God’s Spirit . . .

 

 

READ Luke 1-4

Our small group shared stories of God’s power in answer to our prayers, everything from an autistic child finally able to ride in a car, to delivering refugees from persecution and death, to healing accident victims, to giving His people a strong love and connection with one another. We are seeing the Holy Spirit at work. I see that also in these chapters in Luke. God’s Spirit was at work in those early days when Jesus came.

Luke felt it was important to share an orderly account of what he knew about Jesus. He began by sharing the story of John the baptizer saying his parents “will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great before the Lord. And he must not drink wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb.” (Luke 1:14–15) This is the Spirit’s power; He can fill an infant even before birth!

He can also strike anyone with the inability to speak, just as happened to John’s father who did not believe what God told him would happen. (Luke 1:20) This links God’s Spirit to faith and speaking ability!

The Holy Spirit came upon Mary and she became a pregnant virgin who would bear the Son of God. (Luke 1:35) Lest we doubt that, Luke says: “For nothing will be impossible with God.” (Luke 1:37)

Pregnant Mary hurried to visit pregnant Elizabeth, John’s mother. "When Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit . . . .” blessing Mary for believing what God had told her. (Luke 1:39–45) John’ father was also filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied: “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David” (Luke 1:67–69).

John was the forerunner who would prepare people for Jesus. Before John’s ministry began, Jesus was born. A righteous and devout man named Simeon was waiting for that event and “the Holy Spirit was upon him. And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ.” When Joseph and Mary brought Jesus into the temple, Simeon was full of the Spirit and blessed Him and praised God for fulfilling His promise. (Luke 2:25–28)

At first, some wondered if John was the Christ but John answered them, “I baptize you with water, but he who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” (Luke 3:15–16) Again, the Spirit was highly involved in his ministry as He would be in the ministry of Jesus Christ.

John baptized people and also Jesus. At that, “the heavens were opened, and the Holy Spirit descended on Him in bodily form, like a dove; and a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.’ ” (Luke 3:21–22) Then Jesus was “full of the Holy Spirit” and when He returned from the Jordan, He “was led by the Spirit in the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by the devil.” (Luke 4:1–13)

After that, Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee and began His ministry of teaching and preaching. He also declared:

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed . . . .” (Luke 4:18)

Obviously, if God used the Holy Spirit to do all these things, and Jesus was filled with the Holy Spirit to do the ministry His Father gave Him, it would be folly to think I can do anything in obedience to God without being filled with the Spirit. It is easy to see that this does not happen just because I want it to happen; it is the work and prerogative of the Lord to fill His people. At the same time, the Bible is clear about the need for it and the results. It is also clear that I am to cooperate with God in choosing to live by His power and not my own:

Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. (Ephesians 5:15–21)

What an amazing wonder that the Spirit of God would do this for a sinner such as I!