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NAMES OF GOD SERIES
THE NAMES OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
In this chapter we
want to look at some names of the Holy Spirit the third person of the Godhead.
In Genesis chapter one we see the beginning of the
manifestation of the Holy Spirit. The word Spirit is translated from
the Hebrew word Ruah. Ruah is sometimes translated as wind or breath
too. In Genesis 1: 2 The earth was without form and
void, and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God the Ruah of God was hovering over the face of the
waters. The Holy Spirit is one of the persons of the Godhead and He too has His
titles. In the last message we saw the titles of the eight names of Jehovah
fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ. We now want to see the titles of the
Holy Spirit. As He is one of the persons of the Godhead, He
caries a mighty power and manifestation with Him. As we seek to
understand the person of the Holy Spirit, we find that we cannot fully
understand Him. He could do what He wants. And if He had wanted to do a healing
service, we would just go on a healing service. We need to flow with Him.
But
even if you sit and listen to the word being taught and preached, His healing
virtues could come on your life and you could receive whatever He has prepared
for you. The Holy Spirit has been striving with men from the beginning of time.
In the book of Genesis we find other incidences of the Holy Spirit working. In
Genesis 6: 3 and the Lord said my Spirit shall not strive with men forever for
he is in the flesh. Yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years. We find
the Holy Spirit striving. And you also find the Holy Spirit striving in the
book of Galatians chapter six. Striving against flesh.
The Spirit and the flesh strive one against the other. The same person of the
Holy Spirit is still moving and striving with man in order to perfect man and
to bring him into the very fullness of what God has for him.
Now
there are many descriptions as to what the Holy Spirit does. And some of
descriptions fit into His names. But we are going to consider just five
different divisions of the names of the Holy Spirit and His manifestation as
Almighty God. First of all we want to see some references of the Holy Spirit
throughout the Bible especially in the prophetic books. You would find the phrase
the Spirit of God came upon, for example, and the Spirit of the Lord
came upon Jeremiah, the Spirit of the Lord came upon Ezekiel etc.
When we begin to
read the Bible in the Hebrew and look at the Hebrew names of God, we find that
there are five different divisions for the Holy Spirit titles and names.
Sometimes it talks of the Spirit of Yahweh. In fact most of
the time the original Hebrew uses the word the Spirit of Yahweh when the
English translation only uses the word Yahweh. At other times it
is the Spirit of El, or the Spirit of El Shaddai
which is also sometimes used. We will compare the titles of the Holy Spirit
in the Old Testament with the titles of the Holy Spirit used in the New
Testament.
Spirit of El Shaddai
Lets start
with the book of Job. Job is one of the first books that were written. If Moses
wrote the book of Genesis and Job lived before Moses, then obviously the book
of Job was written earlier. In the book of Job chapter 33 there is a statement
made by Elihu who was the only one whom God did not
rebuke in regard to the speeches that were made in the book of Job. Elihu made a statement about God manifesting in Job 33: 4
The Spirit of God has made me and the breath of the Almighty gives me life. He
recognises one of the works of the Holy Spirit. If we put in the Hebrew names
of God, this is how it would have sounded like: The Ruah
of El had made me and the ruah of El Shaddai has given me life. The Ruah
of El: the word God there is the word El and is not Elohim.
It is the singular name El. The word Almighty is the word Shaddai.
In just one sentence of Job 33:4, we see that the Holy Spirit has two titles:
the Spirit of El and the Spirit of El Shaddai. Each
title carries something.
When
the Holy Spirit is called the Spirit of El Shaddai,
it is His creative power in the Fatherhood and the tender loving care that a
mother gives to a little child that is usually mentioned. We have a comparison
that we will have with the New Testament. See over here we have the Spirit of
El Shaddai and He breathe. Compare over here in the
New Testament, the same Spirit of El Shaddai is
manifested as the Spirit of the Father. Turn to Matt. 10:20 this is one of his
names. He is the Spirit of the Father. We are going to lay some foundation
before we go on. Verse 20 for it is not you who speaks
through you. Notice how closely associated they are. Here is the Spirit of El Shaddai and He breathes. It talked about an intimate sense
of moving and breathing in you. And over there it talks about the Spirit of the
Father speaking through you. Why didn’t he use the word Holy Spirit? After all
Jesus did use the word Holy Spirit in Luke 11. Of all the titles, why must He
choose specifically the title: the Spirit of my Father? Because the Spirit of
my Father or the Spirit of the Father heart of God is the Spirit as He
manifest. One of the titles of the Spirit of the Father is that He breathes. He
is close to us. He is like in our very breath. And the word breathing is linked
up to the Spirit of the Father and His manifestation. Just like God has
different names, Jesus has different names. And each name commands a different
aspect of His being. Like when we call Him the Alpha and the Omega, we are
calling upon Jesus who is the eternity. Jesus who was and is
and is to come when we are calling upon Emmauel
Jesus. We are calling upon his presence. Different
aspect.
Spirit of Elohim
Then
we have another one. Lets look at first Samuel chapter
10 verse 10. When came there to the hill, there was a group of prophets to meet
him. Then the Ruah of Elohim
came upon him and he prophesied among them. It says the Ruah
of Elohim came upon him. This is another title of the
Holy Spirit. And in order to get the clear picture of the manifestation of Elohim, we read from verse 6 to 10 in the comparative
Hebrew translation to see some of the names of God that are manifested in this
passage here.
And the Spirit of
Yahweh will come upon you. And thou shall prophesy with them and shall be
turned into another man. And let it be when these signs are come onto thee that
thou do as occasion served for Elohim is with you.
And thou shall go down before me to Gilgal. And
behold I will come down onto thee to offer burn offerings and to sacrifice,
sacrifices of peace offering, with seven days offerings completion shall thou
tarry till I come onto thee. And it was that when he has turned his back to go
from Samuel, Elohim gave him another heart, and all
those signs came to pass that day. Behold a company of prophets met him; and
the Spirit of Elohim came upon him.
The word come
is the word prosper in Hebrew. Now at first the
Holy Spirit was called the Spirit of Yahweh. Then He is called the Spirit of Elohim.
We
have another manifestation of the Spirit of Elohim in
1 Samuel 16 in the reference to David being anointed. The Lord sent Samuel to
the house of Jesse. In verse 13 Then Samuel took the
horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brethren, and the Spirit of
Yahweh came upon David from that day forward. So Samuel rose up and went to
Ramah. But the Spirit of Yahweh turned aside from Saul. From that day onward
Saul lost the Holy Spirit or the Holy Spirit left Saul. And the Holy Spirit was
described as the Spirit of Elohim when He came upon
David but when He left Saul, He was described as the
Spirit of Yahweh. Why this sudden change from the Spirit of Elohim
to Spirit of Yahweh? We will touch on that afterwards. But also look at verse
23. And so it was whenever the spirit, now this is a different one, this is an
evil spirit, from God was upon Saul. And the word from is a permissive
tense, which means it was actually the enemy spirit that came. Let me read it
in the Hebrew, it says when the spirit of Yahweh came
upon David from that day forward. But the Spirit of Yahweh departed from Saul
and an evil spirit allowed by the Lord troubled Saul. So from that day onwards
Saul was constantly troubled or disturbed because he lost that Spirit that he
had received.
Let
us compare the two titles of the Holy Spirit which we notice from the book of
Job. The Spirit of El Shaddai
breath. Now the Spirit of Elohim more
qualified because that was the Spirit that was originally upon Saul. And it say it prospers him. The word came upon is the Hebrew word
prosper him. The Spirit of Elohim prosper
him.
Now the Spirit of Elohim has four different manifestations in the old. Lets look at Exodus 20 and see the four manifestations of
the Spirit of Elohim, which is the general title of
the Holy Spirit. Here Moses is going to build a tabernacle and God called
different people to His service. Verse 1 and 2 And God spoke all these words
saying I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the
Lets look
on to Exodus 31. We are going to see the Spirit of Elohim
in verse 2 and 3. See I have called by name Bezalel
the son of Uri, the son of Hur of the tribe of
The
word wisdom is the Hebrew word "chokmah"
which is a general word for wisdom like "sophia"
in the New Testament. And the word understanding is the Hebrew word "tebuna" which means discretion or discernment. And
then word knowledge is the word "dahth"
which means impartation of his knowledge or facts in the spirit realm. Finally
there is workmanship which is "silicka"
which is workmanship. These are all under the Spirit of Elohim,
four different manifestations.
In
the New Testament, the same Spirit of Elohim is
called the Spirit of God. But as we compare those manifestations of the Spirit
of Elohim now called Spirit of God, the same
comparison come in Ephesians 1:17 we see that the Spirit of God manifest wisdom
and revelation. Wisdom and revelation compares wisdom and understanding on that
side. Then the other two qualities that are there which is knowledge which is
the word "dahth" which means it is more
like spiritual and biblical knowledge that comes. And there is no equivalent
for it in the New Testament and the closest I could find is in Acts 18:24 –25
now a certain Jew named Apollos born in Alexandria
came to Ephesus. This man had been instructed in the way of the Lord. And being fervent in spirit. Now that was definitely the
work of the Holy Spirit working although it is not mentioned. It just mentioned
his spirit was fervent in God. But there was something about that person. Even
though he didn’t have many revelations, he had a lot of knowledge. And that knowledge that he had caused him to be mighty in
scriptures. He was fervent in spirit and he taught accurately the things
of the Lord. But he knew only so much. He knew only the baptism of John, so he
could teach the baptism of John in two thousand ways. Just like an evangelist
can preach an evangelistic message in two thousand ways whether they start from
the book of Revelation or start from Genesis. So here is the knowledge he had.
But his revelation was that much. However when he got into
revelation, what he had in knowledge expanded and became useful. That is
Apollos which ties with the third aspect of knowledge
of the Spirit of Elohim, here it is the Spirit of God.
And
in the fourth area where Bezalel and Oholiab were filled with the spirit of workmanship, there
is no direct New Testament equivalent. But there is an indirect reference in
Acts 9 in the life of Dorcas. Verse 36 In Joppa there
was a certain disciple named Tabitah which is
translated Dorcas. This woman was full of good works.
Instead of saying full of the Holy Spirit of good works, she is said to be full
of good works. So there was something filling her life. It was the fourth
working aspect of the Spirit of Elohim, which is
equivalent to the Spirit of God in the New Testament, which cause
a person hands to be skillful.
Spirit of Yahweh
Now
lets look at the Spirit of Yahweh. Most of the times
when you see the prophets have the Spirit, it is the
Spirit of Yahweh. In the book of Judges, we see some of the examples of the
Spirit coming upon different people. This time we will look at Judges
6:34 But the Spirit, the Ruah of Yahweh came upon
Gideon. Now the word came upon is a different Hebrew word from the
Hebrew word in first Samuel chapter 10 the Spirit of Elohim
came upon Saul. The other word came upon mean to prosper.
This word came upon is a different Hebrew word which means to be
clothed, to robed about him. And that is the same
sense as Luke 24: 49 where the Spirit shall clothe you. So the Spirit of Yahweh
moves in a different way. And He moves deeper as He clothes Gideon. It happened
many times.
Lets look
at Judges 11. Most of the times when the prophets function under the anointing
of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit is described as the Spirit of Yahweh. It is
the most common title mentioned among all the titles. Verse 29 Then the Spirit
of Yahweh came upon Jephthah. And he passed through
Same with the Holy Spirit. He is a wonderful person and He
got different titles and they are related together in the old and in the new.
The main word for the word Spirit in the Old Testament is Ruah
which means wind. In the New Testament, the word Spirit is the word Pneuma which means a flowing of air. Jesus says you
do not know whence or how the Spirit moves. You only see the results of what He
does. So there is the equivalent title given in the New Testament, so we
covered the two titles of names just generally Ruah
or just generally Pneuma.
Now
the main one we want to consider is the Spirit of Yahweh. Lets
look at Rev. 5:6 And I look and behold in the midst of the throne and of the
four living creatures and in the midst of the elders stood a Lamb. As though he had been slain. Having seven
horns and seven eyes which are the seven spirits of God. Now these seven
spirits of God are one spirit. Remember there is one Holy Spirit with many
names. There is one Lord Jesus Christ with many titles. There is one God the
Father with many titles. There is one Holy Spirit with many names and titles.
And the Holy Spirit as the spirit of Yahweh is different from the spirit of El Shaddai or just generally Ruah or
from spirit of Elohim. Ruah
just talks about the general move of the Spirit. Spirit of El Shaddai or spirit of the Father speaks about the Fatherly
aspect of the Spirit that He brings about. And the Spirit of Elohim is generally the Spirit of God in the New Testament
and it brings about the four different works that we have looked at. And it is
all general work.
If
you look at the Spirit of Elohim, you will find that
the Spirit of Elohim works even among unbelievers.
Because all life comes from God, so the Spirit of Elohim
is working and also comes on unbelievers and causes them to be skillful. All these four different aspects of His working,
skill with their hands are gifts that comes from God.
And it is generally the Spirit of Elohim who works.
But
there is one aspect of the Holy Spirit that only works for believers. And that
is the spirit of Yahweh. For Yahweh is a covenant name of God. And it belongs
to God’s people. Now the spirit of Yahweh has seven different aspects all
together. And all different seven aspects of the Spirit bring about the seven
names that we have looked at. And in the New Testament, it is called the seven
spirits of God. When we talk about the seven-fold Spirit, it speaks about the
Spirit of Yahweh in His seven-fold work. What are the seven fold works? Isaiah 11:2 No. 1 the Spirit of Lord shall rest upon him. No. 2 the Spirit of wisdom. No. 3 and of
understanding. No. 4 the Spirit of counsel. No. 5 the Spirit of might. No. 6 the
Spirit of knowledge. No. 7 the Spirit of the fear of
the Lord. You will find all the seven fold names of God inside.
The
spirit of Yahweh is Jehovah Miqadesh set apart
especially for God.
And
then you have the Spirit of wisdom. Now that word wisdom is the same word
"choma". As the Spirit of Elohim works among believers and unbelievers, so in the
covenant we also have an increase of the Spirit of wisdom. As He works among
unbelievers, He even works even more on this side. And the Spirit of wisdom
ties to Jehovah Jireh. See Jehovah Jireh means the Lord who sees and then He provides.
Prosperity is always tied to wisdom. For wisdom holds prosperity in her hand.
The book of Proverbs tells that wisdom cry in the streets. And on one hand she
has long life and on the other hand, riches and prosperity. So that is the spirit
of wisdom Jehovah Jireh.
Then
we have the Spirit of understanding. The Spirit of understanding here is the
Hebrew word "bina" which means intelligent,
a supreme intelligent. And that one is only in the Spirit of Yahweh. It is only
for covenanted people. And it ties to Jehovah Nissi,
the Lord our banner. He gives us the strategy, He
gives us all the different aspects and elements of His workings in order to
succeed in battle.
Then
we have the Spirit of counsel. And the Hebrew word is etsar,
which means to give advice. Who else gives counsel and advice but Jehovah Ra'ah, the Lord our shepherd.
After counsel is
might. And the might is the word gabura speaks
about mastery of it. It does not mean just strength. Here the word might means
that you subdue something and put it under your feet. And you are a master of
it. You don’t just get healed. You overcome sickness and you stand in authority
above it. To conquer something and to be a master of something is different
from just to conquer to win. And to be a master is to be an expert. You have to
be conqueror before you can be a master. So here the Hebrew word might is
mastery. In history sometimes one country conquer
another. They can conquer with guerrilla warfare and all kinds of warfare and
in the end they loose what they try to keep. So keeping is a different key. But
the Spirit of might helps you not only to receive but also to keep. And that is
related to Jehovah Rapha, the spirit of might.
Then
we have the spirit of knowledge. Here the spirit of knowledge is also the same
word dahth that was found in the Spirit of Elohim. Sometimes when you see the manifestation of a lot
of knowledge among worldly people, it is because the Spirit of Elohim is also working among them. But in the body of
Christ under the spirit of Yahweh you get even more dahth
that comes upon your life. That is knowledge. And that kind of knowledge is not
normal knowledge. It is a knowledge that brings righteousness into your life.
And Jehovah Tsidkenu, that kind of knowledge means
righteousness. Like for example Apollos had a lot of
that knowledge and that knowledge led him in the end to the gospel. And there
are many people out there in the world that do not know Christ but they have a
certain conscience and a certain righteous element about them. It is because
the Spirit of Elohim is also working in their life.
But in the body of Christ, we have it stronger in the covenant spirit of Yahweh
the seven spirits of God.
Then
we have the Spirit of the fear of the Lord. And that relates to Jehovah Shalom.
There is only peace when you are in the fear of the Lord. So we have all these
seven different aspects of the Spirit of God and each aspect relates to a
particular name of Jehovah. We have the Spirit of Lord and ties to Jehovah Miqadesh. Then we have the Spirit of wisdom that ties to
Jehovah Jireh. Then we have the Spirit of
understanding that ties to Jehovah Nissi. We have the
Spirit of counsel, Jehovah Ra'ah. The
spirit of might Jehovah Rapha. The Spirit of knowledge, Jehovah Tsidkenu.
And finally the Spirit of the fear of the Lord, Jehovah
Shalom. All these seven relates to some sort of manifestation in the New
Testament.
For
example, the Spirit of the Lord which relates to Jehovah Miqadesh
is related to Romans 1:6 the Spirit of holiness. The Spirit of holiness is one
of the covenant names of the Holy Spirit. Then the Spirit of wisdom which is
Jehovah Jireh is related to Ephesians 1:17 the Spirit
of wisdom. Then we have the spirit of understanding, which relates to Jehovah Nissi. And that relates to the Spirit of revelation.
Revelation brings about Jehovah Nissi the Lord our
banner. Without revelations there is no success in your battles. Then we have
Jehovah Ra'ah, the spirit of counsel. In Gal. 6:1 the spirit of meekness. And we have the spirit
of might, which is Jehovah Rapha. Which
is mastery, special strength that comes from the Lord. And in 2 Corinthians 4:13 the Spirit of faith. Faith
overcomes the world. All these different aspects are related. And we have the
Spirit of knowledge, which is Jehovah Tsidkenu that
is righteousness, and knowledge. In the New Testament side we have the Spirit
of glory. In 1 Peter 4:14 the Spirit of glory that clothe us.
You are persecuted because of righteousness. The spirit of glory comes.
Righteousness and Tsidkenu and the Spirit of
knowledge are all related. Then we have the Spirit of the fear of the Lord,
Jehovah Shalom, the Lord our peace.
In
the New Testament, 2 Tim 1:7 the Spirit of love, power and of a sound mind. And
if you read very carefully, it says that God has not given us the spirit of
fear, it is not the wrong kind of fear. But He has given us the Godly awesome
respect for Him, which comes as the Spirit of love, power and of a sound mind. So all these seven aspects are related on the other side.
And there is only
one name of Jehovah missing and that is Jehovah Shammah.
We have Ruah the normal name of the Holy Spirit
compare to Pneuma on the New Testament side. We have
the Spirit of Elohim compared to the Spirit of God.
We have the Spirit of El Shaddai compared to the
Spirit of the Father. We have the Spirit of Yahweh compared to the Seven
Spirits of God manifest in the new in its different form. The word seven may
not be in the epistle but it is mentioned in the book of Revelation. And that
is the covenant spirit.
But
there is one aspect of the Holy Spirit that is reserved only for the New
Testament. Even Jehovah Shammah is mentioned only in
Ezekiel chapter 48 right towards the end in a
prophetic way. It was not possible for Jehovah to manifest as Jehovah Shama in the Old Testament because it was not their
dispensation and Jesus has not come yet. And so in Ezekiel 48 he prophesies
about the day the temple will be rebuilt and Jehovah Shammah
shall be revealed. And that is why the last one Jehovah Shama
is revealed in the three extra titles of the Holy Spirit reserved only in the
New Testament. That never before He is present in the Old
Testament. The Spirit of the Father is present in the Old Testament as
Spirit of El Shaddai. Spirit of God is present in the
Old Testament as the Spirit of Elohim. And the Spirit
of covenant that is Yahweh and all the different aspects it are
present in the Old Testament.
But
there is one aspect of the Holy Spirit that is reserved for the new. And His
three extra titles only for the New Testament. No. 1 The
Holy Spirit just a simple title. He is specially revealed in the New Testament.
Although there are incidences that looks like Him in
the Old Testament, there is no revelation that gives Him a special title as the
Holy Spirit of God like in the New Testament. For in the New Testament He
comes in His original and full name and title that is the Holy Spirit. Look at
Luke 11:13 if you then being evil know how to give gifts to your children, how
much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask. Acts 1:8 you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit
shall come upon you. We have one name of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit of
God. That is only for us today. It is different from the old.
The
second name that is given by Jesus in John 14:17 He is called the Spirit of
Truth. The Spirit of Truth whom the world cannot receive. Let's understand that
there are different titles of the Holy Spirit and there are
something of the Spirit that are sacred. Do you know that in a Christians
meeting that is open like a service, there is a
different aspect of the Spirit that works? But if we all were to go up a mountain
and we only call intercessors, you will have a different Spirit that works. Same Holy Spirit but different aspect of Him being.
Understand who the Holy Spirit is. There are some parts of the Holy Spirit that
are sacred that the world cannot receive. But there are some parts of the
Spirit that manifest that the world does have. The Bible says in Genesis 6 the
Spirit of God strive with men, all men in general. The
Spirit of God is working. But there are some aspects of the Spirit like the
covenant spirit, the spirit of Yahweh is reserved only
for the Body of Christ. Then the word Holy Spirit and the Spirit of Truth are
reserved only for believers which the world does not have. The world can have
the spirit of knowledge from Elohim but the world
does not have the Spirit of Truth. Truth is deeper than knowledge. Truth speaks
about the knowledge of God and eternity. In the Old Testament, they also could
not have the Spirit of Truth. The Spirit of Truth is reserved only for the New
Testament.
Now
what does the Spirit of Truth do? He opens the Bible to you. It is never
possible in the Old Testament. You do not find an Old Testament figure except
for Ezra with a small element of that. But even then it was a small repetition
rather than teaching, and explanation of the Hebrew language rather than
revelation. You only find in the New Testament in Luke 24 the Lord came to His
disciples and He opened their understanding to understand the scriptures. This
never happened in the Old Testament. The authors in the Old Testament were only
given the scriptures to speak out and write. But in the New Testament, the
writers were given the keys to open them. And to have those keys to open the
scriptures is tremendous. It is the Spirit of Truth. But it is not just
revelation, which is Yahweh. Here is Truth, which is stronger. Which means that when it is opened onto you, you become an epistle.
Remember that is one of the titles that we are called. Paul said you are an
epistle of the Holy Spirit. The Truth becomes written into your life. What you
see in the Spirit of Truth you become. What you see in the Spirit of revelation
you become and you are placed in a position to receive. But what you see in the
spirit of truth transforms you. See there is transformation in the new. There
is none in the Old Testament. There is only information. The Spirit of
revelation and knowledge bring information but the spirit of truth brings
transformation.
The
third aspect of the Holy Spirit that is only reserved for the new is called the
Spirit of Christ. Found in Rom.8: 9 the Spirit of God and of Christ. And the
Spirit of Christ does only one thing. The spirit of Christ is not talking about
the spirit man of Jesus. The spirit man of Jesus is seldom mentioned in that
manner. The spirit of Christ speaks about the Holy Spirit who makes you like
Jesus.
These three
aspects of the Holy Spirit are reserved for the New Testament. And all of them
bring forth Jehovah Shammah in a new way that those
in the Old Testament could only have a glimpse. And to have Jehovah Shammah, you need the Holy Spirit. Jesus says I give you
the Holy Spirit and He says I cannot be with you, I will send another one to
take my place. That is the Holy Spirit. The spirit of truth who will change and
transform you and the spirit of Christ will make us like Jesus.
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