The Holy Spirit is not new to the scene. In fact, He’s been around since the very beginning of time. We know that He is completely God and has been in existence forever. He is not bound to time; time lives in Him. The Holy Spirit was the first to touch the earth. Before the Father and the Son ever graced the earth, the Holy Spirit was hovering over the face of the deep. We read about this in Genesis chapter 1. The Scripture says, “Te Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. Then God said, ‘Let there be light’; and there was light” (Gen. 1:2-3). That’s right, the Holy Spirit has been moving and touching and revealing God on the earth since day one. He still hovers today. In fact, before the Lord ever says a word, the Holy Spirit is on the scene, hovering and prepping the atmosphere for the speech of the Father to have its full effect.
The Hebrew word for hover carries the sense of an eagle hovering over its nest, protecting it while it waits for its eggs to hatch. This is what the Holy Spirit does today. He hovers over the water of our hearts. After all, the Scripture says that “deep calleth unto deep…all Thy waves and Thy billows are gone over me” (Ps. 42:7 KJV). Our hearts and our spirits are like deep wells of living water, and the Holy Spirit hovers over that deep. Before we’re born again, our spirits are dead. Just as darkness covered the face of the deep on the earth in Genesis chapter 1, darkness covered our innermost being before we met Jesus. And so, the Holy Spirit begins to hover over our darkness, over our sin, over our blindness, and He slowly begins to touch us. He is the master at changing the atmosphere over our lives and our hearts. When He comes on the scene, He begins to moisten the soil of our lives. He starts to bring a tenderness to our hearts. This prepares our hearts for God to speak. When God speaks and our hearts are hardened and dry, it is difficult for His Word to take root and bear fruit in our lives.
I’m sure we all heard wonderful sermons before the Lord touched us. Perhaps we even heard the Gospel message preached clearly, but many of us continued in the life of sin even after hearing great preaching. What made the difference that moment we came to Jesus? What was it that finally caused the same message to stick and change us forever? It was the presence of the Holy Spirit. It was His loving hand breaking up our hardness, our stubbornness, and making our heart moist, giving the Gospel just enough room to take root in all of us. He is the master evangelist. The Bible says in Genesis chapter 2, verse 6: “A mist went up from the earth and watered the whole face of the ground” (Gen. 2:6). This is a beautiful picture of what took place in the Garden of Eden. That mist is a prophetic symbol of the presence of the Holy Spirit in our own lives. It is God’s desire that our hearts become a Garden of Eden. It is God’s desire that we never dwell in a dry land. The Scriptures tell us that the rebellious live in dry land (see Ps. 68:6).
The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of rain, the Spirit of moisture, the Spirit of fruit, the Spirit of color, and beauty, and growth. And this is what He brings our way. Once the atmosphere is prepped and He has done His work in us, He carries the power of the Gospel, which is the Word of God, into our lives. Just as light came upon the darkness in Genesis chapter 1, the light goes on in us. We can see. We’re no longer blind. The face of Jesus rests before us. He becomes more real to us than anything or anyone. This is the beautiful work of the Holy Spirit. This chapter will show you that the Holy Spirit is not a new character who appeared in Acts chapter 2. No, He has been there since the very beginning.
The Air We Breathe
Genesis 2:7 says, “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.” God took mud and perfectly formed you and me. The Father is so meticulous. The Son is so precious and faithful. The Father willed our creation, and the Son administrated it. God perfectly put us together. The Bible says that He formed man of the dust of the ground by putting man in His own hand. Imagine the detail of the human body. Just think of the perfection that God has given us in our bodies. Our eyes, our veins, and our brain are more complex than any computer. Consider the way He’s shaped us and designed us to keep disease away from us, the beauty around us that we’re able to experience because of our five senses—all of this because the Lord formed us with beauty. The Bible says, “I am fearfully and wonderfully made” (Ps. 139:14).
However, even though God formed Adam with such incredible and perfect detail, Adam was still dead. His beauty did not guarantee him life. In fact, he lay absolutely lifeless while being perfectly and wonderfully made. It was not until God breathed the breath of His life, mouth, and heart into the nostrils of Adam did Adam come to life. Does this sound familiar to you? Does this sound like much of the Church in the West? Beautifully designed buildings, chairs designed to keep you awake and keep you comfortable during a service. Did you know that church growth books and seminars actually tell you how to angle your chairs in a certain way to enhance the experience in the Sunday meeting? Did you know that churches actually determine the perfect temperature to keep the crowds awake during the meeting?
I’ve been in pre-service staff meetings in other churches where there is an actual flowchart detailing every minute so that the churchgoer will be tended to perfectly. Now, I am not against excellence, or against technology, or against doing things the right way. If you’re going to have a building, it should be great. If you’re going to have chairs, why not make them comfortable? If you’re going to have air conditioning, keep it nice in the room. These are all wonderful, and I believe the Kingdom is a kingdom of excellence. Let me go on. How about our technical packages? How about the screens, and the smoke, and the lights? Again, these are all wonderful, but we can all agree that there is an amazing attention to detail as it pertains to church life in the West. But I have question for you: Is beauty alone a sign that the church is alive? Do the multimillion-dollar buildings guarantee that the life of God is flowing through our churches? Do the cool outfits that our preachers, worship leaders, and bands wear tell us that God is on the move? Again, let me say, if you’re going to dress, dress nice. I have no problem at all with being trendy and fashionable. I think it’s wonderful. But I’m making a point, and the point is this: Structures, programs, money, construction, and crowds do not guarantee that God has breathed His Spirit into our lives.
If I were to paint a picture for you of what it looks like to be religious, it would be exactly what I am talking about right now: form with no power, structure with no cloud, speech with no breath. In fact, the Bible says in the last days that many would have a form of godliness but deny the power (see 2 Tim. 3:5). Let’s look at our own lives. Is most of our time spent focusing on the details of what we construct on our own? Or is it spent obtaining and enjoying the breath of God?
Face to Face
Have you ever wondered why the Lord breathed into Adam’s nostrils? It’s because to receive this breath, Adam had to be face to face with God. We must remember that at this point, Adam was dead. Adam could do nothing to receive the breath of God but lie there dead. This is a beautiful truth that I pray many, many more in our generation will understand—that as we lay there lifeless, losing our own will and dying to self, God begins the dance. It is God who draws near to us first, who breathes on us. What could Adam do before he was alive? Nothing but just lie there. Today, the very fact that you’re reading this book is proof that God has descended into your life. Can you picture Adam lying there in the hand of the Lord after being formed and the Father so lovingly bending down and coming face to face with Adam? God literally touches Adam’s face with His and breathes the Holy Spirit straight into his nostrils. This is what it means to come face to face with God.
Once Adam received that breath into his nostrils, he would breathe it out of his mouth. The first experience in Adam’s life was to breathe out the breath of God, to release what he had received. This is true worship, my friend. This is true life in the Spirit. Once Adam’s eyes opened, his first sight would be the face of Jesus Himself. Jesus is the face of the Father. Second Corinthians 4:6 says that “The glory of God… is seen in the face of Jesus” (2 Cor. 4:6 NLT). Only the Holy Spirit can open our eyes. Only the Holy Spirit can cause us to breathe. Only the Holy Spirit gives us the breath of worship. Only the Holy Spirit gives us vision to see the face of Jesus. I have been in meetings while ministering when the Holy Spirit’s presence was so thick and tangible that I could literally breathe in His substance. With every inhalation I would receive His beauty and His glory, and with every exhalation I would release it in worship. He is the air we breathe. Now you know why Jesus breathed on His disciples when they were born again and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit” (John 20:22). Just think for a moment: This was the time when the disciples were born again, but had Jesus merely sat before them and never released His breath into them, the Holy Spirit would have never come to live on the inside of them and they never would have been born again. This tells us that the Son of God can sit right in front of you, but unless the Holy Spirit goes into you, you cannot be a child of God. I’m so glad that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit work together so beautifully in our hearts.
Maybe as you’re reading this right now, you feel the thick presence of the Holy Spirit. Maybe the room you’re in is changing. Maybe the air feels a little different where you are. Perhaps an incredible peace is flooding your soul—all of your worries seem to be like faded memories that God is overshadowing as you read these words. That’s because the Holy Spirit is right there with you. Yes, that’s right. He’s with you in that room you’re in. In fact, He’s the One that inspired you to read this book. This is His way of bending down to you, bringing His face to yours, wanting to breathe into you so that the lights would go on and you’d behold Jesus all over again. Just breathe in His presence. That’s right. Stop what you’re doing right now. Just take a moment. Give Him a few seconds and say, “Holy Spirit, I know You’re here. I receive Your presence.” Just breathe in His beautiful presence.
The Faithful Dove
He also sent out from himself a dove, to see if the waters had receded from the face of the ground. But the dove found no resting place for the sole of her foot, and she returned into the ark to him, for the waters were on the face of the whole earth. So he put out his hand and took her, and drew her into the ark to himself. And he waited yet another seven days, and again he sent the dove out from the ark. Then the dove came to him in the evening, and behold, a freshly plucked olive leaf was in her mouth; and Noah knew that the waters had receded from the earth. So he waited yet another seven days and sent out the dove, which did not return again to him anymore (Genesis 8:8-12).
We all grew up hearing this story of Noah. I remember as a little boy being amazed at the number of animals, the size of the boat, and the incredible amount of rain and water that flooded the earth. As I began to read the Scriptures with a prayerful heart and more consistently, I discovered that as amazing as Noah’s accomplishments in construction were, this story is not about a boat. As incredible as the amount of animals that found their way onto the boat is, this story is not about corralling a large number of animals. As incredible as the amount of water that covered the earth in that time is, this story is not about rain in the natural. Neither is the part about the dove flying away really about releasing a bird. That dove is the Holy Spirit. That ark is Jesus Himself. The window out of which the dove flew is the side of Jesus that was pierced on the cross. Those waters symbolize two things: the judgment of the world and the waters of baptism, both killing the old man.
Why did Noah wait seven days to send out the dove? Because it’s on the eighth day that new life is promised. Seven means perfection, and eight signifies a new day. What was the job of the dove? The job of the dove was to let Noah know what the status was outside of the ark. And so the Holy Spirit roams the earth today, communing with the Father and the Son, sharing His feelings about what is happening in our world. Why an olive branch? It’s because it’s a picture of peace and a picture of the Anointed One who would be crushed in Gethsemane in a garden of olive trees—the One who would ultimately become our Peace. No, my friend, the Holy Spirit is not new to the scene. He’s always been there.
A Bride for Isaac
Let’s have a look at the work of the Holy Spirit in the life of Abraham and Isaac. Genesis 24 says:
Now Abraham was old, well advanced in age; and the Lord had blessed Abraham in all things. So Abraham said to the oldest servant of his house, who ruled over all that he had, “Please, put your hand under my thigh, and I will make you swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and the God of the earth, that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell; but you shall go to my country and to my family, and take a wife for my son Isaac.”
And the servant said to him, “Perhaps the woman will not be willing to follow me to this land. Must I take your son back to the land from which you came?”
But Abraham said to him, “Beware that you do not take my son back there. The Lord God of heaven, who took me from my father’s house and from the land of my family, and who spoke to me and swore to me, saying, ‘ To your descendants I give this land,’ He will send His angel before you, and you shall take a wife for my son from there. And if the woman is not willing to follow you, then you will be released from this oath; only do not take my son back there.” So the servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master, and swore to him concerning this matter (Genesis 24:1-9).
Remember, all of the Scriptures point to Jesus, according to John chapter 5 and Luke chapter 24 (see John 5:39; Luke 24:27). So let’s have a look at the beautiful types and shadows of Jesus in Genesis chapter 24. Abraham is the Father. Isaac is the Son. The faithful and oldest servant of the house is the Holy Spirit. The father has a desire to find a bride for Isaac just as our Heavenly Father wants His Son, Jesus, to receive the reward of the Church, which is a wife and a bride. The servant, the Holy Spirit, is the One whose job on earth is to find a bride for Jesus. Notice verse 3 says, “…you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell” (Gen. 24:3). In other words, the Father does not want, or will not allow, His Son to be married to those who follow the ways of the world. The Holy Spirit will not go— He will not offer union in marriage to Jesus for those who do not want Jesus. Can you picture the Holy Spirit moving throughout the Church as He prepares and looks for a bride for Jesus, the One He loves?
Finally, the servant found Rebekah in verse 15 while he was sitting on a well (see Gen. 24:15). Can you see it? The Holy Spirit and the Well. The Holy Spirit and the Well are always together. The Holy Spirit is always resting on the revelation of the Well of God, Jesus Himself. And so, the future bride, Rebekah, came to the well. Jesus only marries those who come to Him and want His water and the life that flows from Him. The Bible says, “Now the young woman was very beautiful to behold, a virgin; no man had known her. And she went down to the well, filled her pitcher, and came up. And the servant ran to meet her and said, ‘Please let me drink a little water from your pitcher’” (Gen. 24:16-17). Did you know that the Holy Spirit sees you as being beautiful? And if you’ve given your heart to Jesus and live a life in His presence, you are a pure virgin in His sight. I love that the Scripture says: “no man had known her” (Gen. 24:16). This is a picture of being separate from the world, not tainted with the ways and concepts of the system of the world. Freedom from sin as a lifestyle.
Verse 17: “And the servant ran to meet her and said, ‘Please let me drink a little water from your pitcher’” (Gen. 24:17). Oh, I love that the Holy Spirit runs to us. As we come to the Well, Jesus, the Holy Spirit always rushes in. This is a place of incredible intimacy, as we see from the Holy Spirit asking for water. What does this mean? The Holy Spirit longs for the water that flows from our love. Our hearts are full of dripping water, and He is wanting to be loved and enjoyed.
The gifts of God—verse 22: “So it was, when the camels had finished drinking, that the man took a golden nose ring weighing half a shekel, and two bracelets for her wrists weighing ten shekels of gold” (Gen. 24:22). Gold speaks of divinity in the Scriptures, the nature of God. The nose ring symbolizes that the Bride belongs to Jesus. The bracelets on the wrist indicate that our work and our hands belong to Jesus. But these gifts also speak of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit who gives these gifts, just as the servant gave these gifts to Rebekah.
Verse 43 says, “Behold, I stand by the well of water; and it shall come to pass when the virgin comes out to draw water, and I say to her, ‘Please give me a little water from your pitcher to drink’” (Gen. 24:43). Remember, the Holy Spirit is looking for virgins who love the Well, Jesus Himself.