The Holy Spirit: God's Service Pack Update for humanity
This post is going to be a discussion about the Bible, and since I'm a shameless nerd, I'm going to engage in a little coding/software speak just to give those not explicitly familiar with the Bible and Christianity a handy mental image of my point.
Christianity believes in a triune entity known as the Father (God), the Son (Jesus), and the Holy Spirit. Standard doctrine is that all three are separate in terms of being their own thing, but are all connected as the same substance and interlinked.
With this in mind, some background.
In the Old Testament, God said you had to be aware of sin, and when you became aware you sinned, then it counted against you, and it was entirely on you to do the prescribed sacrifice to atone. The New Testament changed this after Jesus died on the cross. When Jesus became the perfect sacrifice for all sin past, present, and future by his death, you still have to acknowledge regret for your sin, but Jesus basically did the sacrifice part for you.
Before, all the legwork had to be done by humanity. Jesus patched out part of that so the sacrifice for sin is automatically applied when you atone.
But God's "service pack" still has one last component.
Here's the Bible passage on the final part of this massive code patch to humanity's software.
From the Book of Acts 1:1-8
1 In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach 2 until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen. 3 After his suffering, he presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God. 4 On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. 5 For John baptized with[a] water, but in a few days you will be baptized with[b] the Holy Spirit.”
6 Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”
7 He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
What Jesus is saying here is that humanity was going to be left more than just himself as the perfect sacrifice, he was going to leave the Holy Spirit.
Now, here is when the "Holy Spirit" update was applied to humanity, from Acts 2:1-13
The Holy Spirit Comes at Pentecost
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[a] 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,[b] 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!” 12 Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?”
13 Some, however, made fun of them and said, “They have had too much wine.”
Now, let's be clear on something, this event was indeed prophesied. Peter (with the other disciples of Jesus) even says as much that this was always intended as God's plan, and he cites the prophet Joel in Acts 2:14-33
14 Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: “Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. 15 These people are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning! 16 No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:
17 “‘In the last days, God says,
I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
your young men will see visions,
your old men will dream dreams.
18 Even on my servants, both men and women,
I will pour out my Spirit in those days,
and they will prophesy.
19 I will show wonders in the heavens above
and signs on the earth below,
blood and fire and billows of smoke.
20 The sun will be turned to darkness
and the moon to blood
before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord.
21 And everyone who calls
on the name of the Lord will be saved.’[c]
22 “Fellow Israelites, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. 23 This man was handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men,[d] put him to death by nailing him to the cross. 24 But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him. 25 David said about him:
“‘I saw the Lord always before me.
Because he is at my right hand,
I will not be shaken.
26 Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;
my body also will rest in hope,
27 because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead,
you will not let your holy one see decay.
28 You have made known to me the paths of life;
you will fill me with joy in your presence.’[e]
29 “Fellow Israelites, I can tell you confidently that the patriarch David died and was buried, and his tomb is here to this day. 30 But he was a prophet and knew that God had promised him on oath that he would place one of his descendants on his throne. 31 Seeing what was to come, he spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah, that he was not abandoned to the realm of the dead, nor did his body see decay. 32 God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of it. 33 Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear
Now, something important we need to mention. This means all will be convicted of their sin if they remain defiant and unrepentant. This was true before, but now that means no one has an excuse not to know they have defied God because the Holy Spirit gives us all a connection to God himself, and when we defy him, he will know, and he will be able to tell us when we have fallen so that we might atone. No longer do we need to wait until we are aware of our sin, now we will know without being told so we can do something about it.
And if there is any doubt of this, Acts 2: 37-39 spells out what we must do from then on.
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.”
Now, let me add something here. The Holy Spirit's gift is what you get after accepting God and that his son is our Savior. You can be convicted by the Spirit to acknowledge your sin even if you do not believe, but when you do believe, you receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
And that gift is the assurance of your salvation. You will know God is forever watchful, your sins can be redeemed without any sacrifice by you since that was already done, and that you will be baptized as one of the delivered as opposed to the damned.
These days, anyone with a computer knows that if you have an update to fix a vulnerability to viruses, you need to get it. God provides an entire service pack to the human race once you believe in him so the virus of sin is forever immunized so that you never need to fear it will destroy you, and once you believe you will receive the final upgrade and the only one you will ever need.
As Peter said, the promise is for everyone, and God offers this freely, so there is no reason not to upgrade yourself, it costs you nothing and will save you eternally.
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