Jeff asked a couple of more questions in his earlier post:
Something I have always wondered- how did Holy Spirit manifest Himself in OT? I know there are places where it says, "the spirit of the Lord came upon him", as for Samson, and even for David where "the spirit of the Lord was with him". In this passage, the Holy Spirit left Saul, implying He was with him all the time until that point?
------------
Typically, the Holy Spirit manifested Himself through prophecy (either a word of knowledge, or a 'forthtelling [see next question]), or in displays of strength through an individual (as in the case of Samson). For example, see: Genesis 41; Exodus 31; Numbers 24 (Note, Balaam was not an Israelite, AND turned out to be an enemy of Israel. Nonetheless, God's Spirit had him prophesy); 1 Samuel 10; 2 Chronicles 24. There are other examples, but I think these will make the point. Actually, the Holy Spirit's role in the Old Testament is no different than His role in the New. For example, Acts 2; Acts 4; Acts 10; Romans 8; 1 Corinthians 12 and 14.
3. What does it mean when the Bible talks about people prophesying?
As we see in the Scripture examples in the last question, Biblical prophecy takes two primary forms -- foretelling (e.g. telling what will happen in the future), and forthtelling (e.g. making proclamations about God, holiness, sin, etc.). Technically, when a pastor gives a homily under the anointing of the Holy Spirit, he is 'forthtelling.' St. Peter, when he made his proclamation to the crowd in Jerusalem (Acts 2) was 'forthtelling.' St. John, in his Revelation, was 'foretelling.'
Hope that helps. Thanks for asking.
rich
No comments:
Post a Comment