His Work In Old Testament Times

by L.A. Hickling, of Derby | Category: The Holy Spirit | Mar 1977

In these days the Holy Spirit is given to persons who truly put faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as their Saviour (Eph. 1:13); and He continues to dwell in them throughout their lives (John 14:16). He did not indwell men in the same way in Old Testament times, nevertheless His operation is seen on this earth throughout the course of history.

We learn from Gen. 1:2 that before man was created the energy of the Holy Spirit was manifested. The earth, created by God to be the habitation of man, was waste and void, a place of darkness. Then, we are told,

"... and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters."

No details are given, but His movement there was preparatory to the acts of God in making a new thing, an environment suitable for the man He was going to create. And so it is, that every work of God, be it in past ages or today, begins with a movement of the Holy Spirit.

The first pair were created and put into the environment God had provided for them, but because of disobedience their communion with God was spoiled and they forfeited their place in the garden. Children were born and men multiplied on the face of the earth. As they increased in numbers they increased in wickedness. We read,

"The wickedness of man was great in the earth, and ... every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually" (Gen. 6:5).

God saw it and it grieved Him at His heart, yet in spite of all, His love reached out to men and His desire was that they should be reconciled to Him. So the Spirit strove with them to convict them of their wickedness and to guide them into right ways. They were not responsive and God said that His Spirit would not strive with man for ever. The day came when judgement fell and men learnt the consequences of their failure to pay heed to the strivings of the Spirit of God. Only Noah listened to the warnings and

"prepared an ark to the saving of his house; through which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith" (Heb. 11:7).

After the deluge, the mass of men again went their own way but it is evident that there were those who responded to the voice of the Spirit and God maintained a race of men who were led by the Spirit. Isaac was one such and Joseph was another. The fact of such leading was evident in the lives of these men. It was not the observation of a single incident that prompted Pharaoh to say of Joseph,

"Can we find such a one as this, a man in whom the Spirit of God is?"

(Gen. 41:38).

The fruit of the Spirit in a man's life is apparent in any age.

As time went on and God was working out His purposes He chose a people amongst whom He could dwell. Isaiah 63:11 tells that He put His Holy Spirit in the midst of them, and in Nehemiah 9, where the dealings of God with Israel are under review, we read "Thou gavest also Thy good Spirit to instruct them". If they had heeded the guidance of the Spirit they could have realized to the full the blessings that God had for them,

"But they rebelled, and grieved His Holy Spirit: therefore He was

turned to be their Enemy, and Himself, fought against them"

(Isa. 63:10).

The oversight of God's people called for men fitted for leadership and the men who were marked out by God for this were those in whom the Spirit of God worked. God's house was associated with His people and the building of the house needed craftsmen who could faithfully carry out the pattern given. This work, no less than that of leadership, needed men guided and fitted by the Spirit, as, for example, Bezalel, a man called by name and filled with the Spirit of God

"to work in all manner of workmanship" (Exod. 31:5).

The days of the judges were sad days of departure from God, and Israel was persecuted by enemies as a result. When the people cried to God in their oppression He had men upon whom He could lay His hand to be saviours of the people and by the power of His Spirit they were able to do their appointed work. For eight years the children of Israel served Cushan-rishathaim. God gave them Othniel to be their saviour, but before he went out to meet the oppressor

"The Spirit of the LORD came upon him" (Judges 3:10).

Again, because of their wrongdoing a great horde of Midianites, as locusts for multitude, came against the children of Israel and again they cried unto the Lord. This time He chose Gideon and commanded him:

"Go ... and save Israel from the hand of Midian" (Judges 6:14).

He was not equipped to go in his own strength, but the Spirit of the Lord came upon him and the resulting conquest of the many by the few is well known.

In Samson is portrayed the weakness of a man without the Spirit of God. Before any of his great deeds were done "the Spirit of the LORD began to move him" and, later, "the Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon him". In that might he did his great works; he rent the lion, smote the men of Ashkelon and burst the bands that bound him. How sad was the contrast when the Lord was departed from him! He said:

"I will go out as at other times",

but the strength was not there and he became the gazing-stock of his enemies. Mere human strength cannot avail, either in that day or in this.

The first of Israel's kings had a similar experience. Time was when God was with Saul and the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him. But by disobedience he grieved the Spirit and He departed from him (1 Sam. 16:14). Afterwards Saul tasted the bitter consequences.

When David was anointed in the midst of his brethren

"The Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon David from that day forward" (1 Sam. 16:13).

We see very much evidence of the working of the Spirit in his life, but he realized the sad possibility of the Spirit being taken from him. Hence his confession after his grievous sin,

"Cast me not away from Thy presence; and take not Thy Holy Spirit from me" (Psa. 51:11).

Today our disobedience does not result in the Holy Spirit being taken away from us but it is still possible to grieve or to quench the One who has His dwelling-place within.

An important aspect of the working of the Holy Spirit in Old Testament times was His speaking through the prophets,

"For no prophecy ever came by the will of man: but men spake from God, being moved by the Holy Spirit" (2 Pet. 1:21).

God spoke through the men He had chosen. They were moved by the Spirit and they spoke words given by Him. These words we have in our written record and we accept them as given by the inspiration of God.

The continued disobedience of God's people to His revealed will led to their captivity and exile, just as the inspired words of the prophets had predicted. So for 70 years they were in Babylon and the house of God was in ruins. But again the Spirit of God worked and some were moved to go up to Jerusalem to begin the rebuilding of the house. The beginning was made with vigour but with the passage of time persecution and materialism took their toll and hindered the work until God's Spirit through the prophets and the leaders stirred them to fresh activity and to the achievement of their purpose.

So, even before the great outpouring at Pentecost the activities of men evidenced the working of the Holy Spirit who abode with them.

"The Spirit of truth: whom the world cannot receive; for it beholdeth Him not, neither knoweth Him; ye know Him; for He abideth with you, and shall be in you" (John 14:17).

In the later days of the Old Testament revelation in Holy Scripture, there is a striking scene brought before the prophet Zechariah; one which illuminated for every age a principle of God's dealings with men. As the prophet observed the golden lampstand with its seven lamps, from the angel he heard, "This is the word of the LORD ... not by might, nor by power; but by My Spirit, saith the LORD of Hosts" (Zech. 4:1-6). The One who is entitled the Eternal Spirit (Heb. 9:14) has a unique and abiding role as the divine Agent of the triune God in enabling and energizing the accomplishment of the purpose of grace. This reaches from the earliest times, as we have shown, through the triumph of the redemptive work of Christ and on into the eternal day.

L.A. Hickling, of Derby | Mar 1977
The Holy Spirit