We have been going through the book of Acts on Sunday mornings at The Spoken Word. A couple of weeks ago I started off the series... well in Acts 1. As I was studying the scripture one of the biggest questions that kept floating around in my head was, "what does it look like to be empowered by the Holy Spirit?"
Acts 1:8 says that the disciples would receive power when the Holy Spirit come on them, which will then cause them to be his witnesses.
I couldn't get out of my head linking being baptized with the H.S. (verse 5) with being empowered by the H.S. and then in Acts 2 they start speaking in "tongues." Now I am not charismatic, and so that image just never set well with me. Plus I believe since the beginning of it all God has been moving in a certain direction with a specific purpose, because of that, if you look at scripture as a whole you find common themes and stories. Speaking in tongues doesn't seem to be one of those reoccurring themes.
In theology there is a rule called the law of first mention, which basically you go back to the first place the word was mentioned to see if it gives any clues of what it means. So I went back to Genesis 1.
Jeff Benner has done amazing work creating a Mechanical Translation of the Hebrew Bible as well as translating Hebrew. His Mechanical Translation of Genesis 1 reads:
1&in the summit Elohiym fattened the sky and the land, 2&and the land had existed in confusion and was unfilled and darkness was upon the face of the deep sea and the wind of Elohiym was much fluttering upon the face of the water...
Elohiym (Eloheem) is often translated God but is more accurately translated Power. It comes from the root word el which means one of power and authority. With a meaning like that, its no wonder the Hebrew people designated that word to connect with God. So one could read Genesis 1:1 with all accuracy as In the summit the one with power and authority fattened the sky and land. In other words at the height of God's power he filled the sky and land with life.
When you continue on to verse 2 you read the wind of Elohiym, which we usually translate as the Spirit of God. The Hebrew word for wind is ru'ach and it literally means "the wind or man that follows a prescribed path." To the Hebrew person ru'ach came to mean the character of a person that directs their life toward a certain path. We all know that a person's character directs their life.
We find the character of God's power (ru'ach Elohyim) was hovering over the depths of the see. Why? Because God is moving in prescribed path, and he is just about to set the world in that same direction. When then read that Elohyim (God's Power) begins to create life, harmony, order and beauty on this confused, unfilled and dark land.
In Acts 1 when Jesus tells his disciples that they will be baptized (immersed) with the Holy Spirit (the character of God's power) and will receive power when He comes upon them, I think Jesus was saying the disciples will actually begin to create life, harmony, order and beauty on this confused, unfilled and dark land.
When we are filled with the Holy Spirit we begin to look for the dead things in our lives and the life that fills this earth. We look for those dead things because God's character has set us on a path to restore, renew, and bring life back to the deadness we find. When we pursue those that life we become witnesses (in Greek witnesses is a legal term for giving undeniable proof in court) that God is alive and active in this world.
May we be baptized into the character of God's Power and help in the work he started in the beginning of bringing life, harmony, order, and beauty on this confused unfilled and dark land. May we become empowered!
