At this point let us return to the subject of what the Holy Spirit is and what it is not. The Spirit is not the third god in a three-god triumvirate. The Holy Spirit (the “Spirit of God”/ the “Spirit of Jesus”) is the power of the divine, two-membered Godhead as I prove in the series titled The Trinity. In that study I point out that we do not pray to the Holy Spirit, nor do we address it as God. We do not ask anything of the Spirit, nor do we thank it when our prayers are answered. Man does not speak to God’s Spirit, but only to God and Christ through Their Spirit. And, by the way, Mary has no part to play in the conversations. The Holy Spirit is the power by which God speaks to man, man speaks to God and by which God accomplishes His will through those who obey Him. As a man, Jesus of Nazareth was His obedient servant. His saints are commanded to emulate Him. Sons of God are they who “walk as He walked” (1 Jn. 2:6), who obey the voice of God as it comes to them via the Holy Spirit. This is THE ONLY proof that they are God’s sons, for “They who are led by the Spirit of God, THEY (and only they) are the sons of God” (Rom. 8:14). All others (sinners saved by grace) are false sons. The Holy Spirit always leads by God’s Word. Obeying His Word is obeying His Spirit.

The Holy Spirit is the power of God that enables God’s people to obey Him, do His works and speak His Words. This was  brought out by Jesus Himself in Matthew 12:28 when He said: “… I cast out devils BY THE SPIRIT OF GOD ….” He could work miracles ONLY by the Spirit/power of God. In Luke 4:18,19 we find Him in the synagogue in Nazareth where He was asked to speak. He said: “The SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS UPON ME ….” He then told the people what that Spirit enabled Him to do. The man Jesus was totally dependent on God’s Spirit/power during His earthly ministry. As He said: “I can do nothing of Myself” (by His own power or on His own initiative). Even His words were given to Him by God.

This was also true concerning His disciples (and is true today). In Matthew 10:18-20 He warns the disciples that they would stand before governors and kings for His sake. When being questioned they were not to be concerned about what they would say, “For it (words) will be given to you in that hour what you are to speak. For IT IS NOT (WILL NOT BE) YOU WHO (WILL) SPEAK, BUT (IT WILL BE) THE SPIRIT OF YOUR FATHER WHO SPEAKS (WILL SPEAK) IN (THROUGH) YOU.”

Now let us return to King David in order to determine the identity of the Holy Spirit according to God’s Spirit-inspired Word. David was in trouble with God. In Psalm 50:16-23 we find HIM praying to God Who is chastening him for his sins. In Psalm 51 David is crying out for mercy. In verse 11 he begs the Lord: “DO NOT CAST ME AWAY FROM YOUR PRESENCE; DO NOT TAKE YOUR HOLY SPIRIT FROM ME.” In Isaiah 59:2 the prophet warns us about the results of sin: “Your sins have separated you from your God.” David knew he was in a grave circumstance of his own making. He had placed himself at God’s mercy and was asking HIM not to leave him, meaning not to take HIS SPIRIT from him. Here David was equating God and His Spirit. He knew they were not two gods. As previously noted, man has a spirit, but that does not make a man two men.

Man’s spirit is separate from, but “one” with and “in” him. Man’s spirit can go where man cannot go. The Apostle Paul told the church at Corinth that, though he could not be there in person to deal with an unrepentant sinner, he had already judged him through his spirit and had turned him over to Satan “for the destruction of his flesh”–to put him to death (1 Cor. 5:2-5). Let us note several things about the letter. Notice that Paul’s spirit, along with the Holy Spirit, was with the people of the Corinthian church as he was writing the letter from another location, that he (Paul) had judged the man guilty and worthy of death, and that they, the congregation, were to stop trying to help the man whom Paul had turned over to Satan who would kill him. Note in verse 3 that Paul’s spirit being in Corinth was the same as he himself being there in the flesh.

At this point I will bring forth a Biblical Truth that professing Christendom refuses to accept: God and Jesus are in only one place at a time, not because they CAN’T BE EVERYWHERE, but because They CHOOSE NOT TO BE EVERYWHERE. It is their Spirit that is everywhere at all times.  David makes this clear in Psalm 139. As I noted earlier, David rightly used the words “You” and “Your” synonymously. When he spoke about God and His Spirit he was referring to the same singular entity. Both God and the risen Christ are presented as one and the same with their shared Spirit. We find this Truth evident is David’s prayer as recorded in Psalm 139 where he says that if he went to heaven, “YOU are there.” If he went to hell, “YOU are there.” If he was in the sea, “YOUR hand will lead me.” If he was in darkness, he could not hide from “YOU.” He explains how this was possible in verse 7: “Where can I go from YOUR SPIRIT? Or where can I flee from “YOUR PRESENCE?” God’s Spirit being in a place means that, spiritually speaking, God Himself is present.

David knew that his sins had caused God to remove His Spirit from him. He was begging God not to take away His Spirit permanently. If that were not a possibility David would not have mentioned it. What the Lord gives He can take away. This includes His power, without which we must face Satan alone. Without God’s Spirit, we are at the devil’s mercy. That is why church people excuse their sins by claiming to be “sinners saved by grace,” meaning that, because of Adam’s sin they supposedly must sin. But God’s grace supposedly saves them from having to pay the penalty of their repeated sins. The fact of the matter is that man sins because he does not have God’s Spirit. Having found a scapegoat in Adam, they then include Christ and God’s grace in the ruse, claiming that by dying, His grace gives them a license to sin, meaning that He allows them to sin and get away with it. This supposed “truth” enables them to “deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ” (Jude 4). By rejecting God’s Word they show that they despise both the Father and the Son (Lk. 10:16).

God is everywhere, but only in the form of His Holy Spirit. Notice in the epistles that the writers brought greetings to the churches from God and Christ, but not from the Holy Spirit. Why? BECAUSE THE SPIRIT IS EVERYWHERE, INCLUDING IN THE CHURCHES AND IN THE TRUE SAINTS.  Indeed, where can we go that God’s Holy Spirit is not present? Such a place does not exist. True believers know that God is on His throne in the northern heavens (Isa. 14:13), and that Jesus is at His right hand (Mk. 16:19). They also know that Their Holy Spirit is everywhere in the universe. L.J.