The Purpose of the Holy Spirit

by Ken Rank

What exactly was the purpose of the Holy Spirit when it was given on that Shavuot day (Pentecost), 2000 years ago? Was it to guide and teach us? I believe so, since the God we serve has ways that are not our ways and to understand Him we need His guidance. Was the Spirit given to comfort us? To that I also have no doubt; I am not sure how we could deal with the effects of sin (i.e. the death and decay of ourselves and loved ones) without His comforting hand upon us.  How about as a promissory note, was the Holy Spirit a down-payment toward something even greater to come? Again, yes, Paul wrote about this in 2 Cor. 1:22 and 5:5 where the Spirit is plainly called a down-payment. What is then promised will come in the form of the completed work of writing the Torah (Law) on our mind and hearts by God and the perfecting of these deteriorating bodies we now live in. There are even other works the Holy Spirit does like convicting us of sin, empowering us in whatever calling God has ordained for us, as well as helping us to transform into more godly men and women, and more.

There is another work the Holy Spirit is doing that I have not heard mentioned and quite frankly I can’t say it is directly stated in the Scriptures. Yet, I do believe this work is true, I believe this work began 2000 years ago, and I also believe it is being done by the Spirit today. The work I speak of is the work of building a house. Starting in Exodus 35 and going on for the next few chapters, we see the preparation for and then the building of, the Tabernacle. In Exodus 35:30 we see a man named Betsal’el singled out as something of an architect and/or craftsman and who was called to work on the building of the Tabernacle. An interesting thing happens to this man to complete this task; God fills him with His Holy Spirit.

There is then precedent of God filling a man with His Holy Spirit to do a work like building a house of God as seen in Exodus. At this point you might be wondering what all of this has to do with the Upper Room or with our work today. Well, we too are building a house, or perhaps better stated, rebuilding a house!

Around 2900 years ago, after the death of king Solomon, Israel divided into two separate kingdoms. The Southern Kingdom became known as Judea and the Northern Kingdom became known as Israel. We have one nation that was once one family; it divided into two Kingdoms, and is referred throughout Scripture as two people, two houses, and even two sticks.  A couple of hundred years after the division, Israel, the Northern Kingdom, composed of 9 full tribes plus half of Levi, was taken captive into Assyria as punishment for their stubborn heart and idolatrous ways. This event was first prophesied in Deut. 30:1-6 which includes the promise to one day be called back out of the nations where God scattered them, and when this happens, they would be given a circumcised heart so that they might properly show their love for God as well as live in a manner that pleases Him. So, from the Assyrian captivity, Israel was then scattered (as a farmer sows a field) as prophesied out into the nations. This would be, brothers and sisters, how God would begin to bring about the promise made to Abraham that he would be a father to many nations (Gen. 17:4-5). Moreover, it would also provide the means for the blessing over Ephraim to come to fruition (Gen. 48:19 – he would become a “multitude of nations”).

I personally believe that either we are descendants of these very people, or if we are not, we are at the very least, like the foreigners who attached themselves to Israel coming out of Egypt who were to be treated as native born and ultimately assimilated into the tribes they traveled with. Why do I say this? The Northern Kingdom, Israel, having been scattered into the nations and promised to be returned by God, have been referred to as “The Lost Tribes” virtually since the event took place. They are also called the Lost Sheep and when Yeshua comes he says something rather unique:

Matthew 15:24 But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

I can’t emphasize enough that there is a clear differentiation of people being referred to in regards to the new covenant. In Jeremiah 31:31-34 (and repeated in Hebrews 8:8-11) we see the covenant made (or renewed) with only the House of Judah (the Jews) AND the House of Israel, those lost in the nations. Yeshua said he came only to call the Lost Sheep of the House of Israel, not Judah. That is not to say that Judah does not need his work in reversing the curse of sin and death applied to them, they certainly do as proven by the fact that they still decay and die like everyone else. However, Judah, the “older brother” in the Parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32), didn’t leave the land of the Father. He wasn’t perfect, but he was not the one out in the nations giving no thought to God’s commandments or for that matter, to God at all. It was the Lost Sheep, the ones scattered into the nations as punishment, Israel in the nations; that gave no thought to God and His ways. This is why Yeshua says this:

Mark 2:17  When Yeshua heard it, he said unto them, They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

He wasn’t coming to call the righteous, the ones that were at least trying to walk according to divine command, he came to call those living outside of divine command. That is how 1 John 3:4 defines what sin is.

1 John 3:4 every one practicing sin also practices lawlessness because sin is lawlessness.

So Judah, the older brother, who does need Messiah’s redemptive work applied to him, was not the target as much as those who lived without Torah (without the Law). Ephraim, the kingly tribe of the Northern Kingdom and a word used poetically throughout Scripture to describe Israel in the nations, was who Yeshua was coming to call. Again, “I have not been sent BUT to the lost sheep of the House of Israel.” We are those sheep, we have heard his voice and have come in faith and he said, “My sheep hear my voice.”(John 10:27)

So what is another function of the Holy Spirit? 2000 years ago, God sent His Spirit into the hearts of those He called out of the nations to begin a work that would take some time, the work of rebuilding the House of Israel. Just like Betsal’el in Exodus 35 who was filled with the Spirit of God to build the Tabernacle of God, so too has God filled the followers of Yeshua with His Spirit to build a House, the House of Israel, in whom God dwells. When the work is complete, when the time of Israel in the nations is complete (see Rom. 11:25 and Luke 21:24), then the focus will shift from building one house, to the reunification of both Houses. And that is a process, brethren; I very much believe we see beginning to happen today.

Don't Live in Fear!

                                    by Ken Rank

In a recent bible study we came across the following verse:

Revelation 21:8  But for the cowardly and unbelieving, and those having become foul, and murderers, and fornicators, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all the lying ones, their part will be in the Lake burning with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.

I found the word cowardly (fearful or timid in other versions) to be of interest seeing it is counted among murderers, sorcerers, idolaters, and liars. That hardly seems fair seeing that as humans it doesn’t seem reasonable to expect that something won’t cause us fear, at some point. Fortunately, the word that fearful is translated from, deilos (δειλός, G1169), appears to carry the concept, at least according to Strong’s, of beingfaithless. Fearful and faithless, are these two even connected? It is important we discover any potential connection, if any, between these two words seeing the idea of being fearful is counted among things we might consider to be fairly grievous sins.  The entire list, which includes being fearful, all stand in stark contrast to the character of God.

To see any potential connection it is important that we know that we are dealing with good definitions. For the sake of brevity, I will take the time only to define faith. If Strong’s Concordance is correct, and being fearless has an implied connection of being faithless, we surely need a good definition of faith.

The Modern Webster’s Dictionary (Online) defines faith in three ways:

1. strong belief or trust in someone or something
2. belief in the existence of God : strong religious feelings or beliefs
3.  a system of religious beliefs

In order to make sure we have a good all-around picture of what faith means, at least according to Webster’s, let’s pull out some key words from the above three definitions:

We have belief in all three definitions, trust, as well as strong belief andstrong feelings and a tie to religion (i.e. their secular way of saying “Belief as pertaining to God”). In essence, Webster’s is saying that faith is a strong belief or trust in something, probably related to God. And in short…faith equals belief.
However, in the bible we have three verses that seem to go out of their way to define faith as God sees it. And, as I read these, faith becomes more than simple belief, faith becomes tied to action. They are:

Romans 10:17 so then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
James 2:17 so also faith, if it does not have works, is dead being by itself.
Hebrews 11:1 now faith is the essence of things being hoped, the evidence of things not having been seen.

Like before, I want to pull out some key words and phrases that might give us the best overall concept of faith as defined by Scripture:

We have faith coming first by hearing God. If it lacks works (action, labor) it is dead, and it is the evidence (proof) of that which is not seen.
So, we hear God (unseen) and then act on what we heard (evidence of the unseen). What we hear is not seen it is heard, and what we do based on what we heard becomes the proof of what we heard. For example, in Hebrews 11 we see many great examples of faith. Noach heard God (unseen) and then built the ark (evidence of what was unseen). We have Abraham hear God and then he moves to a place he was a stranger in.  And we also have Moses hearing God and then holding out the staff to see the water part. Hearing God and acting upon what we hear, that is faith. So how does this all tie back to the fearful in Revelation 21:8?

When we live by faith, and the bible tells us that the just live by faith (Habakkuk 2:4), we live hearing God and then doing what we hear.  So we hear and we can stand firm or act boldly because the source of what we heard was God. But when we don’t live hearing God we cannot stand with that same level of boldness or fearlessness, instead, we live in fear and there is nothing bold about our actions. In other words, the fearful do not live hearing God and they certainly don’t live doing what God directs them to do. And that is why the fearful, or perhaps better stated, the faithless, join the ranks of the murderers, sorcerers, idolaters, and liars!

The Evolution of Words

Being a word person, I find the progression of definitions to be an interesting study. The meanings of words change and often we don’t realize that has happened. When the KJV was translated, the word “prevent” meant “to go before,” rather than “to keep from happening,” which is what it means today. Back at that same time in history, if I had said to you, “We engaged in gay intercourse,” you would have not thought twice and knew I meant, “pleasant (or happy) discussion.” That doesn’t exactly carry the same meaning today, does it?

While my latter example is an obvious one in regards to the evolution of words, a word like prevent is less so. For example, Psalm 59:10 states, “The God of my mercy shall prevent me: God shall let me see my desire upon mine enemies.” One has to wonder how many readers of the KJV truly understand that the first half of that verse means, “The God of mercy shall go before me,” which is how most English bibles, rightly, render the Hebrew in that verse today.

There are other English words that carried a meaning back at the time of the KJV that differs from the meaning it carries today, yet those words continue to appear in all modern translations, perhaps misleading us in the same manner a word like “prevent” would to the KJV reader. One word in particular has changed dramatically over time and yet that word continues to appear in modern versions with the modern definition being applied to the word. The word I am referring to is the word “gentile.”

Today, most Christians see themselves as gentiles. The online Webster’s dictionary defines the word gentile in this manner: 

Gentile - often capitalized :  a person of a non-Jewish nation or of non-Jewish faith;especially :  a Christian as distinguished from a Jew

The second definition of a gentile as provided by the online addition of Webster's comes in the form of two words, heathen and pagan. So a gentile according to one of the most respected dictionaries of our day says a gentile is a Christian who is not a Jew or a person who is a pagan or heathen. With the word gentile used for Christians but also tied to one who honors a false deity, you might think that would be cause for alarm? Strangely, it is not. Yet, perhaps there should be cause, because the meaning of this word has changed dramatically over time, and yet we continue to use it but with a definition not intended for the word when it was first chosen as the English equivalent of the Greek word ethnos, the word translated as gentiles. Please understand, a word like prevent once meant one thing, and when the meaning of that word changed we ceased using that word in our bible translations, instead, we chose other words that carried the meaning that prevent once held. Yet with the word gentile, we did not choose another word in our newer translations, we continued to use the same word but with a completely different meaning.

Back in 1828, Noah Webster (b1758 – d1843) standardized the modern English language by producing his dictionary. When he did, he defined words as understood in the English bibles of his day. The most popular of which, the KJV, had a revision in 1769 so he grew up using the KJV and later in life, used it as the basis to give us our first modern English dictionary. Webster defined the word gentile in a manner which should cause alarm to Christians who consider themselves to be gentiles. His entry looked like this:

Webster's 1828:

GEN'TILE, n. [L. gentilis; from L. gens, nation, race; applied to pagans.]

In the scriptures, a pagan; a worshipper of false gods; any person not a Jew or a christian; a heathen. The Hebrews included in the term goim or nations, all the tribes ofmen who had not received the true faith,and were not circumcised. The christians translated goim by the L. gentes, and imitated the Jews in giving the name gentiles to all nations who were not Jews nor christians. In civil affairs, the denomination was given to all nations who were not Romans.

GEN'TILE, a. Pertaining to pagans or heathens.

Please take note of what I made bold in the above definition. So let's key in on the main points here… a nation or race but “as applied to pagans.” Any person who is not a Jew OR a Christian, not just “not a Jew” as it is defined today. A gentile was a nation that was uncircumcised, or that had not received the “true faith,” which to Webster and all Christians in that day was obviously understood as a reference to Christianity. In short, a gentile was a pagan, a worshipper of a false deity. If you weren’t a Jew or Christian in 1828 you were viewed as a pagan, a heathen, somebody outside the true faith, a GENTILE! Therefore, I can boldly say that in 1828 the idea of a “gentile-Christian” would not have been spoken by any Christian, in fact, it would have been an oxymoron!

That is not to say we weren't once gentiles, we were, but we cease to be a gentile when we become part of the true faith. This is why Paul said this:

Ephesians 2:11  Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands; (12) That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world.

In times PAST you were a gentile, in times PAST you were without Christ, in times PAST you were an alien of the Commonwealth of Israel, in times PAST you were a stranger to the covenants of promise, in times PAST you had no hope, and in times PAST you were without God. But now:

Ephesians 2:19 Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God.

NOW we are not strangers to the covenants of promise, NOW we have hope, NOW we know God, NOW we have Christ, NOW we are fellow citizens of the Commonwealth of Israel. We can no more be a gentile AND a Christian than Yeshua haMashiach, Jesus the Messiah, can be a Roman! Now, go back and read the entire NT, because when the word gentile is defined as it was intended when first used, we begin to see another story unfold.