The Spirit of God or The Holy Spirit – Part 1

The scriptures declare that “no one can say, Jesus is Lord, except by the Holy Spirit" (1 Corinthians 12:3). Holy Spirit is a very personal, distinct member of the Trinity (haElohim - [All] the Gods) who lives in the hearts of Christian believers. We celebrate Pentecost, which commemorates the literal descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles – a celebration acknowledging the Triune nature of THE true God. So why is the Old Testament silent about this very important member of the Trinity? Well, the answer, for sure, is that the Old Testament is not silent; it alludes to the Holy Sprit repeatedly throughout.

The Hebrew word Ruach translated as “Spirit” or “wind” or “breath”, occurs some 400 times in the Old Testament, and a quarter of them refer to the Holy Spirit or the Spirit of God. Certainly, when we remove our God the Father only blinders, we see many more references to the Holy Spirit in the OT. I will discuss these references (Panim or khayyim Elohim or haElohim or Adonee or Shekinah or Oil of Joy) in the coming days. In this section, I will explain the references to the Holy Spirit within Genesis.

Genesis 1:2

“The earth was desolate and uninhabitable, and it was dark on the deep sea, but God's Spirit (Veruach Elohim) hovered over the waters.”

This verse documents the work of the Holy Spirit during the creation – supervising, protecting and even admiring the work of the Word (i.e. Jesus Christ). A strikingly similar event occurs in the New Testament when Jesus is baptized (or recreating his whole creation). Jesus standing in the midst of water and the Holy Spirit hovers in the form of a dove above Him and descends on Him. Of course, God the Father is also present, completing the Holy Trinity.

Genesis 6:3

Yahveh [the Father] said, ‘My Spirit will not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh;

Genesis 41:38

So Pharaoh asked his officials, “Can we find a man like Joseph, one in whom the Spirit of God [Holy Spirit] is present?

Here Pharaoh, a pagan king, acknowledges the Holy Spirit. Although we cannot say for sure what Pharaoh had in mind, Joseph would not have been able to interpret Pharaoh’s dream without the help of the Holy Spirit.

In the Beginning Elohim

Moses and the other OT authors revealed the Trinity – the Father, Son and Holy Spirit – in their writing. To fully grasp and appreciate the existence of the Trinity in the OT through God’s grace, Yoel Natan writes in The Jewish Trinity that one must remove his “God the Father only blinders” and come to see that the OT “is as explicit about the Trinity as is the NT.” Let us begin uncovering the plentiful Trinitarian proofs in the Bible by learning some basic Hebrew terms and concepts that will help us see them more clearly. We will start our Trinitarian quest by learning the meaning of the Hebrew word Elohim.

ELOHIM
Reference: Genesis 1:1

Discourse or Account
“In the beginning Elohim (Gods*) created the heavens and the earth.”

The very first sentence in the Bible reveals two things:

1. There is a God, and that God created the heavens and earth; it didn’t just happen by chance.
2. It reveals the nature of God – the possibility of more than one divine being in the Godhead. This is revealed by the use of the word Elohim. Almost every Hebrew scholar will agree that the word “elohim," as it stands by itself, is a plural noun.

The Hebrew word Elohim (literally, “Gods” or “gods”) occurs 2,600 times in 2,247 OT Hebrew and Aramaic verses. Many argue that the word Elohim should be considered singular when the OT writers refer to the true God (Yahveh) and plural when they refer to the false gods. This argument would be acceptable if Elohim plural were the only form available for a reference to God. However, a singular form of Elohim -- Eloah -- also exists and is used only 250 times in the Old Testament. We should note, too, that Elohim was not used in the Old Testament to refer to Yahveh in any polytheistic sense; that is, believing in or worshiping more multiple gods.

It is generally agreed by both the followers of Judaism and Christianity that Moses and other prophets wrote the Old Testament (The Tanakh) by the inspiration of God the Holy Spirit. The usage of the word Eloah in passages like Deuteronomy 32:15-17 and Habakkuk 3:3 shows that these prophets had a choice between the words Elohim (plural) and Eloah (singular), but they consistently, and frequently, chose Elohim when referring to God. Certainly, if God the Father existed in isolation the recurring use of the word Elohim wouldn’t make sense, and it would confuse most laymen --and our God is not a God of confusion. Remember, Moses did not witness the creation account; he simply recorded what the Holy Spirit moved him to write.

Similarly, the Tanakh was read in the synagogues during the Sabbath; why didn’t the conservative Rabbis oppose Moses' and the other prophets’ use of the word Elohim when they heard it if they discounted its plurality? And what about Jesus’ conservative disciples? They didn’t say a word when Jesus claimed that He is a member of the Trinity. Why? Because they knew He is the truth.

NOTE: All verses cited in this blog are taken from Holy Bible, Beck's An American Translation or www.bible.cc, unless otherwise indicated.

*Words or names--usually Members of the Holy Trinity--in brackets or parenthesis are added to the Bible passage or verse for emphasis.

Trinity in the Old Testament

In this blog I hope to unite the Christian Church, helping break down the denominational boundaries inhibiting the spreading of God's Word and readying His elect for the second coming of our Lord, Jesus Christ.

The Bible is a collection of ancient religious writings about Father, Son and Holy Spirit and their relationship to Human beings. The Bible is written over a period of 4000 years (4000 BC to 70 AD). Christians unfortunately divide the Bible into two parts, the Old Testament was written by Jewish authors (e.g. Moses, Samuel, Solomon, David, Isaiah, etc.) before the birth of Jesus Christ and the New Testament was written by Jesus Christ’s disciples (e.g. Matthew, Paul, Luke, etc.) after His death, resurrection and ascension. It should be noted that use of the words Old and New testaments may imply that some sort of a new start was made after the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. This is simply not true, the redemption plan of Father, Son and Holy Spirit for humanity has not changed since creation of Adam and Eve.


Who is Jesus Christ?
In short, Jesus Christ is God Almighty maker of heavens and earth along with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. Yes Jesus Christ has appeared to many human beings recorded in the Old Testament including Adam and Eve, Noah, Abraham, Hagar, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Israelites and other prophets.
Here are some example versus
Adam and Eve - Genesis 3:8
In the cool of the day (afternoon), when Adam and Eve heard the “Voice/sound of Elohim” among the trees of the garden; they hid themselves from the presence(s) or Panim (Faces) of Elohim. In fact, the Targum reads that they heard the Voice/Sound of the Word of God (Jesus Christ), the Memra, walking in the garden. The Trinity was there to pronounce both a blessing and judgment on mankind. Interestingly, the cool of the day in middle east should be around 3 PM, the same time when Jesus died on the cross.
Israelites - Exodus 14:19
Then the Malek haElohim (translated Angel of the Lord, a separate entity from the Pillar of Cloud or Holy Spirit), who had been traveling in front of Israel’s army, withdrew and went behind them. The pillar of cloud also moved from in front and stood behind them.
Malek haElohim, usually translated as the Angel of the Lord, is a separate entity from the Pillar of Cloud or Holy Spirit. Malek haElohim is no other than pre-incarnate Jesus Christ.
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