The past four weeks in which we have talked about the role of the Spirit of Yahweh in our lives have brought to the surface thoughts in my own mind of my personal experience of the Spirit and spiritual matters – from that day, long ago, when I experienced something on a “spiritual level” for the very first time in my life. I did not see a vision, or utter a prophecy, or speak in tongues. I did not even hear an audible voice. But as a 12-year-old, the simple message of Y’shua as his Father’s greatest gift to this world touched my heart and turned my life upside down. As young as I was then, I believed I had experienced something of the prophecy of Ezekiel 36: “I will put a new spirit within you.” I became aware of a kind of love and passion and drive that I had not known before. I may not have understood it that way at the time, but I know today that what happened back then, was entirely the work of Yahweh’s Spirit. Romans 5: 5 clearly states that the love of Elohim is poured out in a person’s heart through the work of the Set-apart Spirit. From this I must therefore conclude that the Spirit of Yahweh has begun to play a role in my life, at least since I was 12 years old. The Spirit of adoption of which Romans 8:15 speaks, which changes a person’s status from outsider to child and which enables one to say “Abba” to the Most High, may have been closer to us, and for a longer time, than what we have realized before!
The question is: If it was the Spirit of Yahweh who was already involved with us much earlier in our lives, why did Yahweh not reveal to us through His Spirit, right from the beginning, the fullness of knowledge and belief and experience? Why did so many of us have to “wait” until ten, twenty or even thirty years, after we came to belief, before we understood what is spelled out clearly, six or seven times in Scriptures, namely that one is to be baptized in the Name of Y’shua the Messiah, as soon as possible after acknowledging Y’shua as the Messiah? If it was the Spirit of Yahweh who brought us to the Messiah and made us to address Yahweh as “Abba”, why not did the same Spirit convince us of the proper way of baptism? And, speaking of the way we address Yahweh, why did the Spirit of Yahweh not convince us right from the beginning to call on the Creator by His Name, Yahweh, like our forerunners in Scriptures did, including Y’shua the Messiah? Surely, we could have done without that strange “spirit” of so-called religiousness that came into the picture later on and that caused both Jews and Christians to avoid the Name above all names? If the Spirit that is within us, is sometimes also called the Spirit of Y’shua, and Y’shua kept the Sabbath and the feasts, why did some of us take so long before we began to follow the Word in this regard? Is it not true that the Spirit is frequently called “the Spirit of truth”? Is it not to be expected that Yahweh, along with His Spirit, will have also given us truth in its fulness, right from the outset?
The answer to these types of questions relates to the aspect that we have been emphasizing over the past few weeks, namely that we should NOT in any way try to detach the “Spirit” from Yahweh. The Spirit that is mentioned most of the times in Scriptures, is Yahweh’s Spirit – nothing more, nothing less and nothing else. Just as Yahweh does not impose Himself and His salvation and His truth on man, so also with his Spirit. His Spirit is not a guarantee that everything in our lives will fall into place neatly right from the very beginning. Yahweh poured out His Spirit on the first king of Israel (Saul or Shaul) to equip him for his task, but this did not keep him from losing his way. King Saul still had to choose to obey Yahweh in everything and in this regard, he clearly did not pass the test. In the end, David was the man after Yahweh’s heart, not Saul. Kepha (Peter) was a leader among the apostles and filled with the Spirit of Yahweh, but still Shaul (Paul) had to rebuke him at least once because he was guilty of hypocrisy (Gal 2). Shaúl, on the other hand, was not without his own faults and shortcomings, even though he was the apostle who wrote about the Spirit of Yahweh more than anyone else. He regularly encouraged believers to walk in the Spirit, be filled with the Spirit and live by the Spirit every day. But In Romans 7 he admitted that it had not always been easy for him to live a life of obedience. “The good I want to do, I do not do, but the evil I do not want to do, I do,” he says. The Spirit of Yahweh was undoubtedly part of his life, but there were still areas of his life where there were snags, shortcomings, and thorns in the flesh.
We who have the Spirit can still grieve the Spirit (Isa 63:10; Eph 4:30). One can be rebellious against the Spirit of Yahweh (Ps 106: 33), which means that one is rebellious against Yahweh and against his word. There are times when Yahweh’s word comes to a person extremely simply and clearly, but still it is not accepted. For some reason or other, there is rebellion and resistance to accept that word. Sometimes, as Psalm 139 says, people try to flee from Yahweh’s Spirit. And again, trying to flee from Yahweh’s Spirit is the same as trying to flee from Yahweh. Why would anyone want to do such a thing? Usually only for one reason: There is a spirit or an attitude or a disposition in your own life that is in conflict with the Spirit that comes from Yahweh. And the true Spirit that comes from Yahweh is one hundred percent in line and connected with the way He has revealed Himself in His Word. There is always harmony between the Breath (“ruach”) and the Word coming out of Yahweh’s mouth!
The fact that all of these actions, such as grieving, rebelling, and fleeing, are specifically associated with the SPIRIT of Yahweh, is because it lies on a spiritual, invisible level and is often accompanied by an inner struggle that other people are not aware of. Sometimes we rebel against an aspect of the Word. Something it becomes stormy and cloudy within us when we are confronted with a certain truth. This word is not meant for me, you say to yourself. Why should I follow customs followed by the Jews? Why should I question something that has been a solid tradition in churches for hundreds of years? And you have your own reasons why you think the way you think. You have this inner struggle, but you don’t feel like talking to others about it. Because deep down you know that your reasons for being rebellious are not solid and not based upon the Word. And you know that if you are going to talk to someone who is firmly grounded in the Word and not in human traditions, your own shortcomings and rebelliousness will come to light.
Scriptures also teach that the Spirit of Yahweh can depart from man (2 Chron 18:23); that Yahweh can take his Spirit away from man (Ps 51:11); that Yahweh’s children can make plans that are not of His Spirit (Isa 30: 1); that Yahweh can withdraw Himself from men, even though He had previously given His Spirit in their midst (Isa 63:11); that one can resist the Spirit of Yahweh, because you are stubborn and uncircumcised in heart (Acts 7:51); that a group of people may surrender to jealousy and strife and carnal behaviour, even though the Spirit of Yahweh is in their midst (1 Cor 3); that it is possible to begin with the Spirit, but to end with the flesh (Gal 3: 3); that a person who has received the Set-apart Spirit can reject the principles of purity and set-apartness in the Word (1 Thes 4: 7-8) and that someone who had been a partaker of the Set-apart Spirit may become completely lose his connection with Y’shua and even reject Him as Messiah (Heb 6: 4-6 – What a tragedy to notice such an attitude in someone who had walked the path of belief with oneself before!).
When I look back at my own experience of the Spirit of Yahweh over many years – the highs and the lows – I can recognize some of these attempts (mentioned in the paragraphs above) to sidestep and resist the Spirit of Yahweh. Perhaps the apostle summed it up best when he said we should be careful not to QUENCH the Spirit (1 Thess 5:19). This word literally means the same as throwing a large bucket of water on a campfire. When thinking of these episodes in my own life, today, I feel very much ashamed! How many times have I not responded with my giant bucket of water to put a quick end to the fire that Yahweh has tried to kindle in my life through His Spirit? How many times has my own rebellious spirit not wiped out the good work of Yahweh’s Spirit from the table of his favour and love with one selfish, short-sighted sweep? Where would I have been today if Yahweh had to keep track of my own resistance towards His Spirit and remind me of my track-record, every time I approach Him with the desire to submit my spirit to His Spirit all over again?
But that’s not how He is. Through His Spirit, He is willing to stir up a new spirit within us again and again. Through His Spirit He can bring life to places where there is nothing left but dry, lifeless bones. Through His Spirit He can (and will) enlighten our minds and awaken our hearts. He can pour out His Spirit of favour and supplication upon us countless times. Which simply means: His Spirit is but a way of bringing together all of His unique and outstanding qualities under one umbrella – such as forgiveness, kindness, love, a passion for those who belong to Him, and a desire for those who do not yet serve and fear Him, to do so as soon as possible. Even though we grieve His Spirit, we can hold on to this knowledge: He has given His Spirit as pledge, as security in our hearts (2 Cor 1:22). He will never cease to remind us of this intimate connection and commitment. He will not just walk away from a person or a group of people in whom He has deposited (some) His own Spirit! His Spirit does not simply work superficially on the outside. No, his Spirit works on the inside and does something significantly and lasting in our hearts!
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