THE HOLY SPIRIT IN THE GOSPELS

"Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to give him the name John. He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from birth. Many of the people of Israel will he bring back to the Lord their God. And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous--to make ready a people prepared for the Lord."

Luke 1:12-17

John the Baptist had a primary duty in life: to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. He would have the same Spirit upon him that Elijah had hundreds of years before: the Spirit of God. In fact, John the Baptist would be filled with the Holy Spirit from the womb! The word for "birth" here is koilias . The meaning is "womb." The word for "filled" is plesthesetai . It means "to fill, be full, controlled by another." It is future tense, indicative mood, passive voice in this verse. It is a statement of fact with certainty that someone would do something to the baby in the future. That something would be that the Holy Spirit would fill him from the womb.

We find an interesting proof of the angel's statement in Luke 1:41-45 when Mary went to visit her cousin Elizabeth who was pregnant with John the Baptist.

"When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. In a loud voice she exclaimed: 'Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy."

This is simply amazing! The sound of Mary's voice reaches the ears of Elizabeth and the baby in her womb leaped for joy and Elizabeth was also filled with the Holy Spirit. We see how completely God's Spirit is in control of these events. He made it possible for a virgin to be pregnant with the body of God's Eternal Son. He made it possible for an old woman who had no children because she was barren (Elizabeth -- Luke 1:7) to become pregnant. The Holy Spirit filled the baby from the womb, caused that child to experience joy at the sound of the voice of the mother of his Savior and filled Elizabeth with the Holy Spirit to the point she prophesied about the coming of Messiah. This is not a natural occurrence here. Powerful, supernatural events are occurring.

Let me share briefly a thought about being filled with the Holy Spirit. One of the most interesting studies I've found about this subject was written by Dr. Kenneth Wuest in 1942. It's in a book titled "Untranslatable Riches." The study itself is titled "The Fullness of the Spirit." He is writing about how the Holy Spirit "fills" a believer.

"In the expression, 'filled with the Holy Spirit,' we have the verb 'filled' in the passive voice, the subject in this case being inactive and being acted upon by an outside agent, and the noun 'Spirit' in the genitive case, the genitive of description, indicating what the 'filling' consisted of. The 'filling' in this case refers to a certain control exerted over the believer. The word 'Spirit' thus indicates who is exerting this control. The expression 'full of the Holy Spirit' is from a noun 'full' and another noun 'Spirit,' the latter in the genitive case. The noun, 'full,' meaning here 'control,' is a noun of action. We have here a Greek construction called the subjective genitive, in which the noun in the genitive case, here 'Spirit,' produces the action in the noun of action, 'full.' Thus, the Holy Spirit is the One who exerts control over the believer said to be filled with Him."

We'll study the filling of the Holy Spirit in more depth when we look at how God's Spirit works in a Christian, but we can see here that "filling" carries the idea of "controlling." The Holy Spirit is not some passive little god who waits for someone else to ask his involvement in matters of importance. The Holy Spirit is the Almighty, All-Knowing, All-Seeing, Everywhere-Present God Who takes action and makes things happen. He is Powerful and In Control!

The next time we see the Holy Spirit's involvement in Christ's life is Luke 2. As was the custom of the Jews, Mary and her husband Joseph named their baby and took Him to the temple for circumcision on the eighth day after the birth. This was in keeping with God's Covenant of Circumcision that He made with Abraham: "For the generations to come every male among you who is eight days old must be circumcised." (Genesis 17:12)

Mary and Joseph took their baby to the priest in the temple 40 days after their baby's birth. This was in keeping with the Law of Moses: "The Lord said to Moses, 'Say to the Israelites: 'A woman who becomes pregnant and gives birth to a son will be ceremonially unclean for seven days, just as she is unclean during her monthly period. On the eighth day the boy is to be circumcised. Then the woman must wait thirty-three days to be purified from her bleeding. She must not touch anything sacred or go to the sanctuary until the days of her purification are over...When the days of her purification for a son or daughter are over, she is to bring to the priest at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting a year-old lamb for a burnt offering and a young pigeon or a dove for a sin offering. He shall offer them before the Lord to make atonement for her and then she will be ceremonially clean from her flow of blood.'" (Leviticus 12:1-7)

Mary and Joseph did journey to Jerusalem on the 40th day in obedience to the Law. This set the stage for the next event for the Holy Spirit. Read Luke 2:25-35.

"Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord's Christ. Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required, Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying: 'Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you now dismiss your servant in peace. For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all people, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel.' The child's father and mother marveled at what was said about him. Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: 'This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too.'"

Mary and Joseph returned home to Nazareth after this event. Luke 2:40 tells us that "the child grew and became strong; he was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him." When Jesus was 12, Luke tells us that Messiah "grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men." (Luke 2:52) Remember that the Holy Spirit was in Messiah filling Him with power and grace during His early years on earth.

We find the Holy Spirit in Scripture many years later when John the Baptist was preaching to the people of Israel.

"I will baptize you with water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire."

Matthew 3:11

You can refer back to the section about Baptism to learn more about Messiah's baptism with the Holy Spirit. It was a special promise of blessing to Israel.

A short time later, Jesus came to John the Baptist for His own water baptism. It was then that we see the next step in the Holy Spirit's involvement in Messiah's ministry:

"When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. And as he was praying, heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: 'You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.' Now Jesus himself was about thirty years old when he began his ministry."

Luke 3:21-23

The Holy Spirit can take bodily form. In this case, the Spirit came in the form of a dove. The dove was part of the family of doves and pigeons known as Columbidae . The Bible speaks of doves in the sense of peace, love and faithfulness. Doves were also a primary bird of sacrifice for Israel. Solomon used the dove repeatedly as a term of endearment in his "Song of Songs." It's no wonder that the Spirit would descend upon Messiah in the form of a dove at the time of His baptism and beginning of His ministry. Messiah was going to be Israel's ultimate sacrifice, peace, love and faithfulness. The Spirit's choice of bodily form was a statement for all who would open their minds and understand.

Jesus went straight from His baptism into the desert to face Satan's temptations. Notice how God's Spirit was involved.

"Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil."

Matthew 4:1

"At once the Spirit sent him out into the desert, and he was in the desert forty days, being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals and the angels attended him."

Mark 1:12-13

"Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil."

Luke 4:1-2

Notice that the Spirit of God "led" and "sent" Jesus into the desert. The word "led" in Matthew 4 is anechthe . It is third person, singular, aorist tense, indicative mood, passive voice. It is a statement of fact that someone else led Jesus into the desert at a past time from when the writer declared it. That someone was the Holy Spirit. Anechthe , is from the word anago , which means "to lead up." The idea of the word is "to bring, lead, carry, or take up." "Led" in Luke 4 is egeto . It is the imperfect, passive of ago , "to lead." The idea is the same: of someone bringing, leading, carrying, taking up." The Holy Spirit was fully involved in leading Messiah through each step of His journey to the desert to face the tests of Satan.

The word "sent" in Mark 1 is ekballei . It is 3rd person, singular, present tense, indicative mood, active voice. It means "to thrust forth." Someone thrust forth Jesus into the desert (active voice). That someone was the Holy Spirit. The study of all verses concerning this event helps us see that the Holy Spirit thrust forth and led Jesus to the desert. The Spirit was the agent of sending forth and going with. Messiah did not go into the desert alone or without purpose. God's Spirit descended upon Messiah at His baptism, filled Him with Power, sent Him out to the desert and led Him to His appointed testing. Again, we see how deeply and vitally the Holy Spirit was involved with the life and ministry of Messiah.

The Holy Spirit continued with Messiah after the desert temptations. Luke 4:14 reads, "Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit." The word "power" is dunamei . That "dynamic," spiritual power continued with Christ throughout His ministry. Christ mentions the Holy Spirit again in Luke 4:18. He was in the synagogue in Nazareth on the Sabbath day. He stood up to read from the prophet Isaiah and quoted this verse:

"The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor...Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."

Jesus quoted from Isaiah 61:1, 2. The verses fall into a portion of Isaiah's prophecy that deals with the future Messianic Kingdom when Israel would be the greatest nation on earth. The people who heard Jesus claim the scripture was fulfilled in their hearing were astonished. They knew Jesus as the son of Joseph. They didn't realize He was God's Eternal Son, Israel's Messiah. Jesus then said that "no prophet is accepted in his hometown" and reminded them from Israel's history that God's prophets often did not do miracles in his homeland but went to outsiders. The people in the synagogue were so angry by these words that they pushed Jesus out of the synagogue and to the outer limits of town in order to throw Him down a cliff. They reacted to Messiah's words as if they were blasphemy. However, Jesus walked right through the crowd and went on His way (Luke 4:23-30).

Jesus said that "The Spirit of the Lord is on me." The word "on" is the Greek ep . It is a preposition with the root meaning of "upon." It is linked with the word eme , in Luke 4:18. Eme , is in the accusative case. That gives the word ep , the resultant meaning of emphasizing motion or direction. The Spirit of God was "upon" Messiah to give Him direction and emphasize specific motion. Jesus said the Spirit was "upon" Him because He [the Spirit] had "anointed" Him to perform several specific spiritual acts. Those acts were the "direction" the Spirit of God had purposed for Messiah. They included preaching good news to the poor, proclaiming freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, releasing the oppressed, and proclaiming the year of the Lord's favor.

The word "anointed" is echrisen . Dr. A.T. Robertson explained that it was the "First aorist active indicative of the verb chrio , from which Christ (Christos ) is derived, the Anointed One." (Word Pictures In the New Testament, Vol. II, The Gospel According to Luke, Dr. A.T. Robertson, Broadman Press, 1930). Anointing is the act of daubing, smearing or rubbing oneself with oil. It had the significance of dedication and special consecration to God by His choice.

Christ quoted from Isaiah again in Matthew 12:18: "Here is my servant whom I have chosen, the one I love, in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him, and he will proclaim justice to the nations."

Jesus claimed to minister through the Power of the Holy Spirit. A good example of this is in Matthew 12:22-28. Jesus healed a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute. The people who saw it were astonished and asked if Jesus could be the Son of David (the promised Messiah). However, the Pharisees said that Jesus drove out demons by the power of Satan. Here's how Jesus responded to that:

"Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand. If Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then can his kingdom stand? And if I drive out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your people drive them out? So then, they will be your judges. But if I drive out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you."

Christ "expelled" (ekballo ) demons "by the" (en ) "Spirit of God" (pneumati theou ).

The Holy Spirit gave Messiah His joy: "At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said, 'I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure.'" (Luke 10:21)

As we study the four Gospel accounts (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John) and the first chapter of Acts, we see that the Holy Spirit is connected to every aspect of Christ's ministry. But in addition to seeing the Spirit at work, Jesus teaches us much about the Holy Spirit's Life and Purpose. Jesus was the first to lay out a doctrine of the Spirit of God in detail. His disciples and the Apostle Paul finished building on that doctrinal foundation.

Please continue this study with The Holy Spirit in the Gospels Part 2

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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