February 25 – LD 8, Day 7: Faith
in God the Holy Spirit
by Rev J. Kortering
John 14:16,17, “And I will pray the
Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you
forever, even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth
him; but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and
shall be in you.”
The third Person of the holy trinity is designated, God the Holy Spirit or Holy
Ghost.
We must exercise some caution and precision when we speak of spirits or ghosts
within our culture. These are common terms used within the heathen context.
They refer to either humans as spirits or ghosts (the spirits of the deceased
ancestors for example) or spirits and ghosts from the realm of the evil spirit
world.
It is quite different to speak of our God as being Personally,
the Holy Spirit.
The Bible does speak of our God as a spirit, and they that worship Him must
worship Him in spirit and truth, John 4:24. Here we reflect upon the Person of
the Spirit within the Godhead. He is called Spirit which means literally,
“breath”. The idea is that the Holy Spirit is the breath of God, the One who
enables God to be the living God. He is the One Who
realizes a relationship of friendship between the Father, Son, and Himself as
Holy Spirit. When the Father speaks to the Son, He does so through the Person
of the Holy Spirit. He is called the third Person of the trinity not because He
is lower in rank to the Father and Son, but rather because He completes the work
of the three Persons within the Godhead.
The same thing applies to the work which the triune God does outside of
Himself. He is the creator God, the Savior God, the God Who brings all His
plans to its consummation and He does this through the third Person of the Holy
Spirit. The Spirit breathes the creation into existence. The Spirit comes upon
the virgin Mary to conceive the promised Son. The
Spirit gathers the church from all nations. The Spirit ultimately will destroy
this present world and create a new one in which righteousness will dwell.
He is a Divine Person. This explains His efficacy and power. He always gets
done what must be done.
Our faith is in Him as we think about our salvation. It is sure and steadfast
in the Holy Spirit.