(3) Filled with the Spirit

In our last study we considered the words of our Lord Jesus Christ in John 7:38 that out of his (Christ’s) “belly would come rivers of living water.” The type was the rock in the wilderness which poured forth its waters to the thirsty congregants. This happened twice. At first it was struck with the rod and the other time all you had to do was ask. This in turn is likened to the two outpourings of the Holy Spirit in the first century and in the Kingdom age. It is depicted as rain coming down and creating rivers in the desert which is likened to the new spirit that will be given to the children of Israel when they recognize Jesus as their Christ and Lord. The literal waters that will flow from the temple in the Kingdom are then indicative of the word of the Lord, his spirit, going forth for the healing of all the nations.

The Spirit on Israel in the Last Days

An example of this that I couldn’t get to last week is in Isaiah 44:1-4,

“Yet now hear, O Jacob my servant; and Israel, whom I have chosen:  (2)  Thus saith the LORD that made thee, and formed thee from the womb, which will help thee; Fear not, O Jacob, my servant; and thou, Jesurun, whom I have chosen.  (3)  For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground: I will pour my spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring:  (4)  And they shall spring up as among the grass, as willows by the water courses.”

If you’ll recall this spirit poured out is what Zechariah calls “a spirit of grace and supplication” (Zech. 12:10) which comes upon them once they realize what they’ve done to Jesus whom they pierced. While Joel calls it the latter rain which is poured upon all flesh to prophesy and see visions (Joel 2:28-29), we find in other places that it goes much deeper than that. It is also, and more importantly, for cleansing the nation of their uncleanness.

Ezekiel also speaks of this in Ezekiel 36:25-27,

“Then [after being gathered form the nation] will I sprinkle[1] clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you.  (26)  A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.  (27)  And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.”

The work of God then in pouring out his spirit is for a change of heart. It is for repentance and the forgiveness of sins (v. 31). It is for obedience to the truth and the keeping of his statutes. I would suggest to you that this has always been the primary purpose of the Holy Spirit. The spirit is always producing and bearing fruit. God is always at work in the heart of everyone. Some resist. Some accept.

It’s just in the first century and in the kingdom where it abounds so much in wonders and signs for an abundance of fruitfulness. You may have noticed that in the Isaiah passage and here again Ezekiel follows up the same way speaking of the fruitfulness of the land like the garden of Eden (36:29-35). Literally a beautiful bountiful garden? Yes, but more importantly it is symbolic of a time where many are converted. So much so that as Amos says, “the plowman shall overtake the reaper” (Amos 9:13). Imagine that. We try so hard in this day and age to preach and hardly anyone listens. In the kingdom, the outpouring of the spirit will be so abundant that all will come to worship the one and true Lord.

It may help our understanding in this respect to consider a different spirit that has been poured out on Israel during our day and age. Israel now has upon them a spirit given by God to the effect that their eyes have been closed. This is found in Isaiah 29:10,

(ESV) “Astonish yourselves and be astonished; blind yourselves and be blind! Be drunk, but not with wine; stagger, but not with strong drink![2]  (10)  For the LORD has poured out upon you a spirit of deep sleep, and has closed your eyes (the prophets), and covered your heads (the seers).”

Paul quotes this verse in Romans 11:8 as pertained to the blindness which has happened to Israel until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. This spirit is one that has closed their eyes so that they cannot see the wonderful things that God has done. It as if you hand them a Bible and they cannot read it because they are illiterate (v. 11-12). It is like a veil that has covered their face so they cannot see the glory of God (2 Cor. 3:15-17). When Jesus Christ comes again, he is going to remove the veil and give them another spirit. 

To do that God has to pour out yet another spirit, that is his fury, wrath and anger. Let us not think this will be easy. The pouring out of this spirit is not instantaneous. There will still be those who resist the Holy Spirit just as their fathers did. There will be those who rebel as Ezekiel 20:33-38 describes,

“As I live, saith the Lord GOD, surely[3] with a mighty hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with fury poured out, will I rule over you:  (34)  And I will bring you out from the people, and will gather you out of the countries wherein ye are scattered, with a mighty hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with fury poured out.  (35)  And I will bring you into the wilderness of the people, and there will I plead with you face to face.  (36)  Like as I pleaded with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so will I plead with you, saith the Lord GOD.  (37)  And I will cause you to pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant:  (38)  And I will purge out from among you the rebels, and them that transgress against me: I will bring them forth out of the country where they sojourn, and they shall not enter into the land of Israel: and ye shall know that I am the LORD.”

This is like the vials (or bowls) of wrath that God pours out in Revelation 16. Like water (Hos. 5:10) God’s judgments will come down. Like a storm which no one can escape. Thus, with fury poured out, will God purge out the rebels. Zechariah gives us the proportion that two-thirds shall be cut off and die (Zech. 13:8-9). This leaves only one-third of Israel which will remain as purged by fire upon whom the spirit of grace and supplication shall be poured. These are the ones sprinkled with clean water and given a new heart, a new spirit within them.

The Purpose of the Holy Spirit

I find all of this very instructive for the purpose of the Holy Spirit. What will happen to the nation of Israel is what should be happening with us right now. They have a special place, but we cannot wait until the return of Christ. That change must happen within us now. We must have a new heart, a new spirit. We cannot resist what is the main purpose of the Spirit of God.

Alfred Nicholls in his book “The Spirit of God” when commenting on the gift of God puts it this way,

“… that the universal gift of God to all the believers included, for different times and different purposes, different practical ways of giving expression to it is equally plain. The principal reason why the Apostle has to refer to these is, however, not to enable us to construct a consistent theology about charismatic gifts, but to warn the first century believers (and us) against mistaking the part for the whole. We must not think that the whole purpose, even the main purpose, of God’s gift was the ability to exercise special powers or be infallibly guided other than by complete dedication to the Word of God. This should also warn us against persisting in the belief that any attempt to discuss the question of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer today implies belief in the contemporary existence of special powers or of a mystic influence that controls. The manifestation of the Spirit is ‘given to every man to profit withal’, and if in the early church there were apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers, their special gift was not the whole gift of God: it was the grace given ‘according to the measure of the gift (dorea) of Christ’”.[4]

Brother Nichols is saying that the “gift (singular) of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38) includes all that God has given us in Christ through the Holy Spirit (pg. 113). This includes the means of redemption, the opportunity to repent, the forgiveness of sins, the new life, the fellowship of the saints in love, the hope of life everlasting (pg. 116).

When it comes to the language of the spirit in the Bible we cannot shy away from it. We have to understand it in its broadest sense. As Christ’s ecclesia we stand here today so dependent on the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in the first century. No doubt we are partakers and benefiters of all that has been given unto us. Now we stand on the precipice of another great pouring forth of the spirit upon all flesh when Christ returns. And though we live in between these time periods it does not mean that rain does not fall. It does not mean that we cannot now drink of the water Christ has poured out. We still in our lives are meant to grow by God’s word, the seed implanted and the increase that he gives us through being watered. That is the true purpose of the Holy Spirit.

Let’s just go back to John 7:38 for a moment and reconsider. The main application here is to Christ pouring out the Holy Spirit especially on the day of Pentecost. The water though continues to flow to this day. That rock follows us and we are invited to drink of these waters for they are the wells of salvation. Is the other reading of waters flowing from a believer not true? It is not the primary meaning of John 7:38 but it is not untrue.

Consider an earlier incident when Jesus talks to the woman of Samaria at the well in John 4:10,

“Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.”

When Jesus said “the gift of God” do you think he is talking about miraculous spirit powers? I don’t think so. It’s not the main import. The same could be said for John 7:38. The invitation is for all to drink as he expands on his meaning in verse 13-14,

“Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again:  (14)  But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.”

Here is the amazing promise of the Lord Jesus. If we drink the water he gives us, that is his words, then those same waters will be like a spring of water within us. We ourselves will be like a well that never runs dry. Now this well is not said to overflow but a well is meant to be drawn upon. It can give water to others. This language comes from Isaiah 58:10-11 and is about those who practice the true fast of the Lord, that is, for those who seek to give of themselves to others.

(ESV) “if you pour yourself out [KJV draw out thy soul] for the hungry and satisfy [fill] the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday.  (11)  And the LORD will guide you continually and satisfy your desire in scorched places and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.”

Who are the thirsty and hungry? Yes, there are real people who need physical food and water which we can give, but is this also talking about those who hunger and thirst after righteousness (Matt. 5:6)? If we give of what Jesus has given unto us, then we have this promise of even more water springing up inside of us. It’s a never-ending supply. The more you take the more it produces. We ourselves must be like the Lord Jesus and give of these waters. We might not be a river, but you don’t need to be a river to satisfy one thirsty soul.

This makes sense then that we too are a source of these living waters. Paul said he planted; Apollos watered but God gave the increase (1 Cor. 3:6). We, like Apollos, can water by preaching. What we speak in accordance with the Scriptures is like rain on parched ground. 

How many people actually just pick up a Bible and discover the truth and believe? Recently I talked with Bro. Jesse Adair about his testimony on the Essential Bible Studies podcast.[5] He related his reading of the Bible and how he figured out some key doctrine before even meeting a Christadelphian. But then he said he came to a point where he needed a teacher. That kind of surprised me but it makes sense. 

We often quote that simple verse in Rom. 10:17 which says, “So faith cometh from hearing, and hearing by the word of God” but in the context he also says in v. 14, “how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?” Every one of us needs to be a preacher in whatever capacity God has given unto us. We all can point to some brother or sister whose words and actions gave us the real sense of what Jesus Christ is all about.

The Pouring out of the Spirit for Us

When it comes to the aspect of the spirit being poured out like water there are two New Testament quotations which unmistakably have to apply to us, even in this day and age. The first is found in Titus 3:4-7,

“But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared,  (5)  Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;  (6)  Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour;  (7)  That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”

Things to note here:

• The word “shed” (KJV) is the word “pour” which refers to the Holy Spirit.
• This is not about holy spirit gifts but about salvation, justification by faith through God’s grace so that we might have eternal life. This applies to all believers.
• Notice it is poured out abundantly (or to the full, richly) by God through Jesus Christ. Like a river.
• The word “regeneration” (G3824 paliggenesia) means rebirth (NIV) or new birth (NET). This takes our minds back to the words of Jesus to Nicodemus in John 3:3-5 that we need to be born again by water and Spirit.
• The word “washing” (G3067 loutron) means a bath and the only other place it is used is in Eph 5:26-27 “That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,  (27)  That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.”
• There is no definite article in the Greek. It literally reads “renewing spirit holy”.
• The only other place the word “renewing” (G342 anakainosis) is used is Romans 12:1-2 “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.  (2)  And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”

This renewing of the Holy Spirit is then more properly understood as the “renewing of the spirit of our minds in holiness” (Eph. 5:23). Patterned after the spirit or mind of the Lord Jesus Christ. This washing of the water comes by the word of God. That is the source of these living waters that are poured upon us abundantly.

The other passage that we want to consider in terms of the pouring out of the Holy Spirit is in Romans 5:5. The context of this passage is like Titus in that Paul is talking about being justified by faith (v. 1) and how we have access now to this grace (or gift) wherein we stand (v. 2). With that in mind now read verses 3-5,

“And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience;  (4)  And patience, experience; and experience, hope:  (5)  And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which[6] is given unto us.”

Points to note:

• Again, the word “shed” (KJV) is the word “poured”
• Again, there is no definite article in the Greek. It literally reads “the love of the God has been poured out in the hearts of us through spirit holy of that having been given us.” (Diaglott)

Let us then not mistake what this spirit of holiness is all about. What is the water? It is the spirit of Christ, his mind, his humble way of thinking, his demeanor, his attitude, his obedience, his holiness. In Romans 1:4 Paul said that Jesus was “declared to by the Son of God with power, according to [the] spirit of holiness, by the resurrection of the dead.”[7] Life for the Lord Jesus was based on this spirit of holiness which in his love he has given unto us. Truly what he has given us is “a well of water springing up into everlasting life.”

Filled with the Spirit

You may have astutely noticed that this time it is not the spirit that is poured out but that which the spirit produces in maturity which is love. The fruit of the Spirit is “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance” (Gal. 5:22). As the spirit is poured into our hearts the result is this fruit. Turn to Romans 15:13-14 to see this,

(NIV) “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow [KJV abound] with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit [lit. spirit holy]. (14) I myself am convinced, my brothers and sisters, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with knowledge and competent to instruct [KJV admonish] one another.”

Verse 13 is a prayer. Verse 14 is a recognition. So, three times Paul mentions being filled or full, like an empty vessels to have water poured inside. When we are filled by God, we know it by that which we experience in joy and peace. We experience the full goodness that can be found in others. We can all be filled with knowledge to teach, that is, able to adequately supply water to other thirsty souls. All this comes from the power of spirit holy (no definite article).

So then, if God has poured out the spirit holy into our hearts, can it be said that we can be full of the Spirit?

Being filled with the Holy Spirit is a term used for those who were prophets or spoke forth the word of God.[8]

• Bezaleel – “I have filled with the spirit of God, in wisdom and understanding” (Ex. 31:3)
• Joshua – “was full of the spirit of wisdom” (Deu. 34:9)
• John the Baptist – “he shall be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb” (Luke 1:15)
• Elisabeth (Luke 1:41) and Zacharias (Luke 1:67)
• Jesus (Luke 4:1) – “God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him” (John 3:34)[9]
• The Apostles (Acts 2:4), Peter (Acts 4:8) and other disciples (Acts 4:31)
• Stephen (Acts 6:5; 7:55) – “full of faith and of the Holy Spirit”
• Barnabas (Acts 11:24) – “he was a good man, and full of the Holy Spirit.”
• Paul (Acts 13:9)
• The disciples – “were filled with joy, and with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 13:52)

All of these have an association with prophesying or the Holy Spirit gifts. Some are sudden, but others are not. Some come before the laying on of hands. This is probably not too surprising that one in this condition would be considered “full of the Holy Spirit”. 

On the other hand, is it used exclusively for working of miracles or prophesying? What would be the opposite? Consider the one with Paul in Acts 13:9,

“Then Saul, (who also is called Paul,) filled with the Holy Ghost, set his eyes on him,  (10)  And said, O full of all subtilty and all mischief, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord?”

Obviously, Paul had the holy spirit gifts at his disposal to appropriately inflict blindness on Elymas the sorcerer. It is of no surprise that Paul at this time is “filled with spirit holy”. But what is Elymas filled with? In contrast, Paul says he is “full of all subtilty and all mischief.” There is a drastic contrast here. A person then can be filled with many different types of spirits or attitudes, good or bad. 

The bad is:

• Wrath (Luke 4:28; Acts 19:28) and indignation (Acts 5:17)
• Fear (Luke 5:26)
• Madness (Luke 6:11)
• Why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Spirit (Acts 5:3)
• Subtility and mischief (Acts 13:10)
• Envy (Acts 13:45 cp. v. 52)
• Confusion (Acts 19:29)
• Unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness… (Rom. 1:29)

The good is:

• Joy (2 Tim. 1:4 among many others)
• Wonder and amazement (Acts 3:10)
• Grace and truth (John 1:14,16)
• Comfort (2 Cor. 7:4)
• All the fulness of God (Eph. 3:19)
• The Spirit (Eph. 5:18) = The word of God (Col. 3:16)
• The fruits of righteousness (Phil. 1:11)
• The knowledge of his will (Col. 1:9)

The passage in Eph. 5:18 is a rare one that is Paul’s instruction for us to be filled with the Spirit. It’s important to read it in context from verse 17-19,

“Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.  (18)  And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;  (19)  Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord;”

Verses 17 and 18 are parallel so that being “unwise” = “drunk with wine” and “understanding the will of the Lord” = “filled with the Spirit”. 

To further collaborate this Paul expresses the same thought in different words in Col. 3:16,

“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.”

Here now we see that “the word of Christ dwelling in us richly in all wisdom” is equivalent to being “filled with the Spirit”. How do we do this? By teaching and admonishing in music. Not just any music reliant on the beat of the drum or the catchy riff. No, it is music able to teach. The lyrics uplift and help us in our hearts to give thanks to God. That is truly to be “filled with the Spirit”.

Conclusion

Hopefully we can see now that to be filled with the Holy Spirit is not some instantaneous mystical experience. It is something that we must nurture and develop in our hearts and minds by none other then the word of God. It is God’s power to change us and make us wise according to his will. Let’s open our hearts to be transformed and prove that perfect will of God in our lives.