True Christian Religion # 158
158. ADDITIONAL NOTE
Since this chapter has dealt with the Holy Spirit, it is of importance to note that the Holy Spirit is nowhere named in the Old Testament Word, but only 'the Spirit of holiness' in three passages, one in the Psalms of David (Psalms 51:11), and two in Isaiah (Isaiah 63:10-11). But there are frequent references in the New Testament Word, as much in the Gospels as in the Acts of the Apostles and in their Epistles. The reason is that the Holy Spirit first existed when the Lord came into the world, for it came out of Him from the Father; for 'the Lord alone is holy' (Revelation 15:4). For this reason too the angel Gabriel speaking to Mary the mother of Jesus said 'the holy thing which will be born of you' (Luke 1:35). The reason why we read 'The Holy Spirit was not yet, because Jesus was not yet glorified' (John 7:39), although it was said earlier that the Holy Spirit filled Elizabeth (Luke 1:41) and Zechariah (Luke 1:67), as well as Simeon (Luke 2:25), was that it was the spirit of Jehovah the Father which filled them; and it was called the Holy Spirit because the Lord was already at that time in the world.
This is why nowhere in the Old Testament Word does it say that the Prophets spoke from the Holy Spirit, but from Jehovah. For everywhere we read 'Jehovah spoke to me', 'The Word from Jehovah came to me', 'Jehovah said', 'The saying of Jehovah.'
To remove all possibility of doubt I propose to quote the passages solely in Jeremiah where these expressions occur:
Jeremiah 1:4, 7, 11-14, 19;
9:3, 7, 9, 13, 15, 17, 22, 24-25;
11:1, 3, 6, 9, 11, 17-18, 21-22;
20:4;
22:2, 5-6, 11, 16, 18, 24, 29-30;
23:2, 5, 7, 12, 15, 24, 29, 31, 38;
27:1-2, 4, 8, 11, 16, 19, 21-22;
29:4, 8-9, 16, 19-21, 25, 30-32;
31:1-2, 7, 10, 15-17, 23, 27-28, 31-38;
32:1, 6, 14-15, 25-26, 28, 30, 36, 42, 44;
33:1-2, 4, 10-13, 17, 19-20, 23, 25;
40:1;
47:1;
48:1, 8, 12, 30, 35, 38, 40, 43-44, 47;
49:2, 5-7, 12-13, 16, 18, 26, 28, 30, 32, 35, 37-39;
50:1, 4, 10, 18, 20-21, 30-31, 33, 35, 40;
These are solely from Jeremiah. There are similar expressions in all the other Prophets, but it is never said that the Holy Spirit spoke, nor that Jehovah spoke to them by means of the Holy Spirit.
Jeremiah 24
1
Yahweh showed me, and behold, two baskets of figs set before the temple of Yahweh, after that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had carried away captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and the princes of Judah, with the craftsmen and smiths, from Jerusalem, and had brought them to Babylon.
2
One basket had very good figs, like the figs that are first-ripe; and the other basket had very bad figs, which could not be eaten, they were so bad.
3
Then Yahweh said to me, What do you see, Jeremiah? I said, Figs; the good Figs, very good; and the bad, very bad, that can't be eaten, they are so bad.
4
The word of Yahweh came to me, saying,
5
Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel: Like these good figs, so will I regard the captives of Judah, whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans, for good.
6
For I will set my eyes on them for good, and I will bring them again to this land: and I will build them, and not pull them down; and I will plant them, and not pluck them up.
7
I will give them a heart to know me, that I am Yahweh: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God; for they shall return to me with their whole heart.
8
As the bad figs, which can't be eaten, they are so bad, surely thus says Yahweh, So will I give up Zedekiah the king of Judah, and his princes, and the residue of Jerusalem, who remain in this land, and those who dwell in the land of Egypt,
9
I will even give them up to be tossed back and forth among all the kingdoms of the earth for evil; to be a reproach and a proverb, a taunt and a curse, in all places where I shall drive them.
10
I will send the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, among them, until they be consumed from off the land that I gave to them and to their fathers.
