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Do We Know The Holy Spirit?
Short explanations to 335 Bible texts that speak of the Holy Spirit
II. The Holy Spirit in the Gospels

3. The person of Jesus and the Holy Spirit


Jesus in his hometown of Nazareth


John 3:34-35
34 “For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God does not give the Spirit by measure. 35 The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into His hand.

Human understanding cannot fathom the width and depth of this witness to Jesus. He humbly confessed to be a messenger, who obediently allowed Himself to be sent as God´s representative. The Lord unconditionally submitted Himself unto the will of His Father. Therefore, Jesus did not speak His own words, but the words of His Father, words which healed, judged, forgave sin, comforted and raised the dead with power and authority (John 4:34; 14:10). The mystery of Jesus´authority was His being filled with the entirety of the Spirit of God. In Him dwelled all the fullness of the Godhead bodily (Col. 2:9)!

Jesus led His hearers into a still greater depth of understanding and testified to them that the mystery of His existence and miracles rested in the fact that the Almighty and Holy God was His Father, who so deeply loved His unique Son, who was born of the Spirit. He so recognized His unfathomable humility, meekness and sacrificial willingness that He surrendered to Him all mankind and angels, all creatures and stars for evermore. This authorization also included the trustful handing over of the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus accepted this responsibility, for He was prepared to die for the sin of all sinners, and to again reconcile the world to God, His Father.


Jesus in His Hometown of Nazareth

Luke 4:16-21
16 So He came to Nazareth where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read. 17 And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written: 18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, 19 to preach the acceptable year of the lord.” 20 Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him. 21 And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”

Every Christian should memorize, contemplate, and testify in faith to verses 18 and 19 of this account, for the word “Christ” means nothing other than one “anointed”!

Jesus testified with three words in Hebrew of the indissoluble unity of God´s trinity: “The Spirit” – “of the Lord” – “is upon Me”! This is another form of our confession of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit! Isaiah had already heard and written down this Spirit-effected witness of the Messiah 700 years previously (Is. 61:1-2).

Jesus explained to His listeners in the synagogue of Nazareth the reason why this unity of God and man was a reality in Him: “because He has anointed Me!” The Spirit-filling of Jesus at His baptism was the confirmation of His being born of the Spirit, as well as His equipping for service. In the Old Covenant, Kings, priests, and prophets were anointed with the Spirit of God as a sign of their own inability. At the same time, this anointing served as their equipping for service. A Christian is, Biblically speaking, only a Christian if he has been anointed with the Spirit of God (Rom. 8:9-10).

Jesus continued with His self-testimony and revealed the reason why He had been anointed: “to preach the gospel to the poor!” Jesus had, in word and deed, testified to the Semites of something unspeakably sensational - that God had a Son, who lived without sin, because He was born of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, He remained worthy to die as the atoning sacrifice in the place of all sinners. This is a fantastic announcement of God and the gospel for all! It showed itself, however, that many were not open for the gospel of Christ. Only the poor, wretched and needy flocked to Him. The self-righteous, the strong, the beautiful, the rich and great all missed the gift of Jesus at the dawning of the age of God´s grace (Matt. 11:25-30).

Whoever wants to understand the effects and objectives of the Holy Spirit should read and study the Spirit-led proclamation of Jesus in His self-testimony. There one finds His comfort for the imprisoned, the blind, and the cast-down. These promises of the Spirit became reality, being fulfilled in the life of Jesus.

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