Hi all,
Some final thoughts on the Holy Spirit.
On the day of Pentecost God moved out of the temple and into people. Can you imagine the adjustment these Jewish people had to make in their understanding to the idea the great I AM now lived in them?
Their whole lives they had been (rightly) taught about God’s presence coming down on the tabernacle of Moses. How the great I AM had spoken to Moses face to face as a man talks to his friend. (Exodus 33: 11)
They had been taught the sacrifices by which they might approach Him, and how the Holy Spirit was upon the prophet, priest, and king, but not on the common man.
John’s gospel reveals their understanding of Christ who was preexistent with the Father, emptying Himself of all rights and privileges and power as God’s Son, leaving heaven, to become the baby and the man, Jesus.
God’s Word, the Word of the Father’s power, that word that spoke to Adam, Abraham, Moses and all the prophets, became a human being and lived among them. (John 1: 14)
Now they understood
When Jesus ascended to heaven He needed to administer His will. The Father’s Spirit is the means by which He does that. Now ascended, He is no longer confined to one place and time as He was when He lived in the flesh in the gospels. He can be instantly anywhere, in His glorified body. By the Father’s Spirit Jesus knows all and oversees His body world-wide.
The Holy Spirit is both in heaven and in us at the same time. When the Lord deals with us on something in our heart, our emotions, He does so from within us, but equally so in heaven.
When we receive peace in our spirit about something in our life, it is because in heaven the Holy Spirit has learned or heard peace from the Father or Lord about our situation. If you have peace in your spirit, it is because there is peace in heaven about it too. Same time, no delay, instant communication. Peace in your spirit here is because the Lord and Father say ‘peace’ about it.
Temple thinking
Acts 2: 46 tells us they were ‘daily in the temple and from house to house’. What an adjustment to their lives! They went to temple as they had all their lives, but God’s presence was no longer there.
What a conflict in their minds existed! Now they went to temple to learn from the apostles about Christ in them, being right there on temple grounds realizing the I AM that once lived behind the veil between the cherubs on the Ark of the Covenant, now lives in them! How to fathom such love!
But those happy days with one foot in the temple and one foot in homes was short-lived. Acts 8:1 tells us Saul of Tarsus and others so persecuted these new believers that: “They were all scattered abroad in the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.”
The time between Pentecost in Acts 2, and every believer moving out of Jerusalem was about a year, no more than about 18 months. Consider, in Acts 2 we have Pentecost, in 3 & 4 Peter and John are brought before the authorities. In 5 Ananias & Sapphira die. In 6 servants are appointed to handle the food distribution to the widows. The whole of chapter 7 is Steven’s defense and death.
All within about a year these things happened. With their lives in danger, they all left the city. I’ve seen estimates of 10,000 people. Suddenly, they were gone, no more going to temple daily. Now meeting in homes to learn about Christ in them, the great I AM who by the Father’s Spirit, lives in them.
After Saul of Tarsus got saved and became the apostle Paul,
People started filtering back into the city, but we never again see statements in Acts about them being ‘daily in the temple’. They didn’t need the temple any longer. The reality of Christ in them had taken full hold. They had the revelation, enhanced by the revelations Paul wrote about – Christ in you, having the mind of Christ for any situation, being righteous in Him, how the Spirit searches the Father for what He has prepared for us, and more.
I believe the Lord allowed that year between Pentecost and them moving, which meant no more temple access at all, so they could adjust to New Testament realities.
Today we see the same thing.
Christians have been raised all their lives that church is ‘God’s house’, and His presence is stronger there, stronger on leaders, and to be blessed they need to go to the building to meet God.
But then they have their own ‘Pentecost revelation’. God doesn’t live in a building. Christ is in them, in their friends, in their neighbors, in their co-workers and family, in all who believe. Why go to the temple? What relevance does it serve to a Christian whose priorities are making sure their brother and sister are fed, clothed, visited and cared for?
And here is the vast difference between Christ in us thinking and temple thinking: The temple is ‘leader at the top’ centered. All power goes to the person at the top. In ‘Christ in you’ thinking, leadership empowers each person to live by their own faith.
As many of you know, our web posts one of our key pillars:
“Not that we would have dominion over your faith, but are helpers of your joy. For by your own faith you stand.” II Corinthians 1: 24
The temple system doesn’t focus on the Holy Spirit within each person. It focuses on the Holy Spirit moving the person or people at the top. In home meetings it is about what Christ in each person is doing, no matter their age, no matter their socio-economic status, no matter their past.
Meetings are about empowering each person to live for Christ,
It is about continuing the discipleship process in their lives. Meeting are about seeing the Holy Spirit, God’s presence, in our midst. When Paul wrote the Galatians he asked:
“When God does miracles in your midst, does He do it by the Spirit or the hearing of the (Mosaic) law?”
When writing his first letter to the Corinthians he states in 14:26:
“How is it brothers and sisters, when you come together every one of you has a Psalm (worship), another a revelation (something God showed them personally), another a teaching (something God’s taught them), or tongues and interpretation. Let all things be done to build up each other.”
The question begs: “Does your church service look like what Paul described?” Are miracles common? Are the gifts of the Spirit common? Is each person allowed to share what Christ in them is doing – worship song, revelation, teaching, move in the gifts?
I’m not talking people getting out of wheelchairs at every service, but rather answered prayer, seen and heard by a group of people who prayed for you to see that answer, that miracle in your life. Are you close enough to people to have that closeness, to see what God is doing, how He is answering life?
Why not?
New subject next week, until then, blessings,
John Fenn
