Unity of Spirit

"The Holy Spirit adores Jesus."

WE ARE MADE to hold the glory of the Lord. When Adam and Eve hid from God in the Garden of Eden, it was because the glory of God, the presence of God which had been upon them, had lifted due to sin. They had never hidden from God before. Why would they? It says God called out to them, “Where are you?” Not that He didn’t know where they were or what had happened, but they needed to recognize they’d gotten the very thing He’d warned them about. They had received the knowledge of good and evil, exactly as He’d said, but take note, He’d told them NOT to eat of the fruit. They were, instead, to walk in the Spirit all day long for eternity. There was no physical death until sin brought spiritual death. They clothed themselves in fig leaves, seeing their nakedness for the first time, and it says were afraid.

In John 16:13, speaking of the Holy Spirit, Jesus calls Him the Spirit of truth, saying He will “guide you into all truth.” To Adam and Eve, He was meant to be truth, not human knowledge. Truth said, “Do not eat of the fruit.” Knowledge sounded like the devil. “Hath God said …?” Jesus then says, “For he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak.” The Holy Spirit is not a nameless, faceless automaton who speaks only when Jesus or the Father pull the lever. He is not a bird either, who descended on Jesus at His baptism (having not been with Him before then). Both of these thoughts are in error. Instead the meaning of Jesus’ words goes to the complete unity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

In the Garden, the word translated into English as “God” is the Hebrew word “elohim.” This is a plural word meaning “gods.” It is not God singular creating the earth, but God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – working in unity. (Understanding Jesus was not the Son until He was born on this earth, but for easiest reference, I use that description). They are not three individuals who “get along” after hashing out in a rigid debate what they need to do next. There are no “terms of agreement” they have signed, and each one has ten minutes to speak His mind. At the dawn of time, before Before, they were three in one. On the earth, when Jesus walked as a human, this did not change. When you looked at Jesus, you saw the Father, and you heard the Father.

The Remedy translation of Colossians 1:15 speaks to this beautifully. “Jesus is the physical manifestation of the invisible God—the first being to leave infinity and manifest in physical form, and the conduit from which all creation flowed.”

Jesus spoke about this to Philip saying, “When you’ve seen me, you’ve seen the Father.” Here, again, I use a translation which gives such a powerful expression of this. The Knox translation says, “If you had learned to recognize me, you would have learned to recognize my Father too. From now onwards you are to recognize him; you have seen him. At this, Philip said to him, Lord let us see the Father; that is all we ask. What, Philip, Jesus said to him, here am I, who have been all this while in your company; hast thou not learned to recognize me yet?” (John 14:7-9) There stood the Father. How had they not seen Him?

The Holy Spirit is the anointing of Christ, the Anointed One. He is both the Spirit of the Father and the Spirit of the Son, yet He is separate from them. There are simply too many references in the Word of God that prove this. When Jesus said the Spirit would not speak OF Himself, this is better understood, He will not speak ABOUT Himself, meaning in a selfish manner, of His own choosing. There is no selfishness in God. Instead, the love of God is so great there can never be any division. The Holy Spirit adores Jesus. He conceived Him in Mary. He guided Him while He walked on earth. He was with Him, as the Father, when He died on the cross (John 16:32). He is the fire that consumed the sacrifice of our sins that Jesus carried, and He remade Him in spirit to be brand new, the firstborn of many brethren (Romans 8:29). Then He raised Him from the dead and glorified His body so that He lives forevermore (Philippians 3:21).

We are too disunified in our thinking, too individualistic. The Holy Spirit speaks only what He hears because all that He hears to speak is God. Where we struggle to align ourselves as the nose of the body of Christ with the foot of the body of Christ, He is one with the Father and one with Jesus completely. There was never any fear of failure in Jesus’ death and Resurrection because the Spirit of God who anointed Him cannot die. His fire can never be put out. He is the breath of the Father, who spoke from heaven, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased (Matthew 3:17).” It is not that He simply repeated those words, having heard them, but that He lived them as the Father of the Only Begotten Son.

“Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in me? The words I speak to you are not my own words; and the Father, who dwells continually in me, achieves in me his own acts of power. If you cannot trust my word, when I tell you that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, let these powerful acts themselves be my warrant. Believe me when I tell you this; the man who has learned to believe in me will be able to do what I do; nay, he will be able to do greater things yet.” (John 14:10-12, Knox)

THEY ARE TRUTH:

• “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” (John 14:6)
• “And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.” (John 14:16-17)

THEY ARE THE WORD OF GOD:

• “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (John 1:1)
• “And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:” (Ephesians 6:17)

THEY ARE LORD:

• “At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes.” (Matthew 11:25)
• “Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.” (Acts 2:36)

THEY ARE LIBERTY:

• “If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.” (John 8:36)
•  “Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.” (2 Corinthians 4:17)

Kite Image by Stephanie Albert from Pixabay
Cloud Image by Michelle Raponi from Pixabay


----------
Suzanne D. Williams, Author
www.suzannedwilliams.com
www.feelgoodromance.com