Who is the Holy Spirit? The Holy Spirit is a person just like God and Jesus. He is a part of the Godhead or the Trinity; all 3 persons working together as one. The Holy Spirit is a Gentleman and He will never force himself upon you. The Holy Spirit will come inside and use you and work through you ONLY if you allow him to. You can say no at any time. He will be sad, but He will never force himself upon you. If we keep saying no to Him, then He becomes Grieved. When He becomes grieved there can be consequences.

John 3 Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. 2 He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.”

3 Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.” 4 “How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!”

5 Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. 6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. 7 You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”

Unless you are water baptized AND baptized in the Holy Spirit you will not be able to enter the kingdom of God. What is the kingdom of God? It is the body of believers in Jesus/Yeshua here on Earth, this is not talking about the kingdom of heaven. We cannot do God’s work here on earth UNLESS we have BOTH water baptism and baptism of Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is an unseen power that guides us, directs us and empowers us to do His work. Without Him, signs, wonders, miracles, healings, evangelism or casting out demons cannot take place. All of this is for the advancement of the kingdom on Earth.

When you are baptized in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit comes and lives inside you. The Holy Spirit then comes into our body, soul, and spirit. That total immersion is like a spring of water that bubbles up inside us and looks for an outlet which is usually manifested in “the speaking of tongues”. The indwelling power of God is completely under our control. We can either let it come out of our mouth or hold it inside. We can also impart the power of the Holy Spirit through the Laying on of Hands in prayer, which is a foundation stone. The Holy Spirit can come in other ways, but we HAVE to surrender, submit and ASK Him to be able to receive Him to come inside us. Until we do this the gifts of the Spirit will not manifest.

Luke11:9 “So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

11 “Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? 12 Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13 If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

This is another scripture that is usually taken out of context. This scripture is talking about asking for the Holy Spirit, not about asking for that house or car you want, or for you to become rich. We need to ask and submit to the Holy Spirit to receive Him.

The Holy Spirit first came to the 120 in the upper room. Who were the 120?  Jewish Men and Women who were believers in Jesus/Yeshua as the Messiah. What were they doing there? They were together praying at the time of the morning sacrifices for the Feast of Shavuot/Pentecost. This is also the time when the Jews celebrate the giving of the Law through Moses at Mount Sinai. It is not a coincidence that The Holy Spirit was sent the same day they celebrated the giving of the Law.

Acts 2 When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.

5 Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. 6 When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken. 7 Utterly amazed, they asked: “Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language? 9 Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome 11 (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues……Then Peter gives his sermon (please read on your own)….37 When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”

38 Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.” 40 With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.” 41 Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.

The body of believers were totally Jewish until Peter had his vision of the unclean food (Acts 10) and God told him what He made clean was clean. After Peter was at Cornelius’ house and spoke to the group of people about what Jesus/Yeshua had done, God poured out the Holy Spirit on them. It was a sovereign act of God. This is the first time Gentiles received the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

Acts 10:44 While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message. 45 The circumcised believers (Jews from the Circumcision faction.) who had come with Peter were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on Gentiles. 46 For they heard them speaking in tongues and praising God.

Then Peter said, 47 “Surely no one can stand in the way of their being baptized with water. They have received the Holy Spirit just as we have.” 48 So he ordered that they be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked Peter to stay with them for a few days.

Had Peter and company not witnessed for themselves that the Holy Spirit had come on these Gentiles just as it had on themselves, with speaking in tongues, they wouldn’t have water baptized them. It took a supernatural act of God to dislodge their resistance to bringing Gentiles into the Body of Messiah. These were the first Gentiles to enter the Messianic community without becoming Jewish first.

To better understand the scriptures, I study the Bible from a Jewish Perspective. Judaism is the true root of Christianity, not Catholicism. Because of Replacement Theology , these deep understandings have become lost. Christians are missing out on a truly profound and deeper understanding of the Bible because of this false teaching.

This blog has covered Who the Holy Spirit is and how He came to us, but there is so much more about the Holy Spirit. I will discuss how the Holy Spirit helps us and the Gifts of The Spirit in the next blog, coming soon.