The Great Gift of God
The core foundation of the Christian faith is the mystical aspect of it, not only the moral aspect. The mystical aspect refers to the person’s direct communion with God. This is essential to the believer’s faith and it is the prime motivation for living out the faith. The gift or amazing grace that God brought unto mankind was His manifested physical presence (the Christ) and His exposed spiritual presence (the Spirit). God, who is three persons in one nature, brought upon mankind total redemption and limitless empowerment. God, in the divine favor, reconciled and planned all of mankind to come to Him. Jesus in the flesh said,
“It is written in one of the Prophets: ‘They shall all be taught by God.’ Therefore, anyone who hears and learns from the Father comes to Me” (John 6:45).
But by what means do these people come to God? The O.T. reference was based on God personally teaching the children of Israel His ways in their time, but Jesus misquoted the passage and took the theme of God’s revelatory nature exposed in the Jewish Scriptures, to teach the audience that God is willing to teach His children (and creation) by His own voice. Jesus is using Jewish Scriptures to prove the point that God is open to giving communion and instruction. Jesus addresses that God will draw people by His voice to Christ Jesus; and this voice is understood to be the Holy Spirit.
The Lord Jesus confronted a satanic figure with the use of Jewish Scriptures. According to traditional Christianity, Jesus is known as a “Scripturalist” (someone who adheres to Scripture). But Jesus was also adherent to mysticism (the practice of communing with God directly). Jesus quoted from one of the Books of Moses, saying:
“Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every verbal word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4).
Traditionalists and biblio-zealots will claim Jesus intended the Scriptures, but this interpretation is proven false. Jesus quoted from the time of Moses, when they did not have any Scriptures. Jesus once again reveals that God’s voice is available to mankind, even professing its importance to be similar to physical sustenance.
The Holy Spirit was the gift God revealed to mankind. Even the apostles in their writings refer to the mystical necessity and blessing. Here are some mentions:
“Those who follow the Spirit of God are the children of God” (Romans 8:14).
“May the love of God, the grace of our Lord Jesus, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all” (2 Corinthians 13:14).
“Do not deny the Holy Spirit, and do not be swift to reject prophecy. Test everything, embrace what is good and reject every form of evil” (1 Thessalonians 5:19–22).
“As for you, the gift which you received from God remains in you, and you don’t need anyone to teach you. But as God’s empowerment teaches you concerning all things, which is true and not deceitful, and you are still in union with God as you are being taught” (1 John 2:27).
And this is interestingly found in extra-biblical works:
“We can barely guess what is present on earth, and even discover it by much labor, but who can discover what is in the heavens? Who knows Your mind unless You have blessed them with Wisdom and sent Your Holy Spirit from above” (Wisdom 9:16, 17).
“And be taught by God, carefully seek what the Lord demands from you, and obey them that you may be found faithful in the day of judgement” (Barnabas 21:6).
The Holy Spirit is given to mankind, in the purpose of coming to the knowledge of God. This is the gift God has blessed us with. The Scriptures aren’t the gift of empowerment but the Spirit. God even blessed the church/ecclesia with the Holy Spirit to lead them into all truth (John 16:13). The apostle Paul prayed for the church to have wisdom and direct revelations from God (Ephesians 1:17), in the hopes of them being competent ministers of this beloved covenant (2 Corinthians 3:6).
And so the mystical aspect of the Christian faith, which is enforced by the Holy Spirit, is the greatest blessing and necessity we have ever partaken. It is a blessing to every believer who loves God. The direct fellowship of the Spirit is not only personal but very practical in difficult situations. As the Psalmist himself wrote:
“Your spoken word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (Psalm 119:105).
In the ancient Hebrew, the term for “word” is ‘Dabar’ which means “voice” or “spoken word”. This is why it is translated with “spoken” on this page. And so this presumed David recognizes that the earthbound reality is ambiguous and difficult to trace unless we come to God for guidance in pure communion. The Spirit is our personal teacher, comforter, trainer, and even our friend. Nothing can beat this!
