- Jul 12, 2020
- 20
- 2
"Is Jesus the the Holy Spirit?"
Hardly any preacher today knows this, but when Jesus said to his disciples "Receive ye the Holy Spirit", he was saying to them that he would come back to them as the Holy Spirit. Peter says in Acts 2:39 that "This promise is to you and your children, and even to the Gentiles-all who have been called by the Lord our God."
See, according to Deuteronomy 6:4 God is one person. The early Christian knew this "one person" to be Jesus. But later Christian converts messed this up by saying that this is not so.
This means that what we as Christians are doing wrong is not understanding how Jesus speaks to us in the Gospels. Many scholars refer to this as illeism, or speaking in the third person. What I am saying is, when Jesus says the "Father sent me", or "I go to the Father," he is speaking of himself by his other name. Or by the name Jesus use when he make command decisions!
Probably the greatest use of illeism by Jesus is seen in John 14:1-2 where Jesus makes this famous statement: "Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also." What I mean is, the Father, here, is a reference to Jesus in the third person or to Jesus by his other name.
Remember when Phillip asked Jesus to show him the Father? Jesus replied: "Have I been with you all this time, Phillip, and yet you still don't know who I am? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. So why are you asking to see him?" Translated: "The Father and I are the same person."
See, what God is doing by speaking to us this way is revealing his other two names (John 17:26) to us so we can know him better. This show us full extent of his love. This is what people do when they like you. They tell you their other names, and give you other personal information about themselves. Only Jesus is doing it in a metaphoric way, i.e., in the third person or illeism.
And too, the use of illeism is God's way of consciously altering his speech to better get his message across to us, i.e., similar to the speech used by adults when speaking to a small child who does not understand very much. E.g., a woman may stand over her baby's crib and say "Your mother don't want you to do that." This is what we see Jesus doing in John 14:1-2.
But as I said above, most preachers won't admit that this is true!
But this is especially true when Jesus speaks of himself as the Holy Spirit. Jesus said it this way in John 14: "If you love me, obey my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor, who will never leave you. … No, I will not abandon you as orphans-I will come to you." Otherwise said, when Jesus said "I will not abandon you-I will come to you," he was identifying himself as the very Holy Spirit he was speaking of. Thus Paul was inspired to say in 2 Corinthians 3:17, "... Now the Lord is the Spirit. …"
And this is exactly what happened to the believers on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2. Jesus fulfilled his promise not to abandon them by coming to live in them as the Holy Spirit, or by the name Holy Spirit! It is recorded this way in Verses 1-4:
"On the day of Pentecost, seven weeks after Jesus' resurrection, the believers were meeting together in one place. Suddenly, there was a sound from heaven like the roaring of a mighty windstorm in the skies above them, and it filled the house where they were meeting. Then, what looked like flames or tongues of fire appeared and settled on each of them. And everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit. …"
Many Bible scholars look upon this "filling of the Holy Spirit" as the start of the Church, and I agree. But as I said above, it is certainly the day Jesus came to live in his people after his resurrection from the dead. So again, as Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 3:17: "... Now the Lord is the Spirit. …" And, too, as Paul tells us in Colossians 1:27: "... To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory." Translated: "Christ in you by the name Holy Spirit."
We see Jesus as the Holy Spirits in the Old Testament, too. Judges 15:14 says it this way: "And when he came unto Lehi, the Philistines shouted against him: and the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him, and the cords that were upon his arms became as flax that was burnt with fire, and his bands loosed from off his hands." This is saying the same thing I said above, if the Spirit of Jesus came upon Samson, then Jesus was upon Samson.
Job's friend, Elihu, put the clincher on this when he said to Job in Job 33:4, "The Spirit of God has made me. …" But as everyone knows, it is Jesus who made him. So again, this is a reference to Jesus by his other name, or to Jesus as the Holy Spirit.
So to put it more plainly so we can understand, Jesus is the Father. And he is also the Holy Spirit. As the prophet Isaiah says of Jesus in Isaiah 43:10 "'You are my witnesses,' says the Lord.' 'And my servant whom I have chosen, so that you may know and believe me and understand that "I am he." Besides me there is no God formed, and there will be none after me.'"
Jesus continues in verse 11 with these words: "'I, yes I, am the Lord, and apart from me there is no Savior.'"
Take care and stay safe,
Rev. Autrey
Hardly any preacher today knows this, but when Jesus said to his disciples "Receive ye the Holy Spirit", he was saying to them that he would come back to them as the Holy Spirit. Peter says in Acts 2:39 that "This promise is to you and your children, and even to the Gentiles-all who have been called by the Lord our God."
See, according to Deuteronomy 6:4 God is one person. The early Christian knew this "one person" to be Jesus. But later Christian converts messed this up by saying that this is not so.
This means that what we as Christians are doing wrong is not understanding how Jesus speaks to us in the Gospels. Many scholars refer to this as illeism, or speaking in the third person. What I am saying is, when Jesus says the "Father sent me", or "I go to the Father," he is speaking of himself by his other name. Or by the name Jesus use when he make command decisions!
Probably the greatest use of illeism by Jesus is seen in John 14:1-2 where Jesus makes this famous statement: "Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also." What I mean is, the Father, here, is a reference to Jesus in the third person or to Jesus by his other name.
Remember when Phillip asked Jesus to show him the Father? Jesus replied: "Have I been with you all this time, Phillip, and yet you still don't know who I am? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. So why are you asking to see him?" Translated: "The Father and I are the same person."
See, what God is doing by speaking to us this way is revealing his other two names (John 17:26) to us so we can know him better. This show us full extent of his love. This is what people do when they like you. They tell you their other names, and give you other personal information about themselves. Only Jesus is doing it in a metaphoric way, i.e., in the third person or illeism.
And too, the use of illeism is God's way of consciously altering his speech to better get his message across to us, i.e., similar to the speech used by adults when speaking to a small child who does not understand very much. E.g., a woman may stand over her baby's crib and say "Your mother don't want you to do that." This is what we see Jesus doing in John 14:1-2.
But as I said above, most preachers won't admit that this is true!
But this is especially true when Jesus speaks of himself as the Holy Spirit. Jesus said it this way in John 14: "If you love me, obey my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor, who will never leave you. … No, I will not abandon you as orphans-I will come to you." Otherwise said, when Jesus said "I will not abandon you-I will come to you," he was identifying himself as the very Holy Spirit he was speaking of. Thus Paul was inspired to say in 2 Corinthians 3:17, "... Now the Lord is the Spirit. …"
And this is exactly what happened to the believers on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2. Jesus fulfilled his promise not to abandon them by coming to live in them as the Holy Spirit, or by the name Holy Spirit! It is recorded this way in Verses 1-4:
"On the day of Pentecost, seven weeks after Jesus' resurrection, the believers were meeting together in one place. Suddenly, there was a sound from heaven like the roaring of a mighty windstorm in the skies above them, and it filled the house where they were meeting. Then, what looked like flames or tongues of fire appeared and settled on each of them. And everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit. …"
Many Bible scholars look upon this "filling of the Holy Spirit" as the start of the Church, and I agree. But as I said above, it is certainly the day Jesus came to live in his people after his resurrection from the dead. So again, as Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 3:17: "... Now the Lord is the Spirit. …" And, too, as Paul tells us in Colossians 1:27: "... To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory." Translated: "Christ in you by the name Holy Spirit."
We see Jesus as the Holy Spirits in the Old Testament, too. Judges 15:14 says it this way: "And when he came unto Lehi, the Philistines shouted against him: and the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him, and the cords that were upon his arms became as flax that was burnt with fire, and his bands loosed from off his hands." This is saying the same thing I said above, if the Spirit of Jesus came upon Samson, then Jesus was upon Samson.
Job's friend, Elihu, put the clincher on this when he said to Job in Job 33:4, "The Spirit of God has made me. …" But as everyone knows, it is Jesus who made him. So again, this is a reference to Jesus by his other name, or to Jesus as the Holy Spirit.
So to put it more plainly so we can understand, Jesus is the Father. And he is also the Holy Spirit. As the prophet Isaiah says of Jesus in Isaiah 43:10 "'You are my witnesses,' says the Lord.' 'And my servant whom I have chosen, so that you may know and believe me and understand that "I am he." Besides me there is no God formed, and there will be none after me.'"
Jesus continues in verse 11 with these words: "'I, yes I, am the Lord, and apart from me there is no Savior.'"
Take care and stay safe,
Rev. Autrey
