John Bevere - Demystifying the Holy Spirit
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So who is the Holy Spirit? We have to ask that, amen? He is the most amazing, wonderful, beautiful, kind, tender, sensitive, mighty person on the face of this earth. You say, «John, on the face of this earth?» Oh yeah, on the face of this earth, because you have to understand the Father is not here on earth; He’s on His throne in heaven. Jesus is not here on the earth. I hear people say all the time, «Jesus is in my heart.» He’s seated at the right hand of God, right? And the angels specifically said, while the disciples watched, «Jesus was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight.»
The two angels said, «Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.» In other words, He’s going to come in the clouds. Has He come in the clouds? No, there are some people who might think that, but you know they’re out on a ranch somewhere, you know where we can’t find Him. But He hasn’t come in the clouds yet, which means He’s at the right hand of God in heaven. When Stephen was being stoned, Stephen looked and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at His right hand. I love that! How Jesus stood for His martyr to come home—I just love that!
But you see, Jesus has been there ever since, you know, approximately 2,000 years ago. He’s not here. I don’t care how much you say He’s in your heart; it’s the Holy Spirit—the Spirit of Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit is referred to as the Spirit of God the Father. Matthew 10:20 Jesus made the statement, «It is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you.» Do you know who is speaking through me right now? The Spirit of my Father. You know, I used to—and I even tried it here before this taping—I used to try to preach my message. Oh, anybody that has ever preached before knows that is a miserable thing because it’s horrible; I can’t preach. But then all of a sudden, what happens?
The Spirit of my Father comes on me, and I begin to speak the word of God! Are you with me? Oh, I love Him! He’s so amazing; He’s never left me out to dry. He never leaves us nor forsakes us. He is the Spirit of God the Son. I said the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God the Son. Philippians 1:19 states, «For you know this will turn out for my deliverance through your prayer and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ.» How do the three work together? Well, 1 Corinthians 12:5-7 gives us a little window into it. We read, «And there are differences of administrations but the same Lord» (that would be Jesus). «There are differences of operations, but the same God which works all in all» (that’s God the Father). «But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit with all.»
So you can see what this shows us: it gives us insight into how they work together. We’ve got the Father operating—all right, that’s verse six—in other words, He initiates. We have the Son who administrates, and then we have the Holy Spirit who manifests. Now to help you get an understanding of this, let’s say we want to build a house. Okay? If we’re going to build a house, what happens? You’ve got an architect, you’ve got a foreman, and you’ve got the workers who actually build the house, the subs, right? Well, in that illustration—this is crude, but it works—God the Father’s the architect, Jesus is the foreman, and the Holy Spirit’s the workers who actually build the house; He’s the manifester of creation. Are you with me?
Because Jesus said in Matthew 12:28, «If I cast out demons by the Spirit of God"—now you hear that? «If I cast out demons by the Spirit of God.» But Luke’s Gospel records it this way: «If I cast out demons with the finger of God.» So, exact same situation: Matthew writes, «Spirit of God,» Luke writes, «finger of God.» So the Holy Spirit is the finger of God. Now listen, there’s something you’ve got to understand. The Greeks always wrote according to form. You’ve got their statues and all that stuff; they’re into all that stuff. The Hebrew writers would always write according to function, so that’s why He’s not actually fingers. This is like if I was trying to communicate to you how the Holy Spirit is my hand that does the work my head desires my hand to do.
You see, He’s revealed as the finger of God, the hand of God, the arm of God. He delivered them with a strong hand and an outstretched arm; He delivered them by His Spirit. If you look at Psalm 83, «When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers…» So, the Holy Spirit is the one who actually put those stars in their orbit, put the moon and the Earth, because He says «the work of your fingers,» the moon and the stars which you have ordained. He’s the one that manifested all creation; that’s why He’s hovering upon the waters, waiting for the architect to initiate and the Son to administrate by saying, «Light, be!» Because Jesus is the word of God.
So when «light, be!» was spoken, that was the Son, are you with me? Administrating what the Father said to do, and the Holy Spirit made it happen! I love that! Man, that is so good! Are you with me? I mean, some of my favorite scriptures in the Bible on the Holy Spirit: Isaiah 40:12—listen to these words: «Who else has held the ocean in His hand?» Think about it; He held the entire ocean in His hand! «Who has measured off the heavens with His fingers?» So you can see the Holy Spirit is being described here by His function, okay? «Who else knows the weight of the Earth, or who has weighed the mountains in a scale?» «Who is able to advise the Spirit of the Lord?»
Who knows enough to give Him advice or teach Him? Has the Lord ever needed anyone’s advice? No way, baby! Does He need instruction about what is good? Does someone teach Him what is right or show Him the path of justice? No! For all the nations of the world are but a drop in the bucket; they are nothing more than dust on the scales. He picks up the whole earth as though it were a grain of sand! Amazing! That’s the Spirit of the Lord! Do you see how mighty He is? Do you understand how mighty He is? Remember when I said He agreed with the Father and the Son to come make His residence in us? It puts us on our face, can you say amen?
In regard to the creation of mankind, Genesis 2:7 says, «And the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being.» Who did that? The Holy Spirit. How do I know that? Because Job said in Job 33:4, «The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.» He was the one that breathed into Adam’s nostrils the breath of life—not only just Adam but each of us as well, because Psalm 139:13 says, «You formed, listen to this, you formed my inward parts; you covered me in my mother’s womb.» In fact, the Spirit of God formed everything we see. Proverbs 26:10 says, «The great God who formed everything.» He’s the one that manifested the creative desire of the Father. Are you with me?
So the Holy Spirit, He’s God. How is He referred to? What are His names as revealed by the word of God? He’s called the Holy Spirit 96 times in the Bible; He’s called the Spirit of the Lord 28 times; He’s called the Spirit of God 26 times; He’s called the eternal Spirit. He’s called the helper, He’s called the comforter, He’s called the Holy One, He’s called the Lord, He’s called the Spirit of Truth, He’s called the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of counsel, the Spirit of your Father, the Spirit of the fear of the Lord, the Spirit of Glory, the Spirit of Grace; He’s called the Spirit of Jesus Christ, the Spirit of judgment, the Spirit of burning, the Spirit of knowledge, the Spirit of life, the Spirit of love, the Spirit of might, the Spirit of power, the Spirit of prophecy, the Spirit of revelation, the Spirit of a sound mind, the Spirit of understanding, the Spirit of wisdom, the Spirit of holiness.
I love that! The Spirit of the Holy God! Jesus depended upon the Holy Spirit; He was conceived by the Spirit, He was taught by the Spirit, He was empowered by the Spirit. He did not do one miracle until He was baptized in the Spirit at the River Jordan because John’s Gospel says the first miracle He did was at Cana of Galilee after He was baptized; the Spirit came upon Him. He was led by the Spirit; He only spoke when He heard the Spirit speaking.