05.Dec.2008 Enter: The Holy Spirit
Mark 1: 9-11 (NLT): One day Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee, and John baptized him in the Jordan River. As Jesus came up out of the water, he saw the heavens splitting apart and the Holy Spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice from heaven said, “You are my dearly loved Son, and you bring me great joy.”
This moment in history is very significant in the plans God has for the earth. Jesus has come to the earth. This is the beginning of the formation of the New Covenant. God made the first covenant–the Old Covenant–with the people of Israel, binding them to Him and placing upon them the Law. The presence of God was limited to the Tabernacle. Within the Holy of Hollies, God’s presence resided. Only the High Priest could enter. None had access. In this time, Jesus comes.
Jesus is baptized in the Jordan River. This is the same river that the Children of Israel crossed over in order to enter the promise land. Before they crossed the river, the Children of Israel were slaves. They cross the River into freedom. We all reach that river that we must cross in order to leave our lives of slavery to sin and enter the Promises of God.
Now, Jesus is baptized in the Jordan River, and the sky is torn open. The Spirit descends and fills Jesus. From that moment on, Jesus moves in the Spirit. Miracles are performed. The Religious crowd is being rubbed the wrong way. They could not control Him. Religion seeks to control. The Spirit brings freedom. The Holy Spirit has empowered Jesus, and He moves. All man, all God; God With Us; Emmanuel; God comes in the form of the Son to walk with humanity, and the Spirit falls, the Power of God! He manifests in many ways, and people are changed from ordinary to supernatural. The Holy Spirit unleashed the Power of God inside of Jesus.
The Holy Spirit causes us to be different. He takes hold of our world! Jesus saves us. We worship and submit and have faith in Him, the Head of the Church. He is the Supreme Being of the Universe! But the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Godhead, that empowered and filled Christ. And this same Spirit who filled the first believers, the ones the Religious crowd hated because they were not educated, is here, empowering us.
Communion is about access. It is having access to the presence of God, that one thing that was closed off to the masses. Remembering through the bread and the cup is about access to God! Communion is a gathering of believers eating and enjoying each other’s company. Communion was birthed from the Passover Meal. Jesus is eating with His friends. At the end of the meal, He breaks the bread and passes the cup and asks them to remember Him whenever they did this. Jesus knew what was coming. The Old Covenant was about to end, and the New Covenant, forged by His blood, His sacrifice, His broken body, the New Covenant of Access to God is about to come.
Mark 15:33-39 (NLT): At noon, darkness fell across the whole land until three o’clock. Then at three o’clock Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?” Some of the bystanders misunderstood and thought he was calling for the prophet Elijah. One of them ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, holding it up to him on a reed stick so he could drink. “Wait!” he said. “Let’s see whether Elijah comes to take him down!” Then Jesus uttered another loud cry and breathed his last. And the curtain in the sanctuary of the Temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. When the Roman officer who stood facing him saw how he had died, he exclaimed, “This man truly was the Son of God!”
One of the most terrifying moments in the Bible happens on the cross. Jesus cries out, “My God! My God! Why have you forsaken me?” Jesus, the second member of the Godhead, is being seperated from God. As He is dying, He feels God withdraw. His Father, who has been with Him from the beginning, who He talked to every night; the Spirit that had empowered Him, something was stirring on the inside. As all of this is happening, He feels like He is drifting away from God. He cries out, “Why? Why are you forsaking me in this hour?” He is hanging on the cross, and His Spirit…the Holy Spirit…
Jesus utters on last loud cry, and He breathed His last. As He breaths His last, the Holy Spirit leaves His body. When He breaths His last, the Veil in the Temple, separating the presence of God from the world, is torn from top to bottom! Now, nothing separated God from His people, from His world.
And a Roman Soldier is the one who says, “Surely, this was the Son of God.” A Gentile sees what so many missed.
The Presence of God is released. The barrier is torn, the same as the sky over the Jordan when Jesus was baptized. The Holy Spirit tore the veil. He removed the barrier between God and Man. Jesus begins to descend, to pay the price. The Holy Spirit and God stand aside to wait while the Son goes to defeat sin, hell, death, and the grave. Three days pass, and then, God tells the Holy Spirit to go!. Romans speaks of how the Holy Spirit raised Jesus from the dead. He sets Jesus free. Jesus comes back, encourages and empowers His friends, and then leaves. He instructs them to wait. The Spirit is coming to live in you!
The Spirit comes as a rushing wind on the day of Pentecost. The same Spirit who empowered Jesus now filled His disciples. The same Spirit who empowered the disciples to live a supernatural life is filling us, here, in 2008, and empowering us to live a supernatural life. Every area of creation, He was there. He was there in creation. He was there throughout the age of the Old Covenant, anointing a select few to do His will. And in the New Covenant, He was released to live in us. Paul says, “This is the mystery. Christ in You.” The Spirit in you. The Kingdom in you. The Holy Spirit empowering you to fulfill this call.
When we come to God, we come to love Jesus. And then, things begin to change. Things begin to shift. Our lives begin to more to a higher level, and we don’t understand how or why it is happening…THAT is the Holy Spirit. He begins to speak and teach and show us the Truths of God. He empowers us to live a supernatural life. He is the one who walks with us day by day by day. Gives us the courage to live boldly the same as the disciples.
Get to know the Holy Spirit. He is the final member of the Godhead. You do not truly know God until you know His Spirit. “I baptize you in water, but He will baptize you in fire.” From Jordan to Calvary, the Spirit was involved in every step. How can you ignore Him and say that He was only for the Christians in Acts? Oh no, the Spirit will fill any who is willing to step out of their comfort zone and see where God wants to take them. He says, “It is by my Spirit!”
