The Holy Spirit in the Old Testament Part 1

More than a century ago before the age of Ozone holes and other pollution the rain that fell on the earth was the same rain that fell at the beginning of time and creation. In the same way the Holy Spirit of God has rained golden drops of grace on us since time forgotten, ancient days, modern times, and will so until the end of time and beyond. Some theologians believe that the Holy Spirit really had not arrived until the time of the Acts of the Apostles. This is due to an over-literal reading of Christ's words, ""But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you."—John 14:26. However, this is not the case. In fact the first mention of the Holy Spirit is before the beginning of time, "Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters."-Genesis 1:2.

A common misconception is that the Trinity came consecutively. But what we need to understand is that they are all the same being, and yet different forms. Before you say WHOA, this sounds like some sort of Pagan religion. Think of the Trinity as the States of Water. I just taught this to an elementary school class the other day. We have water, ice, and steam. All are the same element, they have the same properties and yet exist as different forms, and by different names. Think of it another way, when you take a drop from the ocean, it is the same thing but in a different form, size, shape, and name. But once you return it, it becomes part of the ocean. But I am focusing on the Third Being in the Trinity, the Holy Spirit.  Long before Christ came to earth we see references to the Spirit in the Bible and even in extra-Biblical accounts. There are references to the Spirit of the Hebrew God in Babylon, Egypt, and even as far as China.

There are two giants in the faith I would like to look at in this sermon and their personal relationship with the essence of the Father. The first of these is the progenitor of our faith, Abraham.
Abraham, or Abrahm as he was once called hailed from the land of Ur, now known as modern day Iraq, many believe around Baghdad, or possibly Mecca. We see that God first appears to Abraham in the earlier chapters of Genesis. But we know from other references in the Bible that no one could look upon God's face so when the Lord called Abraham it was His Spirit. In fact, almost every instance of God speaking in Genesis to any of the Patriarchs involves a "voice" or a "calling" the actual original ancient Hebrew has the grammatical sense of a non-specific proper noun, meaning a thing but with the same properties as a person. In every instance though of Abraham's interactions with the Spirit it is to do the following:
1) To teach Abraham.
2) To correct.
3) To guide.
The most obvious examples of the Spirit taking the forms of the Trinity was in the visit of the Three. In Genesis 18:1-8, Abraham was in the terebinths of Mamre when three men "in the presence of God." There has been debate that these beings are angels but Abraham clearly addresses them as Lord. God goes onto destroy Sodom and Gomorrah and the rest is history. The next example of Abraham's interaction with the Holy Spirit is in the form of Melchizedek. In Genesis 14:18 we see that Abraham recognises Melchizedek for who he is by giving him proper tithes and offerings. You may be wondering why am I just recounting Biblical history? Abraham was a father of nations, a world traveller, a general, and a holy tribal leader. And yet when it came to the Holy Spirit Abraham submitted to the will of God and His Spirit and he felt that grace.

The next giant of the faith I would like to examine is Moses. A cornerstone of our faith, and a fighter for the Lord and human rights.