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Day 18: Holy Spirit Activity

Some people think God’s Holy Spirit wasn’t active until the time of Jesus and afterward, but there are many indications of the Spirit’s activity in the Old Testament.

One of these, in Ezekiel 36, echoes a lot of what Jeremiah said in connection with the new covenant. “For I will take you out of the nations; I will gather you from all the countries and bring you back into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. Then you will live in the land I gave your ancestors; you will be my people, and I will be your God” (Ezekiel 36:24-28).

One of the roles of the Spirit in this passage is to motivate and help people to follow God’s decrees and laws. It’s notable that the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit was poured out after Jesus’ ascension, was the Jewish feast of Shavuot (or Weeks), which coincided with the giving of the Law on Mount Sinai, seven weeks after leaving Egypt. This connection between the Spirit and the Law is not noted by many, but it’s there.

This connection is also in harmony with what Paul writes to the Romans. “And so he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit” (Romans 8:3b-4).

This passage goes on to contrast living by the flesh as opposed to living by the Spirit: “The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God” (Romans 8:6-8). The implication is that the mind controlled by the Spirit is the one that submits to God’s law, and thus pleases God. Let’s all resolve to do that more and more.

Reflection

Do you submit to God’s Spirit and follow His law?

The Feast of Weeks, or Pentecost, is a great place to start a journey to discover the Messianic truths in each one. This feast was also called “the day of firstfruits” (Numbers 28:26), and occurred at the wheat harvest. What parallels do you see between this feast and the day of Pentecost? (Check out Leviticus 23 and Acts 2 and learn more about it.)