The Spirit, from hovering to an invitation

The Spirit appears in the second verse of the Bible, before anything has been made.

Hovering — the verb is used elsewhere of an eagle fluttering over its young. And the next verse is God speaking, which is where Week Fifteen’s pairing of word and breath begins.

In the Old Testament the Spirit comes on particular people for particular tasks and can depart. He fills Bezalel with skill to work in gold and stone for the tabernacle. He rushes on Samson, on Saul, on David. He is taken from Saul, and David begs in Psalm 51 that He not be taken from him.

That is the arrangement for fifteen centuries: selective, occasional, and revocable.

And the prophets say it will change.

I will pour out My Spirit on all people. Sons and daughters, old and young, and — the clause that would have startled the first hearers most — even on the male and female servants.

Ezekiel puts it in the same breath as the new covenant from Week Eighteen: I will put My Spirit in you and move you to follow My decrees.

He will not speak on His own; He will speak what He hears; He will guide you into all truth; He will glorify Me, because He will take from what is Mine and disclose it to you.

Earlier in the same discourse: He will teach you all things and remind you of everything I have said.

That is a Spirit whose stated work is carrying and clarifying a message — which is why this thread belongs in a volume about the Word. The one who moved the prophets is the one who now teaches the readers.

Peter says the first half at Pentecost, quoting Joel, and the second half in his letter: men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

And the thread ends with the Spirit speaking one word, in company.

And there is a line in Numbers that should be read beside Joel, because it shows the promise was wanted long before it was given. Two men were prophesying in the camp and Joshua asked Moses to stop them. Moses answered that he wished all the LORD's people were prophets and that God would put His Spirit on them. Joel is the answer to a wish recorded a thousand years earlier.

The Spirit and the bride say, Come. The last thing the Spirit is recorded saying in Scripture is an invitation, and He says it with the church, and it is addressed to anyone who is thirsty — which is where Isaiah 55 started on Day Two of this week.

Trace it: Genesis 1:2; 6:3; Exodus 31:1–5; Numbers 11:24–29; Judges 6:34; 14:6; 1 Samuel 16:13–14; Psalm 51:11; 139:7; Isaiah 11:2; 61:1; 63:10–14; Ezekiel 36:26–27; 37:14; Joel 2:28–32; Luke 4:18; John 14–16; Acts 2; Romans 8; 1 Corinthians 2:10–13; 2 Peter 1:21; Revelation 22:17.

Numbers 11:29 anticipates Joel by a thousand years. Joshua asks Moses to stop two men prophesying in the camp, and Moses answers: are you jealous for my sake? I wish that all the LORD’s people were prophets and that the LORD would put His Spirit on them.

The Hebrew ruach and the Greek pneuma both cover breath, wind and spirit, which is why Jesus can move between the senses in John 3:8 — the wind blows where it pleases, and so is everyone born of the Spirit.

John 16:13 says the Spirit will not speak on His own but will speak what He hears, which parallels what Jesus says repeatedly about His own words in John: they are not His own but the Father’s. The pattern of derived speech runs through the whole discourse.

Psalm 139:7 asks where a man could go from God’s Spirit and answers that there is nowhere — heaven, the depths, the far side of the sea. The thread includes the fact that the Spirit was never absent, even in the period when He came and went upon particular people.

Look it upH7307 רוּח ruach, breath, wind, Spirit · H7363 רָחַף rachaph, to hover, flutter · G4151 πνεῦμα pneuma, breath, wind, Spirit · G3875 παράκλητος parakletos, advocate, helper, one called alongside

Where this touchesGenesis 1:2 · Joel 2:28–32 · Ezekiel 36:26–27 · John 14:26; 16:12–15 · Acts 2:16–21 (Week Six, Day One) · 2 Peter 1:21 (Week Two, Day Three) · Revelation 22:17. The seed, lamb, blood, tree, bread, water, the Name, the dwelling, the Shepherd, the city, the marriage, the mountain, the light, the vine, the exodus, the priesthood, rest and the covenant were the earlier threads.