«  |  Home  |  Genealogy  |  Recovery  |  Bible Study  |  Will Power  |  Dictionaries  |  Simple Bible  |
Download/Print (PDF) .

Holy Spirit & Angels

Does the Bible tell us to pray to the Holy Spirit? No. "Never do we find in the Scriptures prayers to the Spirit, but for the Spirit."(M. C. Wilcox). Jesus taught us to pray to His Father to ask for the Holy Spirit.

So, if we ask His Father, in Jesus' name, for the Holy Spirit, we will receive it. And, what is "it"? The Spirit of His Son - Jesus Christ.

Is the Holy Spirit a person, like the Father and the Son are? In John, chapters 14-16, Jesus personified(represented with the attributes of a person) the Holy Spirit as "the Comforter" and "the Spirit of Truth", using the pronouns, “he,” “him,” and “whom." When we study deeper into that, we find that Jesus was speaking of Himself, or rather His spirit(words - Jn6:63 ) in 3rd-person language. Since Jesus is "truth"( Jn14:6 ), then the spirit of truth must be the spirit of Jesus. See http://sidnash.org/docs/parakletos.html for more information. But, in most cases, the Holy Spirit is referred to in ways that would not be used to talk about a literal person. Here are some examples =>

In Rev. 1:4 3:1 4:5 5:6, we read of "the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth." This must be another designation of the Holy Spirit, using the number 7 to show perfection and completeness. But, surely this can't be a reference to person. The Bible never talks about seven Gods or seven humans in this way. We learn from this language that when we speak of the Spirit of God we are really speaking of the mind - the thoughts of God and His "beloved" Son, Jesus Christ, usually through the ministry of their holy angels. So, the Holy Spirit is certainly not another person like the Father and the Son are persons.

JACOB'S LADDER EXPLAINED BY THE BIBLE

Genesis 28:10-13 And Jacob... 11 ... lighted upon a certain place, and tarried there all night, because the sun was set... and lay down in that place to sleep. 12 And he dreamed. And behold, a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven. And behold, the angels of God ascending and descending on it(the ladder). 13 And, behold, Jehovah stood above it, and said, I am Jehovah, the God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac...

John 1:51 And he[Jesus] saith unto him[Nathanael], Verily, verily, I say unto you, Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man.

So, Jesus is the ladder of Jacob's dream. But, why is that? What does it mean? And, what about those angels? What are they doing?

1 Timothy 2:5 For there is one God(see 1Cor8:6 ), and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;

Dictionary Meanings:

MEDIATOR: "One that interposes between parties at variance for the purpose of reconciling them."

INTERCESSOR: "A mediator... one who pleads in behalf of another."

ADVOCATE: "in its primary sense, signifies, one who pleads the cause of another..."

Romans 8:26-34 Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. ... 34 ... It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.

1 John 2:1 ... if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:

Here we see Jesus as our mediator/intercessor/advocate, pleading the merits of His blood, shed on Calvary, on our behalf, with His Father, Jehovah.

Matthew 26:28 For this is my[Christ's] blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.

Romans 5:6-10 For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. ... 8 But God[Jehovah] commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. 10 For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his(Christ's) life.

Hebrews 2:18 For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour[help] them that are tempted.

Hebrews 4:15 For we have an high priest[Jesus] which was touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.

This is why Jesus can help us overcome our sins. Now, let's put this all together to better-understand Jacob's dream about the ladder:

Next, we will consider the work of the "angels of God..." and of the angels of satan...

ANGELS AND SPIRITS

Acts 19:13-16 A group of Jews was traveling from town to town casting out evil spirits. They tried to use the name of the Lord Jesus in their incantation, saying, “I command you in the name of Jesus, whom Paul preaches, to come out!” 14 It was the seven sons of Sceva, a leading priest, that were doing this. 15 But one time when they tried it, the evil spirit replied, “I know Jesus, and I know Paul, but who are you?” 16 Then the man with the evil spirit leaped on them, overpowered them, and attacked them with such violence that they fled from the house, naked and battered.

So, what are these evil spirits? I'm pretty sure we can all agree that these "evil spirits" are satan's fallen angels. Does the Bible also talk about "holy spirits"?

Matthew 25:31 When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: -Jesus

Hebrews 1:14 Are they[angels(verse 13)] not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?

Now, angels are not "The Holy Spirit", but they are holy because they stand in the presence of Almighty God and only holy beings can do that without being consumed by the glory of Jehovah! The angels are also referred to as "spirits". So, it seems to me that we have satan's "evil spirits", because they are fully surrendered to the father of evil and we have God's holy spirits, because they are fully surrendered to the Almighty Creator.

It is the "ministering spirits", the holy angels of God, that are constantly "ascending and descending"( Gen 28:12; Jn 1:51 ) between heaven and earth, ministering to us who are surrendering ourselves to God and seeking God's will. Their jobs are many, but the context of this lesson is about the Holy Spirit. Since the "angels do always behold the face of my[Christ's] Father which is in heaven", according to Jesus in Matthew 18:10, they know the will of The Father. They know His words. Remember that Jesus said that His words are spirit( Jn6:63 ). So, it is angels that descend to us to bring us the words and the will of Jehovah -- His Spirit. And, His Spirit is Holy because Father Jehovah is Holy. That's why the Bible translators called it the "Holy Sprit". Remember, "Holy Sprit" is NOT the name of a person! Rather it is a description of the teachings from the mind of the Sovereign God of the universe, delivered to us by God's holy angels and by other humans. Here is a Bible example of how this works:

Revelation 1:1-2 The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God[Christ's Father] gave unto him[Christ], to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he[Christ] sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John: 2 Who[John] bare record of the word of God[Christ's Father], and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he[John] saw.

So, here we see that Jehovah gave this Revelation to His Son, who gave it to "his angel", who gave it to John, who gave it to us. In short, it looks like this: Jehovah => Christ => angels => the prophets => us. According to the vision of the ladder, this is the typical way that information flows to us from Father Jehovah.

It is also interesting that Peter said something similar in:

1 Peter 1:10-11 This salvation was something even the prophets wanted to know more about when they prophesied about this gracious salvation prepared for you. 11 They(the prophets) wondered what time or situation the Spirit of Christ within them was talking about when he(Christ, thru His angels) told them in advance about Christ’s suffering and his great glory afterward.

Desiring to live by every word that comes from the mouth of Jehovah ( Deut8:3; Matt4:4 )

-Sid Nash: 12/07/2024. Latest version: http://sidnash.org/docs/HolySpirit&Angels.html