This blog may be the most important blog I have ever written. Please read it all the way through.
During World War Two, Hitler’s Minister of Propaganda was a man named Joseph Goebbels. One of Goebbels’ rules of propaganda was known as the “Big Lie,” which stated: “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie.”
This same tactic has been used to affect all of the unbiblical “social changes” that we have seen over the past 70 years. This “Big Lie” rule is what convinced people that abortion wasn’t murder, that marriage isn’t between one man and one a woman, and as we watch the news today, we hear people espouse the “Big Lie” that there was at some point in the past a historical Palestinian Nation. But, each of those “Big Lies'' are the subjects of other blogs.
Not one of those “Big Lies” would have been possible if it wasn’t for the “Big Lie” that I am writing about today. The “Big Lie” that I am confronting today has been spoken in many churches and will be loudly proclaimed in churches around the world this coming Sunday as they celebrate “Pentecost.” When spoken, this “Big Lie” will sound something like this: “The difference between the Israel of the Old Testament (The Jews) and the Church (New Israel) of the New Testament is that in the Old Testament the Jews had an outward experience with G-D based upon works of the flesh. But, in the New Testament, the Church had an inward experience with G-D based upon the infilling of the Holy Spirit.”
This “Big Lie” says the people of Israel in the Old Testament were moved on by the Holy Spirit, while the people in the Church after Pentecost were filled with the Holy Spirit. While this may make for exciting sermons, especially on the day of Pentecost, it is also Biblically untrue. There are many verses in the Bible that can easily debunk this “Big Lie,” such as Luke 1:15, which speaks about the birth of John:
15 He will be great before Adonai; and he should not drink wine and intoxicating beverage, but he will be filled with the Ruach ha-Kodesh just out of his mother’s womb.
Notice John, a nice Jewish man, who was born 30+ years before the day of Pentecost, was filled with the Ruach ha-Kodesh, or Holy Spirit. This one example eviscerates the theory that people in the Old Testament (or Pre-Pentecost) were moved upon and not filled with the Holy Spirit. But, for further evidence, let’s look at the prophetic words of Joel 2:3:
1 “So it will be afterward, I will pour out My Ruach on all flesh: your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions.
What an exciting prophecy about the pouring out of the Spirit of G-D, which will be poured out on all flesh! This powerful prophecy was declared fulfilled by Peter on the day of Pentecost as we read in Acts 2:16-17:
16 But this is what was spoken about through the prophet Joel: 17 ‘And it shall be in the last days,’ says God, ‘that I will pour out My Ruach on all flesh. Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams.
Please take the time to read these words spoken by Peter slowly. You will notice that when Peter stood in the Temple on the Day of Pentecost, he didn’t say: “I know that Joel said that G-D would be pouring out His Spirit on all flesh, but He changed his plan because He found out that pouring His Spirit on people didn’t work, so now He is going to pour His Spirit into people.” No, that is not what Peter said that day. Peter stood in front of hundreds of thousands and said, “this is what was spoken about through the prophet Joel.”
Peter went on to tell those gathered that day what we read in Acts 2:38 that they should repent of their sins, be immersed, and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit:
38 Peter said to them, “Repent, and let each of you be immersed in the name of Messiah Yeshua for the removal of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Ruach ha-Kodesh.”
Please take a look closer look at the first two chapters of the Book of Acts and you will find that Act 1:8 promises:
1:8 But you will receive power when the Ruach ha-Kodesh has come upon you; and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and through all Judah, and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
Which is followed by Act 2:4:
1 When the day of Shavuot had come, they were all together in one place. 2 Suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 And tongues like fire spreading out appeared to them and settled on each one of them. 4 They were all filled with the Ruach ha-Kodesh and began to speak in other tongues as the Ruach enabled them to speak out.
Which is followed by Peter quoting the verses from Joel included above, proclaiming that the Holy Spirit was poured out upon the people.
Please don’t read this blog as if I am saying that all of the Israelites in the Old Testament were Spirit-Filled. Nor am I saying that all of the Jews of today are Spirit-filled. What it does say is that G-D didn’t make a covenant with the nation Israel that He knew was impossible for them to keep, while also telling them that it was not difficult to keep, as we read in Deuteronomy 30:
10 when you listen to the voice of Adonai your God, to keep His mitzvot and His statutes that are written in this scroll of the Torah, when you turn to Adonai your God with all your heart and with all your soul. 11 “For this mitzvah that I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you, nor is it far off.
The book of Romans chapter 8 lets us know that it is impossible to keep G-D’s commandments without being filled with His Spirit:
Romans 8:7 For the mindset of the flesh is hostile toward God, for it does not submit itself to the law of God—for it cannot. 8 So those who are in the flesh cannot please God. 9 However, you are not in the flesh but in the Ruach—if indeed the Ruach Elohim dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Ruach of Messiah, he does not belong to Him.
As you can see, in many other verses throughout the Bible, the experiences of the Spirit of G-D being poured out upon someone and someone being filled with the Spirit are synonymous.
I know that some of you reading this blog may be saying “So what? This seems to be a distinction without a difference.” However, the truth is that saying that the Israel of the Old Testament only had an external experience with the Spirit of G-D, but the Church or New Israel now has an internal relationship with the Spirit of G-D is the “Big Lie.” This “Big Lie” is the root of the rejection of the Old Testament as relevant for believers. It is the foundation for the “Big Lies” about abortion, gay marrage, replacement theolgy, duel covenant theology, Christian Anti-Semitism, and nearly every other false teaching that has become prevalent within the Christian World. It is also one of the reasons Jewish people reject the message of Yeshua.
The Biblical truth is that in order to be a true follower of G-D, one must be filled with His Spirit no matter which half of the Bible you are reading. G-D made His Spirit available to Israel of old the same way He does today. The prophets were both moved on and filled. Moses was both moved on and filled. Samson was both moved on and filled. And today, no matter if you are Jewish or non-Jewish, we must be both moved on and filled.
This is why before we read the words of John 3:16 we read the words that Yeshua Himself shared with Nicodemus:
5 Yeshua answered, “Amen, amen I tell you, unless one is born of water and spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit.
Before the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2, Yeshua told Nicodemus that he must be born of the Spirit.