The Holy Spirit in Restoration of Sinners

Scripture Reading: Genesis 6:1-4

 *When men began to multiply on the face of the land and daughters were born to them, ² The sons of God saw that the daughters of men were fair, and they took wives of all they desired and chose.³ Then the Lord said, My Spirit shall not forever dwell and strive with man, for he also is flesh; but his days shall yet be 120 years. ⁴ There were giants on the earth in those days—and also afterward—when the sons of God lived with the daughters of men, and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.

Key Verse: Then the Lord said, My Spirit will not contend with man forever. . . (Genesis 6:3a).

Meditation: When Adam disobeyed God, he lost the image of God and forfeited his intimate fellowship and relationship with God. However, the Holy Spirit did not leave mankind in this desperate situation. He continued His ministry of contending and striving with people. While this Old Testament ministry of the Spirit lacked the intervention  dynamic work of Jesus, yet He was continually moving upon people to help them reclaim what they had lost in the Garden of Eden. There were, however, also warnings of judgment on those who persisted in disobedience. Noah’s generation, to which these words are addressed,  ignored the Spirit’s warning and all but Noah and his family were swept away by the flood in judgment.

This “contending” of the Spirit on a personal level in the old Testament is best illustrated in **King David’s sin and cover-up in Psalm 51. The Spirit ( as found in  2 Samuel 12) gave the prophet Nathan the spiritual discernment courage to say, “David, you are the man.” Suddenly, the conviction of the Spirit falls on David as he remembers the danger of the Spirit leaving him as in King Saul’s case. He cries out in repentance, “Do not cast me out (like you did Saul), or take your Holy Spirit from me.” He repents of his sins, and receives divine forgiveness and acceptance before God. Assured of God’s answer, he then writes with confidence ***“The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit and a contrite heart.”

Thought for the Day: The marks of biblical repentance are manifested when we stop rationalizing our ****failures and sincerely cry out with David, “Create in me a clean heart, 0 God.”

*More research has been done on the above verses as well in recent days as people are able to examine and compare the Dead Sea Scrolls as written by the Qumran sect and the Jewish scriptures.  Many are curious about who these people (monsters) were. 

**It is interesting that most people believe that this major glitch( the lusting after Bathsheba and the murder of her husband Uriah) in David's judgement was the main reason that he was not allowed to build the temple of God.  But God did accept David's repentant heart and allowed Solomon, David's second son from this union to be the next king.  

 David did something else that upset God. It can be found in 1Chronicles 21: 1-4 , 2 Samuel 24:1. It is the counting of the Israeli people.  Satan had suggested to David  that the people were his own and not God's warriors.   Even though David had committed the sin all Israel had to suffer- and 70,000 died from a plague as a result. (2 Samuel 24:11 -19.)

 David did come to his senses after the first day of counting. The plague was about to enter Jerusalem- but God spoke through his servant Dan the prophet and directed King David to make a sacrifice on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. And the plague stopped. (Do you know where this threshing floor is now?- underneath the Muslim Mosque on the Temple Mound in Jerusalem.) 

*** Salvation is not dependent upon our actions.  Salvation comes through the acceptance of Jesus as our Passover lamb.

**** WE will continue to live in guilt until we see that "What ever Jesus is so are we in this world" (1 John 4:17).

Where does the Holy Spirit end and Jesus begin? I am not so sure any more. If Jesus is the Light of the world (John 8: 12) and the light was in existence since the second day of creation then perhaps there 

is some overlap.