13 “Enter through the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the road broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who go through it. 14 How narrow is the gate and difficult the road that leads to life, and few find it.
15 “Be on your guard against false prophets who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravaging wolves. 16 You’ll recognize them by their fruit. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes or figs from thistles? 17 In the same way, every good tree produces good fruit, but a bad tree produces bad fruit. 18 A good tree can’t produce bad fruit; neither can a bad tree produce good fruit. 19 Every tree that doesn’t produce good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 So you’ll recognize them by their fruit.
21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in your name, drive out demons in your name, and do many miracles in your name?’ 23 Then I will announce to them, ‘I never knew you. Depart from me, you lawbreakers!’
Jesus promises the Holy Spirit to those God the Father draws to Him, but Who is this unseen spirit from the LORD God?
“Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’”
Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive…
John 7:38-39a ESV the invitation of Jesus
Promise of the Holy Spirit
Heart of the Spirit
Psalm 111:1
Every illustration of the Holy Spirit fails in part because spirit is unseen, a concept we explored last time in Life in the Spirit. One Hebrew concept of the place of the spirit is the heart. Moses tells us of the LORD’s heart (prior to the Shema):
‘Oh that they had such a heart in them, that they would fear Me and keep all My commandments always, that it may be well with them and with their sons forever!’ – Deuteronomy 5:29
But Scripture also points to the inherited evil in the hearts of mankind.
The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God,” They are corrupt, and have committed abominable injustice; There is no one who does good.
Psalm 53:1
Jesus cautions us, explaining the heart as the source of the words flowing from our mouth. The conversation has been about water and cleansing.
“But the things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and those defile the man. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders.
Once again in Jerusalem at the Feast of the Booths the crowds look for His return after Jesus gave signs confirming that He IS the Messiah of God.
11 So the Jews were seeking Him at the feast and were saying, “Where is He?”
12 There was much grumbling among the crowds concerning Him; some were saying, “He is a good man”; others were saying, “No, on the contrary, He leads the people astray.”
This time the controversy with Jesus brings the Lord to promise the Holy Spirit to those God chooses.
Note that we do not initiate it, but must only respond to God the Father IF He draws us toward the Christ, Jesus.
Rivers of Living Water
37 On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink.
He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.”
the Good News of John 7:38 NKJV
Do you believe?
Earlier in His ministry to the Jews, Jesus had met a woman at a well of Jacob along a road in Samaria.
John 4:
9 Therefore the Samaritan woman said to Him, “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask me for a drink since I am a Samaritan woman?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.)
Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.”
She said to Him, “Sir, You have nothing to draw with and the well is deep; where then do You get that living water?
“Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again; but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.”
John 4:13b-14 NASB
Even prior to this sign that Jesus is a Prophet (and more), the Lord converses with one of the most learned Pharisees about the Holy Spirit.
John 3:
“Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.” …
Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
When Jesus speaks to Nicodemus, a teacher and ruler of the Jews about the Holy Spirit, He points directly to the Spirit of God!
Just one example here to consider:
Now these are the last words of David. David the son of Jesse declares, The man who was raised on high declares, The anointed of the God of Jacob, And the sweet psalmist of Israel, “The Spirit of the LORD spoke by me, And His word was on my tongue. - 2 Samuel 23:1-2 NASB
Later as Jesus enters Jerusalem on the colt of a donkey for His Passover Sacrifice on the Cross, crowds of Jews will praise the Lord:
Nicodemus and many others had already heard of the signs and reliable witness by the Prophet John the Baptist, confirming Jesus receiving the Holy Spirit of God the Father.
Jesus receives the Holy Spirit
Consider a young Jewish man born in Bethlehem of Judea, taken to Egypt as a child to return to Nazareth and Capernaum in the Roman Syrian province of Galilee. Even as a boy Jesus had visited the Temple.
He later returns regularly to Jerusalem with confirmation of His own deity by a Prophet nearly all of Judea has recognized.
15 John bore witness of Him and cried out, saying, “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me is preferred before me, for He was before me.’ ”
John answered them, saying, “I baptize with water, but there stands One among you whom you do not know. It is He who, coming after me, is preferred before me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose.” – John 1:26-27
32 And John bore witness, saying,
“I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and He remained upon Him. I did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me,
‘Upon whom you see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’
34 And I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God.”
The Son receives the Holy spirit from the Father
Jesus describes Himself as the ‘Son of Man,’ yet He IS the Very Image of God the Father walking among the men of an unredeemed Israel.
He lived without sin before receiving the Spirit, praying directly to the Father, but now a part of the LORD, of which He IS a living man receives the spirit from above – the Holy Spirit.
The familiar imagery of a dove may mislead eyes which cannot see. The Gospel records something mysterious and undescribable (much like angels) that the Spirit descends like a dove, He (the Holy Spirit) descends from the sky upon Jesus.
Then the LORD God the Father SPEAKS from Heaven confirming the Jesus IS the SON.
HOLY, HOLY, HOLY
Is your flesh cleansed enough to receive the living water from the Holy Spirit?
It cannot be, unless the LORD draws you to the well of the Living Water of the Christ, the Messiah Jesus. And then, you must receive Him, the Son of Sacrifice and eternal life.
… I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.
Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly.
And one cried unto another, and said,
Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.
Isaiah 6:3b KJV
And the Prophet Isaiah says (witnessing these angels above angels, but below the Lord Jesus in obedience):
Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.
John the Baptist, Prophet of God who witnessed the Holy Spirit descend upon the Son Jesus says:
“I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God.”
And before the return of Jesus to the Father He testifies to the Disciples drawn to follow Him:
“But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.
John 14:26 NASB
‘He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
We show no awe of Jesus in our no-salt ‘christian’ lives. Oh, perhaps in a stanza of singing, a sentence of sermon or a moment of compassion in our encounter with another; but for the most part we Christians fail to show any awe of Jesus in our worship or daily lives.
Our church and yours will most likely witness the “aahhh” of a baby born in Bethlehem directed for our children. Ah, not awe — the small sprinkling of Christ for the community, rather than Spirit led worship of the Christ who still lives.
AWE!
The forgotten awe of the Lord God witnessed in the past becomes the superstition of today’s disbelief.
When we read of the awe of Jesus we quickly overlook it. How easily we miss a personal awe of the Lord.
So just for a moment put yourself in the sandals of some witnesses we missed in Jesus’ introduction. (For the Gospel shows us much more than the ‘ah’ of a babe in a manger.)
The Gospel of Matthew
1:20b … an angel of the Lord appeared to him [Joseph] in a dream… 24 When Joseph woke up, he did as the Lord’s angel had commanded him.
Note: Maji: Matthew 2:1 A caste of wise men specializing in astronomy, astrology, and natural science
2:2 “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star at its rising and have come to worship him.”
13 When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt.
19 After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt.
The Gospel Mark
The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
9 In those days Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. Immediately coming up out of the water, He saw the heavens opening, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon Him; and a voice came out of the heavens: “You are My beloved Son, in You I am well-pleased.”
The Good News (εὐαγγέλιον) of Luke
1:8 … he was serving as priest before God… 11 An angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing to the right of the altar of incense. 12 When Zechariah saw him, he was terrified and overcome with fear. 13 But the angel said to him: “Do not be afraid, Zechariah…
26 In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man named Joseph, of the house of David…
2:9 Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Don’t be afraid…
13 And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,
Luke 2:14 NASB – Strong’s G2107 – eudokia Blueletterbible.org
33 And His father and mother were amazed at the things which were being said about Him.
Does Jesus still amaze you after hearing HIS STORY each year?
Do you hear the awe in these witnesses of Christ? And like them do hold HIM in awe as well?
34 And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary His mother, “Behold, this Child is appointed for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and for a sign to be opposed—
Prophecy – Simeon recalls and applies prophecy of the Messiah to Jesus, the Son of Man born in a manger in Bethlehem.
The Gospel of John
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
John 1:2 KJV of Christ Jesus ‘this one, visibly present here
The Lamb of God in a manger
The Lamb of God
29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!
30 This is He of whom I said, ‘After me comes a Man who is preferred before me, for He was before me.’
John the Baptist was in awe of Jesus. Are you?
51 And He said to him [Nathanael], “Most assuredly, I say to you, hereafter you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.”
Awesome! Truly, the Gospel records many instances of awe connected to Christ Jesus.
You know the greek root and its connection to fear, dread, terror and that which strikes terror.
Yet we marginalize our phobias even of miracles. And awe in this sense startles our sense of the natural. For our human understanding must be finite and understanding of the infinite baffles us.
We mention the fear of the shepherds who witnessed the awe of angels at Jesus’ birth. Yet seldom will we note the supernatural motivations for the multitudes of followers who subsequently had to see and hear the Messiah Jesus.
In just one scene here in Nain, imagine yourself as part of the crowd gathered for the funeral of this man. Jesus, of whom you have heard, walks up and touches the coffin.
“Young man, I say to you, arise!”
The dead man sat up and began to speak. And Jesus gave him back to his mother.
Fear gripped them all, and they began glorifying God, saying,
