On Sunday,
I mentioned in the message that Jesus’ ministry, like ours today, was Holy
Spirit-empowered. The Father did His
works in the Son in the sense that He empowered the Son through the Spirit
(John 14:10, cf 3:34). I’d like to give
a little more material here to establish that this is the case.
Some folks
are troubled to hear that Jesus did not minister strictly out of the power of
His divinity. That shouldn’t bother
us. That Jesus was empowered by the Spirit
does not cast doubt on His divinity. We
saw from numerous places just in the book of John on Sunday, that Jesus is
indeed God. But the Bible is also clear
that the Son ministered by the power of the Spirit.
First, let’s
remember the text mentioned on Sunday, John 3:34: “For he whom God has sent utters the words of God, for he gives the
Spirit without measure.” Here, John
the Baptist explains Jesus’ ability to speak the words of the Father by pointing to the
Father’s giving Him the Spirit without measure.
In other words, the Father gave the Spirit to the Son to empower Him to
speak His words. The Fourth Gospel so closely
ties the words and works of God that it is legitimate to assume that the Spirit
also empowered the Son’s miracles.
The Gospel
of Luke adds to the evidence. In ch3,
right after the Lord’s baptism, the Spirit descended upon Him like a dove
(Luke 3:22). The very next verse of narrative
is 4:1: And Jesus, full of the Holy
Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness for
forty days, being tempted by the devil.
The next scene begins, And Jesus
returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee... (4:14). During that trip to Galilee, He went to the
synagogue on the Sabbath and stood up to read.
What did He read? From Isaiah 61:
"The Spirit of the Lord is
upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has
sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the
blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the
Lord's favor." (4:18-19). After rolling up the scroll, He said, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in
your hearing” (4:21).
So, Luke describes
Jesus as being anointed by, being filled with, being led by, and walking in the
power of the Spirit. It seems
that Peter would agree with this. In
Acts 10:34-43, the apostle speaks to Cornelius and his household about the Lord
and “how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth
with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went about doing good and healing all
who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.” How was Jesus able to do all that He did,
including healing all who were oppressed of the devil? “God was with Him.” God the Spirit, to be precise.
Jesus
understood the Spirit to be the source of His miraculous power as well. In Matt 12:22-32, a demon-possessed man who
was also blind and mute was brought to Jesus.
The Lord healed him so that the demon was gone and the man spoke and
saw. But when the Pharisees saw it, they
said, "It is only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, that this man casts
out demons" (Matt 12:24). Here is
an excerpt from the Lord’s response:
26
And if Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his
kingdom stand? 27 And if I cast
out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they
will be your judges. 28 But if it is by the Spirit of God that I
cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. (Matt 12:26-28)
Jesus then
goes on to warn that while blasphemy against the Son is forgivable, blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is unforgivable (Matt 12:31)! Clearly, Jesus believed that the work done by
Him in His ministry -- words, signs, and wonders testifying to the
coming kingdom -- were empowered by the Holy Spirit. To attribute those works to the devil is to
blaspheme the Spirit!
There is
much to glean from this, some of which we’ll see as we continue our study of
John 13-17 on Sunday mornings. One
blessed truth is that the Spirit who empowered Jesus for ministry has been
given to us (John 14:15-17). All the
resources at the Lord’s disposal are ours.
We’ve only to believe, pray, and move!
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