Angelic Conflict part 162: Human history (soul and spirit) – Heb 4:9-12; Num 16:22: 27:15-16 ; Joh 4:23-24; 1Co 2:9-16; Luk 10:17-24; Rom 8:12-17.

Title: Angelic Conflict part 162: Human history (soul and spirit) - HEB 4:9-12; NUM 16:22: 27:15-16 ; JOH 4:23-24; 1CO 2:9-16; LUK 10:17-24; ROM 8:12-17.  

 

 

HEB 4:11 Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall through following the same example of disobedience.

 

HEB 4:12 For the word of God is living [same word is used to describe the resurrected Lord] and active [energies: working or powerful] and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

 

First, we have to establish some basics.

 

The word of God seems to state that all flesh possess spirits:

 

NUM 16:22

But they fell on their faces, and said, "O God, Thou God of the spirits [ruach] of all flesh, when one man sins, wilt Thou be angry with the entire congregation?"

 

Ruach is used 378 times in the OT.

 

NUM 27:15-16

Then Moses spoke to the Lord , saying, "May the Lord , the God of the spirits [ruach] of all flesh, appoint a man over the congregation,

 

Yet the word of God does not state that all spirits are from God. Whatever the spirit is of the fallen creature, both angelic and human, it is clear that it is not an influence of divine or spiritual living.

 

The confusion arises because we were warned that if we ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil we would die spiritually and then physically. So we can conclude that the divine spirit in Adam died. Many conclude that he became body and soul without a spirit. However, he was still influenced by something as documented by the differences between Cain and Abel. The Bible uses the term spirit (Hebrew - ruach; Greek - pneuma) to describe this influence over the soul. Whether that influence is inside the person, thus still possessing a spirit but a dead and corrupted one, or outside the person, thus not having a spirit but being influenced by outside ones, should not concern us because God doesn't come right out with it, and so the logistics of influence is inferred. No matter, the fact of the influence is what is at stake.  

 

GEN 7:21-22

And all flesh that moved on the earth perished, birds and cattle and beasts and every swarming thing that swarms upon the earth, and all mankind; of all that was on the dry land, all in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit [ruach] of life, died.

 

GEN 41:8 Now it came about in the morning that his spirit was troubled, so he sent and called for all the magicians of Egypt, and all its wise men.

 

GEN 41:38 Then Pharaoh said to his servants, "Can we find a man like this, in whom is a divine spirit?"

 

This Pharaoh's assertion, yet it does reveal that at the time the spirit or influence of a man was known. This would not imply that Joseph has the same spirit as the new divine spirit given to every believer in the CA at salvation. In fact, the new spirit of the CA is given so that we can understand the hidden mystery doctrine and so we conclude that OT saints didn't have this type of spirit.

 

NUM 14:24

But My servant Caleb, because he has had a different spirit and has followed Me fully, I will bring into the land which he entered, and his descendants shall take possession of it.

 

Throughout the OT, excluding the instances of God the Holy Spirit, we see believers and unbelievers who are described as having certain spirits. In almost every instance the spirit is influencing them and at times God is influencing the spirit to influence them.

 

All souls belong to God as well:

 

EZE 18:4

"Behold, all souls are Mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is Mine. The soul who sins will die.

 

The title Father is employed in reference to the believer's new spirit:

 

HEB 12:9

Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live?

 

He is God of all and Father of believers only. God does not place the unbeliever under divine discipline in the way that He does His children.

 

God the Holy Spirit is the breath of God upon the earth, influencing man, restraining man, teaching the gospel and doctrine and His influence from within us can be ours if we choose. Filling, pleroo in EPH 5:18, means to fully influence. If doctrine, God's plan, God's power are our top priority then we have accepted by faith God's decreed life for us and we will be fully influenced by God's breath or Spirit. Don't take that to mean that He is just a force as cults teach. He is a person, a member of the Trinity, and He has been given to us to fully influence us in a supernatural way.

 

JOH 4:23 "But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers.

 

JOH 4:24 "God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."

 

The Spirit of God or the spirit of the world can influence our souls.

 

1CO 2:1And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God.

 

1CO 2:2 For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.

 

1CO 2:3 And I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling.

 

1CO 2:4 And my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power,

 

1CO 2:5 that your faith should not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.

 

1CO 2:6 Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature [excluding unbelievers and infant believers]; a wisdom, however, not of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are passing away;

 

The mature are the spiritual men - influence of divine spirit and God the Holy Spirit:

 

1CO 3:1

And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual [pneumatikos] men, but as to men of flesh, as to babes [infants] in Christ.

 

1CO 2:7 but we speak God's wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom, which God predestined before the ages to our glory;

 

"hidden" - avpokru,ptw[apokrupto] = cover from, conceal from, keep secret from.

 

This would be the antonym to revelation which comes by means of God the Holy Spirit.

 

This wisdom or mystery doctrine of the Church age which would produce spiritual men unlike any in all history before the Church was kept hidden from the prophets and writers and from all before us, including elect and fallen angels, but now has been revealed so that we may actually share in the glory that belongs to Christ.

 

The glory of Christ is revealed from the word of God by means of the Holy Spirit to the new divine spirit and then to the soul [mind and heart] comprising the spiritual man.

 

It wasn't the Law that was hidden. An unbeliever can understand much of the Law and in fact live under it. He won't understand the significance of the sacrifices, articles of the tabernacle, or the feasts, but he can understand the Ten Commandments. The spiritual life [pneumatikos is not found in the Septuagint or the gospels] is hidden to all who do not possess the new divine spirit. But like the Corinthians possessed this spirit they chose rather to be influenced by the spirit of the world rather than God the Holy Spirit so the new spirit remained in them as an infant. That is why they are in Christ, but called infants in Christ, whereas by this time they should have been mature or spiritual.

 

LUK 10:17 And the seventy returned with joy, saying, "Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name."

 

LUK 10:18 And He said to them, "I was watching Satan fall from heaven like lightning [He is Prophet, Priest, and King].

 

LUK 10:19 "Behold, I have given you authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall injure you.

 

LUK 10:20 "Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven."

 

They had power over demonic spirits because Christ had supernaturally given them this power. Through the new divine spirit and God the HS and the hidden wisdom, Christ has given us power of the spirit of the world, which comprise doctrines of demons as well as demon influence towards modern day idols. I did not say that the CA believer has power to cast out demons from those possessed. That is left to God to do if He sees fit. The believer's occupation is to avoid the influences of the wrong spirit.

 

Rejoice that your names are recorded. Could He be referring to both our name and our new title which is given as a reward to the overcomer? I could cast out a hundred demons from demon possessed heathens. But...

 

1CO 13:2

And if I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.

 

In order to possess the love of Christ I have to overcome all the opposing spirits against God and be fully influenced by the new divine spirit by means of doctrine and the influencing ministry of God the Holy Spirit. That growth is rewarded with a new name in heaven.

 

LUK 10:21 At that very time He rejoiced greatly in the Holy Spirit, and said, "I praise Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that Thou didst hide these things from the wise and intelligent and didst reveal them to babes. Yes, Father, for thus it was well-pleasing in Thy sight.

 

"hide" - apokrupto. "babes" [infant] - same word used in 1CO 3:1 who could only drink milk. The hidden wisdom is revealed to infants, but we must not remain infants.

 

LUK 10:22 "All things have been handed over to Me by My Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, and who the Father is except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him." 

 

The Son wills to reveal the Father to all believers and it is through the new divine spirit, God the Holy Spirit, and the word of God, and not in any particular order - all are active or idle together.

 

LUK 10:23 And turning to the disciples, He said privately, "Blessed are the eyes which see the things you see,

 

LUK 10:24 for I say to you, that many prophets and kings wished to see the things which you see, and did not see them, and to hear the things which you hear, and did not hear them. "

 

This is the mystery of the hidden wisdom. So at times, Christ spoke in parables, so that only those who believed in Him would have a shot at understanding certain principles of God's program (MAR 4:10-12). However, much of this revelation would not be revealed until after the CA began at Pentecost.

 

The 70 went to several cities after Christ had done many miracles there. They not only taught that Jesus was the Christ and that the kingdom was at hand, but they performed miracles themselves, casting out demons and healing and in some cities, not even this changed their minds so as to believe it. This reminds us of the Exodus.  

 

We are not to remain as spiritual infants. The believer's part, as it always is, is volition. He must choose to submit himself to the word of God. He must desire to learn this wisdom from a proper motivation, which is to glorify Christ and not self. He must understand the ministry of God the Holy Spirit in his life as God's influencer. He must be willing to yield to all of this wisdom and power that God has given to the Church-age believer. Just a little knowledge of these things will start the process of growth, distancing himself from the infant and onward to the adult in Christ; to one who is useful to the Master.