Who is the Ruach HaKodesh
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I want to start with a question.
The Hebrew Bible sometimes describes the Holy Spirit as a personal being and not just as an impersonal force. Is the Holy Spirit merely a synonym for God, or does the term describe part of his very nature, his own Spirit?
To answer this question, we will start by quoting from our website.
The Statement
The Statement
Ruach Hakodesh (The Holy Spirit) is co-equal and co-eternal with the Father and with the Son; He was active in the creation of things and continues to be so; He convicts the world of sin, righteousness and judgement; He regenerates, sanctifies, baptizes, indwells, seals, illuminates, guides, fellowships with believers and bestows His gifts upon all believers. (Genesis 1:26; Ezekiel 36:26; Matthew 3:11; 1 Corinthians 3:16, 6:11 and 12:7)
Now is all fine to say, but why do I believe that? What do I base that statement on?
Evidence of Personality
Evidence of Personality
Love
Love
The persona and relateability of the Ruach HaKodesh, as shown in the Scripture, describe a living, feeling, and emotional personality. In the letter to the Romans, Paul urges the church by the love of the Ruach HaKodesh, a love that, to him, comes as a given reality (Rom. 15:30). Messiah states that a tree can only bear like fruit, so when the fruit of the Ruach (Spirit) is listed in Gal. 5:22-23, Paul validates the loving nature of the Ruach HaKodesh in listing love as the foremost quality.
Communication
Communication
The Levites appropriately thank the LORD for his great mercy and patience with Israel shown by continually drawing them back by the word of the Spirit (Neh. 9:30).
Then the Ruach Adonai fell upon me and said to me, “Speak! Thus Adonai says: So you are thinking, house of Israel—for I know the thoughts that come into your mind.
The Spirit instructed Philip, the first missionary,
The Ruach said to Philip, “Go, catch up with this chariot.”
Later on, the Ruach warned the Body of Messiah concerning the Great Apostasy in the latter times (1 Tim. 4:1-5). Along with the Bride, He cries for the Bridegroom to return quickly (Rev. 22:17).
Soul
Soul
Paul refers to the soul of the spirit of God when he talks of the “mind of the Ruach” (Rom. 8:27), and that the Spirit acts according to what “He wills (1 Cor. 12:11).” Ezekiel caught a glimpse of this as he watched the four beasts move forward “wherever the Spirit wanted to go (Eze. 1:12)”, and Paul, Silas and Timothy were forbidden, by the Ruach HaKodesh, to preach in Asia or Bithynia Acts 16:6-7
They went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Ruach ha-Kodesh to speak the word in Asia. When they came to Mysia, they were trying to proceed into Bithynia, but the Ruach of Yeshua would not allow them.
Grief
Grief
There are many instances where people have provoked and grieved the Ruach HaKodesh as Isaiah prophesied. Isa. 63:10
But they rebelled, and grieved His Ruach ha-Kodesh. So He turned to become their enemy. He Himself fought against them.
Paul warns the congregation in Ephesus not to grieve the Ruach HaKodesh Eph. 4:30
Do not grieve the Ruach ha-Kodesh of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
or even quench Him in 1 Thess. 5:19
Do not quench the Spirit,
In many cases judgment follows the provocation of the Ruach HaKodesh as is the case for Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5:3-7). In fact, the letter of Hebrews strongly asserts, Heb. 10:29
How much more severe do you think the punishment will be for the one who has trampled Ben-Elohim underfoot, and has regarded as unholy the blood of the covenant by which he was made holy, and has insulted the Spirit of grace?
Roles of the Ruach HaKodesh
Roles of the Ruach HaKodesh
Peaceful Roles
Peaceful Roles
The Ruach HaKodesh functions in many different roles as He brings the gifts and Word of God to people. David rightly says in Psalms 143:10
Teach me to do Your will, for You are my God. Let Your good Ruach lead me on level ground.
for the Spirit is the maker or creator of life as we see in Job 33:4
“The Ruach of God has made me; the breath of Shaddai gives me life.
In exalting God’s majesty and referring to the creation of the universe, Job testifies, Job 26:13
By His Ruach the heavens are clear; His hand pierced the fleeing serpent.
Elihu reminds Job that God continues to sustain all life by His Spirit and His breath. Job 34:14-15
“If He were to set His heart on it, and gather to Himself His Ruach and breath, all flesh would perish together and mankind would return to dust.
David, recognizing his reliance on the Ruach HaKodesh, says, Psa. 51:13
Do not cast me from Your presence— take not Your Ruach ha-Kodesh from me.
John the Beloved knew the Paraklētôs (Comforter) as the Spirit of Truth who proceeds from the Father and testifies of Messiah. John 14:25-27
These things I have spoken to you while dwelling with you. But the Helper, the Ruach ha-Kodesh whom the Father will send in My name, will teach you everything and remind you of everything that I said to you. “Shalom I leave you, My shalom I give to you; but not as the world gives! Do not let your heart be troubled or afraid.
“When the Helper comes—whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father—He will testify about Me.
Messiah said concerning the Spirit that: John 16:13-14
But when the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on His own; but whatever He hears, He will tell you. And He will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify Me, because He will take from what is Mine and declare it to you.
Not-so-peaceful Roles
Not-so-peaceful Roles
Some of the roles of the Spirit get “forgotten.” In (Acts 2:17-21) Peter quotes Joel and talks of signs and wonders that precipitate the judgment of the LORD. (Joel 3:1 - 4:16) This judgment is ushered in by the power of the Spirit of God (Isa. 4:4) as He fulfils the role as the Spirit of Justice. Paul’s description of the Armor of God has only one offensive component, the Sword of the Spirit (Eph. 6:17). The Ruach HaKodesh wields the Word of God to bring both judgment and mercy. John 16:8-11
“When He comes, He will convict the world about sin, righteousness, and judgment: concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me; concerning righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will no longer see Me; and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged.
Yeshua told us that we do not need to worry about what we should say when we are arrested for His sake. Rather Matt. 10:19-20
But when they hand you over, do not worry about how or what you should say, for it shall be given to you in that hour what you should say. For it is not you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.
Nature of the Ruach
Nature of the Ruach
Mathew, Mark, Luke and John all record the baptism of Yeshua and all recognize the voice of the Father and the Spirit descending upon the Son in the form of a dove (Matt. 3:16, Mark 1:10, John 1:32-33). Luke 3:21-22
Now when all the people were immersed, Yeshua also was immersed. And while He was praying, heaven was opened and the Ruach ha-Kodesh came down upon Him in bodily form like a dove. And from out of heaven came a voice, “You are My Son, whom I love—with You I am well pleased!”
Paul tells the Corinthians that the Lord is Spirit (2 Cor. 3:17), and Yeshua himself states, John 4:24
God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”
John, in his later life, writes, 1 John 5:6-8
Messiah Yeshua is the One who came by water and blood—not by water only, but by water and blood. The Spirit is the One who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. For there are three that testify— the Spirit, the water, and the blood—and these three are one.
The power of the Ruach can be seen in that He raised Messiah from the dead (Rom. 8:11). The omnipresence of God can most clearly understood through the Ruach HaKodesh. Psa. 139:6-7
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain. Where can I go from Your Ruach? Where can I flee from Your presence?
The psalmist then goes on to explain that no place in heaven or earth exists where the Spirit does not.
Ruach in Messiah
Ruach in Messiah
Isaiah prophesied that the Messiah would have the anointing of the Spirit upon His life purposely for preaching good news, binding broken-hearted, proclaiming liberty, opening prisons, comforting mourners, and proclaiming the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God (Isa. 42:1, Isa. 61:1, Luke 4:18). Isaiah also says about Messiah: Isa. 11:1-2
Then a shoot will come forth out of the stem of Jesse, and a branch will bear fruit out of His roots. The Ruach of Adonai will rest upon Him, the Spirit of wisdom and insight, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of Adonai.
Paul states that Yeshua was Rom. 1:4
He was appointed Ben-Elohim in power according to the Ruach of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead. He is Messiah Yeshua our Lord.
and that only through the power of the Spirit did Messiah minister. When Messiah Yeshua laid his life down on the cross, He did so by the strength of the Ruach HaKodesh (Heb. 9:14), and when He rose to life, it was the Spirit who quickened Him. (1 Pet. 3:18)
The Ruach Works in Us
The Ruach Works in Us
In the same way the Spirit empowers people for the accomplishing of God’s purposes and the edification of His people. Sometimes, as is the case of Balaam, Samson and Saul, the person used is unholy (Num. 24:2, Judg. 13:25, 1 Sam. 19:18-24), however, most of the time God has raised up the individual for that specific time and season like David, Esther and Gideon (1 Sam.16:3, Esth. 4:14, Judg. 6:36). The Spirit of God raised Ezekiel up and empowered him simply so that he could stand and listen to the voice of God during His visions (Eze. 2:2, 3:24). The Lord fills each person with different gifts by the power of the Spirit in order to edify the Body and bring effectiveness to their ministry (1 Cor. 12:7, 1 Pet. 1:12). The working of the Spirit causes a transformation to take place (1 Cor. 6:9-11, Gal. 5:16, Tit. 3:5).
Building Character
Building Character
As we allow the Ruach to move in our lives, God’s character is developed in us and people recognize the gifts that He has given us. By the time that Pharaoh recognized Joseph, the Ruach HaKodesh had worked into him the character traits needed for leadership. Gen. 41:38
Then Pharaoh said to his servants, “Can a man like this be found, one in whom is God’s Spirit?”
The Lord anointed Bezaleel, the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah with the Ruach HaKodesh especially regarding wisdom, understanding and knowledge in all manners of workmanship required to furnish the Tabernacle (Ex. 31:3). King Belshazzar said of Daniel, Dan. 5:11
There is a man in your kingdom who has the spirit of the holy gods in him. In the days of your father, he was found to have insight and intelligence, and wisdom like the wisdom of the gods. So King Nebuchadnezzar your father made him chief of the magicians, astrologers, Chaldeans and diviners.
Because Daniel honoured God, The Ruach HaKodesh promoted him and empowered him to live a godly life in Babylon.
Sanctification
Sanctification
Paul understood the working of the Ruach HaKodesh though sanctification when he said to the Corinthians, 2 Cor. 3:18
But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory—just as from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
This changing from one realm of glory to another comes by continually sowing in the Spirit, or in other words, making decisions based upon God’s perspective and not one’s own (Gal. 6:8). As decisions are made according to God’s will, the Ruach HaKodesh builds a habitation of God in the life of the believer. Eph. 2:22
In Him, you also are being built together into God’s dwelling place in the Ruach.
Sanctification by the Spirit, unto salvation, instigates great joy because the character of Messiah can be seen. 2 Thes. 2:13
But we should always give thanks to God for you, brothers and sisters loved by the Lord, because God chose you as firstfruits for salvation through sanctification by the Ruach and belief in the truth.
The Ruach Speaks To Us
The Ruach Speaks To Us
Prophetic Song and Word
Prophetic Song and Word
The Levites, in the days of Nehemiah, sang that God had given His good Spirit to instruct them. This prophetic song was one of the many ways that the Ruach HaKodesh brought instruction to the people. The book of Acts is full of instances of where the Ruach HaKodesh gave instructions. A couple of them include the stories of the disciples Philip (Acts 8:29), Peter (Acts 10:19), Paul and Silas (Acts 18:5). God reveals Himself to believers by the Ruach HaKodesh (1 Cor. 2:10) and one of His methods is the prophetic word. Azariah prophesied to Judah and Benjamin when the Spirit of the Lord came upon Him; Jahaziel the son of Zachariah stood up in the midst of the congregation and prophetically encouraged king Jehosaphat and all of Judah and Jerusalem because the Spirit of the Lord came upon him (2 Chron. 15:1, 20:14). Warning of impending judgment came through prophets such as Zechariah son of Jehoiada (2 Chron. 24:20)
Visions
Visions
The Ruach HaKodesh communicated to Ezekiel primarily through visions. One of these instances recorded in the Scriptures recounts: Eze. 8:3-4
Something like the form of a hand stretched out, and took me by the hair of my head. The Ruach lifted me up between the earth and the heaven. He brought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem, to the door of the gate of the inner court facing north—where the idol that provokes furious jealousy was. Behold, the glory of the God of Israel was there, like the vision that I saw in the valley.
John the Beloved also was caught away by the Spirit when he received the Revelation (Rev. 4:1-2). The Spirit also uses judgment as a means of drawing people to Himself. Isaiah says on behalf of God, Isa. 40:13-14
Who can fathom the Ruach Adonai? Or instruct Him as His counselor? With whom did He consult, and who instructed Him? Who taught Him in the path of justice or taught Him knowledge? Who informed Him about the way of understanding?
Micah again says, Mic. 3:8
Nevertheless I myself am filled with power— with the Ruach Adonai— with judgment, and with might, to declare to Jacob his transgression, and to Israel his sin.
Yeshua clearly sums up the instruction of the Ruach HaKodesh in the Book of John, John 6:63
It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is of no benefit. The words I have spoken to you are Spirit and are life!
The Ruach Works Through Us
The Ruach Works Through Us
Signs and Wonders
Signs and Wonders
Paul stated in Romans 8:14 that the Spirit leads all children of God and demonstrated to the unsaved the power of that Spirit through signs and wonders (Rom. 15:19). He quantifies that being “in the Spirit” is both an internal belief as well as a visible walking out in faith (Gal. 5:25).
Intercession
Intercession
Possibly the most potent ministry of the Ruach HaKodesh, in intercession He beseeches the Father both on our behalf, and through our very mouths. Zechariah, when seeing the time of the Messiah, prophesies, Zech. 12:10
“Then I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication, when they will look toward Me whom they pierced. They will mourn for him as one mourns for an only son and grieve bitterly for him, as one grieves for a firstborn.
Paul clearly understood the working of the spirit “through us” when he wrote to the Romans, Rom. 8:26-28
In the same way, the Ruach helps in our weakness. For we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Ruach Himself intercedes for us with groans too deep for words. And He who searches the hearts knows the mind of the Ruach, because He intercedes for the kedoshim according to the will of God. Now we know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to His purpose.
Therefore because of the intercession that the Ruach HaKodesh prays through us, God works all things together for good. This understanding brings an assurance of salvation because after hearing the word of truth, the gospel of salvation, and believing in Messiah, a believer is sealed with the Ruach HaKodesh of promise (2 Cor. 1:22, Eph. 1:13). The work of the Spirit on our inner man produces an earnest desire to have our mortality swallowed up in life. Since this was God’s plan all along He has given us the Ruach HaKodesh as a guarantee (2 Cor. 5:1-5).
Conclusion & Application
Conclusion & Application
To conclude the discussion about the Ruach I would like to quote from Dr. Michael Brown.
Why is there much more talk about the Holy Spirit in the New Testament than in the Old Testament? It is because the Messiah has come and inaugurated the first stages of the Messianic age, a time of the Holy Spirit’s special activity among mankind. It is a time when the plea of Moses begins to see its realisation (Num. 11:29 “I wish that all the LORD’s people were prophets and that the LORD would put his Spirit on them!”), a time of the outpouring of the Spirit predicted by Joel, a time when verses such as Lev. 26:12 and Eze. 37:27 begin to reach their fulfillment (see 2 Cor. 6:16-18) ….
This glorious experience of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit has become real to millions around the world through Jesus the Messiah. Once, their very nature was bent on sin, destruction, and selfish satisfaction. Now, they live to give glory to God. Where there was hate, there is love; where there was darkness, there is light. That is the effect of the Holy Spirit in the lives of God’s people.
To summarise, then, the real question here is not whether the Holy Spirit is “the Third Person of the Trinity” – words found nowhere in the New Testament – but whether the New Testament teaching on the subject of the Holy Spirit is in harmony with the evidence of the Hebrew Scriptures, and whether it even has some common ground with later Jewish traditions. The answer is emphatically yes. The Holy Spirit is a “who” and not just a “what,” the Holy Spirit is identified directly with God, the Holy Spirit is spoken of as distinct from God. Based on this, theologians have concluded that the Holy Spirit is “the Third Person of the Trinity.”
In any case, this much is perfectly clear: There is nothing unbiblical about the New Testament doctrine of the person and the work of the Holy Spirit, and even a religious Jew can find parallels to these concepts in the rabbinic writings.
My Teaching’s Biggest Problem
My Teaching’s Biggest Problem
Do you know God? Most people are satisfied with knowing ABOUT God, but they do not really want to KNOW God. Rav. Sha’ul says this to the Congregation in Corinth:
But God revealed these things to us through the Ruach. For the Ruach searches all things—even the depths of God. For who among men knows the things of a man, except the man’s spirit within him? In the same way, no one knows the things of God except the Ruach Elohim.
The number role of the of the Ruach is to reveal God to us. And the only way that we can know God is by revelation. In fact it is the only way that we can know anyone.
Today I have taught you a lot ABOUT the Ruach HaKodesh, the Holy Spirit, but all of it is meaningless if you don’t actually KNOW God.
Yeshua said this, Luke. 11:13
If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Ruach ha-Kodesh to those who ask Him!”