Karl Peters
Well-Known Member
I hear you. I just don't agree with you. Scripture says that the Holy Spirit descended on him. Your argument is with scripture, not me. Whether this event changed Jesus or not, I suppose could be up for debate because we know little or nothing of what kind of man he was or what he might have done with his life prior to the event. If not 'changed' in the moment, he was certainly different- afterwards. Different than others around him-- and who could be indwelled with the Spirit of God and not be changed? I'll leave that to sort through for yourself.
As for the rest of your post, it's all based on a single premise that I don't hold to. Jesus was a man. He was born a babe and raised as a boy who grew to be a man. It's what makes him like us and us like him. The Holy Spirit of God within him, that descended upon him --is what made him holy. Different. Set apart.
No - if I have an argument with you, it is because your understanding not the Scriptures!! The problem with your understanding, as with many/most people, is our physical view point!!!
This turns out to be a major reason we don't nor can't get our understanding correct unless you actually spend time listening to the Lord!!
We see this in a couple of different verses - one being:
Prov 2:6 For the LORD gives wisdom;
From His mouth come knowledge and understanding.
And also with:
Is 55: 8,9 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways,” declares the LORD.
“For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways
And My thoughts than your thoughts.
You can't take your earthly/fleshy view point and get anywhere close to understanding the Lord!!
And have you not read:
Ps 78:2 I will open my mouth in a parable;
I will utter dark sayings of old,
The Lord is our Teacher - so He speaks in ways to help us understand though we can't really fully understand. And the thing is that when you spend time actually talking back and forth with the Lord, and even the ministering angels who know Him much better that you or any person, which He send, your understanding improves. And the strange thing is that when your understanding improves you find out more and more how and why your thoughts are not His thoughts and your ways are not His ways. He is just way way way way too smart for you and He also has a far far far better place to see thing from!!!
Part of that is due to the fact that God (even the Holy Spirit) is everywhere at all times!!
Ps 139:7, 8 Where can I go from Your Spirit?
Or where can I flee from Your presence?
If I ascend to heaven, You are there;
If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there.
You can see in the above Psalms that it is not that He is coming on you, but rather you can't get away from Him at anytime!! So if you combine the verses, or better yet, if you spend time seeking Him and talking to Him, you will find that He is always there with you at all times!! So maybe it seem like the Spirit comes to you, but that is not the actual case. It is more like the Spirit of God, who is always with you will suddenly start talking to you or start making His presence felt, so you think that the Holy Spirit comes upon you. It seems that way, but that is not actually the case. Rather it is that He comes on you to do something, like whisper in your ear or give you a spiritual pat on the back.
I used to go to a church which had a song that went "Come Holy Spirit, Come", which was a great songs and the Holy Spirit often just started showing up when we sang that request, but He was always there. The real meaning of the song was a request for Him to start doing things and making His presence felt.
The reason we need to correct this false understanding is that if we start thinking and believing that the Lord and His Spirit is not always with us, then we won't actually seek Him with a faith which causes us to think that He might either be dead at that time or in a far off place called heaven - and that is not the Word of God which we are preaching!! So don't preach that!!
Rom 10: 6-8 But the righteousness based on faith speaks as follows: “DO NOT SAY IN YOUR HEART, ‘WHO WILL ASCEND INTO HEAVEN?’ (that is, to bring Christ down), or ‘WHO WILL DESCEND INTO THE ABYSS?’ (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead).”
But what does it say? “THE WORD IS NEAR YOU, IN YOUR MOUTH AND IN YOUR HEART”—that is, the word of faith which we are preaching,
WE are not preaching that God is somewhere not near us, like heaven, that He has to come down from!! Don't preach that!!