(281) – FOUNTAINHEADS 3

281 – FOUNTAINHEADS 3

1. Just as a good tree does not yield bad fruit, and a bad tree does not yield good fruit, a fountain of sweet waters does not issue bitter waters. In the New Testament the Holy Spirit nothing but communicates life. Jesus said: “It is the spirit who gives life. The flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and are life” (John 6:63). And Paul, the apostle, confirms with his testimony: “For the mind of the flesh is death, but the mind of the Spirit is life and peace” (Rom. 8:6). “But if the Spirit of him who raised up Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised up Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you” (Rom. 8:13). The Holy Spirit not only communicates life, but also raises those who are dead, according to the teaching of the great Apostle: “For if you live after the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live” (Rom. 8:11). The Holy Spirit, in the New Testament, not only communicates life, and not only raises the dead, but also transforms those who believe in Jesus Christ into fountains of living waters. “He who believes in me, as the Scripture has said, from within him will flow rivers of living water. But he said this about the Spirit, which those believing in him were to receive. For the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus wasn’t yet glorified” (John 7:38-39).

It was totally different in the Old Testament. The spirit of Jehovah communicated death, for when the spirit of Jehovah took hold of Samson he killed the Philistines: “The Spirit of Jehovah came mightily on him, and he went down to Ashkelon, and struck thirty men of them” (Judges 14:19). Also readJudges 15:14-16. As the same fountainhead cannot issue sweet waters and bitter waters, the spirit that took hold of Samson was not the same Spirit of Jesus.

 

2. In the New Testament the main function of the Holy Spirit is to promote the fellowship between the people of God, as Paul said: “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all” (2 Cor. 13:14). And the fellowship between fellow Christians is so important, that those who do not have fellowship with some brother or sister, the blood of Christ does not purify them from their sins (1 John 1:6-7). In the Old Testament the spirit of Jehovah promoted dissension: “God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the men of Shechem; and the men of Shechem dealt treacherously with Abimelech” (Judges 9:23). As from a same fountain it is impossible to come sweet waters and bitter waters, it is easy to conclude that the spirit of Jehovah is not the same Spirit of Christ.

 

3. In the New Testament the Holy Spirit is an inexhaustible fountain of love. Let us read what the apostle to the gentiles says: “…and hope doesn’t disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us” (Rom. 5:5). The apostle John tells us: “The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love” (1 John 4:8). When a man seeks God, the Father, who in essence is love, sheds his love by his Spirit in his heart, so that he can be a partaker of his nature, and also practice the works of the love of God: “No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God remains in us” (1 John 4:12). In the Old Testament Jehovah would shed a wicked spirit: “Jehovah has mixed a spirit of perverseness in the midst of her; and they have caused Egypt to go astray in all of its works, like a drunken man staggers in his vomit” (Is. 19:14). Now, as from a same fountainhead cannot come sweet and bitter waters, that spirit of Jehovah is not the same Spirit of God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

 

4. In the New Testament the Holy Spirit is allied with those that are week and subject to sin, and help them in their weaknesses: “In the same way, the Spirit also helps our weaknesses, for we don’t know how to pray as we ought. But the Spirit himself makes intercession for us with groanings which can’t be uttered” (Rom. 8:26). In the Old Testament the spirit of Jehovah was an adversary:“So shall they fear the name of Jehovah from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun; for he will come as a rushing stream, which the breath of Jehovah drives” (Is. 59:19).  Isaiah, the prophet, speaking of Israel, said: “But they rebelled, and grieved his Holy Spirit: therefore he was turned to be their enemy, [and] himself fought against them” (Is. 63:10). It is obvious that the spirit of Jehovah reflects what Jehovah is and does: “I myself will fight against you with an outstretched hand and with a strong arm, even in anger, and in wrath, and in great indignation” (Jer. 21:5). As a same fountain cannot issue sweet waters and bitter waters, the spirit of Jehovah is not the same Spirit of the Father.

 

5.        In the New Testament the Holy Spirit of God the Father is the Spirit of freedom: “Now the Lord is the Spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty” (2 Cor. 3:17). It is obvious that this Lord is Jesus, for he himself said: “If therefore the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed” (John 8:36). To whom was Jesus speaking? To the religious Pharisees (John 8:13). Jesus was arguing that they were slaves and needed to be delivered. If they received the Holy Spirit they would be free. Which was the Jew’s slavery? It was the covenant of the Law of Jehovah. Paul explains:“Tell me, you that desire to be under the law, don’t you listen to the law? For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the handmaid, and one by the free woman. However, the son by the handmaid was born according to the flesh, but the son by the free woman was born through promise. These things contain an allegory, for these are two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai, bearing children to bondage, which is Hagar. For this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and answers to the Jerusalem that exists now, for she is in bondage with her children. But the Jerusalem that is above is free, which is the mother of us all” (Gal. 4:21-26). The covenant of Sinai is the covenant of Jehovah, which continues begetting slaves until today, for whoever needs a law to prevent him from doing wrong is a slave. Paul calls this “spirit of slavery”: “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are children of God. For you didn’t receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’” (Rom. 8:14-15).

We cannot deny that Jehovah also sent a good spirit to do good. Nehemiah declared: “And Thou didst give Thy good Spirit to instruct them” (Neh. 9:20). But this spirit was at the same time bad: (Is. 19:14; 59:14; 63:10). As it is not possible to drink sweet waters and bitter waters from the same fountainhead, we conclude that the project of Jehovah was not the same as the project of Jesus and the Father. In the Old Testament there is much bitter waters, gall water, poisonous water, and water of slavery and of hell, so the Old Testament is called the covenant of death and of condemnation (2 Cor. 3:6-9). But Jesus Christ delivers men from this prison.

By Pastor Olavo Silveira Pereira

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