Continued from page 1
As we see in these selected Scriptures,
Holy Spirit was given to
apostles to guide and direct them as they established
church, preached
gospel and wrote
New Testament. Even those of us that boast of an impeccable memory can not remember everything that is said and done. Of course,
fact that
apostles were being taught by Christ and
fact that they witnessed
wonderful miracles that He performed would make
events stand out in their memories much more than
average event. Nonetheless, humans are not flawless when it comes to remembering events and teachings. It was therefore necessary for God to provide a means by which
apostles could have 100% perfect memories when it came to remembering
teachings of Christ and
events that surrounded His ministry. God provided
Holy Spirit to fulfill this need.
But we too have a need for
Holy Spirit today. As we try to live a good faithful Christian life, it is difficult. It is difficult because of
constant bombardment of temptations sent our way by Satan himself. We need constant guidance and direction to be able to withstand those temptations and "fight
good fight." Again, God has provided! He has provided
Holy Spirit to meet that need.
How do we know that God has given us
Holy Spirit? Because
Scriptures tell us so, "Then Peter said to them, ‘Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in
name of Jesus Christ for
remission of sins; and you shall receive
gift of
Holy Spirit.'" (Acts 2:38) For an excellent description of
Holy Spirit dwelling in us as Christians read Romans chapter 8.
The Preexistence of Christ
Was Jesus just a prophet, a good man, a man of God; or was He in fact
Son of God? If we are to believe in
Christian concept of
Holy Trinity, then we must be able to show evidence that Christ existed as part of
Trinity prior to His coming to earth as Jesus.
The Old Testament is replete with prophecies concerning
coming of Christ. There have been volumes written and still more shall be written in
future on this aspect of Jesus Christ. The first prophecy in
Bible concerning
coming of Christ is found in Genesis 3:15, "And I will put enmity between you and
woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel." From this verse forward we see prophecies in Deuteronomy, 1 Samuel, Job, Psalms, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi. Over and over again these prophecies point to
coming of Christ: "The Spirit of
Lord shall rest upon Him." (Isaiah 11:2); "For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given." (Isaiah 9:6); "Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him." (Daniel 7:14) and "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold your King is coming." (Zechariah 9:9) These are but a few of
many prophecies of
coming of Christ.
But did Christ exist prior to His coming in
form of man? Again there are many Scriptures which point to
preexistence of Christ. The Gospel of John clearly indicates that Christ was at
beginning of time. Here is what
book of John has to say about Christ: "In
beginning was
Word, and
Word was with God, and
Word was God. He was in
beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made." (John 1:1-3)
Jesus also said that He was in existence prior to
time of His ministry here on earth: "‘Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad.' Then
Jews said to Him, ‘You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?' Jesus said to them, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.'" (John 8:56-58)
There is yet another area of this discussion which I will not be able to develop to any reasonable extent. That area is
fact that
Old Testament has many different "types" of Christ. These are persons in
Old Testament who posses certain characteristics or attributes of Christ. They were mere men, but their lives point to
coming Christ. There were several of these in
Old Testament. Perhaps we can develop these in future articles.
As I draw this article to a close, I feel that
subject has not been given justice for there is so much more that can be said about
reality of
Holy Trinity. However, I sincerely hope that I have given you enough to strengthen your faith and I encourage you to study this subject further.
All Scriptures quoted are from
New King James Version unless otherwise noted.

Stephen Kingery is an author, preacher, teacher and founder of The Home Bible Study Institute.
Visit our site at http://www.james1-22.org
Permission to use is granted if attributed to author and his website.