Empowerment by the Holy Spirit

In the last few posts, we have talked about how the Old Testament references the Earth being filled with the Holy Spirit again, post Acts chapter 2. This time, we want to see if the New Testament also supports such a claim.

The account in Acts was a localized outpouring of the Holy Spirit but then spread quickly and widely due to the evangelism of those who accepted Christ as their Savior and then received God’s Spirit. We found out in the book of Habakkuk that the next outpouring of the Holy Spirit will be far more reaching and be like a flood over the Earth. Is such a thing possible? And is there other proof of this event occurring?

First, I think we need to look at how the differences between Christ’s first and second comings were ascertained. Prior to Christ coming the first time, there was much confusion to which Scriptures pointed to his first coming and which to his second coming. After all, much of the religious leader’s resistance to Jesus being the Messiah was that he was not fulfilling all the prophesied claims of the coming Messiah, which, today, we realize will be fulfilled at his second coming.

But, are there any doctrines today that even teach of such an outpouring. Once we get the Holy Spirit, we have him, and he is with us forever. While I can’t say there are no denominations today that teach otherwise, I do know there are many prophets today who are teaching about a greater outpouring coming and do bring in scripture to support their claim. Let’s see what they say about this claim in the New Testament.

One such claim is the gospel message that Jesus taught when he first began his ministry. He taught, as did John the Baptist, to “repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near” (Mt 3:2; 4:17). To which kingdom were they referring? I was always taught he was referring to Christ’s Millennial Kingdom, but John seems to indicate something else. John told the Jewish leaders that he baptized with water for repentance, but Jesus would baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire (Mt 3:11). Christ was not going to fulfill his kingship at this time because that would limit who all would have a chance to accept him.

It seems Jesus’ ministry was a transformative ministry to prepare people for the coming filling of the Holy Spirit. This would give them the power to also become transformative in the lives of others (Jn 14:12-14). Paul explained this further stating that by what Jesus did on the cross was more significant than we could even imagine. The power of the Holy Spirit which allowed Christ to be raised from the dead also dwells in us (Ep 1:20-21) and will allow all the miracles that Jesus performed to also be performed by those who have the Holy Spirit dwelling in them (Jn 14:12-14).

So, what happened? That doesn’t seem to be happening today. Well, it did happen in the beginning. Likely Paul felt he was living in this time of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit because he observed God working many signs and wonders which served as a testament to the power of God and led many to believe in Christ.

Yet, it seems over time, the church became hierarchical and then those in elite positions did not have the Holy Spirit but coveted power and wealth over the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. While accepting Christ as one’s Savior was still taught, the power of the Holy Spirit was not. We discussed some of this previously (Kingdom Age). Christianity became societal transformative and not spiritually transformative. People became good and moral but not necessarily transformative with the power of the Holy Spirit in the lives of others.

Over time, this led the church to become more and more inept and allow the enemy, Satan, to develop a stronghold that became stronger and stronger. Our enemy has been patient and we have seen how he has ravaged our societies over the last several years. We also discussed this aspect earlier (Will God Show Up Today?).

Just as Israel missed its charge of being priests to the world (Ex 19:5-6), the church has missed its charge to be transformative in the lives of others via the Holy Spirit. Israel will fulfill its charge in the coming Millennial Kingdom of Christ (Kingdom of Priests). It seems that the church will fulfill its charge of the Great Commission when the Holy Spirit’s outpouring comes over the Earth like a flood. A great time to be alive, for sure.

The book of Titus was written later in Paul’s ministry. I think due to the infiltration of false teachers within the church, he likely concluded that they were not living in the time when the Spirit of God would become like a flood over the Earth as Habakkuk had prophesied. He told Titus to teach what Jesus had taught them until God’s glory has manifested itself to purify a people for his very own (Tt 2:11-14).

Maybe this has been a lot for you to understand and process. After all, it is not what many of us have been taught in regard to our future. Me included. Stay with me and I’ll try and summarize next time. I hope you join me.

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Visit Books & Words to Inspire by Randy C. Dockens