Ruach.

A few weeks ago, we were talking about the omnipresence of Holy Spirit in answer to the question, “Where is Holy Spirit?” from our first week in this series. Now we are going to look at, “Who is Holy Spirit?” We know that Holy Spirit is God. We know that Holy Spirit is a Person. But who is Holy Spirit?

When most people think about Holy Spirit, they visualise a dove. Like the dove that came and rested on Jesus at His baptism, Luke 3:22. We think, yes, Holy Spirit is nice and quiet and peaceful. But what we need to understand is that Holy Spirit is just that, Spirit. We can’t see spirits. So when Jesus was baptised, Holy Spirit symbolically took the appearance of a dove so people could bear witness that the Spirit of the Lord was on Jesus, see Isaiah 11:2, Isaiah 42:1 and Luke 4:18.

But if we circle back to where we started in Genesis 1:2 which says, “The earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the deep waters. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.” Formless is the Hebrew word H8414, tohu, which can mean place of chaos, wasteland, wilderness. There was chaos in the earth. I can’t imagine a dove hanging around in a place of chaos. Yet, Holy Spirit hovered over the chaos. Unbothered. Unmoveable. Unflustered.

The word “Spirit” in Genesis 1:2 is the Hebrew word H7307 in the Strongs Hebrew Lexicon, which is the word “ruach”. Ruach means, “wind, breath, mind, Spirit of God, Holy Spirit”. In the definition it goes on to say, Holy Spirit is “never referred to as a depersonalized force”. Holy Spirit is a person.

If we apply the law of first mention, meaning, we get the context of who Holy Spirit is based on how Holy Spirit is first introduced to us in the Bible, we see that Holy Spirit is much more than a pretty dove. The definition of “ruach” goes on to describe Holy Spirit as:

1. inspiring ecstatic state of prophecy;
2. impelling prophets to utter instruction or warning;
3. imparting warlike energy and executive and administrative power;
4. endowing men with various gifts;
5. energy of life;
6. manifest in the Shekinah glory; and
7. never referred to as a depersonalised force.

Holy Spirit is the part of God that empowers us and imparts warlike energy and executive and administrative power so we can be who God has called us to be.

When Jesus had been raised to life, He said this to the disciples in Luke 24:49, “And now I will send the Holy Spirit, just as my Father promised. But stay here in the city until the Holy Spirit comes and fills you with power from heaven.”

Holy Spirit is powerful beyond measure. We sometimes treat Holy Spirit like the third wheel to the Holy Trinity. There is nothing less than or inferior about Holy Spirit when it come to the Godhead. Holy Spirit is powerful, mighty and is 100% God. If you are going to fight the devil in this life, you will need some power, you will need Holy Spirit.

We will continue this next week.

Love and blessings,

Melissa Tsingano