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Ch 05 The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit as Revealed in His Names
AT least twenty-five different names are used in the Old and New Testaments in speaking of the Holy Spirit. There is the deepest signif- icance in these names. By the careful study of them, we find a wonderful revelation of the Person and work of the Holy Spirit.
/. The Spirit.
The simplest name by which the Holy Spirit is mentioned in the Bible is that which stands at the head of this paragraph " The Spirit" This name is- also used as the basis of other. names, so we begin our study with this. The Greek and Hebrew words so translated mean literally, " Breath " or " Wind." Both thoughts are in the name as applied to the Holy Spirit.
i. The thought of breath is brought out in John xx. 22 where we read, " And when He had said this, He breathed on them^ and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost." It is also suggested in Gen. ii. 7, " And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life ; and man became a living soul." This becomes more evident when we compare with this Ps. civ. 30, u Thou sendest forth Thy Spirit^ they are created : and
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40 The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit
Thou renewest the face of the earth." And Job xxxiiL 4, " The Spirit of God hath made me^ and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life." What is the significance of this name from the standpoint of these passages? It is that the Spirit is the outbreathing ojf God, His inmost life going forth in a personal form to quicken. When we receive the Holy Spirit, we receive the inmost life of God Himself to dwell in a personal way in us. When we really grasp this thought, it is overwhelming in its solemnity. Just stop and think what it means to have the inmost life of that infinite and eternal Being whom we call God, dwelling in a personal way in you. How solemn and how awful and yet unspeakably glorious life becomes when we realize this.
2. The thought of the Holy Spirit as u the Wind " is brought out in vfohn iii. 6-8, u That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth : so is every one that is born of the Spirit." In the Greek, it is the same word that is translated in one part of this passage u Spirit " and the other part of the passage cc wind/* And it would seem as if the word ought to be translated the same way in both parts of the passage. It would then read, " That which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the c Wind ? is wind. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. The \yind bloweth where it listeth and thou hearest the
The Holy Spirit as Revealed in His Names 41
sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh or whither it goeth : so is every one that is born of the c Wind/ " The full significance of this name as applied to the Holy Spirit (or Holy Wind) it may be beyond us to fathom, but we can see at least this much of its meaning :
(i) The Spirit like the wind is sovereign. u The wind bloweth where it listeth " ^(Jolin iii. 8). You cannot dictate to the wind. It does as it wills. Just so with the Holy Spirit He is sovereign we cannot dictate to Him. He cc divides to each man " severally even as^He wiU"J{l Cor. xii. II, R. V.). When the wind is blowing from the north you may long to have it blow from the south, but cry as clamorously as you may to the wind, u Blow from the" south " it will keep right on blowing from the north. But while you cannot dictate to the wind, while it blows as it will, you may learn the laws that govern the wind's motions and by bringing yourself into harmony with those laws, you can get the wind to do your work. You can erect your windmill so that whichever way the wind blows from the wheels will turn and the wind will grind your grain, or pump your water. Just so, while we cannot dictate to the Holy Spirit we can learn the laws of His operations and by bringing ourselves into harmony with those "laws, above all by submitting our wills absolutely to His sovereign will, the sovereign Spirit of God will work through us and accomplish His own glorious work by our instrumentality.
(2) The Spirit like the wind is invisible but none the less perceptible and real and mighty. You hear the
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sound of the wind (John iii. 8) but the wind itself you never see. You hear the voice of the Spirit but He Himself is ever invisible. (The word translated *^ sound" in John iii. 8 is the word which elsewhere is translated " voice." See R. V.) We not only hear the voice, of the wind but we see its mighty effects. We feel the breath of the wind upon our cheeks, we see the dust and the leaves blowing before the wind, we see the vessels at sea driven swiftly towards their ports ; but the wind itself remains invisible. Just so with the Spirit ; we feel His breath upon our souls, we see the mighty things He does, but Himself we do not see. He is invisible, but He is real and perceptible. I shall never forget a solemn hour in Chicago Avenue Church, Chicago. Dr. W. W. White was making a farewell address before going to India to work among the students there. Suddenly, without any apparent warn- ing, the; place was" filled with an awful and glorious Presence. To me it was very real, but the question arose in my mind, "Is this merely subjective, just a feeling of my own, or is there an objective Presence here ? " After the meeting was over, I asked different persons whether they were conscious of anything and found that at the same point in the meeting they, too, though they saw no one, became distinctly conscious of an overwhelming Presence, the Presence of the Holy Spirit. Though many years have passed, there are those who speak of that hour to this day. On another occasion in my own home at Chicago, when kneeling in prayer with an intimate friend, as we prayed It seemed as if an unseen and awful Presence entered
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the room. I realized what Eliphaz meant when he said, " Then a spirit passed before my face \ the hair of my flesh stood up Y (Job iv. 15). The moment was overwhelming, but as glorious as it was awful. These are but two illustrations of which many might be given. None of us have seen the Holy Spirit at any time, but of His presence we have been distinctly conscious again ^nd again and again. His mighty power we have wit- nessed and His reality we cannot doubt. There are those who tell us that they do not believe in anything which they cannot see. .Not one of them has ever seen the wind but they all believe injthe wind. They have felt the wind and they have seen its effects, and just so we, beyond a question, have felt the mighty pres- ence of the Spirit and witnessed His mighty workings.
(3) The Spirit like the wind is inscrutable^ u Thou ':anst not tell whence it cometh and whither it goeth." Nothing in nature is more mysterious than the wind. But more mysterious still is the Holy Spirit' in His operations. We hear of how suddenly and unexpect- edly 'in widely separated communities He begins to work His mighty work. Doubtless there are hidden reasons why He does thus begin His work, but often- times these reasons are completely undiscoverable by us. We know not whence He comes nor whither He goes. We cannot tell where next He will display His mighty and gracious power.
(4) The Spirit, like the wind, is indispensable. Without wind, that is u air in motion," there is no life and so Jesus says, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he
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cannot enter into the kingdom of God." If the wind should absolutely cease to blow for a single hour, most of the life on this earth would cease to be. Time and again when the health reports of the different cities of the United States are issued, it has been found that the five healthiest cities in the United States were five cities located on the great lakes. Many have been surprised at this report when they have visited some of these cities and found that they were far from being the cleanest cities, or most sanitary in their general arrangement, and yet year after year this report has been returned. The explanation is simply this, it is the wind blowing from the lakes that has brought life and health to the cities. Just so when the Spirit ceases to blow in any heart or any church or any community, death ensues, but when the Spirit blows steadily upon the individual or the church or the community, there is abounding spiritual life and health.
(5) Closely related to the foregoing thought,. like the wind the Holy Spirit is life giving. This thought comes out again and again in the Scriptures. For example, we read in John vi. 63, A. R, V., " It is the Spirit that giveth life," and m/2 Cor. Hi. 6, we read, " The letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life." Per- haps the most suggestive passage on this point is Ezek, xxxvii. 8, 9, 10, "And when I beheld, lo, the "sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above : but there was no breath in them. Then said He unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord GODJ Come from the four winds, O breath, and
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breathe upon these slain, that they may live. So I prophesied as He commanded me, and the breath came into them^ and they lived, and stood upon their feet, an exceeding great army " (cf. John iii. 5). Israel, in the prophet's vision, was only bones, very many and very dry (vs. 2, n), until the prophet proclaimed unto them the word of God; then there was a noise and a shak- ing and the bones came together, bone to his bone, and the sinews and the flesh came upon the bones, but still there was no life, but when the wind blew, the breath of God's Spirit, then ic they stood up upon their feet an exceeding great army/* (All life in the individual believer, in the teacher, the preacher, and the church is the Holy Spirit's worki You will some- times make the acquaintance of a man, and as you hear him talk and observe his conduct, you are repelled and disgusted. Everything about him declares that he is a dead man, a moral corpse and not only dead but rapidly putrefying. You get away from him as quickly as you can. Months afterwards you meet him again. You hesitate to speak to him ; you want to get out of his very presence, but you do speak to him, and he has not uttered many sentences before you notice a marvellous change. His conversation is sweet and wholesome and uplifting \ everything about his manner is attractive and delightful. You soon dis- cover that the man's whole conduct and life has been transformed. He is no longer a putrefying corpse but a living child of God. What has happened ? The Wind of God has blown upon him ; he has received the Holy Spirit, the Holy Wind. Some quiet Sabbath
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day you visit a church. Everything about the outward appointments of the church are all that could be de- sired. There is an attractive meeting-house, an expen- sive organ, a gifted choir, a scholarly preacher. The service is well arranged but you have not been long at the gathering before you are forced to see that there is no life, that it is all form, and that there is nothing really being accomplished for God or for man. You go away with a heavy heart. Months afterwards you have occasion to visit the church again ; the outward appointments of the church are much as they were before but the service has not proceeded far before you note a great difference. There is a new power in the singing, a new spirit in the prayer, a new grip in the preaching, everything about the church is teeming with the life of God. What has happened ? The Wind of God has blown upon that church ; the Holy Spirit, the Holy Wind, has come. You go some day to hear a preacher of whose abilities you have heard great reports. As he stands up to preach you soon learn that nothing too much has been said in praise of his abilities from the merely intellectual and rhetorical standpoint. His diction is faultless, his style beautiful, his logic unimpeachable, his orthodoxy beyond criti- cism. It is an intellectual treat to listen to him, and yet after all as he preaches you cannot avoid a feeling of sadness, for there is no real grip, no real power, indeed no reality of any kind, in the man's preaching. You go away with a heavy heart at the thought of this waste of magnificent abilities. Months, perhaps years, pass by and you again find yourself listening to this
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celebrated preacher, but what a change ! The same faultless diction, the same beautiful style, the same unimpeachable logic, the same skillful elocution, the same sound orthodoxy, but now there is something more, there is reality, life, grip, power in the preach- ing. Men and women sit breathless as he speaks, sinners bowed with tears of contrition, pricked to their hearts with conviction of sin j men and women and boys and girls renounce their selfishness, and their sin and their worldliness and accept Jesus Christ and surrender their lives to Him. What has happened ? The Wind of God has blown upon that man. He has been filled with the Holy Wind. (6) Like the wind, the Holy Spirit is irrjjjtfiUcv We read inMcts i. 8, " But ye shall receive power ', after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you : and ye shall be witnesses unto Me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts of the earth." When this pronpSe of our Lord was ful- filled in Stephen, we read, I** And they were not able to resist the wisdom and the Spirit by which he spake/* A man filled with the Holy Spirit is transformed into a cyclone. What can stand before the wind? When St. Cloud, Minn., was visited with a cyclone years ago, the wind picked up loaded freight cars and carried them away off the track. It wrenched an iron bridge from its foundations, twisted it together and hurled it away. When a cyclone later visited St. Louis, Mo., it cut off telegraph poles a foot in diameter as if they had been pipe stems. It cut off enormous trees close to the root, it cut off the corner of brick buildings where it passed
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as though they had been cut by a knife ; nothing could stand before it; and so, nothing can stand before a Spirit-filled preacher of the Word. None can resist the wisdom and the Spirit by which he speaks. The Wind of God took possession of Charles G. Finney, an obscure country lawyer, and sent him through New York State, then through New England, then through England, mowing down strong men by his resistless, Spirit-given logic. One night in Rochester, scores of lawyers, led by the justice of the Court of Appeals, filed out of the pews and bowed in the aisles and yielded their lives to God. The Wind of God took possession of D. L. Moody, an uneducated young busi- ness man in Chicago, and in the power of this resist- less Wind, men and women and young people were mowed down before his words and brought in humble confession and renunciation of sin to the feet of Jesus Christ, and filled with the life of God they have been the pillars in the churches of Great Britain and through- out the world ever since. The great need to-day in individuals, in churches and in preachers is that the Wind of God blow upon us.
Much of the difficulty that many find with John iii. 5, " Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Ex- cept a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he can- not enter into the kingdom of God," would disappear if we would only bear in mind that " Spirit " means "Wind" and translate the verse literally all through, u Except a man be born of water and Wind (there is no " the " in the original), he cannot enter the kingdom of God." The thought would then seem to be, " Ex-
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cept a man be born of the cleansing and quickening power of the Spirit (or else of the cleansing Word cf. John xv. 3 | Eph. v. 26 ; Jas. 1. 18 j I Pet. L 23 and the quickening power of the Holy Spirit)/ 3
II. The Spirit of God.
The Holy Spirit is frequently spoken of in the Bible as the Spirit of God. For example we read in I Cor, iii. 1 6, " Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you." In this name we have the same essential thought as in the former name, but with this addition, that His Divine origin, nature and power are emphasized. He is not merely " The Wind " as seen above, but " The Wind of God."
III. The Spirit of Jehovah.
This name is used of the Holy Spirit in Isa. XL 2, A. R. V., " And the Spirit of Jehovah shall rest upon him." The thought of the name is, of course, essen- tially the same as the preceding with the exception that God is here thought of as the Covenant God of Israel. He is thus spoken of in the connection in which the name is found, and, of course, the Bible, following that unerring accuracy that it always exhibits in its use of the different names for God, in this connection speaks of the Spirit as the Spirit of Jehovah and not merely as the Spirit of God.
IV. The Spirit of the Lord Jehovah.
The Holy Spirit is called the Spirit of the Lord Jehovah in Isa. Ixi. 1-3, A. R. V., " The Spirit of the
The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit
Lord Jehovah is upon Me ; because Jehovah hath anointed Me to preac * good tidings to the meek ; He hath sent Me to bind up the broken-hearted, to pro- claim liberty to the captives, etc." The Holy Spirit is here spoken of, not merely as the Spirit of Jehovah, but the Spirit of the Lord Jehovah because of the re- lation in which God Himself is spoken of in this con- nection, as not merely Jehovah, the covenant God of Israel, but as Jehovah Israel's Lord as well as their covenant-keeping God, This name of the t Spirit is even more expressive than the name u The Spirit of God."
V. The Spirit of the Living God.
The Holy Spirit is called "The Spirit of the living God" in 2 Cor. iii. 3, "Forasmuch as ye are mani- festly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the liv- ing God ; not in tables of stone,, but in fleshy tables of the heart." What is the significance of this name ? It is made clear by the context. The Apostle Paul is drawing a contrast between the Word of God written with ink on parchment and the Word of God written on " tables that are hearts of flesh " (R, V.) by the Holy Spirit, who in this connection is called "the Spirit of the living God," because He makes God a living reality in our personal experience instead of a mere in- tellectual concept. There are many who believe in God, and who are perfectly orthodox in their concep- tion of God, but after all God is to them only an in- tellectual theological proposition. It is the work of the
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Holy Spirit to make God something vastly more than a theological notion, no matter how orthodox 5 He is the Spirit of the living GW, and it is His work to make God a living God to us, a Being whom we know, with whom we have personal acquaintance, a Being more real to us than the most intimate human friend we have. Have you a real God ? Well, you may have. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of the living God, and He is able and ready to give to you a living God, to make God real in your personal experience. There are many who have a God who once lived and acted and spoke, a God who lived and acted at the creation of the uni- verse, who perhaps lived and acted in the days of Moses and Elijah and Jesus Christ and the Apostles, but who no longer lives and acts. If He exists at all, He has withdrawn Himself from any active part in nature or the history of man. He created nature and gave it its