The Holy Spirit Moses Knew

"The Holy Spirit Moses Knew" A post about the Holy Spirit. My starting point is the New Testament Book of Hebrews.

Hebrews 3:7-11
7 Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says: "Today, if you will hear His voice, 8 Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, In the day of trial in the wilderness, 9 Where your fathers tested Me, tried Me, And saw My works forty years. 10 Therefore I was angry with that generation, And said, 'They always go astray in their heart, And they have not known My ways.' 11 So I swore in My wrath, 'They shall not enter My rest.' "

This is a quote from Psalm 95

Psalms 95:7-11
7 For He is our God, And we are the people of His pasture, And the sheep of His hand. Today, if you will hear His voice: 8 "Do not harden your hearts, as in the rebellion, As in the day of trial in the wilderness, 9 When your fathers tested Me; They tried Me, though they saw My work. 10 For forty years I was grieved with that generation, And said, 'It is a people who go astray in their hearts, And they do not know My ways.' 11 So I swore in My wrath, 'They shall not enter My rest.' "

Psalm 95 refers to the Israelites tempting God in the wilderness as recorded:

Exodus 17:1-7
1 Then all the congregation of the children of Israel set out on their journey from the Wilderness of Sin, according to the commandment of the Lord, and camped in Rephidim; but there was no water for the people to drink. 2 Therefore the people contended with Moses, and said, "Give us water, that we may drink." And Moses said to them, "Why do you contend with me? Why do you tempt the Lord?" 3 And the people thirsted there for water, and the people complained against Moses, and said, "Why is it you have brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?" 4 So Moses cried out to the Lord, saying, "What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me!" 5 And the Lord said to Moses, "Go on before the people, and take with you some of the elders of Israel. Also take in your hand your rod with which you struck the river, and go. 6 Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock in Horeb; and you shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it, that the people may drink." And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. 7 So he called the name of the place Massah and Meribah, because of the contention of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the Lord, saying, "Is the Lord among us or not?"

All of these references are here to show that when this scripture is referenced in Hebrews, the author clearly attributes the "Lord" of Exodus to be The Holy Spirit. It was the Holy Spirit who was tested and tried and whose works were seen, and who was grieved 40 years and who had wrath with them. It was the Holy Spirit who led the Children of Israel in the Wilderness.

Now bring that forward again to the New Testament where we have the Holy Spirit leading Jesus into the wilderness:

Luke 4:1 Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness...

I have often thought that Jesus testings in the wilderness were an answer to Israel's failures in the wilderness. In each instance, the tests are very similar in their substance if you compare them side by side. In each case Jesus passed the test where Israel had failed.

Another observation: We kind of have this idea about the Holy Spirit that He is some kind of squishy nice-nice Santy Claus type of etherial divine being who goes about sprinkling gifts on Christians so they can be sort of super Christians.

The Holy Spirit who Moses knew, was an awesome God. First met as fire in the bush, who demanded first that Moses respect Him by taking off his sandals.

The Holy Spirit is awesome and he is Holy, only to be approached on his terms. We have lost some of that fear of God we should have. Yet The Holy Spirit invites us to commune with him.

2 Corinthians 13:14 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.

Indeed, May it be so to you today!

Cart before the horse religion

The whole issue of Mormons (LDS) and their (self) righteous style of living came up in Sunday School. The person who brought it up felt they were a model for Christians. On the surface, one could certainly agree that most Mormons, Muslims, Buddhists, etc. live pious lives. The problem and distinction for them is that they have to live that way to prove themselves worthy to God to get into heaven. Biblical Christianity however teaches that man is not saved by works of the law, but that it is only through the substitutionary work of Christ on the cross that we can be saved. All other religions get the cart before the horse.

Ephesians 2:4-10
4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

Galatians 2:11-21
11 Now when Peter had come to Antioch, I withstood him to his face, because he was to be blamed; 12 for before certain men came from James, he would eat with the Gentiles; but when they came, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing those who were of the circumcision. 13 And the rest of the Jews also played the hypocrite with him, so that even Barnabas was carried away with their hypocrisy. 14 But when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter before them all, "If you, being a Jew, live in the manner of Gentiles and not as the Jews, why do you compel Gentiles to live as Jews? 15 We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles, 16 knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified. 17 But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is Christ therefore a minister of sin? Certainly not! 18 For if I build again those things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor. 19 For I through the law died to the law that I might live to God. 20 I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. 21 I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain."

Grace comes first, then the works; not vice versa.

Dallas Soul Food

March didn't go out like a lamb. We travelled to Dallas this past Friday and there were some serious "severe thunderstorms" and tornado watches starting about 70 miles after we left home, mostly until we got to Dallas. It was some tense driving for 5 - 6 hours. At one point I saw that even though the storm was moving northeast, the clouds were moving south over us on the highway. I believe that clockwise rotation happens when the storm is about to spit out a tornado. God saw us through it though and we had no serious incidents. We were going to Dallas to go to a cooking class. We had a lot of fun cooking Cajun food, crawfish bisque, crawfish crouquettes, breaded fried green tomatoes, "Mock Shoe" and a tasty chicken dish I can't pronounce. The chef cooked bananas foster, which I didn't really think I'd like to repeat or even try again. Then Sunday morning we visited Gateway Church. We had good worship and the message by Pastor Robert Morris was very good. We got to eat some Louisiana "soul food", and got our souls fed on Sunday. The trip back was very pleasant. Then it was back to work today.