FIFTY DAYS AFTER DEATH. [JOHN 14: 8-17] [25-27].

THIS TEXT FROM JOHN 14, TELLS US ON THE NIGHT JESUS WAS BETRAYED, IN HIS FINAL ADDRESS TO HIS DISCIPES, JESUS PROMISES THAT THOUGH HE MUST LEAVE THEM, THEY WILL SOON RECIEVE THE PRESENCE OF AN ADVOCATE, THE "SPIRIT OF TRUTH," WHOM GOD WILL SEND TO COMFORT AND ENLIGHTEN THEM. " IT IS TO YOUR ADVANTAGE THAT I GO AWAY, FOR IF I DON'T GO AWAY, THE COUNSELOR WILL NOT COME TO YOU;  BUT IF I GO, I WILL SEND HIM TO YOU."  THERE YOU HAVE IT. IT IS TO OUR ADVANTAGE THAT THE HOLY SPIRIT COMES. ST.PAUL EMPHASIZED THIS ALSO FOR NON- CHRISTIANS, BUT ALSO FOR CHRISTIANS. THE COMING OF THE "HOLY SPIRIT" IS ONE OF THE MOST TAKEN FOR GRANTED EVENTS IN OUR PERSONAL HISTORY. WE HAVE NO HISTORY AS PEOPLE OF GOD UNLESS THAT HISTORY IS BEGUN BY THE HOLY SPIRIT. THE ONLY WAY IN WHICH WE CAN EVEN UTTER STATEMENTS OF OUR FAITH IS BY THE INFLUNCE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.
NOW THE HOLY SPIRIT HAS LONG BEEN THE CINDERELLA  OF THE TRINITY. THE OTHER TWO SISTERS MAY HAVE GONE TO THE THEOLOGICAL BALL, BUT, THE HOLY SPIRIT HAS BEEN LEFT BEHIND EVERY TIME. LETS LOOK AT SOME OF THE MODELS OF THE "HOLY SPIRIT." JOHN TELL US IN JOHN 4:24, " GOD IS SPIRIT: AND THEY THAT WORSHIP HIM MUST WORSHIP HIM IN SPIRIT  AND TRUTH. WHAT DOES THIS TELL US ABOUT GOD? THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE USES AT LEAST THREE WORDS- " WIND, BREATH, AND SPIRIT, TO TRANSLATE A SINGLE HEBREW TERM, RUACH. THIS IMPORTANT HEBREW WORD HAS A DEPTH OF MEANING WHICH IT IS VIRTUALLY IMPOSSIBLE TO REPRODUCE IN ENGLISH. RUACH, TRADITIONALLY TRANSLATED SIMPLY AS "SPIRIT." IS ASSOCIATED WITH A RANGE OF MEANINGS, EACH OF WHICH CAST SOME LIGHT ON THE COMPLEX ASSOCIATIONS OF CHRISTIAN NOTION OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.
SPIRIT AS WIND: THE OLD TESTAMENT WRITERS ARE CAREFUL NOT TO IDENTIFY GOD WITH WIND, AND THUS REDUCE GOD TO A LEVEL OF A NATURAL FORCE. NEVERTHELESS, A PARALLEL IS DRAWN BETWEEN THE POWER OF THE WIND AND THAT OF GOD. TO SPEAK OF GOD AS SPIRIT IS TO CALL TO MIND THE SURGING ENERGY OF THE "LORD OF HOSTS," AND REMIND ISRAEL OF THE POWER AND DYNAMISM OF THE GOD WHO HAD CALLED ISRAEL OUT OF EGYPT. THIS IMAGE OF THE SPIRIT AS REDEMPTIVE POWER IS PERHAPS STATED IN ITS MOST SIGNIFICENT  FORM IN THE ACCOUNT OF THE EXODUS: 14:21). HERE, THE IDEA OF RUACH CONVEYS BOTH THE POWER AND REDEMPTIVE PURPOSE OF GOD.
IT MUST BE REMEMBERED THAT ISRAEL BORDED THE MEDITERRANEAN SEA ON THE WEST, AND THE GREAT DESERTS ON THE EAST AND WHEN THE WIND BLEW FROM THE EAST, IT WAS EXPERIENCED AS A MIST OF FINE SAND WHICH SCORCHED VEGETATION AND PARCHED THE LAND. TRAVELERS ACCOUNTS  OF THESE WINDS SPEAK OF THE REMARKABLE FORCE AND POWER. EVEN THE LIGHT OF THE SUN IS OBLITERATED BY THE SAND STORM THROWN UP BY THE WIND.  THE WIND WAS SEEN BY THE BIBLICAL WRITERS AS A MODEL FOR THE WAY IN WHICH GOD DEMOSTRATED THE FINITUDE AND TRANSITORINESS OF THE CREATION.
  ISAIAH TELLS US " THE GRASS WITHERS AND FLOWERS FALL, WHEN THE BREATH OF THE LORD BLOWS ON THEM. JUST AS THE SCORCHING EAST WIND, LIKE THE ARABIAN SIROCCO, DESTROYED PLANTS AND GRASS, SO GOD WAS UNDERSTOOD TO DESTROY HUMAN PRIDE- PSALM 103:15-18- JEREMIAH 4: 11.  JUST AS PLANTS SPRING UP, FRESH AND GREEN, ONLY TO BE WITHERED BEFORE THE HOT DESERT WIND, SO HUMAN EMPIRES RISE ONLY TO FALL BEFORE THE FACE OF GOD.
AT THE TIME THE PROPHET ISAIAH WAS WRITING, ISRAEL WAS HELD CAPTIVE IN BABYLON. GOD IS COMPARED BY THE OLD TESTAMENT WRITERS TO THE RAIN BROUGHT BY THE WESTERN WIND. SPIRIT IS BREATH: THE IDEA OF SPIRIT IS ASSOCIATED WITH LIFE. WHEN GOD CREATED ADAM, GOD BREATHED INTO HIM THE BREATH OF LIFE, AS A RESULT OF WHICH BECAME A LIVING BEING ( GENESIS 2;70). THE BASIC DIFFERENCE BETEEN LIVING AND A DEAD HUMAN BEING IS THAT THE FORMER BREATHES AND THE LATTER DOES NOT. THIS LED TO THE IDEA THAT LIFE WAS DEPENDANT UPON BREATH. GOD IS THE ONE WHO BREATHES THE BREATH OF LIFE INTO EMPTY SHELLS, AND BRINGS THEM TO LIFE. GOD BROUGHT ADAM TO LIFE BY BREATHING INTO HIM. THE FAMOUS VISION OF THE VALLEY OF THE DRY BONES IN THE BOOK OF (EZEKIEL 37: 1:14) ALSO ILLUSTRATES THIS POINT.
 CAN THESE LIVE BONES LIVE?  THE BONES ONLY COME TO LIFE WHEN BREATH ENTERS INTO THEM. THE MODEL OF GOD AS SPIRIT, THUS  CONVEYS THE FUNDAMENTAL INSIGHT THAT GOD IS THE ONE WHO GIVES LIFE, EVEN THE ONE WHO IS ABLE IS ABLE TO BRING THE DEAD BACK TO LIFE.
SPIRIT AS CHARISM: THE TECHNICAL TERM " CHARISM" REFERS TO THE FILLING OF AN INDIVIDUAL WITH THE SPIRIT OF GOD, BY WHICH THE PERSON IN QUESTION IS ENABLED TO PERFORM TASKS WHICH WOULD OTHER WISE BE IMPOSSIBLE.
THE OLD TESTAMENT DOES NOT OFFER MUCH IN THE WAY OF CLARIFICATION CONCERNING THE MANNER IN WHICH THE PROPHETS WERE INSPIRED, GUIDED, OR MOTIVATED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT.
NOW WHAT DOES THE HOLY SPIRIT DO?  THE CHRISTIAN TRADITION HAS GENERALLY UNDERSTOOD THE WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT TO FOCUS ON THREE BROAD AREAS: REVELATION, THIS IS THE PIVOTAL ROLE OF THE SPIRIT IN RELATION TO THE MAKING  GOD KNOWN TO HUMANITY. IN 1536 MARTIN BAUCER ARGUES THAT REVELATION CANNOT OCCUR WITHOUT THE ASSISTANCE OF GOD'S SPIRIT.
       BEFORE WE BELIEVE IN GOD AND ARE INSPIRED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT, WE ARE UNSPIRITUAL AND FOR THAT REASON WE ARE COMPLETELY UNABLE TO APPREHEND ANYTHING RELATING TO GOD. SO ALL WISDOM AND RIGHTEOUSNESS WHICH WE POSSESS IN THE ABSENCE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT ARE THE DARKNESS AND SHADOW OF DEATH. THE TASK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT IS TO LEAD US INTO GOD'S TRUTH; WITHOUT (THAT SPIRIT; TRUTH REMAINS ELUSIVE). , AND HAS ITS ORIGINS IN THE BIBLE ITSELF, MOST NOTABLY THE AFFIRMATION THAT EVERY SCRIPTURE IS GOD- BREATHED ( 1 TIM. 3:16).
THE GALLIC CONFESION (1599) ILLUSTRATES THIS POINT WELL. WE KNOW THESE BOOKS TO BE CANONICAL , AND THE SURE RULE OF OUR FAITH, NOT SO MUCH BY THE COMMON ACCORD AND CONSENT OF THE CHURCH, AS BY THE TESTIMONY AND INWARD PERSUASION OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, WHICH ENABLES US TO DISTINGUISH FROM OTHER ECCLESIASTICAL BOOKS WHICH HOWEVER USEFUL, CAN NEVER BECOME THE BASIS FOR ANY ARTICLES OF FAITH. NOW APPLIED TO  CHRISTIAN LIFE, THE HOLY SPIRIT PLAYS AN ESPECIALLY IMPORTANT ROLE IN RELATION TO THE CHRISTIAN LIFE PLAYING A MAJOR ROLE IN ESTABLISHMENT OF A LIVING RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CHRIST AND THE BELIEVER.
ALL OF US WHO HAVE RECEIVED THE ONE AND THE SAME SPIRIT, THAT IS THE HOLY SPIRIT, ARE IN A SENSE MERGED TOGETHER WITH ONE ANOTHER AND WITH GOD. JUST AS THE POWER OF THE HOLY FLESH OF CHRIST UNITED THOSE IN WHOM IT DWELLS INTO ONE BODY. THE HOLY SPIRIT WON'T ALWAYS REMOVE OBSTACLES, BUT HE WILL GIVE US STRENGTH TO OVER COME THEM TAKE A BOLD STEP, AND LET THE HOLY SPIRIT GUIDE YOU THROUGH.