The Hebrew word for "contend" is diynl . The word is used 24 times in the Old Testament. Translators chose the following English words to explain the meaning of diynl : "judge, contend, govern, plead, vindicate, administer, defend, govern, provide justice, punish." Keil and Delitzsch write, "The verb signifies to rule, and to judge, as the consequence of ruling...This His spirit God will withdraw from man, and thereby put an end to their life and conduct...Men, says God, have proved themselves by their erring and straying to be flesh, i.e. given up to the flesh, and incapable of being ruled by the Spirit of God and led back to the divine goal of their life." (Commentary on the Old Testament, Volume I).
The human race doesn't even realize that they have life, breath and strength from God. We would cease to exist if God removed Himself from our lives. We owe every good thing to God. Yet, mankind continues to curse God or not believe in His existence. Every inclination of the thoughts of man's heart is only evil all the time.
Fortunately for all of us, God showed special grace to the human race through one man and his family. God started over again through Noah. However, evil did not end with the Great Flood. Evil is inherent in the human race. Evil has its source and strength through Satan. The Holy Spirit has fought evil throughout the ages. He continues that battle to this day. That's one of the main things we'll learn about God's Spirit in this study. He does battle with evil all the time. He'll continue to fight that battle until He brings all things into perfection.
In my opinion, the greatest thing God's Spirit did for Israel was to bring the nation her Eternal King, Jesus Christ! Jesus would be the Messiah that God had long promised Israel. He would save them from all their enemies and place Israel in the position of being the most powerful and important country on the face of the earth. The Spirit of God will make it happen.
"Spirit of the Lord" is ruach Yehovah . We see His involvement with Messiah in three sets of pairs: (1) wisdom and understanding -- this is the intellectual life, (2) counsel and power -- this is the practical life, (3) knowledge and fear of the Lord -- this is the spiritual life. "Wisdom" is chocmath : the power of discerning the nature of things through the appearance. "Understanding" is binah : the power of discerning the differences of things in their appearance. "Counsel" is 'etzah : the gift of forming right conclusions. "Power" is geburah : the ability to carry them out with energy. "Knowledge" is da'ath : knowledge founded upon the fellowship of love. "Fear of the Lord" is yir'ath Yehovah : fear absorbed in reverence of Jehovah.
Isaiah writes that the Spirit of the Lord will "rest" on Messiah. The Hebrew word is nuahl . In this context, it means that the Spirit would "dwell" with Messiah. He would remain with Messiah. We see the beginning of that process in John 1:32: "Then John gave this testimony: 'I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him.'" The Greek word for "remain" is meno . It means to "dwell, live, remain." This is similar to the meaning of the Hebrew nuahl .
As you continue to read Isaiah 11, you'll see that the prophet was speaking of the time when the Messiah would rule on earth in His millennial reign (verses 4-9). We see that from the evidence of Messiah striking the earth with the rod of his mouth, slaying the wicked with the breath of His lips, the wolf living with the lamb, the leopard lying down with the goat, the calf, lion and yearling living together, the little child leading them, the cow eating with the bear, the lion eating straw like the ox, the infant playing near the hole of the cobra, the young child putting his hand into the viper's next and neither being harmed.
This prophecy began to have its fulfillment when the angel of God promised Mary she would become the mother of God's Son.
"Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, 'Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.' 'How will this be,' Mary asked the angel, 'since I am a virgin?' The angel answered, 'The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.'"Luke 1:29-35
The angel said that the Holy Spirit would "come upon" Mary. The Greek word is epeleusetai . The word is future tense, indicative mood. It's a thing that will happen in the future for certain. The angel was making a statement of fact. The Spirit of God would "come upon" her. The word means that the Holy Spirit came upon her and operated in her. He did something to her. What He did was cause Mary to become pregnant. This was absolutely necessary in the plan of God. God's Son could not become flesh through the seed of a man. The sin nature of man is passed on from man to his children through the seed. Paul wrote, "Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all have sinned..." (Romans 5:12) King David wrote, "Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me." (Psalm 51:5) David had a human father, thus sin was in him from conception.
We've seen in past studies that Christ was the Eternal Son of God. His existence did not begin with His birth to Mary. His existence was eternal. However, Christ wanted to enter into the world as a sinless human being to shed pure blood for the sins of the world. How could He become human without having the stain of sin in his blood? He couldn't be born of man. Sin is in the blood of man which has its beginning as sperm and is passed along to every child. Christ had to be born of woman. Paul made that clear in Galatians 4:4: "But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons."
In addition to the Holy Spirit coming upon Mary, the angel told her that "the power of the Most High will overshadow you." (Luke 1:35). The word "power" is dunamis . We get our English words "dynamite" and "dynamo" from that Greek word. It is the feminine noun from dunamai , which means "to be able". The New Testament writers use dunamis , 119 times. Translators usually chose the words "power" or "powerful" to express its meaning, but they sometimes used "miracles" or "miraculous powers." The Greek reader would have understood dunamis , to mean "inherent power." That's a power residing in a thing by virtue of its nature. It is a power that gives the one with the power the ability to do whatever they wish. God is Almighty by Nature. Therefore, He has "power" residing within Himself by virtue of His Nature.
Luke calls God "the Most High." It comes from the word hypsistou . The word is used 13 times in the New Testament. It was a word Greeks used for the highest rank, a superlative degree, loftiest, most elevated. The various writings present God as dwelling in the highest heavens and as far exalted above all other things. Here are several examples of its New Testament usage:
"When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and fell on his knees in front of him. He shouted at the top of his voice, 'What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God?'"Mark 5:6-7
"But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked."Luke 6:35
"However, the Most High does not live in houses made by men."Acts 7:48
"These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved."Acts 16:17
The angel said that God would "overshadow" Mary. The Greek word is episkiasei . This is also future tense, indicative mood. It comes from the words epi , "over," and skia , "a shadow." It is similar to the word used for the bright cloud that overshadowed Christ at His transfiguration (epeskiasen -- Matthew 17:5) and the Apostle Peter's shadow upon the sick (episkiase -- Acts 5:15). The meaning of the word was to envelop in shadow. It came from the Old Testament idea of a cloud symbolizing the immediate presence and power of God.
Think about that for a moment. The Holy Spirit of God came upon the Virgin Mary in a miraculous way. What an amazing thing to happen to a human being! It had never happened before and would never happen again. It was a once-in-human-history event. God spiritually surrounded a virgin and placed within her womb the seed that would grow into the body that would become the human container of the Eternal Son of God! Mary's reaction to it was quite beautiful:
"My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me--holy is his name."Luke 1:47-49
The Apostle John spoke about this great event in his gospel account of Christ's life and ministry.
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning...The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth."John 1:1-2, 14
Believing that the Eternal God became flesh is a primary way of recognizing the Holy Spirit:
"This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God."1 John 4:2
The opposite is also true:
"Many deceivers, who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh, have gone out into the world. Any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist."2 John 7
Why was it important that God become flesh? Why did the Holy Spirit come upon Mary? Why did the power of the Most High overshadow her?
"Since the children have flesh and blood, he [Jesus Christ] too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death--that is, the devil--and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death."Hebrews 2:14-15
Paul explains the purpose beautifully in his letter to the Philippians:
"Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death--even death on a cross!"Philippians 2:5-8
God became flesh for our sakes! He became flesh so that He could die in our place; shed His precious blood for our salvation. The Holy Spirit coming upon Mary is not just an interesting historic event some 2,000 years ago. It's not just a verse in the Bible. It is the very CENTER of our faith and hope! Mary was the conduit for God's blessings upon the human race. Mary was correct when she said all generations would call her blessed. God blessed us through her. Even as Eve was the mother of the first man, Mary was the mother of The Man--God in human form. The Holy Spirit was the One Who "came upon" Mary. It was from Him and God the Father that the power of the Most High "overshadowed" Mary and caused her to become pregnant with Messiah's body. And the Holy Spirit did it for the purpose of fighting evil! It was all part of God's holy plan to redeem the human race and "destroy him who holds the power of death--that is, the devil. "
Please continue this study with The Holy Spirit in the Gospels
Taking God's Grace to the World!
"Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright ©, 1973, 1978, 1984, International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Bible Publishers."
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Last Updated: 12/20/1999