I Believe in the Holy Spirit

[Sung Psalm: 104]

Every week we say that we believe in the Holy Spirit – the "Lord and giver of life." Why do we call the Holy Spirit the "Lord and giver of life"?

At the Creation – we are told that the Spirit of God hovered over the waters – brooding over the deep. And then all that God brings forth came from this "deep" over which the Spirit hovered.

But the Holy Spirit is not just the Lord and giver of life "in the beginning." The Holy Spirit is the "life-giver" of all life.

Job reflects on this in Job 33:4 – :The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life."

All life – human life as well as animal life – is given by the Spirit of God.

He is the Lord and giver of life!

So it should not surprise us that the Holy Spirit is also the Lord and giver of eternal life! Because when God called Israel "my firstborn", and called Israel out of Egypt, he led him by his Spirit through the wilderness.

The glory cloud – the pillar of fire by night and cloud by day – that led Israel through the wilderness was none other than the Holy Spirit himself!

That's what Isaiah says –"Where is he who put in the midst of them his Holy Spirit?" (when the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle). "who led them through the depths... Like livestock that go down into the valley, the Spirit of the LORD gave them rest. So you led your people, to make for yourself a glorious name!"

The same Spirit who gave life at the Creation – and who gives life to all living things – is the same Spirit who brings the life of the New Creation!