Elder Ko Swee Chay

The Spirit of the LORD

Introduction

In the Bible, the phrase "the Spirit of the LORD" occurs 31 times - 26 times in the OT and 5 times in the NT. A similar phrase "the Spirit of God" occurs 29 times. The Bible also talks about "the evil spirit from the LORD" (1 Sam 16:14, 19:9) and "the evil spirit from God" (1 Sam 16:15, 16 & 23, 18:10). Let us study and examine a number of these passages to gain a better understanding of the meaning and divine purpose of "the Spirit of the LORD" or "of God" and "the evil spirit from the LORD" or "God".

"The Spirit of the LORD" and "The Spirit of God"

Undoubtedly these two terms refer to the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity; also known as the Holy Ghost (Jn 14:26; Acts 1:2,5,8, 2:4; 1 Cor 2:13, 6:19, 1 Jn 5:7), Comforter (Jn 14:16, 14:26, 15:26, 16:7), Spirit of truth (Jn 14:17, 16:13; 1 Jn 4:6), and Spirit of Christ (Rom 8:9) in the Bible.

In the OT, we read of how "The Spirit of the LORD came upon …." (eg. Judg 3:10, 6:34; 1 Sam 10:6, 16:13). Whenever the LORD called and appointed certain men to do a special task, or for ministry, or for service, the Spirit of the LORD would come upon them to prepare, empower and equip His chosen servants to perform the task assigned. We will consider the examples of Joseph, Bezaleel, Saul and David.

Joseph – the preparation of Joseph to be ruler in the land of Egypt to fulfill God’s plan for Israel. Chapter 39 of Genesis mentions four times "the LORD was with Joseph", which means the Spirit of the LORD was with him. This enabled him to do well in the sight of his master Potiphar and to refuse the sexual enticement of his master’s wife, "how then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?" (Gen 39:9) he asked. This also gave him the ability to provide the interpretation to the dreams of the prisoners – the butler and baker – and of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Finally, he was promoted to be the second most powerful man in Egypt. "And Pharaoh said unto his servants, Can we find such a one as this is, a man in whom the Spirit of God is? And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, Forasmuch as God hath shewed thee all this, there is none so discreet and wise as thou art…. And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, See, I have set thee over all the land of Egypt." (Gen 41:38-41).

Bezaleel – the LORD spoke to Moses concerning the blue-print for the building of the Tabernacle. Among other instructions, the LORD told Moses He had called Bezaleel, and Aholiab as his assistant, and all that were wise-hearted to make the Tabernacle and all its furniture and the holy garments for the priests (Exo 31:1-11). Take note that the LORD filled Bezaleel with the Spirit of God and gave him wisdom, understanding, knowledge and workmanship to do the works: "See, I have called by name Bezaleel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah: And I have filled him with the spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship," (Exo 31:2-3, see also Exo 35:30-31).

Saul – When the people of Israel persistently demanded of Samuel to give them a king and stubbornly refused to listen to Samuel’s counsel, the LORD instructed Samuel to call and anoint Saul to be the first king to rule over Israel. Saul was transformed by the Spirit of the LORD: "And the Spirit of the LORD will come upon thee, and thou shalt prophesy with them, and shalt be turned into another man." (1 Sam 10:6); "And it was so, that when he had turned his back to go from Samuel, God gave him another heart….." (1 Sam 10:9). Later, when Saul was told of the men of Jabesh who were badly and cruelly treated by Nahash the Ammonite, "And the Spirit of God came upon Saul when he heard those tidings, and his anger was kindled greatly." (1 Sam 11:6). With that, Saul mobilized the children of Israel to fight against the Ammonites and defeated them. Take note that the Spirit of the LORD can come upon both believers and unbelievers such as Saul.

David – After Saul had done foolishly by not keeping and obeying the commandments of the LORD because "…. he offered the burning offering" (1 Sam 13:9) before Samuel arrived and did not utterly destroy all the Amalekites and the livestock (1 Sam 15:9), the LORD rejected him as the king over Israel. Through Samuel, the LORD called and anointed David, a man after His own heart, as the second king of Israel. "Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brethren: and the Spirit of the LORD came upon David from that day forward…." (1 Sam 16:13). David had the courage to respond to the challenge of the champion of the Philistines, Goliath, and the faith to believe that the LORD who had delivered him out of the paw of the lion and bear would deliver him out of the hand of the Philistine (1 Sam 17:32,37). He had the spiritual discernment to know that the battle between the armies of Israel and the Philistines was a spiritual warfare and that the uncircumcised Philistine was actually defying the armies of the living God (1 Sam 17:26). David "behaved himself wisely: and Saul set him over the men of war, and he was accepted in the sight of all the people, and also in the sight of Saul’s servants." (1 Sam 18:5). Because the LORD was with David, he behaved wisely in all his ways and was successful in whatever he did. Saul knew that the LORD was with David and was afraid of him (1 Sam 18:12, 14, 15, 29-30). David obeyed God’s Word by not killing the anointed Saul when he was presented with very tempting opportunities to finish off King Saul, end his terrible fugitive life and take over the kingship.

Summary - From the above examples, we learn that when God calls a person to serve Him and to do His work, He will equip, empower and enable him to perform the works. He will gave him the wisdom, understanding, knowledge, strength, power, courage and all that are needed to perform the work for His purpose and glory. So be not afraid when we are called to serve in the committee of a fellowship group, to be a Sunday School teacher, Deacon, Elder, or to the full time ministry as a Preacher or Pastor. Remember that for those who are truly called by God and are willing to serve Him with heart, mind, soul and strength, the Spirit of the LORD will be with us. Another thing to learn and remember is that God’s work must be done in God’s way in accordance with God’s Word and God’s will. Because of his pride, disobedient heart, carnality and self-centeredness, Saul did God’s work in his own way; the LORD rejected him as king over Israel.

In the NT, the Bible talks about "the Holy Ghost is come upon you…" (Act 1:8) as well as being "filled with the Holy Ghost" (Act 2:4) and "the Spirit of God dwelleth in you" (1 Cor 3:16, Rom 8:9). The Holy Ghost came upon the Apostles chosen by the Lord Jesus Christ and "they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues (proper languages or dialects), as the Spirit gave them utterance." (Act 2:4). The idea is the same as the teaching in the OT, that the Holy Spirit came upon believers chosen by the LORD to perform a special and important task, i.e. to start the early church and Christian ministry in the case of the book of Acts. The Holy Spirit that dwelled in the Apostles gave them the supernatural ability to speak many new languages (or dialects) not known to them before, and the power and courage to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ without the fear of man. In addition, the emphasis is also on the spirituality of the lives of believers, in leading and guiding them to know God and His Word, to walk in the path of righteousness and to live a godly and holy life. The Word of God teaches us that all truly born again believers would have the Spirit of God dwelling in him; if any man has not the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him (Rom 8:9). The indwelling Spirit gives spiritual life to the mortal bodies; the Spirit enables us to mortify or put to death the flesh because of sin (Rom 8:10-11). The moment we believe and accept Jesus Christ as our personal Saviour and Lord, God sends the Holy Spirit into our lives and He indwells us, thus beginning His work of sanctification.

The function and purpose of the indwelling Spirit of God in the believer’s life is to change him - from living after the flesh and being carnally minded to living after the Spirit and being spiritually minded (Rom 8:5-6), to teach him to know the spiritual things of God (1 Cor 2:12) and to teach all things (Jn 14:26), to rebuke sin (Jn 16:8), to guide into all truth and to show things to come (Jn 16:13). So to have the Spirit of the LORD in us is to know Him and to walk closely with Him; to study, meditate, know and obey His Word; and to love, fear and serve Him.

Let us take note that it is important and necessary for believers and the church to have the Spirit of the LORD. Otherwise all the works that we do and all the ministries of the church will be in vain.

"The evil spirit from the LORD" and "The evil spirit of God"

These two phrases occur in 1 Samuel six times and the phrase "evil spirit" occurs once in Judges 9:23.

"But the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD troubled him. And Saul’s servant said unto him, Behold now, an evil spirit from God troubleth thee. " (1 Sam 16:14-15)

In 1 Sam 10:6 and 11:6, the Spirit of the LORD which came upon Saul around the time he was anointed departed from Saul and an "evil spirit from the LORD troubled him". Note that when the Spirit of the LORD came upon Saul, it was to help him rule Israel wisely. With the Spirit of the LORD’s departure, and being replaced by an evil spirit from the LORD, Saul would lose his ability to rule Israel wisely. It was not about Saul's salvation. Because of his disobedience to God and His Word, God’s rejection was final and irreversible. Some may think, "What? The LORD sent an evil spirit to trouble Saul? This is not consistent with the character of God who is a good, loving and gracious God." One must take note that the word "evil" used here doesn’t carry the normal definition of behaving in a cruel way or wicked behaviour in general, but can be read in the sense of bad things: calamity, disaster, injurious or tormenting.

When Job suffered the loss of his seven sons and three daughters and all his possessions were taken away or burned up, he said to his wife "Thou speakest as one of the foolish woman speaketh, What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil (disasters, calamities)? In all this did not Job sin with his lips." God has revealed to us that He is sovereign, and that He exercises His sovereignty in the affairs of man. There are times He rewards the people for good works, and other times He disciplines the people for their sins against God’s people and Him. God Himself declares, "I am the LORD, and there is none else. I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil (meaning calamity, trouble, turmoil): I the LORD do all these things." (Isa 45:6-7). So when Saul sinned against the LORD by repeatedly disobeying His commandments, out of His sovereign will God sent judgement and chastisement on Saul. The chastisement is a kind of intense mental illness: madness, feeling of depression, intense agony, erratic, mood swing, unpredictable, intolerable and no peace of mind that troubled him greatly. Saul suffered these mental illnesses due to his rebellion and disobedience against God.

Conclusion

When the LORD calls His people to do His work or to serve Him in the full time ministry, the Spirit of the LORD will come upon them. The Spirit of the LORD works in a mighty way to give His chosen servants all that they need to perform His work for His purpose and glory. Let none be afraid and shy away when called by God to serve in whatever capacity, whether in the church or beyond. All truly born again believers have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit; if not, their salvation is questionable. It is important for believers and the church to have the Spirit of the LORD. Otherwise all the works that we do and all the ministries of the church will be in vain. It is a terrible thing when the Spirit of the LORD departs and an evil spirit comes in to take over. Let us pray the prayer of David: "Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me." (Ps 51:11). David was not referring to losing his salvation. He did not want to lose his ability to rule Israel wisely. Amen.