and grapes and olives or even no food at all? That’s a drastic thought and extreme. He is not proposing some aesthetic lack or being deprived of some frill. He proposes, in his inner reasoning, the possibility of being without a very basic food; doing without food can change everything, attitudes, perceptions, and commitments. For further complications, what if our flocks are lost and livestock is taken by a group presumed to be God’s agents of judgment? Easier said than done to be sure, but at least Habakkuk said it with conviction and sincerity. Even though all these come to pass, he confesses, “I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.” His response is as extreme as the possibilities he entertains.

To Be Continued

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from the New King James Version®, NKJV © 1982 by Thomas Nelson.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture References: Habakkuk 3:2-6; 17-19

I suppose when honesty prompts us to address the issue of God’s vastness, we are putting forth questions to Him such as: Have we really known You, God? Have we understood You at all? How reliable are the statements we have heard made about you (and people say a lot about you, God)? It’s natural to raise these kinds of questions. Habakkuk had heard God called a God of deliverance, and he had also heard some unspeakable acts attributed to God and were called God’s judgment. So Habakkuk prayed, “O LORD, I have heard Your speech and was afraid” (Habakkuk 3:2).

In addition to expressing Habakkuk’s wariness in coming before God, this excerpt and in the whole Book of Habakkuk reveal an underlying concern. Habakkuk wants to know why wickedness seems to swallow up justice in the world if God is any kind of God at all. God’s vastness and all that has been attributed to God caused Habakkuk to fear God, not primarily in the sense of facing possible harm at God’s hand, although this wasn’t unheard of in the prophet’s day and time, but with sufficient mystery to want to come into God’s presence and to this subject with reverent caution.

Habakkuk continues his dialogue with God by appealing to the side of God he had heard about and wanted most to believe, which he hoped against hope was the true nature of God. And, not surprising to us, it was the attribute of God which caused people to call God merciful.

Habakkuk considers the times in which he lives to be turbulent and troublesome for himself and his people. That’s what he means by the phrase, “in the midst of the years,” in verse 2b. “In the midst of the years” calls God’s attention to Habakkuk’s own time, filled with difficulty and need. Destruction and violence mar his community; strife and contention abound. Nations rage and devour those weaker than themselves. The arrogant rule, and the poor suffer. False gods are worshiped throughout the world. Thus, Habakkuk prays for God’s mercy. He also prays, if God’s wrath is somehow evoked by what he and his people are doing, let God remember mercy.

We now know that we do not have to plead with God for mercy; but for the days he was living, Habakkuk was a very forward-thinking prophet. He dared to hope that God’s mercy could prevail, though actions of human beings certainly could justify, in the reasoning of the day, acts of angry judgment on God’s part. The prophet thinks he is justified in seeing God as merciful and, thus, asking for mercy based on the dramatic display of God’s role as deliverer; this was no unrealistic hope. God had been known in history to act as deliverer. This was nowhere more clearly seen, as Habakkuk understood, than in the “Exodus,” the leading of God’s people away from Egyptian bondage. So Habakkuk calls up this image in his prayer as he works toward having his assumption become fact for him. God is pictured as a warrior. God is marching from the region of Sinai toward Edom, as God did at the exodus when the Israelites were delivered at the Red Sea. The implications in this vision are that God can again show mercy and deliver the people, and that, as had been done before, the enemies of God’s people will be overcome by God.

When God moved to deliver the people, God’s “glory covered the heavens, and the earth was full of his praise,” writes Habakkuk in verse 3. Of course, this depends on where you were and who you were. The Israelites may have noticed God’s glory in the parting of the Red Sea, but the Egyptians, as you can most likely imagine, weren’t nearly as impressed with this “God” that the Israelites were thanking as the water closed in on their heads. For the purposes of Habakkuk’s vision, God as deliverer shines when people are liberated; and when persons are liberated, the earth itself fills up with praise for Him because there is harmony with the intention of creation itself. It is evident that Nature itself, is involved in the praise.

To Be Continued

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from the New King James Version®, NKJV © 1982 by Thomas Nelson.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.