Summer in the Systematics – Pneumatology (Part 3): The Old Testament Ministry of the Holy Spirit

Transcript

JRS 64
Pneumatology, Part 3 “The Old Testament Ministry of the Holy Spirith”
6/15/2025
Selected Scriptures
Jesse Randolph

We are getting back into the study of the Holy Spirit here and so far, we’ve covered the Person of the Holy Spirit that was week number one where we studied what the Scripture reveals about the fact that the Holy Spirit is not a force, not a thing, but instead is a person. We’ve covered the Deity of the Holy Spirit. That’s what we looked at last week about what the Bible reveals about the fact the Holy Spirit is not only a Person but is God. So, the Holy Spirit has various aspects of Personhood He is a “He” and He is not an “it.” The Holy Spirit has all of the perfections of God and therefore He is worthy of our reverence and adoration and praise.

Well, tonight what we’re going to do is go over what the Bible teaches about how God the Holy Spirit operated and functioned and worked and moved during the Old Testament era. Specifically, how He worked and ministered among the people of Israel in the days before Jesus’ incarnation and the Lord’s earthly ministry. Tonight’s message is really a part 1 of 2 because next week, next Sunday night, we’ll be looking at the Holy Spirit’s role and function in the New Testament namely, in the Gospels and in the book of Acts. What the next two Sunday nights will do, Lord willing, is really set us up for the rest of our summer-long study of the Spirit. Where in the remaining messages we’ll look at the various different ways the Holy Spirit operates and functions in the present-day church age.

So, as we get into this and I stress these last two Sunday nights, I’ll probably keep banging this drum as we go through these more academic studies. But I want to remind us that what we’re doing here on Sunday evenings, just like what we do here on Sunday mornings, is not merely an academic exercise; at least it shouldn’t be. Rather this is and should be treated like a Spiritual exercise. You will be receiving a lot of data and information this evening about the Holy Spirit, and as I run through these slides and talk progressively fast as I see the time back there, and as I do so with shortened breath as I work through all the slides. I do want to remind everyone again that this isn’t meant to be merely for our information, rather this is meant to be for our edification and really our sanctification as the very Spirit we will be studying this summer transforms us progressively into the image of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. In fact, John MacArthur and Richard Mayhue say it well. This is from their big thick white Biblical Doctrine book. They say, “Systematic Theology yields God’s plan for spiritual theology.” This second sentence is what I want to drive in on, “Christian doctrine translates into Christian living.” At least again, it should. It should not just be about storing it up here but getting it in here as we live it out.

To get us started tonight, again, we are studying THE OLD TESTAMENT MINISTRY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. That’s our topic for this evening. The Old Testament Ministry of the Holy Spirit. How did the Holy Spirit function? How did He move? In what ways did He act in the 39 books of the Old Testament? Now, to get us going here, we’re going to go over some real preliminary data related to the Spirit in the Old Testament. Then I’ll get us into some specific points and issues that will move the conversation forward. For starters, that’s the Hebrew word for “spirit.” “ruach.” Ruach is the word for Spirit and that word ruach, appears 378 times in the Old Testament. Now, in Hebrew that word can mean three different things.

It can mean “spirit” as we see it translated here in I Samuel 16:14, we see it translated once with a capital S, and once with a lower-case s. “Now the Spirit of Yahweh departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from Yahweh terrorized him” and the word ruach can mean spirit.

It can also mean “wind” like we see here in Exodus 10:13, “So Moses stretched out his staff over the land of Egypt, and Yahweh directed an east wind, ruach, on the land all that day and all that night; and when it was morning, the east wind brought the locusts.”

The word ruach can also mean “breath.” Genesis 6:17, “I’m bringing the flood of water upon the earth, destroying all flesh in which is the breath of life.” There’s our word, “from under heaven. Everything that is on the earth shall breathe its last.”

So, as you can see. When it comes to determining which “spirit” or whose “spirit.” is being referred to, context is king. Context dictates the definition. Context always gives us the intended reference. Context will tell us that the Spirit of God is being referred here in Genesis 6:3, “Then Yahweh said, ‘My Spirit shall not strive with man forever because he indeed is flesh; nevertheless, his days shall be 120 years.’” Context makes that evident that that is referring to Yahweh. But then we get to Job 10:12, and it’s clear that this is an instance where the spirit of Man is being referred to. “You have made alongside me life and lovingkindness; and Your care has kept my spirit.”

Now, in terms of the scope and reach of the word ruach in the Old Testament, of the 378 times where we see the word spirit in the Old Testament, only 79 of those can we say with confidence refer to the Spirit of God, to God the Spirit. But in terms of how far-ranging the references to the Spirit of God are in the Old Testament, He’s referred to as far back as the second verse of the Bible here in Genesis 1:2. “And the earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.” He is referred to, as you bookend the Old Testament, in the last of its 39 books, in Malachi 2:14. “Yahweh has been a witness between you and the wife of your youth, against whom you have dealt treacherously, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant. But not one has done so, even one who has a remnant, and there’s our word, of the Spirit.”

One more detail to point out. It’s sort of a fun fact. While there are those 79 references to the Spirit of God, that is where we see those 378 usages of the word Spirit and we funnel it down to 79 instances where we know that that’s referring to God. Of those 79, we actually only see the word Holy Spirit, the way we think of the term, Holy Spirit twice in the Old Testament. There are only two specific references in the Old Testament with the specific words you used, “Holy Spirit.” One of them is Psalm 51. Here is David, after he commits his sin of adultery with Bathsheba. He pleads with God not to take His “Holy Spirit” away from him. The other one is found in Isaiah 63:10-11, where the Holy Spirit is said to have been active through Moses during the Exodus. “But they rebelled and grieved His Holy Spirit; therefore, He turned Himself to become their enemy; He fought against them.”

Now with that, let’s get into our major topics of study for this evening, as we consider the ministry of the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament. How we’re going to start off here, we have seven blanks on your worksheet. We’re going to start with chronology. I’m going to take us through really a chronology of the various mentions of the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament. Just a few, kind of a survey here.

That’s the first blank by the way. THE HOLY SPIRIT’S ROLE IN CHRONOLOGY. As in Old Testament chronology. Now this is not exhaustive, again, but we’re going to work here through a historical survey of some of the references to the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament. There will be some duplication of what I go over here as we work chronologically through this material. When we come back to it and look at it more systematically or categorically. But it’s helpful to kind of see it, almost like we did in Luke this morning, where we see the references to demons all through the gospel of Luke and then we drill down into specific topics. We’ll be doing something similar tonight.

Well let’s start at the beginning. The Holy Spirit was there at creation, and He was involved in creation. Genesis 1:2, “And the earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.” Now of course, after the Fall, after Adam and Eve, they partook of the forbidden fruit, sin entered the world. Sin reared its ugly head right away in Genesis 4 when Cain’s slaughters his brother Abel. Now, there’s no mention specifically of the ministry of the Holy Spirit in the lives of Adam or Eve, or Abel, or Seth, or Enoch, or Noah. But we do know at least that Abel, Enoch, and Noah are mentioned in Hebrews 11 in the “Hall of Faith” as being examples of true faith.

By the time we get to Genesis 6 though God has already had enough. It says here Genesis 6:5-6, “Then Yahweh saw that the evil of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And Yahweh regretted that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.” God’s frustration with sinful man comes out in these words. Genesis 6:3, “Then Yahweh said, ‘My Spirit shall not strive with man forever because he indeed is flesh; nevertheless, his days shall be 120 years.’” Now there’s the reference to the Spirit again, and that word “strive” there, other translations have it as “contend.” My Spirit will not contend with man forever. What it really means is “to judge, to render a judicial decision against someone.”

In fact, Merrill Unger brings that out here in defining this word strive. He says, “The meaning of this word is to be taken in the sense of the Holy Spirit bringing a judicial charge of guilt against the preflood sinners through the ministry of God’s servants warning them of their lawlessness.” So, while the Holy Spirit’s role in creation originally was to give life, a parallel function of the Spirit was to serve as an agent of divine judgment. It reminds me actually of a New Testament Spirit ministry verse in John 16:8, where we’re told in a New Testament context that the Spirit “convicts the world of sin and righteousness and judgment.” We know back here in the Old Testament account that the Spirit did bring conviction to various early preflood individuals, really through the Godly lives and the witness of men like Enoch and Noah, but ultimately to no avail. We know that those folks, though they were given an opportunity to repent, they failed to do so and so the flood came, and the Flood destroyed the wicked and only Noah, and his family survived.

Well, after Noah, there’s no mention of the Holy Spirit in the lives of the Hebrew patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Not to worry though because we know each was an example of faith and each is mentioned in the Hall of Faith in Hebrews 11. Then comes after Jacob, Joseph and there’s that scene where Joseph interprets the two dreams from Pharoah. He develops this plan to conserve food and avoid drought in Egypt. Then there’s this, Genesis 41:38, “Then Pharaoh said to his servants, (speaking of Joseph here) ‘Can we find a man like this, in whom is a divine spirit?’” Now is this a reference to the Holy Spirit? Seeing that these words came from a pagan Egyptian who had no point of reference for a “Holy Spirit,” I’d say probably not. So, I can appreciate the LSB translation decision here to call this “a divine spirit.” After Joseph’s days, there’s the period of the Exodus out of Egypt under Moses. There’s the period then of wilderness wandering entrance into the land of Canaan, the defeat of the Canaanite tribes. In fact, let’s trace through some of that history and we’ll focus on the Spirit’s role in it.

We will start with Moses, the great liberator, the great lawgiver of Israel. God had Moses appoint 70 elders to help him out, to assist him, to shoulder the load. He says this in Numbers 11:16, this is God to Moses. “Yahweh therefore said to Moses, ‘Gather for Me seventy men from the elders of Israel, whom you know to be the elders of the people and their officers, and take them to the tent of meeting, and let them take their stand there with you. Then I will come down and speak with you there, and I will take of the Spirit who is upon you and will put Him upon them; and they shall bear the burden of the people with you, so that you will not bear it all alone.’” So, there’s this incident where the mention of the Spirit being upon Moses and ultimately upon the 70 elders.

In this same time frame we know, there are these tabernacle workers. They’re mentioned in the book of Exodus. These craftsmen who helped with the construction and the decoration of the Old Testament tabernacle. One was Oholiab, and one was Bezalel, and they’re mentioned here in Exodus 31:1. Note the spirit reference here “Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, ‘See, I have called by name Bezalel, the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah. And I have filled him with the Spirit of God in wisdom, in discernment, in knowledge, and in all kinds of craftsmanship, to devise artistic designs for work in gold, in silver, and in bronze, and in the cutting of stones for settings, and in the carving of wood, in order for him to work in all kinds of craftsmanship.” So that’s Moses.

Then comes Joshua. Before Moses dies, God instructs him, Moses to appoint Joshua to be his successor and He does so in these terms in Numbers 27:18, “So, Yahweh said to Moses, ‘Take Joshua the son of Nun, a man in whom is the Spirit, and lay your hand on him; and have him stand before Eleazar the priest and before all the congregation, and commission him in their sight.’” The Holy Spirit was in Joshua, a man in whom is the Spirit before Moses even laid hands on him. More on that later.

Then we get to the book of Judges, and we get Othniel. He’s the first of the judges. He’s the brother of Caleb and look what is said here in Judges 3:9. “Then the sons of Israel cried to Yahweh, and Yahweh raised up a savior for the sons of Israel to save them, Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother. The Spirit of Yahweh came upon him, and he judged Israel.” We know that the Spirit gave Othniel the military skill and victory and he judged Israel for 40 years.

Then there’s Gideon. He delivered the people of Israel from seven years of oppression by the Midianites and before he gathered his army together, the following is said. Judges 6:34, “The Spirit of Yahweh clothed Gideon; and he blew a trumpet, and the Abiezrites were called together to follow him” and then he leads the people to victory.

Another judge who led Israel to victory was Jephthah. This is before his foolish vow. It says in Judges 11:29, “Now the Spirit of Yahweh came upon Jephthah, so that he passed through Gilead and Manasseh; then he passed through Mizpah of Gilead, and from Mizpah of Gilead he went on to the sons of Ammon.”

Next is Samson. Judges 13:25, “And the Spirit of Yahweh (this is speaking of Samson) began to stir him in Mahaneh-dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.” There’s a couple more here for Samson. Judges 14:6, “And the Spirit of Yahweh came upon him mightily, so that he tore it as one tears a young goat, though he had nothing in his hand; but he did not tell his father or mother what he had done.” Judges 14:19, “Then the Spirit of Yahweh (still Samson here) came upon him mightily, and he went down to Ashkelon and struck down thirty of them and took their spoil.” One more Judges 15:14, “And the Spirit of Yahweh came upon him (Samson) mightily so that the ropes that were on his arms were as flax that is burned with fire, and his bonds dropped from his hands.” So that’s the Judges.

After the judges come the period of the kings of Israel. First, in a unified kingdom and then later in a divided kingdom. During the period of the unified kingdom, first was Saul. He was anointed early on, and as he was anointed, the Spirit of Yahweh came upon him. That’s recorded here in I Samuel 10:6, “Then the Spirit of Yahweh will come upon you mightily, and you shall prophesy with them and be changed into another man.” I Samuel 10:10, “And they came to the hill there, and behold, a group of prophets met him; and the Spirit of God came upon him mightily, so that he prophesied among them.” So that’s King Saul.

Then David was anointed to be Israel’s king in the unified kingdom. When that happened “the Spirit of Yahweh departed from Saul” I Samuel 16:14, and at David’s anointing as king, the Spirit of God came upon David instead. I Samuel 16:13, “Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him (that means David) in the midst of his brothers; and the Spirit of Yahweh came mightily upon David from that day forward.” Again, later on when he sinned with Bathsheba, David would say this. Psalm 51:11, “Do not cast me away from Your presence and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.” Of course, that would be a prayer that a New Testament believer, a Christian, would not pray because we are permanently sealed and indwelled by the Holy Spirit. Robert Gromacki draws a nice distinction here between what David was doing in his context and how we relate to the Holy Spirit as followers of Christ. He says “David knew what had happened to Saul. He did not want to be removed from the office of the king. He knew that the Spirit of God came on him when Samuel anointed him, and he was aware that the Spirit had left Saul. His plea was a legitimate Old Testament prayer, prayed by a Spirit anointed king in a difficult situation. This prayer pertained only to David. No other believer would have prayed that prayer. Nor is it a valid prayer for believers in the church age. Whenever we sin, we need not fear that the Holy Spirit will be taken from us.” Amen.

Well after David comes his son Solomon and while the Old Testament is actually silent about any specific ministry of the Holy Spirit in Solomon’s life, II Peter 1:21 reminds us that the Holy Spirit would have been the One who superintended Solomon as he wrote what he wrote, “men moved by God spoke for God.” That’s II Peter 1:21, a paraphrase. But that would have been true of what Solomon wrote in books like Ecclesiastes, and Proverbs, and Song of Solomon. He was moved by the Spirit as he gave us those God breathed books. So, the Spirit worked in the kings of Israel. Not just in Saul, not just in David, he also worked in later kings during the period of the divided kingdom. Like Azariah. II Chronicles 15:1, “Now the Spirit of God came on Azariah the son of Oded, and he went out to meet Asa.”

So, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God, worked in the lives of Old Testament judges and kings in the Old Testament. Now we’re going to see the spirit work in the lives of prophets in the Old Testament, like Elijah. This is a reference to Elijah. I Kings 18:12, “And it will be that when I leave you, the Spirit of Yahweh will carry you where I do not know.” Or here’s the prophet Micah. Micah 3:8, “I am filled with power, with the Spirit of Yahweh.” Or Ezekiel 2:2, “as He spoke to me, the Spirit entered me and caused me to stand on my feet.” Still Ezekiel. Ezekiel 3:12, “Then the Spirit lifted me up, and I heard a great rumbling sound behind me, ‘Blessed be the glory of Yahweh in His place.’” Or Ezekiel 3:14, “So the Spirit lifted me up and took me away.”

Going through that chronological survey, we see right away that the Holy Spirit had a significant presence and ministry during Old Testament times. So now what we’re going to do is pivot and look systematically and categorically on different ways that the Holy Spirit functioned and worked during Old Testament times. We’ve done sort of the chronological run up. Now we’re going to look at this in terms of categories, topics, areas systematically that He worked and ministered in the Old Testament era.

We’ll start with the Holy Spirit’s role in creation. That’s our second blank on your worksheet if you’re a note taker. THE HOLY SPIRIT’S ROLE IN CREATION. We’ll start with a quote by Louis Berkhof, he says, “it is evident from the Old Testament that the origin of life, its maintenance, and its development depend on the operation of the Holy Spirit.” Berkhof is right and Berkhof is great, but Scripture is better; there are several Old Testament passages which speak to various aspects of the Spirits work in creation.

I’ve already quoted a couple of times but here we go again. Genesis 1:2, “And the earth was formless and void, and the darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.” Now, that word “hovering” in Genesis 1:2 is found elsewhere only in Deuteronomy 32:11. We see that here. “Like an eagle that stirs up its nest, that hovers over its young, He spread His wings and caught them; He carried them on His pinions.” So, there’s that word hovers again in Deuteronomy 32. It’s the same word we see in Genesis 1:2, and the idea here is that when the newly created earth was still unformed and uninhabited, the Spirit of God was hovering over it, fluttering over it the way that an eagle like we see here in Deuteronomy 32:11, flutters over its young.

A theologian named G.C. Aalders explains. He says “What then is the purpose of this hovering of the Spirit of God over the waters? It is obvious that it does not indicate a mere presence of the Holy Spirit. The purpose apparently is that an active power goes forth from the Spirit of God to the earth substance that has already been created. This activity has a direct relationship to God’s creative work. Perhaps we can say that the Spirit preserves this created material and prepares it for the further creative activity of God by which the then disordered world would become a well-ordered whole, as the further creative acts unfold.” So, what God creates He also sustains. Part of the Spirit’s work in the Genesis creation account, what this scholar is getting at, is in “hovering” over the creation, He’s keeping things intact, He’s acting as a divine preserver and protector, and He’s maintaining what He Himself has just brought into being as He carries out His creative plans.

The Holy Spirit was there at creation, the Holy Spirit was active in creation, hovering over His creation. This next Scripture I think tells us something else, which is that even before the divine act of creation itself, what we see in Genesis 1, the Holy Spirit was already involved with the two other persons of the Trinity, planning out the design of creation.

This is Isaiah 40:12-14, “Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, and encompassed the heavens by the span, and calculated the dust of the earth by the measure, and weighed the mountains in a balance and the hills in a pair of scales?” This passage is revealing to us already quite a few details about God’s plans and purpose in creation and in doing so know what He says next. “Who has encompassed the “Spirit of Yahweh” or as His counselor has informed Him. With whom did He take counsel and who gave Him understanding. And who taught Him in the path of justice and taught Him knowledge and made Him know the way of understanding.” What’s being driven home here is that God in His creative power, even pre-creation here, had this Spirit of Yahweh there as His counselor, informing the other two persons of the Trinity as the creative plan was ruled out. That is evidence again, that the Holy Spirit, like it says in Genesis 1:2, was involved in the creation of the universe. So, the Holy Spirit was involved in the creation of the universe.

We also know that the Holy Spirit was involved in the creation of animal life. That’s the reference here in Psalm 104:30, “You send forth Your Spirit, they (that’s speaking of animal life) are created; and You renew the face of the ground.” We know the Holy Spirit was involved in the creation of man. Job 33:4, “The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.” One could also argue that these next two verse I’ll show you, are related to the Holy Spirit in creation although in the English translations, the word is both translated breath, not Spirit. Psalm 33:6, “By the word of Yahweh the heavens were made, and by the breath of His mouth all their host.” Arguably that could be translated the Spirit of His mouth but with the word mouth there we see that it’s a good translation to call it His breath. Job 26:13, “By His breath the heavens are made beautiful.” It also can be translated Spirit. It’s fine. It’s a fine translation decision. But here’s the point. The Holy Spirit is involved in creation. From Genesis 1:2 and from other places we see that he was involved in creation.

Here's our next one. THE HOLY SPIRIT’S ROLE IN EMPOWERING, that’s our third point. After creation, what we see in the Old Testament is the Holy Spirit is regularly involved in the role of empowering. He empowered the nation of Israel, and then He empowered individuals within the nation of Israel.

On the national side of things, we know that God chose Israel to be His people. Deuteronomy 7, you didn’t choose Me, but I chose you. There is biblical evidence, in the Old Testament that the Holy Spirit ministered to the entire nation of Israel by being present with and guiding His people. That’s picked up in Nehemiah 9:20, “You gave Your good Spirit to give them insight, (speaking of the Israelites) Your manna You did not withhold from their mouth, and You gave them water for thirst.” Then even as He promised that (as God did) He would send a Messiah one day to Israel, God spoke in collective, corporate terms as He sent His Spirit to His people as a whole.

Look at this passage. Isaiah 59:20-21, “‘A Redeemer will come to Zion, and to those who turn from transgression in Jacob,’ declares Yahweh. As for Me, this is My covenant with them,’ says Yahweh. ‘My Spirit which is upon you, and My words which I have put in your mouth, shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your seed, nor from the mouth of your seed’s seed,’ says Yahweh, ‘from now and forever.’” He’s speaking to Israel as a whole here. Of course, Israel did not always reciprocate with total obedience to God. In fact, they were regularly rebellious against God, which is captured here in Isaiah 63:10. “But they rebelled and grieved His Holy Spirit; (He has personality, He can be grieved) therefore, He turned Himself to become their enemy; He fought against them.” I bring this up, this point of the Holy Spirit’s work on or upon national Israel because we can tend to rush to the question of how the Holy Spirit worked in the lives of individual Israelites, when we study the Old Testament workings of the Holy Spirit. But the fact is there was a sense in which the Spirit of God ministered to the people of Israel as a whole. That’s what is revealed in the Word.

Well not only did the Holy Spirit minister to the nation, the people of Israel as a whole, collectively, He did minister to various individuals in Israel, individually. He did so by empowering them. Meaning, He gave temporary, selective gifts to various individuals in Israel, including, craftsmen, and judges, and prophets, and kings. For instance, and again some of this will be repetitive, the Spirit is said to have “filled” Bezalel, as he and the other craftsmen were working on the tabernacle. Exodus 31:2-3, “See, I have called by name Bezalel, the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah. And I have filled him with the Spirit of God in wisdom, in discernment, in knowledge, and in all kinds of craftsmanship.” Or here’s another reference to Bezalel in Exodus 35. “Then Moses said to the sons of Israel, ‘See, Yahweh has called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah. And He has filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom, in discernment, and in knowledge, and in all craftsmanship; to devise designs for working in gold and in silver and in bronze, and in the cutting of stones for settings and in the carving of wood, so as to do well in every work of thoughtful design.”

The Holy Spirit empowered craftsmen. The Holy Spirit empowered Joshua. This one is more implicit and more implicit equipping. Deuteronomy 34:9, “Now Joshua the son of Nun was filled with the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his hands on him; and the sons of Israel listened to him and did as Yahweh had commanded Moses.”

The Holy Spirit empowered Judges. We’ve already looked at many of these. But Othniel was empowered by the Holy Spirit at that last sentence there. “And the Spirit of Yahweh came upon Him and He judged Israel.”

The Holy Spirit empowered Gideon. Judges 6:34, “But the Spirit of Yahweh clothed Gideon” we’ve seen that one already.

The Holy Spirit empowered Samson. I won’t go through the list of five. I’ll just give you one. Judges 14:19, “Then the Spirit of Yahweh came upon him mightily, and he went down to Ashkelon and struck down thirty of them.”

The Spirit of Yahweh, the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, empowered kings. Here’s King Saul where he was on a hill there. I Samuel 10:10, “And behold, a group of prophets met him; and the Spirit of God came upon him mightily.”

The Holy Spirit empowered King David. I Samuel 16:13, “Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers; and the Spirit of Yahweh came mightily upon David from that day forward.”

The Holy Spirit Empowered Prophets. Ezekiel 2:1-2, “Then He said to me, ‘Son of man, stand on your feet that I may speak with you!’ And as He spoke to me, the Spirit entered me and caused me to stand on my feet.”

Then Micah once more. Micah 3:8, “On the other hand I am filled with power, with the Spirit of Yahweh.”

Here’s a fun one. Just to break this up a little bit. Even though this one is mentioned in the New Testament and not in the Old Testament, this person I’m going to mention was a Jewish man born under the Law and functioned more like an Old Testament believer than he did a New Testament Christian. I’m speaking of Simeon. We learned about him a few months ago in our morning series in Luke. Luke 2:25, “Behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the comfort of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him.” It’s recorded in the New Testament but functionally he was more like the Old Testament type believer. This is pre-Pentecost, pre-descending of the Spirit.

Now for us today, who are in the church, who are in Christ, who live in the church age, we do know that the Holy Spirit distributes gifts, spiritual gifts to every member of the body of Christ.
I Corinthians 12:7, “But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for what is profitable.” It is important to note, I bring this up, it’s important to note that when we say that the Holy Spirit empowered individuals in the Old Testament, whether it was craftsmen or judges or kings or prophets, we are not talking about “spiritual gifts” in the New Testament sense like we have here in I Corinthians 12. No. Those are reserved, these I Corinthians 12 type gifts, are reserved for the church age. Rather, what we’re seeing in these examples in the Old Testament that we’ve been looking at, is simply this. The third Person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, enabling, equipping select individuals in Israel to carry out God’s special plans for that people at that time on the timeline of Israel’s history. So, it’s not a spiritual gift as we would think of a spiritual gift. Rather it’s a special means of equipping someone in the Old Testament to do whatever God designed them to do in that setting.

Now here’s our next major category as we continue in our study of the ministry of the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament. This is number four on your worksheet. THE HOLY SPIRIT’S ROLE IN INDWELLING. Now I’m going to get us started here with another quote from a theologian J. Oliver Buswell and it comes from his work on Systematic Theology. It’s an important quote, this one, because it immediately clarifies a point which has gotten muddied over the years on account of imprecise language used by pastors and teachers. Buswell writes this, “There is a popular cliché to the effect that the Holy Spirit since the day of Pentecost dwells in believers, whereas in the Old Testament times He dwelt only with or upon them. The facts give no support to such a view. The Spirit dwelt in Joshua Numbers 27:18, it is said of Israel under Moses’ leadership that God “put His Holy Spirit within him.” Isaiah 63:11, “My Spirit remaineth among (“in,” the same preposition) you; fear ye not.” Haggai 2:5. In all three of these passages the preposition is ‘in,’ Hebrew “beth,” the equivalent of the New Testament word “en” or in.

Now, there’s a lot to unpack here and I’m going to do my best to do so, but I’m sure many of us have heard the statement that Buswell is referring to here. Right? That in the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit was upon individuals. He came upon or was among or with individuals. But in the New Testament He is actually in individuals. I’m sure we’ve all heard that.

Now I do see how well-meaning pastors and teachers have used that statement, that summary statement to highlight the differences between the ways that God dealt with His original chosen people, Israel, and how He deals with us today, in the church. He was with them, but He’s in us. There’s that distinction between the church and Israel. I see how the logic unfolds. There’s only one problem with that statement though. It’s not true! That’s the problem.

Now, to get us started on this discussion, we actually need to go forward for a minute into the New Testament and specifically to a few familiar instances in the Gospel of John where Jesus is speaking of the Holy Spirit who would one day come as He’s engaging with His disciples in the Upper Room.

Let me read these three familiar passages first then we’ll sort of tease this out. John 15:26, “When the Advocate comes, (Jesus speaking here to His disciples, Upper Room discourse) whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will bear witness about Me.” John 16:7, “But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you. And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment.” John 16:13, “But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak from Himself, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come.”

Now, as we come to these passages, the three I just read, if we’re not thinking along clear and Biblical Trinitarian lines, we might wrongly take the Lord’s words here to mean that the Spirit wasn’t already there. That He wasn’t already present when Jesus said this to His disciples in the Upper Room. There would be some who would say that (and they’re wrong when they say this) that the Spirit only came at Pentecost. But that can’t be true. Because as we saw last week, one of the marks of the Holy Spirit’s deity, His Godness, is that He is eternal. Meaning, He has always existed. So, bringing it back here to the Upper Room discourse, when the Lord spoke here of the “coming of the Spirit,” the Spirit who was already there, it’s clear that what He was saying is that the Spirit was already with them. He had to have been, at least in a broad sense, in the sense that He has always been around. He’s always existed. But His work on earth when He was sent, to use the language here, would take on a different character in a date to come. A date in the future. The day of Pentecost as we now know.

Now here’s another passage from the Upper Room Discourse, I’d like us to lock in on for a few minutes. John 14:16, still Jesus here. He says “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Advocate, that He may be with you forever; the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him. You know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.” Now that last sentence is super important. See Jesus says that the Spirit “abides.” He’s talking to the disciples. They’re face to face. He says the Spirit already abides with them. That is a present tense verb speaking of what is already true. Also, it’s a present tense in the sense that it’s continuous, meaning the Spirit is continuous with them. Continuously acting in their midst. He’s always there.

Then the verb tense shifts. You can see it there. He “abides with you” present tense and then it becomes a future tense. “and He will be in you.” Something is going to happen. What this is signaling is this contrast in the ministry of the Spirit to the disciples, right there in front of Jesus at that time. He was already abiding with them. But a day was going to come where He would be in them. He was with them then, but He would be in them in the future. Same Spirit operating in a different manner.

With that delineation in mind, why don’t I take us back to our subheading here of whether the Holy Spirit was ever “in” individuals in the Old Testament. To do so let’s just go straight to a few texts here and what we’re going to see is that the Holy Spirit did indwell individuals in Old Testament. But He did so in a way that was selective. He didn’t do so universally as He does for every follower of Christ today.

Let’s take a look at a couple of these. Let’s start with this one I mentioned earlier where Pharaoh recognized that Joseph had some sort of “divine spirit” within him. Genesis 41:38, “Then Pharaoh said to his servants, ‘Can we find a man like this, in whom is a divine spirit?’” Again, whether Pharoah understood this to be a reference to the Holy Spirit very well can be questioned. I wouldn’t bet the farm on this being a reference to the Holy Spirit. So, I’m fine with a more generic language “divine spirit.”

But as we progress deeper into the Old Testament, these references to the Holy Spirit being “in” certain individuals becomes clearer. Here’s the instance of Joshua. Numbers 27:18, “Yahweh said to Moses, ‘Take Joshua the son of Nun, (and then look at this language) a man in whom is the Spirit, and lay your hand on him; and have him stand before Eleazar the priest and before all the congregation, and commission him in their sight.” A man in whom is the Holy Spirit. The preposition there in Hebrew makes it very clear that in means in there. It’s not some mistranslation.

Then came the prophet Ezekiel of whom it was said as he was preparing to confront the wicked nation of Israel that the Spirit “entered” him. Ezekiel 2:1-2, “Then He said to me, ‘Son of man, stand on your feet that I may speak with you!’ And as He spoke to me, the Spirit entered me and caused me to stand on my feet; and I heard Him speaking to me.” Ezekiel 3:24, same verb, “The Spirit then entered me and caused me to stand on my feet.”

You have at least Joshua and Ezekiel and maybe Joseph. Again, I’m not betting the farm. I would also argue that there’s a New Testament passage, from Peter which provides further support for the truth that there were individuals in the Old Testament, who were indwelt by the Holy Spirit. Here’s I Peter 1:1, “Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who prophesied of the grace that would come to you, made careful searches and inquiries, inquiring to know what time or what kind of time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating as He was predicting the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow.” The Spirit of Christ was within the prophets; Peter is telling us.

So, while the Holy Spirit did “come upon” various individuals in the Old Testament. That’s how we typically think of the Holy Spirit’s ministry to these various individuals in the Old Testament. Judges 3:10, it is Othniel again. “Spirit is coming upon him.” Judges 11:29, Jephthah. “The Spirit of Yahweh is coming upon him.” I Samuel 10:10, the Spirit of God is coming upon Saul. I Samuel 16:13, the Spirit is coming upon David. There are these other incidences like those we just looked at. Joshua, Ezekiel, maybe Joseph. Where the Hebrew prepositions in verses upon make clear that the Holy Spirit was actually in those individuals.

Now, the question must be asked and rightly asked. When the Holy Spirit indwelt somebody in the Old Testament, say it was a Joshua, or an Ezekiel, maybe a Joseph, did He do so in the same manner that He indwells Christians today. The answer to that question is no.

In the New Testament we see references to the Holy Spirit indwelling true believers. I Corinthians 3:16, “Do you not know that you are a sanctuary of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?” I Corinthians 6:19, “Or do you not know that your body is a sanctuary of the Holy Spirit who is in you?” II Timothy 1:14, “Guard, through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us, the treasure which has been entrusted to you.”

So, we know that if you’re a follower of Christ, you would have the Holy Spirit permanently dwelling in you. We also know according to the New Testament that if somebody does not have the Holy Spirit in them, they’re not really a believer. Romans 8:9, “But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.” Jude 19, “They’re the ones who cause divisions, worldly-minded, not having the Spirit.”

The clear revelation of the New Testament is that when we place our faith in Jesus Christ for salvation, the Holy Spirit comes to live within us. That’s what we covered this morning. No vacant seat for demons. The Holy Spirit is the one who occupies us. That Holy Spirit, the apostle Paul calls the “pledge of our inheritance.” Ephesians 1:13, “In Him, you also, after listening to the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, (our eternal inheritance) unto the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory.” This is where we see the major difference between the Spirit’s role in the Old Testament and New Testaments in indwelling individuals.

In contrast to this permanent indwelling of the Holy Spirit in the New Testament, the indwelling that we see in the Old Testament, Joshua, Ezekiel, maybe Joseph, is selective and it’s temporary. It doesn’t last. It’s not permanent. The Spirit moved in, and it moved upon various individuals in the Old Testament and He did so to get them to perform certain tasks, but then once that task was completed, we see over and over that the Spirit departed and, in some cases, presumably departed from that person. So, in the New Testament, indwelling is permanent and it’s salvific. That’s New Testament. Old Testament indwelling was selective, temporary, infrequent.

Fifth heading if you’re taking notes is THE HOLY SPIRIT’S ROLE IN REGENERATING. Now this one’s going to be, I think, pretty short because we don’t actually have specific Old Testament references to directly support this point. But I do want to make a few connections for us here, which I do think, these points I’m going to make will point to the fact that the Holy Spirit was the agent of regeneration in any Old Testament believer.

We must start with the fact that for anyone to be made right with God, they must be regenerated. Jesus said that to a Jewish man, a Jewish man named Nicodemus in John 3. He told Nicodemus, this Jewish man following the Law that it is impossible for anyone to be justified without being regenerated. Here’s the Lord’s Words. He doesn’t use the Word regenerated, but He uses the Word born again. That’s the same concept. John 3:3, “Jesus answered and said to him, (to Nicodemus) ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.’” John 3:7, “Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’” So that’s one piece of data that we need to file away, that everyone, no exception, is in need of regeneration. Everyone needs the new birth.

Now we also know from Scripture, and here’s another data point to file away, that certain Old Testament believers were justified. Meaning, they were declared “righteous” by God based on whatever faith they had in that moment. Romans 4:3, “For what does the Scripture say? ‘Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.’” Psalm 32:12, “Be glad in Yahweh and rejoice, you righteous ones; and shout for joy, all you who are upright in heart.” It follows that those individual Old Testament believers were justified as Romans 4 says they were, well they must also have been regenerated. And that’s because one precedes the other. One must be born from above, born of the Spirit, regenerated in order to be justified. Because we see these examples of these Old Testament individuals actually being justified, not just in Romans 4 but Hebrews 11, the Hall of Faith. It does follow that those justified Old Testament saints would have been regenerated. And by what means would they have been regenerated? By the Holy Spirit.

I think Jesus hints at this in this passage, John 7:37-39, I believe He’s connecting here the work the Holy Spirit would do in regeneration as he was later sent following the Lord’s ascension. John 7:37, “Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, ‘If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From the innermost being will flow rivers of living water.”’ But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were going to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.” That is connecting the concept of regeneration back to justification that Old Testament saints would have gone through those who truly had faith like Abraham.

Again, there was no permanent indwelling of the Spirit in the Old Testament. There was no sealing of the Spirit in the Old Testament. There was no baptism of the Spirit in the Old Testament. Those concepts all take root after Pentecost. But the Holy Spirit did regenerate individuals in the Old Testament era. Those two terms are very different, indwelling and regeneration. “Indwelling” is all about the presence of God by His Spirit. “Regeneration” is connected to the new birth, being given a new heart. The Old Testament it would be referred to as “circumcision of the heart.” Giving the people the ability to see and hear and believe the way God has designed them to.

But again, anyone who was regenerate in Old Testament, had to have had that work of God the Spirit happen in their hearts. Again, John 3:3, “Unless one is born again.” (This is Jesus speaking to a Jew.) “Unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

Heading number six. THE HOLY SPIRIT’S ROLE IN INSPIRATION. By this, we mean the Holy Spirit’s role in breathing out the text of Scripture. And of course we mean here the Old Testament. This is a message on the Holy Spirit’s role in the Old Testament. The Holy Spirit was the divine agent by revealing God’s message to man, in Old Testament times. This is revealed both in the Old and the New Testament. Peter says in II Peter 1:21, “No prophecy was ever made by the will of man, but men being moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.” He’s speaking of Old Testament prophets at this point. That is saying quite clearly that the prophetic words that the Old Testament authors gave, came not merely from men, but instead they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. So even though they wrote from a human vantage point, they were still agents of the Holy Spirit. He moved them along to say what God designed them to say.

We also see examples of this in the New Testament. The fact that the Spirit was the agent of giving us the Word. Here’s Jesus saying in Matthew 22:43, “How does David in the Spirit call Him ‘Lord,’ (This is quoting Psalm 110:1.) How does David in the Spirit call Him Lord? Note that dual authorship that Jesus attributes to David in Psalm 110. David is the human author. The Spirit moved him. He does something similar in Mark 12:36. David himself said in the Holy Spirit (also quoting Psalm 110 here). There’s that dual authorship idea that David was the human author, the Holy Spirt was the divine author.

Peter does something similar here. This is the scene where they’re looking for a replacement for Judas in Acts 1. He is quoting from Psalm 41 here. He says “Men, brothers, the Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit foretold by the mouth of David concerning Judas.” So again, you have that human author David mentioned, and the divine author, the Holy Spirit, meaning the Holy Spirit was involved in the inspiration of the Old Testament Scriptures.

Or Acts 4:25, this is actually Peter, he is quoting Psalm 2 here. You couldn’t tell by that cut down quote. But He’s saying that “by the Holy Spirit, through the mouth of our father David” and then he goes on to quote from Psalm 2. But the same idea. He’s saying there’s a human author of the Old Testament, and there’s behind that a divine author, the Holy Spirt. Each of these is pointing at the fact that the Holy Spirit was active in delivering God’s truth in Old Testament times, in breathing out what we know as the Old Testament.

We see that here in II Samuel 23:2, “The Spirit of Yahweh spoke by me, and His word was on my tongue.” Sinclair Ferguson says, “The doctrine of inspiration is, therefore, not invented but inherited by the New Testament writers.” Meaning the Old Testament authors were functioning like the New Testament authors in the sense that the Spirit was moving them.

One more, THE HOLY SPIRIT’S ROLE IN THE FUTURE. Now this is appropriately being saved for the end. This is an eschatological statement that we’re making here. But there is a significant amount of prophecy given to us in the Old Testament, and many of those prophetic words in the Old Testament, which by definition are future oriented, speak to the role of the Holy Spirit will have in the future. Both in the events rounding the First Coming of Christ and then the events rounding the Second Coming of Christ.

As we close this evening, I’m going to take us and I’m just going to read without much comment here, a few verses that point to, from an Old Testament standpoint, the role the Holy Spirit will play in the future. That’s our seventh point here. The Holy Spirit’s role in the future.

There are several of these. Isaiah 11:2, “The Spirit of Yahweh will rest on Him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of Yahweh.” Isaiah 32, “Because the palace has been abandoned, the populated city forsaken. Hill and watchtower have become caves forever, a joy for wild donkeys, a pasture for flocks, until the Spirit is poured out upon us from on high, and the wilderness becomes a fruitful orchard, and the fruitful orchard is counted as a forest. Then justice will dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness will live in the fruitful orchard.” That’s a future day.

Isaiah 42:1, “Behold, My Servant, whom I uphold; My chosen one in whom My soul is well-pleased. I have put My Spirit upon Him; He will bring forth justice to the nations.” Isaiah 61:1, “The Spirit of Lord Yahweh is upon me because Yahweh has anointed me to bring good news to the afflicted; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim release to captives and freedom to prisoners, to proclaim the favorable year of Yahweh.”

Ezekiel 11, “And I will give them one heart and give within them a new spirit. And I will take the heart of stone out of their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, that they may walk in My statutes and keep My judgments and do them. Then they will be My people, and I shall be their God.” Ezekiel 36, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you (He’s speaking of Israel) and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to do My judgments.”

Last one, Joel 2:28, “And it will be afterwards that I will pour out My Spirit on all mankind; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy; your old men will dream dreams; your young men will see visions. Even on the male slaves and female slaves I will in those days (future days) pour out My Spirit.”

These are pointing out and highlighting how much the Old Testament has to say about the Holy Spirit’s role in the future when God’s original chosen people, Israel, finally repents and finally returns and embraces their Savior, their Messiah, Jesus of Nazerath. Where they rule and reign with Him in His future kingdom. So that’s it for this evening friends. We have covered seven points; I don’t know how many hundred slides. That brings us to the end. We need to pray.

Father, we thank you for this time this evening. We thank you for the study of your Word. We thank you for what you have revealed to us about your Spirit both in the Old Testament and in the New. I’m going to pray that what has been presented tonight has not muddied the waters, but hopefully is been clarifying as we understand what you’ve said in the 39 books of the Old Testament about His Spirit. Help us to be encouraged by these truths. Help us to remember as followers of Jesus Christ, that we do relate to the Holy Spirit in a way that is different than those in the Old Testament. That we have the Spirit of God living in us, permanently, we are sealed by the Spirit, we are able to walk in the Spirit, we can pray in the Spirit, we are called to manifest and demonstrate the fruit of the Spirit. So, God help us to do that this week. Help us to bring You glory by living Spirit filled lives that honor our Savior, Jesus Christ. It’s in His name we pray Amen.