The Gifts of the Spirit Preface Pt. 1
We finished up last week talking about how the Jews are always finding ways to change the plainly written. It is fine because Elohim has His own plans for each person, but we must pray for them because we are not the judge nor the jury. However, what I will show us today through scripture, that the Gifts of the Spirit isn’t only mentioned in the letters of Paul. In fact, the gifts of the Spirit are seen throughout the entire bible and today we are going to have an overview and over the next few weeks, we will cover the majority of the gifts now that we are heading into Shavuot-. Let’s start in the book of Job.
The Gift of Life
Job 33:4
4 The Spirit of Ěl has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.
The Spirit gives life therefore the Gift of the Spirit that is called healing is present here. Through the breath of Yah, we have life.
Psalm 104:30
30 You send forth Your Spirit, they are created; And You renew the face of the earth.
Through His Spirit, we are created. Again, we see the Spirit give life and of course, as Yeshua tells us in the way to pray in
Matthew 6:10, 10 let Your reign come, let Your desire be done on earth as it is in heaven.
So Yeshua’s prayer about the one he says he worships
(John 20:17 – 17 יהושע said to her, “Do not hold on to Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father. But go to My brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and to My Elohim and your Elohim.’ ”)
explains that the will of the Father is to be done and that “Will” looks to be carried out through the Spirit. We will see a lot of the gifts of the Spirit being carried out through the son of man many times throughout his nomadic ministry. We must admit, Yeshua’s ministry was unique and the most unique part is the nomadic lifestyle and then to realize that during this nomadic journey, he still never broke Torah. Evidence of this is in the Acts during Peter’s vision where Peter, in response to his vision, states No Father for I have never eaten anything common or unclean.
Acts 10:14 – 14 But Kĕpha said, “Not at all, Master! Because I have never eaten whatever is common or unclean.”
So everything that Yeshua does is from the Father and the Fathers’ will is delivered by the Spirit or His breath, which in my interpretation, means His word.
Psalm 33:6
6 By the Word of יהוה the heavens were made, And all their host by the Spirit of His mouth,
Yeshua displayed this gift to us in John 11.
John 11:35-44
35 יהושע wept.
36 The Yehuḏim therefore said, “See how He loved him!”
37 And some of them said, “Was this One, who opened the eyes of the blind, not also able to prevent this one from dying?”
38 יהושע, therefore, again groaning in Himself, came to the tomb. Now it was a cave, and a stone lay against it.
39 יהושע said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of him who had died, said to Him, “Master, already he smells, for it is four days.”
40 יהושע said to her, “Did I not say to you that if you believe, you shall see the esteem of Elohim?”
41 So they took away the stone where the dead man was laid. And יהושע lifted up His eyes and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me.
42 And I know that You always hear Me, but because of the crowd standing by I said this, in order that they believe that You sent Me.
43 And when He had said this, He cried with a loud voice, “El‛azar, come out!”
44 And he who died came out bound feet and hands with wrappings, and his face was wrapped with a cloth. יהושע said to them, “Loosen him, and let him go.”
Yeshua as the perfect example shows us the personality and powers of Yah through Yah’s spirit. It’s an absolute blessing that we received to have an example. The problem with people is what we see in verse 40. Most of us have a hard time believing in the impossible. We tend to follow science rather than faith. Who has faith if all our faith is in what man can do for us and not what the Father can do for us? The Father has built a perfect system of support and power but still man goes toward man rather than towards the Father. Which leads us into the next gift I want to discuss, tongues. Unfortunately, doctrine can affect even the most skeptical of people of church doctrines. I was one of those. People really do look at the gift of tongues in the wrong way. There are two ways that tongues are applied but the main way has been confused with the display through man to speak a random language. However, it is a great power, but which would you say is greater, hearing and understanding Father or having the Fathers’ spirit have you speak in another language? The answer to this question, I’m sure could be hotly debated for years to come if my interpretation of Old Testament scripture comes recognized. Let’s move on.
The Gift of Tongues
Isaiah 28:11
11 For with a jabbering lip and a foreign tongue He speaks to this people,
12 to whom He said, “This is the rest, give rest to the weary,” and, “This is the refreshing.” But they would not hear.
Matthew 13:10-12
10 And the taught ones came and said to Him, “Why do You speak to them in parables?”
11 And He answering, said to them, “Because it has been given to you to know the secrets of the reign of the heavens, but to them it has not been given.
12 “For whoever possesses, to him more shall be given, and he shall have overflowingly; but whoever does not possess, even what he possesses shall be taken away from him.
One of the gifts of the Spirit isn’t really about speaking in tongues as the church would have you believe, rather its more about hearing Father. I do believe there is a gift of an appointed speaking in unknown tongues, but the Spirits main gift of tongues is being able to understand what the Father is saying. Being given ears to hear. Many denominations teach us that if you don’t speak in tongues, you’ve never truly been saved. I say if you’ve not been given the ear to hear the tongue of Elohim, you’ve never been on the right walk. Knowing the Word of Yah when He is speaking to you is a difficult task, but it is extremely simple, but that question boils down to whether you have ears to hear or not.
Isaiah 6:9
9 And He said, “Go, and you shall say to this people, ‘Hearing, you hear, but do not understand; and seeing, you see, but do not know.’
Another version of not being able to enjoy the gift of tongues is refusing to hear, see or understand the Word of Elohim as evident in the previous verse. We need to differentiate the difference between life and death on a spiritual level. Since we are given free will choice, we can choose to hear and to understand but it takes courage, willingness and humility. The Father does not change so when we hear Him, it’s normally to benefit us but it can cost us many of our worldly pleasures. We can find our way running from sin and back to righteousness and good graces of the Father. That’s where we want to be as a spiritual people not running towards sin. When people run towards sin, they are showing what they are chasing for we know that iniquity is equal to removing one from inheriting the promise and gift that comes from the blotting out of your sin.
The Gift of Prophecy
The next gift we will cover will be the gift of prophecy. There are many prophets in the Bible with the two most recognizable prophets being Moses and Yeshua. Many will tell you that the gift of prophecy was given to the apostles, but I differ in opinion. The only apostle that really prophesies in the NT is the apostle John in Revelation. So we will not focus on the apostles today because our focus is seeing these gifts from before the NT and also through Yeshua. The first thing we need to do is look at the words of how we test a prophet. We covered this recently but just a refresher right before we go into other mentioning how this gift works.
1 John 4:1-3
1 Beloved ones, do not believe every spirit, but prove the spirits, whether they are of Elohim, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
2 By this you know the Spirit of Elohim: Every spirit that confesses that יהושע Messiah has come in the flesh is of Elohim,
3 and every spirit that does not confess that יהושע Messiah has come in the flesh is not of Elohim. And this is the spirit of the anti-messiah which you heard is coming, and now is already in the world.
We have the answer on how to know a prophet is true or false and we can tell who they are by this guidance and it is also shown in the OT that this is the case. Remember Messiah taught from the Torah and Prophets, there wasn’t a NT when he was walking out his ministry. Therefore, everything in the NT must be backed up in the OT, if it is not then it needs to be looked at.
Jeremiah 28:9
9 “The prophet who prophesies of peace – when the word of the prophet comes to pass, that prophet is known as one whom יהוה has truly sent.”
We know what it means to test a prophet, Messiah is even considered a prophets like Moses.
Deuteronomy 18:15-22
15 יהוה your Elohim shall raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brothers. Listen to Him,
16 according to all you asked of יהוה your Elohim in Ḥorĕḇ in the day of the assembly, saying, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of יהוה my Elohim, nor let me see this great fire any more, lest I die.’
17 “And יהוה said to me, ‘What they have spoken is good.
18 I shall raise up for them a Prophet like you out of the midst of their brothers. And I shall put My Words in His mouth, and He shall speak to them all that I command Him.
19 And it shall be, the man who does not listen to My Words which He speaks in My Name, I require it of him.
20 But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in My Name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other mighty ones, even that prophet shall die.’
21 “And when you say in your heart, ‘How do we know the word which יהוה has not spoken?’ –
22 when the prophet speaks in the Name of יהוה and the word is not, or comes not, that is the word which יהוה has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously. Do not be afraid of him.
Acts 3:22-23
22 “For Mosheh truly said to the fathers, ‘יהוה your Elohim shall raise up for you a Prophet like me from your brothers. Him you shall hear according to all matters, whatever He says to you.
23 ‘And it shall be that every being who does not hear that Prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people.’
So we see Yeshua as a prophet like Moses. He fulfilled many things throughout the scriptures. We see that prophecy is a gift of the Father and we see that in the likes of Moses, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, etc. We also see that this gift will be given to others in the book of Joel.
Joel 2:28
28 “And after this it shall be that I pour out My Spirit on all flesh. And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men dream dreams, your young men see visions.
As we see here, the spirit comes onto all flesh and give people prophesy through dreams and visions, one of the most common ways throughout scripture that we see prophecies being given by the Almighty to His prophets. That’s a short overview of the gift of prophecy, so what other gifts are seen in the OT.
The Gift of Miracles
Luke 11:49-51
49 “And because of this the wisdom of Elohim said, ‘I shall send them prophets and emissaries, and some of them they shall kill and persecute,’
50 so that the blood of all the prophets which was shed from the foundation of the world shall be required of this generation,
51 from the blood of Heḇel to the blood of Zeḵaryah who perished between the slaughter-place and the Dwelling Place. Yes, I say to you, it shall be required of this generation.
Here we see the account of Yeshua verifying or confirming the prophets of the OT. But one gift we see throughout is the gift of Miracles. Now this gift’s overview is quite interesting because we don’t think of Miracles as instances where bad things happen. Most often, Christians and believers view miracles as the saving of a life or crazy, inconceivable things happening for the good. To the contrary, we see that there are many negative things in the bible that are miracles, we are going to see a couple during this overview but we will divulge into this topic more thoroughly in the next few weeks. Think of today as a preface to the coming weeks. We are going to see the Power of Ruach HaKodesh as we await the day of remembrance of the Spirit of Yah being sent as the comforter among other things.
Joshua 6:6-25
6 And Yehoshua son of Nun called the priests and said to them, “Take up the ark of the covenant, and let seven priests bear seven shopharot of yoḇelim before the ark of יהוה.”
7 And he said to the people, “Pass over, and go around the city, and let him who is armed pass over before the ark of יהוה.”
8 And it came to be, when Yehoshua had spoken to the people, that the seven priests bearing the seven shopharot of the yoḇelim before יהוה passed over and blew with the shopharot, and the ark of the covenant of יהוה went after them.
9 And the armed men went before the priests who blew the shopharot, and the rear guard came after the ark, going on and blowing with the shopharot.
10 But Yehoshua had commanded the people, saying, “Do not make a sound or cause your voice to be heard, nor let any word come out of your mouth, until the day I say to you, ‘Shout!’ Then you shall shout.”
11 And the ark of יהוה went around the city, going around once. And they came into the camp and stayed in the camp.
12 And Yehoshua rose early in the morning, and the priests took up the ark of יהוה.
13 And seven priests bearing seven shopharot of the yoḇelim before the ark of יהוה were walking, going on, and they blew with the shopharot, and the armed men went before them. But the rear guard came after the ark of יהוה, going on, and blowing with the shopharot.
14 And the second day they went around the city once and returned to the camp. Thus they did six days.
15 And it came to be on the seventh day that they rose early, about the dawning of the day, and went around the city seven times in this way. Only on that day they went around the city seven times.
16 And it came to be at the seventh time, when the priests blew with the shopharot, that Yehoshua said to the people, “Shout, for יהוה has given you the city!
17 “And the city shall be put under the ban, it and all that is in it belongs to יהוה. Only Raḥaḇ the whore is to live, she and all who are with her in the house, because she hid the messengers that we sent.
18 “And you, by all means guard yourselves from that which is under the ban, lest you come under the ban when you take of that which is under the ban, and make the camp of Yisra’ĕl a curse, and shall trouble it.
19 “But all the silver and gold, and vessels of bronze and iron, are set-apart to יהוה, they go into the treasury of יהוה.”
20 And the people shouted when the priests blew the shopharot. And it came to be when the people heard the voice of the shophar, and the people shouted with a great shout, that the wall fell down flat. And the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they captured the city.
21 And they put under the ban all that was in the city, both man and woman, young and old, and ox and sheep and donkey, with the edge of the sword.
22 And to the two men who had spied out the land Yehoshua said, “Go into the house of the woman, the whore, and from there bring out the woman and all that she has, as you swore to her.”
23 And the young men, the spies, went in and brought out Raḥaḇ, and her father, and her mother, and her brothers, and all that she had. So they brought out all her relatives and set them outside the camp of Yisra’ĕl.
24 And they burned the city and all that was in it with fire. Only the silver and gold, and the vessels of bronze and of iron, they put into the treasury of the House of יהוה.
25 However, Yehoshua kept alive Raḥaḇ the whore, and her father’s household, and all that she had. And she dwelt in the midst of Yisra’ĕl to this day, because she hid the messengers whom Yehoshua sent to spy out Yeriḥo.
So there is good here in the miracle of Jericho but there is a negative connotation and that is the death and destruction of the city. We can see that same use of this type of miracle in the Exodus story. Most of us know of the 10 plagues all of which are miracles to convince the hardened heart of the pharaoh to let the Hebrews go. And the people of Egypt also suffered even though they were the people of the country and made no decisions as to the people of the Hebrews, yet they suffered. So miracles are always two sided and carried out by the Spirit of the Most High Yah.
The next gift we will discuss is the gift of wisdom and knowledge. Wisdom and knowledge is only given by the Spirit of Elohim.
Proverbs 2:6
6 For יהוה gives wisdom; Out of His mouth come knowledge and understanding.
And that is where I am going to leave it for this week, today we discussed 4 and ½ of the gifts of the spirit, next week we will finish off with the other half of the gifts. We are going to see that the gifts of the spirit are more than what we read in a single letter of Paul. Corinthians is not the only proof we have, we can have the gifts shown to us without the NT. It’s all in the OT. Shabbat Shalom, we will finish this next week.
