Chapter
I
The Principles and Concepts of the Old Testament, and the Relationship of the Gospels Authors with them
The
relying of the Gospel authors and the various churches on the Old Testament,
and considering themselves as an extension to it, whether by quoting the texts,
or its history, requires us a pause for a comparison between the principles and
concepts of the Old Testament and the principles and concepts of the Gospels to
find out the truth of this reliance and this extension, and to discover the
real sources that were relied upon by the Gospel authors, as well as, it
requires us to show the relationship between the Old Testament and the Gospel authors,
and their position on the Law in general.
For
this, I will review the most important principles and concepts of the Old
Testament, and compare them with the principles and concepts of the Gospels, to
determine if they agree with each other or not; and if not, we should study and
search to discover the sources that have been relied upon by the Gospel authors
to write their accounts.
Principle III: The Spirit
The Spirit, or the Spirit of God, or the Holy Spirit,
is an important principle in the Old Testament, which is the name given to the
creature who bears the word of the LORD and the revelation and the laws to the
prophets, as well as it has another characteristics and tasks, which were
mentioned in the Old Testament. So it is in this aspect different from the holy
spirit, who is worshiped by the churches, as a third god of the three gods, who
are one and have the same nature and essence, knowing that the Old Testament is
based on that the Lord alone is the true God, no gods beside Him or with Him,
who should be worshiped alone and serve Him alone, even though the Gospels did
not talk about him as a god should be worshiped beside the Lord, this creed was
developed by the church councils several centuries later!
In the following pages we will review the
characteristics and tasks of the Spirit in the Old Testament, and its
relationship with people, and compare them with what is written about the Holy
Spirit in the Gospels and letters of the New Testament.
The first characteristic, or task, is the ability to hover
Genesis 1:2 The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And
the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
This is the first text in the Old Testament mentions
the Spirit of God, and shows that the spirit of God is a creature has the
ability to hovering, and this indicates one of two things, the first is that it
has wings and can be flying by them, the second is that the spirit of God, if
it does not have wings, but has the ability to shake his body, and this
characteristic certainly does not make him a god who should be worshiped beside
the Lord or with Him.
The second characteristic, or task, is the ability to create
by order of the LORD the Creator
Psalm 104:29 You hide Your face, they are troubled; You take
away their breath, they die and return to their dust.
Psalm 104:30 You send forth Your Spirit, they are created;
And You renew the face of the earth.
In this text we read that when the Lord takes away the
breaths of creatures, they die and return to their dust, and when He sends His
Spirit they are created; and He renews the face of the earth, so the task of
the Spirit is the vital part of the creatures, which through it turns the
inanimate objects to living creatures by order of the Lord Alone, and here it
has nothing to do, or role, with the process of creation in terms of
independence from the orders of the Lord, but it is doing the task that
entrusted to him as other creatures that have certain tasks, such as rain which
works on growth of the transplant, as in the following text:
Isaiah 44:3 For I will pour water on him who is
thirsty, And floods on the dry ground; I will pour My
Spirit on your descendants, And My blessing on your offspring;
Isaiah 44:4 They will spring up among the grass Like willows by
the watercourses’.
So the Spirit does not have the divinity
characteristics by itself, but has certain tasks by order of the Lord the only true
God, the Creator of the heavens and the earth alone.
The third characteristic or task is the ability to
tell what will be happened in the future
Genesis 41:38 And Pharaoh said to his servants, "Can we find such a one as this, a man in whom is the Spirit of God?"
This saying is written on the lips of Pharaoh about
Joseph after he interpreted the Pharaoh's dream, and we note that Pharaoh did
not consider Joseph as a god nor hypostasis, or a man who has divinity
characteristics which make him a god who should be worshipped beside the Lord,
even though Pharaoh was a pagan, which is close to the beliefs that talk about
the multiplicity of gods, yet he didn't say anything of this concerning Joseph,
but said he is a man in whom is the Spirit of God, so the task of the Spirit
here is telling about what will be happened in the future.
The fourth characteristic, or task, is the ability to teach
people all manner of workmanship
Exodus 31:1 Then the
LORD spoke to Moses, saying:
Exodus 31:2 "See, I have called by name Bezalel the son of
Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah.
Exodus 31:3 "And I have filled him with the Spirit of
God, in wisdom, in understanding, in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship,
Exodus 31:4 "to design artistic works, to work in gold, in
silver, in bronze,
Exodus 31:5 "in cutting jewels for setting, in carving wood,
and to work in all manner of
workmanship.
This text refers to another task to the Spirit of God,
which is teaching people, especially Bezalel, all manner of workmanship, to
design artistic works, to work in gold, in silver, in bronze, etc., and
knowledge to make tents, especially the Tent of Meeting (Tabernacle) that was
made a place of worship, as has been described in this chapter.
The fifth characteristic, or task, is the ability to self-division
and conveying the word of the LORD, and coming in, upon, some people to make
them prophets and speaking by them; to help them to rule over the people and
deliver them
Numbers 11:17 "Then I will come down and talk with you there.
I will take of the Spirit that is
upon you and will put the same upon
them; and they shall bear the burden of the people with you, that you
may not bear it yourself alone.
Numbers 11:25 Then the LORD came down in the cloud, and spoke to
him, and took of the Spirit that was
upon him, and placed the same upon
the seventy elders; and it happened, when the Spirit rested upon them,
that they prophesied, although they never did so again.
Numbers 11:26 But two men had remained in the camp: the name of
one was Eldad, and the name of the
other Medad. And the Spirit rested upon them. Now they were among those listed, but who had not
gone out to the tabernacle; yet they prophesied in the camp.
Numbers 11:29 Then Moses said to him, "Are you zealous for my
sake? Oh, that all the LORD’S people were prophets and that the LORD would put His Spirit upon them!"
In these paragraphs we read that the Spirit has ability
to self- division,
and any man who the LORD puts His Spirit upon him becomes a prophet.
Numbers 27:18 And the LORD said to Moses: "Take Joshua the
son of Nun with you, a man in whom is
the Spirit, and lay your hand on him;
Deuteronomy 34:9 Now
Joshua the son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom, for Moses
had laid his hands on him; so the children of Israel heeded him, and did as the
LORD had commanded Moses.
In these texts we read that when Joshua was filled of
the spirit of wisdom; this helped him to rule the children of Israel.
Judges 3:9 When the children of Israel cried out to the LORD, the
LORD raised up a deliverer for the children of Israel, who delivered them:
Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother.
Judges 3:10 The Spirit of the LORD came upon him, and
he judged Israel. He went out to war, and the LORD delivered
Cushan-Rishathaim king of Mesopotamia into his hand; and his hand prevailed
over Cushan-Rishathaim.
In this text we read that the Spirit of the LORD when
comes upon a man helps him to judge his people, and deliver them.
1 Samuel 10:6
"Then the Spirit of the LORD will come upon you, and
you will prophesy with them and be turned into another man.
1 Samuel 10:7
"And let it be, when these signs come to you, that you do as the occasion demands; for God is with you.
1 Samuel 10:8
"You shall go down before me to Gilgal; and surely I will come down to you
to offer burnt offerings and make
sacrifices of peace offerings. Seven days you shall wait, till I come to you
and show you what you should do."
1 Samuel 10:9 So it was, when he had turned
his back to go from Samuel, that God gave him another heart; and
all those signs came to pass that day.
In this text we read that when the Spirit comes upon a
man will predict about some signs, and turning into another man, once these
signs have been fulfilled means that the Lord is with him.
1 Samuel 10:10
When they came there to the hill, there was a group of prophets to meet him; then
the Spirit of God came upon him, and he prophesied among them.
In this text, which is part of the story of Saul, we
read that Saul became a prophet when the Spirit of the LORD came upon him, even
he became a saying; "Is Saul also among the prophets" (I Samuel
10/13)!
1 Samuel 16:13
Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers;
and the Spirit of the LORD came upon David from that day forward.
So Samuel arose and went to Ramah.
1 Samuel 16:14 But
the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and a distressing
spirit from the LORD troubled him.
1 Samuel 16:15
And Saul’s servants said to him, "Surely, a distressing spirit from God is
troubling you.
In this text we read that the Spirit of the Lord
departed from Saul and came upon David, that is what made David a prophet, and
we read his last words in the following text:
2 Samuel 23:1 Now these are the last words of David. Thus says David the son of Jesse; Thus says the man raised up on high, The anointed of the God
of Jacob, And the sweet psalmist of Israel:
2 Samuel 23:2
"The Spirit of the LORD spoke by me, And His word was on my tongue.
2 Samuel 23:3 The
God of Israel said, The Rock of Israel spoke to me: ‘He who rules over
men must be just, Ruling in the fear
of God.
This text says that David is anointed of the Lord, and
the Spirit of the LORD spoke by him, and His word was on his tongue, and then
begins by mentioning the words, he says "the God of Israel said ...".
This means that the task of the Spirit of the Lord is convey
the word of the LORD to the prophets. For the Spirit of the Lord does not stay
in a man, unless if he remains obedient to the commandments of the Lord.
Also, we find that David asks the Lord "do not
take Your Holy Spirit from me", as in the following text:
Psalm 51:10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a
steadfast spirit within me.
Psalm 51:11 Do not cast me away from Your presence, And do
not take Your Holy Spirit from me.
The sixth characteristic, or task, of the Spirit is
that he leads the believers in their ways, and these ways can be Spiritual ways through
teaching them the commandments of the Lord, or physical ways as was the case
with the children of Israel after their exodus from Egypt; the Spirit led them
to the Holy Land, as it is written in the Old Testament, as in the following
text:
Psalm 143:10 Teach me to do Your will, For You are my God; Your Spirit is good. Lead me in the land of
uprightness.
The seventh characteristic, or task, of the Spirit is
that he conveys the Lord's promise of victory through the prophets, as in the following text:
2 Chronicles
20:14 Then the Spirit of the LORD
came upon Jahaziel the son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of
Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah, a Levite of the sons of Asaph, in the midst
of the assembly.
2 Chronicles
20:15 And he said, "Listen, all you of Judah and you inhabitants of
Jerusalem, and you, King Jehoshaphat! Thus says the LORD to you: ‘Do not
be afraid nor dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours, but God’s.
2 Chronicles
20:16 ‘Tomorrow go down against them. They will surely come up by the Ascent of
Ziz, and you will find them at the end of the brook before the Wilderness of
Jeruel.
2 Chronicles
20:17 ‘You will not need to
fight in this battle. Position
yourselves, stand still and see the salvation of the LORD, who is with you,
O Judah and Jerusalem’! Do not fear or be dismayed; tomorrow go out against
them, for the LORD is with you."
In this text we read that the Spirit has conveyed the
Lord's promise of victory to the children of Israel over their enemies, for the
Lord with them, and for the battle is not them, but God’s, which is what has
been achieved, as is written in this chapter of Book 2 Chronicles.
The eighth characteristic, or task, of the Spirit is
that he encourages the prophets to call for keeping the commandments of the
Lord, and warning of transgressions against the commandments of the LORD, as in the following text:
2 Chronicles 24:20
Then the Spirit of God came upon Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest,
who stood above the people, and said to them, "Thus says God: ‘Why
do you transgress the commandments of the LORD, so that you cannot prosper?
Because you have forsaken the LORD, He also has forsaken you’."
2 Chronicles
24:21 So they conspired against him, and at the command of the king they stoned
him with stones in the court of the house of the LORD.
2 Chronicles
24:22 Thus Joash the king did not remember the kindness which Jehoiada his
father had done to him, but killed his son; and as he died, he said, "The
LORD look on it, and repay!"
In this text we read that when the Spirit of God comes
upon a man, it delivers the word of the LORD to the people, therefore when the
Spirit of God came upon Zechariah son of Jehoiada, it has delivered the word of
God to the Jews, and this story is unlike the previous story, because here we
read that the Lord warned the children of Israel, that He will forsake them if
they do transgress against the commandments of the LORD, and worshiped other gods
beside Him.
This is also mentioned in the book of Nehemiah, but in
general, as in the following text:
Nehemiah 9:30 Yet for many years You had patience with them, And
testified against them by Your Spirit in Your prophets. Yet they would
not listen; Therefore You gave them into the hand of the peoples of the
lands.
The Spirit testifies to the LORD by conveying his
commandments through the prophets, and who does not abide to them will get the
punishments and curses which the LORD has mentioned.
In addition, the Lord has given to the Spirit the
ability to instruct people through the prophets, as in the following text:
Nehemiah 9:20 You also gave Your good Spirit to instruct
them, And did not withhold Your manna from their mouth, And gave them
water for their thirst.
Ezekiel 11:5 Then the Spirit of the LORD fell upon me,
and said to me, "Speak! ‘Thus says the LORD:
"Thus you have said, O house of Israel; for I know the things that come
into your mind.
In this text we read that the Spirit of the Lord when
fell upon Ezekiel was not mixed with him, but it was separate, so Ezekiel was
feeling the Spirit of the Lord, and he could hear his words, therefore when he
started talks to him said to him "Speak''.
Ezekiel 2:2 Then the Spirit entered me when He spoke to me,
and set me on my feet; and I heard Him who spoke to me.
In this text we read that the Spirit of the Lord, when
speaks to the prophets, it enters in them.
In brief, if the Spirit comes upon a man, he becomes
able to prophesying, and this appears clearly in the following text:
Joel 2:28 "And it
shall come to pass afterward That I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; Your
sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your old men shall dream dreams, Your
young men shall see visions.
Joel 2:29 And also on My
menservants and on My maidservants I
will pour out My Spirit in those days.
So does the Spirit of God have these tasks only, or it
has other tasks?
The ninth characteristic, or task, of the Spirit is that he has
the ability to become a lying spirit in the mouth of all the false prophets
The Old Testament talks about another characteristic
or task for the Spirit of God, that he has the ability to become a lying spirit
in the mouth of all the false prophets, as in the following texts:
1Kings 22:19 Then Micaiah
said, "Therefore hear the word of the LORD: I saw the LORD sitting on His
throne, and all the host of heaven standing by, on His right hand
and on His left.
1Kings 22:20 "And the LORD said, ‘Who will persuade Ahab to
go up, that he may fall at Ramoth Gilead’? So one spoke in this manner, and
another spoke in that manner.
1Kings 22:21 "Then a spirit came forward and stood
before the LORD, and said, ‘I will persuade him’.
1Kings 22:22 "The LORD said to him, ‘In what way’? So he
said, ‘I will go out and be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his
prophets’. And the LORD said, ‘You shall persuade him, and also prevail. Go out
and do so’.
1Kings 22:23 "Therefore look! The LORD has put a lying
spirit in the mouth of all these prophets of yours, and the LORD has
declared disaster against you."
2 Chronicles
18:18 Then Micaiah said,
"Therefore hear the word of the LORD: I saw the LORD sitting on His
throne, and all the host of heaven standing on His right hand and His left.
2 Chronicles
18:19 "And the LORD said, ‘Who will persuade Ahab king of Israel to go up,
that he may fall at Ramoth Gilead’? So one spoke in this manner, and another
spoke in that manner.
2 Chronicles
18:20 "Then a spirit came forward and stood before the LORD, and
said, ‘I will persuade him’. The LORD said to him, ‘In what way’?
2 Chronicles
18:21 "So he said, ‘I will go out and be a lying spirit in the mouth
of all his prophets’. And the
LORD said, ‘You shall persuade him
and also prevail; go out and do so’.
2 Chronicles
18:22 "Therefore look! The LORD has put a lying spirit in the mouth
of these prophets of yours, and the LORD has declared disaster against
you."
In these texts we read that the spirit of the LORD is
one of the hosts of heaven, and can become as a lying spirit in the mouth of
the false prophets, and tells the lies and wrong, and this is a strong evidence
that the Spirit of the LORD is a creature, Unlike what the churches say about
him; that he is the third god of three gods who are one and have the same
nature and essence, who they worship them! And here we should read some texts
in the Gospels to figure out if the Gospels authors have the Spirit of the
LORD, or the lying spirit, or they do not have any spirit, but they have
written their Gospels through their knowledge, or their information, and their
approach and way only.
John 1:45 Philip found Nathanael and said to him, "We
have found Him of whom Moses in the law, and also the prophets, wrote — Jesus
of Nazareth, the son of Joseph."
In this text John says in his Gospel that it's written
in the Old Testament that Jesus is the son of Joseph of Nazareth!
And all churches are aware that this text is not
written in the Old Testament, as well as Jesus is not the son of Joseph, as
they say!
So, has this text been written through the Spirit of
God or by the lying spirit?!
Matthew 2:23 And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth, that
it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, "He
shall be called a Nazarene."
This text also not found in any books of the Old
Testament. So has this text been written through the Spirit of God or by
something else?!
Matthew 27:3 Then Judas, His betrayer, seeing that He had been
condemned, was remorseful and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to
the chief priests and elders,
Matthew 27:4 saying, "I have sinned by betraying innocent
blood." And they said, "What is
that to us? You see to it!"
Matthew 27:5 Then he threw down the pieces of silver in the
temple and departed, and went and hanged himself.
Matthew 27:6 But the chief priests took the silver pieces and
said, "It is not lawful to put them into the treasury, because they are
the price of blood."
Matthew 27:7 And they consulted together and bought with
them the potter’s field, to bury strangers in.
Matthew 27:8 Therefore that field has been called the Field of
Blood to this day.
Matthew 27:9 Then was fulfilled what was spoken by Jeremiah
the prophet, saying, "And they took the thirty pieces of
silver, the value of Him who was priced, whom they of the children of
Israel priced,
Matthew 27:10 "and gave them for the potter’s field, as
the Lord directed me."
In this text Matthew says that the story of thirty
pieces of silver is written in the Book of Jeremiah; even though it is written
in the Book of Zechariah, as in the following text:
Zechariah 11:12 Then I said to them, "If it is agreeable to
you, give me my wages; and if not,
refrain." So they weighed out for my wages thirty pieces of silver.
This error of the inability to know the book that
mentioned the story of the thirty pieces of silver; did it come from the Spirit
of God or from the lying spirit, or from another source has nothing to do with
the spirits?!
Matthew 23:35 "that
on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of
righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you
murdered between the temple and the altar.
Matthew 23:36 "Assuredly,
I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.
In this text Matthew says that the one who was killed
by the Jews between the temple and the altar is Zechariah the son of Berechiah,
although the Old Testament says that the one who killed by Jews is Zechariah
son of Jehoiada, as in the following text:
2 Chronicles
24:20 Then the Spirit of God came upon Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the
priest, who stood above the people, and said to them, "Thus says
God: ‘Why do you transgress the commandments of the LORD, so that you cannot
prosper? Because you have forsaken the LORD, He also has forsaken you’."
2 Chronicles
24:21 So they conspired against him, and at the command of the king they
stoned him with stones in the court of the house of the LORD.
2 Chronicles
24:22 Thus Joash the king did not remember the kindness which Jehoiada his
father had done to him, but killed his son; and as he died, he said, "The
LORD look on it, and repay!"
This error of the inability to distinguish the
difference between Zechariah the son of Jehoiada, who was killed by the Jews
and the prophet Zechariah son of Berechiah; did it come from the Spirit of God
or from the lying spirit?!
Mark 2:25 But He said to them, "Have you never read what David did when he was in need and
hungry, he and those with him:
Mark 2:26 "how
he went into the house of God in the days
of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the showbread, which is not
lawful to eat, except for the priests, and also gave some to those who
were with him?"
In this text Mark says that David went into the house
of God in the days of Abiathar the high priest, with whom he had a group of
people, while Old Testament says that David went to Ahimelech, not Abiathar,
and that he was alone, there was no one with him, as in the following text:
1 Samuel 21:1 Now David came to Nob, to
Ahimelech the priest. And Ahimelech was afraid when he met David, and
said to him, "Why are you
alone, and no one is with you?"
This error in determining the name of the priest which
was written by Mark, and that there was a group of people with David; does it
indicate that it was written by the Spirit of God or by the lying spirit?!
Acts 7:14 "Then Joseph sent and called his father Jacob and
all his relatives to him,
seventy-five people.
In this text Luke says in the Acts of the Apostles
that the number of the children of Israel who went to Egypt is seventy-five
people, while the Old Testament says that the number who went to Egypt is
seventy people, which has mentioned their names in Genesis, as in the following
text:
Genesis 46:26 All the persons who went with Jacob to Egypt, who
came from his body, besides Jacob’s sons’ wives, were sixty-six persons in all.
Genesis 46:27 And the sons of Joseph who were born to him in Egypt
were two persons. All the
persons of the house of Jacob who went to Egypt were seventy.
This error in determining the number of persons who
went to Egypt, is it from the Spirit of God or from the lying spirit?!
From these examples and many others, which are written
in the Gospels, we can get a good idea about the difference between the Spirit
of the LORD and the spirit, who has inspired the Gospels authors, as the
churches say! And this is another reason to search for the sources that have
been relied upon by the Gospels authors.
As for what has been developed by the church councils concerning the Spirit as a god who should be worshiped with the Lord or beside Him, all verses in the Old Testament reject and condemn this saying; because despite some tasks of the Spirit such as breathing life into some of the creatures, it does not do this by himself, but by order of the LORD, it does not make him a god with the Lord or beside Him, as shown previously.
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