Rabbi’s Reflections – Saturday, August 10, 2024 (Revised)
Shabbat Shalom *|FNAME|*,
Beholding and Knowing the Ruach through Yeshua
By David Harwood
We are reborn through the Spirit who loves us. However, His relational activity does not stop there. He communicates an ongoing revelation of the Son to the believer. He is the one through whom the Messiah reveals Himself to the Body.
Let’s begin to briefly examine some verses from John 14. This is one of the sections of Scripture where the Messiah revealed the role of the Holy Spirit.
Yeshua said:
I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper so He may be with you forever— the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not behold Him or know Him. (John 14:16–17a)
The Messiah is our first Helper. His Holy Spirit is another Helper who Father added to our lives. He will be forever faithful. He will be with us forever.
This is personal. This is relational.
The Ruach’s abiding eternal presence is relational, not impersonal. He is faithful to us because He loves us just like Yeshua does. He is reliable, and will be with us for as long as we exist. We are His eternal interpersonal dwelling place.
He is the faithful Spirit of Truth.
His being with us is an outworking of His faithful character. Why is He faithful? He is faithful because He loves us. It is not just a matter of faithfulness because of a decision, or because of His holy integrity. It is holy love that produces faithfulness.
Consider: Yeshua loved His disciples so much that He interceded on their behalf. The result of that prayer is the giving of the Spirit. He comes from Father through the Messiah’s intercession.
The Messiah continued.
You know Him, because He abides with you and will be in you. (John 14:17b)
But wait, He had not been given yet… What was Yeshua talking about? Recently I’ve come to a conclusion about what this may mean. Others have arrived there before me.
The context of this statement is John’s Gospel. It’s a further exposition of John’s view of how God functions. In this statement I think we read of principles Yeshua shared about the mystery of His ministry.
It may not be a mystery to us because we can read what John recorded. He informed us that the Messiah revealed this: what Yeshua did was in response to His Father’s leading. In addition, He testified that what He spoke was in response to hearing His Father’s voice. Please read the following verses.
Therefore Yeshua answered them, “Amen, amen I tell you, the Son cannot do anything by Himself. He can do only what He sees the Father doing. Whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise. For the Father loves the Son and shows Him everything He does. He will show Him even greater works than these, so that you will be amazed. (John 5:19–20)
Yeshua answered, “My teaching is not from Me, but from Him who sent Me. (John 7:16)
… the One who sent Me is true, and I tell the world what I heard from Him.” (John 8:26b)
I do nothing by Myself, but speak just what the Father has taught Me. (John 8:28b)
I tell of what I have seen with the Father (John 8:38a)
Yeshua’s ministry began after the Spirit of God descended and remained upon Him. Therefore, it is not presumptuous to surmise a) that the communication that proceeded from Father was transmitted through the agency of the Holy Spirit; and b) the works Yeshua did were done through the revelation the Spirit gave of what Father was doing.
That is how He was able to say that the disciples already knew the Spirit. What the Messiah did, and what Yeshua said, were manifestations of the Spirit.
Daily Bread, reading plan by Lars Enarson (https://www.thewatchman.org/)
6 Av Shabbat 10-Aug-24 Parashat Dvarim
Deuteronomy 3:15-22 Isaiah 1:1-27