Paul gave us a clue as to how we know Jesus is talking to us in Galatians 3:14, when he wrote that “Jesus redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus.” And what Paul meant by “the blessing coming to us Gentiles” was “the promise of the Spirit.”
So right back in Abraham’s day, God was already looking ahead to the time when the Holy Spirit would be given. And what would the Spirit’s purpose be? Jesus answered that for us in John 14:26 when he told his disciples, “the Counsellor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.”
So Jesus would continue talking to his disciples – as he had done while he was with them in person (verse 25) – but now through the Holy Spirit instead. And they’d know it was Jesus’ words they were hearing because as Jesus said in John 15:26, “When the Counsellor comes….he will testify about me,” and in John 16:13-14, the Spirit “will speak only what he hears…by taking what is mine and making it known to you.”
The Holy Spirit, therefore, would do the same for people today that Jesus did for the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, when “beginning with Moses and all the Prophets,” Luke 24:27, “he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.” And what was the reaction in the disciples on Jesus doing that for them? Verse 32: “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?”
And there’s our clue as to how we know Jesus is talking to us: it’s by the Holy Spirit now doing for us what Jesus did for those two disciples – and for his other disciples too, by “opening their minds so they could understand the Scriptures” about himself (verses 45-46).
And it was all contained in “the promises spoken to Abraham and to his seed,” Galatians 3:16, the “seed meaning one person, who is Christ.” The promise of the Holy Spirit, then, was to make that “one person, Christ” and what he said and taught so real, that for millions of us Gentiles it would seem like Jesus is “walking the road to Emmaus” and talking to us too. And in such a way our “eyes are opened” (Luke 24:31) so we know it’s him talking to us and it’s his words we’re hearing.
Which raises the question: If this amazing promise of the Spirit was given to Abraham, “Did Abraham have the Holy Spirit?” too…(next blog)
Buck To Basics 