Last week, the LORD reminded me of the fundamental reason why the Holy Spirit was given to us. We can be so immersed into the local church’s routine that we forget the main reason behind any Christian duty. Here are a few facts about the Holy Ghost.
In Isaiah 61:1, the prophet foretells the LORD’s ministry saying: “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news...”
After His temptation, Jesus left the desert in the power of the Spirit and went on to preach in the synagogues. In one of them, He opened the scroll of the prophet Isaiah and said: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to proclaim good news [i.e. the Gospel] to the poor [in spirit – cf. Mat 5:3]. Luke 4:14-15, 18
Shortly before His death, He promised the disciples that He would send them a Helper from the Father; the Spirit of truth, who would bear witness about me. He added that they also would bear witness (Jn. 15:26-27).
After His resurrection and just before His ascension, again He told them: “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” Ac 1:8.
From all these passages it is clear that whenever the Holy Spirit is given to someone, it is first and foremost to preach the Gospel; to proclaim the Good News of the death and resurrection of Jesus; the Good News of the remission of sins in His Name. This is precisely what Peter did after his baptism in the Holy Ghost. He preached Jesus with boldness and power: May you all know for certain that GOD has made Jesus, whom you crucified, both LORD and Christ (Ac 2:36).
Nowadays, we’d rather stick to the first part of the promise: Mais vous recevrez une puissance. The Church and Christians only have one thing in mind: Power! However, irrespective of our spiritual gifts or ministry gifts, the reason why GOD pours His Spirit in us has not changed since the day of Pentecost. It still is to preach the Gospel; to make known the Good News of Jesus Christ. Miracles, signs and wonders are just a means to an end. They are just tools which prepare a platform onto which the Gospel can/will be preached. A platform to remind the world that a man came on earth, but He was more than just a man; He was the Son of GOD and He died for our sins. He rose from the dead to redeem our lives from spiritual and physical death. And then, He ascended to Heaven and sent us the Holy Spirit Esprit so that we could go and tell others about Him!
The Holy Spirit was never given to us to preach anything other than Jesus-Christ, and Jesus-Christ crucified (1Cor 2:1-2, Gal 3:1). We like to preach Jesus-Christ glorified (power, prosperity, spiritual gifts, healing etc.); but we don’t like to preach or teach Jesus-Christ crucified. To preach Jesus-Christ crucified is to preach the reason why He died; it is to expose the problem of sin and it is to preach the necessity of repentance. These are as many things that the 21st century Christian doesn’t like to hear anymore.
I pray that we will make good use of the next day and ponder over these things. Have a great week and GOD bless you.
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