More Proof That the Holy Spirit is the Former First Estate of the Son of God
Dear Reader,
Scripture says that there is ONE MEDIATOR between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. Then we are told that the Holy Spirit intercedes or mediates, for the definition of intercession is:
"Entreaty in favor of another, especially a prayer or petition to God in behalf of another. Mediation in a dispute." Webster's Unabridged Dictionary.
1Ti 2:5 For [there is] one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;
If there is ONE MEDIATOR between God and men, and the Holy Spirit also intercedes, which is mediation, then there is a direct liaison between Christ and His Holy Spirit even though they are separate and distinct persons. That direct liaison lies in the fact that the Son of God laid aside [Emptied Himself] His Holy Spirit life and soul for us at His Incarnation. His Holy Spirit THEN became His representative on the earth.
If there are three distinct persons to the Godhead, and the Holy Spirit and Christ are separate and distinct persons, and Christ is the ONE MEDIATOR, then there is a very distinct link between the life of the Holy Spirit person and Christ as a person. And that "link" is more than the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit being one. The Father did not volunteer to empty Himself and lay aside His "DIVINE ONLY" life FOREVER. The Son did. This is a distinct difference between the Father and the Son. The "laid aside" "DIVINE ONLY" life of the Son is His Holy Spirit BEING--before His Incarnation as a combination of Divinity and humanity.
There are distinctions in the roles of the persons of the Godhead. For example, the Son, Christ is the ONE MEDIATOR. Christ and His former Holy Spirit as the "DIVINE ONLY" Son of God, are the Holy Spirit mediator and intercessor. It is these two persons of the Godhead who are the ONE mediator. How can the two be ONE? By the fact that the former life of the Son prior to His Incarnation is so closely the same life He now possesses except for being combined with humanity forever.
Gal 3:20 Now a mediator is not [a mediator] of one, but God is one.
Rom 8:26 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.
Rom 8:27 And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what [is] the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to [the will of] God.
Rom 8:34 Who [is] he that condemneth? [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.
Hbr 7:25 Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.
Isa 53:12 Therefore will I divide him [a portion] with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
Jer 7:16 Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither lift up cry nor prayer for them, neither make intercession to me: for I will not hear thee.
Jer 27:18 But if they [be] prophets, and if the word of the LORD be with them, let them now make intercession to the LORD of hosts, that the vessels which are left in the house of the LORD, and [in] the house of the king of Judah, and at Jerusalem, go not to Babylon.
"Christ declared that after his ascension, he would send to his church, as his crowning gift, the Comforter, who was to take his place. This Comforter is the Holy Spirit,--the soul of his life, the efficacy of his church, the light and life of the world. With his Spirit Christ sends a reconciling influence and a power that takes away sin. In the gift of the Spirit [HIS LIFE--THE SOUL OF HIS LIFE], Jesus gave to man the highest good that heaven could bestow.... The Spirit was given as a regenerating agency, and without this the sacrifice of Christ would have been of no avail.... It is by the Spirit that the heart is made pure. Through the Spirit the believer becomes a partaker of the divine nature. Christ has given his Spirit as a divine power to overcome all hereditary and cultivated tendencies to evil, and to impress his own character upon the church." E.G. White, Review and Herald Articles, May 19, 1904, vol. 5, p. 42.
"Cumbered with humanity Christ could not be in every place personally, therefore it was altogether for their advantage that He should leave them to go to His Father and send the Holy Spirit to be His successor on earth. The Holy Spirit is Himself divested of the personality of humanity and independent thereof. He would represent Himself as present in all places by His Holy Spirit." E.G. White, (Manuscript Releases Volume 14 (No's 1081-1135) MR No.1084. |