The Person and Work of The Holy Spirit

by R. A. Torrey

3. Jesus Christ was anointed and fitted for service by the Holy Spirit. We read in Acts x. 38, “How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with Him.” In a prophetic vision of the coming Messiah in the Old Testament we read in Isa. lxi. 1, “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; He hath sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound.” In Luke's record of the earthly life of our Lord in Luke iv. 14, we read “And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee, and there went out a fame of Him through all the region round about.” In a similar way Jesus said of Himself when speaking in the synagogue in Nazareth, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He hath anointed Me to preach good tidings unto the poor; He hath sent Me to proclaim release to the [pg 259] captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord” (Luke iv. 18, 19, R. V.). All these passages contain the one lesson, that it was by the especial anointing with the Holy Spirit that Jesus Christ was qualified for the service to which God had called Him. As He stood in the Jordan after His baptism, “The Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon Him,” and it was then and there that He was anointed with the Holy Spirit, baptized with the Holy Spirit, and equipped for the service that lay before Him. Jesus Christ received His equipment for service in the same way that we receive ours by a definite baptism with the Holy Spirit.

4. Jesus Christ was led by the Holy Spirit in His movements here upon earth. We read in Luke iv. 1, R. V., “And Jesus full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness.” Living as a man here upon earth and setting an example for us, each step of His life was under the Holy Spirit's guidance.

5. Jesus Christ was taught by the Spirit who rested upon Him. The Spirit of God was the source of His wisdom in the days of His flesh. In the Old Testament prophecy of the coming Messiah we read in Isa. xi. 2, 3, “And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord. And shall make Him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord: and He shall not judge after the sight of His eyes, neither reprove after [pg 260] the hearing of His ears.” Further on in Isa. xlii. 1, R. V., we read, “Behold My servant, whom I uphold; My chosen in whom My soul delighteth; I have put My Spirit upon Him; He shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles, etc.” Matthew tells us in Matt. xii. 17, 18, that this prophecy was fulfilled in Jesus of Nazareth.

6. The Holy Spirit abode upon Jesus in all His fullness and the words He spoke in consequence were the very words of God. We read in John iii. 34, R. V., “For He whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God: for He giveth not the Spirit by measure.”

7. After His resurrection, Jesus Christ gave commandment unto His Apostles whom He had chosen through the Holy Spirit. We read in Acts i. 2, “Until the day in which He was taken up, after that He through the Holy Ghost had given commandment unto the Apostles whom He had chosen.” This relates to the time after His resurrection and so we see Jesus still working in the power of the Holy Spirit even after His resurrection from the dead.

8. Jesus Christ wrought His miracles here on earth in the power of the Holy Spirit. In Matt. xii. 28, we read, “I cast out devils by the power of the Spirit of God.” It is through the Spirit that miracle working power was given to some in the church after our Lord's departure from this earth (1 Cor. xii. 9, 10), and in the power of the same Spirit, Jesus Christ wrought His miracles.

9. It was by the power of the Holy Spirit that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead. We read in Rom. [pg 261] viii. 11, “But if the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by His Spirit that dwelleth in you.”

The same Spirit who is to quicken our mortal bodies and is to raise us up in some future day raised up Jesus.

Several things are plainly evident from this study of the work of the Holy Spirit in Jesus Christ:

First of all, we see the completeness of His humanity. He lived and He thought, He worked, He taught, He conquered sin and won victories for God in the power of that very same Spirit whom it is our privilege also to have.