Holy Spirit in the Old Testament Part 2

Hello brothers and sisters in Christ. Today we continue on from the last sermon on the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament. Last day we looked at Abraham and how God frequently communicated with him through His Spirit and how certain characters in the Bible were the representation of that Spirit. Today we will be looking at Moses. Moses, a Prince of Egypt felt God on his heart. The Spirit of God guided Moses even before he knew of the God of the Hebrews. The Spirit guided the basket through the Nile, protected him in the house of pharoh, and helped him to grow in wisdom, stature, and honour. But unlike Abraham, Moses came to be aware of God's presence the way many of us do; through a horrible hardship, event, or crisis, whether it is through our own doing, or by some external force.

After the murder of the Egyptian overseer Moses was compelled into the desert, but the question is what compelled him to do so? What preserved him throughout the desert? And what brought him to the well of the Sheihk of Median? The Spirit of God; It was an unseen force pushing him foward, unlike Abraham Moses did not know what was pushing him foward, the Spirit was much more subtle than with Abraham. It was not until decades later in the form of the burning bush that the Spirit addressed Moses. But why this different form? So very different than Abraham's or others experiences. Throughout Exodus we see a very indirect relationship between Moses and the Spirit of God, this is due to the fact that it was inside Moses, and the miracles of God were evident outside. The Spirit of God gave Moses the strength, determination, and wisdom to lead the three million people of Israel from Egypt to the Promised Land. Judaism considers Moses to be the greatest man who ever lived, but it was the Holy Spirit who made him great.

When things got too much for Moses, at one point he even asked God to kill him. God's response was,

"And The Lord said unto Moses, Gather unto Me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom thou knowest to be the elders of the people, and officers over them; and bring them unto The Tabernacle of the congregation, that they may stand there with thee. And I will come down and talk with thee there: and I will take of the Spirit which is upon thee, and will put it upon them; and they shall bear the burden of the people with thee, that thou bear it not thyself alone." (Numbers 11:16-17 KJV).

Like Moses when we cannot handle life's load, God's Spirit reinforces, strengthens, and gives us hope. Even since the beginning of time we see this. Let us take comfort and hope from Moses' interactions with the Spirit of God because the same issues we have today, Moses had thousands of years ago. The Spirit of God may not speak to us from a burning bush but speaks just as loudly in our hearts, through His Word, and through our spiritual elders.