WBS.193
FUNDAMENTALS OF DISCIPLESHIP
THE HOLY
SPIRIT – XIII
The
Anointing of the Holy Spirit - 1
Ephesians 2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Messiah Yahushua
unto good works, which Elohim hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
IAUE is working all things after the counsel of His own
will. We, as disciples, have been
invited into that process as active players.
It is by walking in the Holy Spirit that we facilitate what IAUE wants
to do in the world. Our obedience always brings glory to IAUE; though it may
not always be pleasant for us; but what does that matter? We have been bought with a price. We are no longer our own.
If you are a regular reader of this blog you
will have certainly noticed by now that threaded through the past several
series of lessons has been a consistent declaration that the present day
disciples of Yahushua Messiah should be doing the very same works that our
Master did before he ascended to sit at the right hand of IAUE. No serious study of the Holy Spirit can bypass
this truth.
Notice in our opening verse of Scripture that
we were created unto good works. It was IAUE’s predetermined counsel that those
who experience the new birth in Yahushua Messiah would quite naturally take on
his mantle, the Holy Spirit, and continue to do what he started.
In the Scriptures, a “mantle”
(addereth)
was a “hairy” cloak. We would call it a
fur, today. I would imagine you have
seen pictures of kings (especially African kings) who wore a lion’s skin or
leopard’s skin over their shoulders. It
was a symbol of their authority. An addereth
is also referred to as a “glory.” For a king, a cloak of lion’s skin or leopard’s
skin was impressive and the very sight of it spoke of power and authority; and it
commanded respect; but for a prophet, the mantle was made of a more coarse skin,
less visually appealing to the eyes (see Isa 53:2). The glory of the prophet was not demonstrated
by the sight of a majestic skin; but rather, it was uniquely associated with
the anointing (the spirit) of the prophet and was evidenced by signs and
wonders. The mantle is especially associated
with the prophets, Elijah and Elisha.
2 Kings 2:8 And Elijah took
his mantle, and wrapped it together, and smote the waters, and they were
divided hither and thither, so that they two went over on dry ground.
9 And it came to pass, when they were gone over, that Elijah
said unto Elisha, Ask what I shall do for thee, before I be taken away from
thee. And Elisha said, I pray thee, let a double portion of thy spirit be upon
me.
10 And he said, Thou hast asked a hard thing:
nevertheless, if thou see me when I am taken from thee, it shall be so unto
thee; but if not, it shall not be so.
11 And it came to pass, as they still went on, and talked,
that, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted
them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.
12 And Elisha saw it, and he cried, My father, my
father, the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof. And he saw him no
more: and he took hold of his own clothes, and rent them in two pieces.
13 He took up also the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and went back, and stood by the bank of Jordan;
14 And
he took the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and smote the waters, and
said, Where is the IAUE Elohim of Elijah? and when he also had smitten the
waters, they parted hither and thither: and Elisha went over.
15 And when the sons of the prophets which were to view at
Jericho saw him, they said, The spirit of Elijah doth rest on Elisha.
And they came to meet him, and bowed themselves to the ground before him.
In this passage of Scripture we see a
foreshadowing of the time when Yahushua would leave the disciples who had travelled
with and abode closely with him. Elijah
(Eliyahu – IAUE is Elohim) asked Elisha what he wanted of him before he was
taken; and Elisha responded, “Let a double portion
of your spirit be upon me.”
Contrary to all the teachers and preachers, today, who talk about people
today receiving a “double-portion” of the anointing of the Holy Spirit, as if
that would make them twice as powerful a preacher or twice as powerful in the
gifts of the Spirit, this was simply the request of the first-born. The
inheritance of the first-born was twice as much as the other sons would
receive; but there weren’t other apprentices traveling with Elijah such that
Elijah would have to dole out to various “sons” an inheritance. No, there was only Elisha; and he simply
requested to have passed down to him all that Elijah was capable of passing
down to a son.
Elijah responded, “If
you see me when I am taken from you, it shall be so unto you.” What happened to the disciples who were with
Messiah when he left to be with His Father?
Acts 1:8 ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Spirit
is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and
in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.
9 And when he
had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud
received him out of their sight.
The disciples witnessed Yahushua being taken
from them, in similar fashion as Elisha witnessed the departure of Elijah.
The mantle fell from Elijah as he was taken up
by the whirlwind, and Elisha picked up the mantle and immediately did the very
same miraculous work that Elijah had done moments earlier. Note that in this story of Elijah and Elisha
that the sons of the prophets, who were watching from a distance, knew that Elisha
had received the spirit that had been upon Elijah because Elisha parted the
waters. He did the same miraculous work
that Elijah had done. In the book of Acts, immediately after the disciples
received the Holy Spirit (the mantle of Yahushua) they began doing the
miraculous (Acts 2:43), the same works that Yahushua had been doing for the
prior three years.
It might be helpful to note that Yahushua, at
this point, was no longer the only-begotten son of IAUE. No, the only begotten son died. Yahushua was now the FIRSTBORN among many
brethren (Romans 8:29). The Scripture
teaches us that the Father gave Yahushua ALL THINGS (John 16:14-15); and that
we are now heirs of IAUE and joint heirs of Yahushua Messiah (Romans 8:17).
Yahushua received the firstborn’s double-portion inheritance from IAUE (and
being the only offspring of IAUE, he received EVERYTHING); and we who are IN
MESSIAH are joint heirs of that firstborn’s double portion. We receive
everything Messiah has; which also means we can do everything that Messiah did,
the way he did it.
There are two more important lessons in this
story of Elijah and Elisha I want to discuss that relate to the anointing of
the Holy Spirit and the demonstration of power He brings to the life of the
heir and joint heir.
2 Kings 2:10 And
he said, Thou hast asked a hard thing:
nevertheless, if thou see me when I am taken from thee, it shall be so unto
thee; but if not, it shall not be so.
When Elisha answered Elisha’s question (What
do you want me to do for you before I go?), Elijah responded by saying, “You have asked
a hard thing.” This was not a
hard thing to do for Elijah. It was not
a difficult request to fulfill. No, it
was something that was going to be hard for Elisha. The responsibility of the anointing and the
hardships it would bring from the world were not going to be easy for Elisha.
John 16:1 These things have I spoken unto you, that ye should not
be offended.
2 They shall
put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you
will think that he doeth Elohim service.
3 And these
things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor me.
If you read the book of Acts, you will see
story after story of the price that the early apostles and disciples paid for
walking in the Spirit of IAUE. James was beheaded. All of the apostles were beaten and
threatened if they continued to speak in the name of Yahushua. They were
killed, beaten, stoned and imprisoned. When Paul was converted, it took IAUE
three days to communicate to him all the things he would suffer for His name’s
sake.
Most Christians today seems void of any
understanding of the spiritual world.
They do not recognize, as Paul taught in Ephesians 6, that our wrestling
match (our inevitable close combat) is not with flesh and blood, but it is with
evil spiritual forces; and as these demons influenced men in Messiah’s day to
hate him and plan his death; so too will men influenced by evil spirits seek to
do us ill if we will walk in the power of the Holy Spirit. [We must always be
conscious of the fact that men influenced by evil spirits do not know what they
are doing. We must recognize that the
blood of Messiah was shed to forgive all men of their sins and iniquity. They already are forgiven and loved of IAUE;
they just don’t know of their reconciliation provided by IAUE. We can no longer
judge men according to the flesh (2 Corinthians 5:14-16). We must set the captives free and show them
the love of IAUE through Yahushua Messiah, no matter the cost.]
The second thing I want us to observe in our
story of Elijah and Elisha is this.
2 Kings 2:12 And Elisha saw it, and he cried,
My father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof. And he
saw him no more: and he took hold of
his own clothes, and rent them in two pieces.
Elisha did not put the mantle of Elijah upon
his body right away. Before Elisha took up the mantle of Elijah, he did not
just remove his own outer garment; he rent it in two. He rendered it useless to him. It was
discarded, never to be worn again.
People, today, wonder where is the power of the
Holy Spirit. They academically believe
what the Scriptures say is true. They
believe the Holy Spirit can still reproduce the works of Messiah in the lives
of believers today. They just don’t see
it happening in their lives; and they wonder why that is. It is because they
have never rent their own garment in two and cast it off. The message that passes for the gospel,
today, does not include repentance; and without it, we can never truly walk in
the anointing of the Spirit of IAUE. We
cling to the world and hope for the glory of IAUE upon our lives. It isn’t going to happen.
Elisha recognized that in order to walk in the
spirit of Elijah; he had to walk like Elijah.
His life was no longer his own.
To demonstrate he understood that, he tore his outer garment in two. Only then could he take up the mantle of
Elijah. When he did, he immediately began doing the works of Elijah.
Today, repentance is the rending of our life
as we know it. Water baptism is the open
declaration of that repentance. This is
why the proper order or sequence of events provided by Peter on the day of
Pentecost was 1) Repent, 2) Be baptized, 3) Receive the gift of the Holy Spirit
(Acts 2:38).
Kingdom
heart: a heart that offers no resistance to the
performance of the will of IAUE.
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