And remember, in the triune Godhead each person is Himself, God. First of all the Spirit of the Lord, that’s the Spirit that speaks in the first person as God. Now if we turn back to that passage in Isaiah chapter 11, I believe we have a revelation of what are the seven forms of the Spirit of God. Seven being distinctively the number of the Holy Spirit. That’s an unusual phrase “the seven Spirits of God.” Personally, I do not believe that it means there are seven Holy Spirits, but I believe it’s the Bible’s picturesque way of speaking about the seven manifestations or forms that the Holy Spirit takes. And there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God.” (NKJ) And it says there: “And from the throne proceeded lightnings, thunderings, and voices. I’d like to set side-by-side with that just one verse from the 4th chapter of Revelation, verse 5, a description of a scene in heaven. That is actually a full inspired unfolding of the seven aspects of the Spirit of the Lord, the Holy Spirit. 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, His delight is in the fear of the Lord, And He shall not judge by the sight of His eyes.” (NKJ) Here is what Isaiah says: “There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse, And a Branch shall grow out of his roots. And you will see that the emphasis in this prophetic revelation is on the part played by the Holy Spirit in the life and ministry of Jesus. He speaks about Him as the Rod from the stem of Jesse, and as a Branch. In these verses Isaiah gives us a prophetic preview of Jesus as the Christ, the Messiah, and of the part that the Holy Spirit had in His earthly life and ministry. I want to begin in the Old Testament, in the prophet Isaiah, chapter 11, verses 1-3. I believe you will find this inspiring but also challenging. I’ll be explaining the part that the fear of the Lord played in the life of Jesus. Well, today I’m going to be talking about Jesus as our pattern. Giving Him an absolutely unique place in our lives. In Exodus 20 verse 3 where God says, “You shall have no other gods before Me.” And I suggested that this is actually the fear of the Lord worked out, giving God total preeminence, never putting anything else before God or on a level with God. You can enjoy it and worship Him, but there’s always this realization, there’s just one step I must not take because it will be disaster.Īnd then the other way that I described the fear of the Lord was with reference to the first of the ten commandments. It’s like being right at the top of the mountain. God shares with us His grandeur, His beauty, His power, His wisdom, it’s exhilarating. And that will be the end!” That’s just a picture from the world of the senses to illustrate the fear of the Lord. And yet, somewhere in the center of your personality there’s this continuing realization, “I’m privileged to be here, I’m enjoying it, it’s beautiful, it’s unique, but if I take one step in the wrong direction I’ll plunge down the cliff and end in the sea. And then the person in question standing on top of the mountain looking down on the one side at the waves far below, looking out the other way, landward to a beautiful scene of fields and forest, exhilarating, beautiful, impressive, awe-inspiring. I pictured a towering craggy mountain with it’s steep slope, descending to the sea far below, all craggy and jagged. First of all I used a picture from this world to illustrate something in the spiritual realm. In my talk yesterday I described the fear of the Lord in two different ways. It’s good to be with you again, sharing with you on this week’s inspiring, but also challenging theme: The Fear of the Lord.
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