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by Sandy Shaw
“Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.” Genesis Chapter 1 verse 2.
What a second verse - formless - empty - darkness - but the Spirit of God - the Holy Spirit - is hovering or fluttering - ready to obey the Word of the Father and the Son.
When we become Christians - when we are born again - we receive the same Holy Spirit.
When Jesus baptises us in the Holy Spirit, we are immersed or soaked or saturated in, or by, this same fluttering Holy Dove. Remember what happened when Jesus emerged from the waters of the Jordan River.
When we read - and God said - He did not speak to nothing - He spoke to the Son and to the hovering Holy Spirit. This word 'hover' is used in one other situation in the Old Testament. Turn to Deuteronomy Chapter 32 verse 11 - we read of an eagle preparing to get its young ones on the wing and mobile - and the eagle is hovering over the nest - and gets its young ones flying - and catches them before they hit the ground. The eagle is hovering around to get its young on the go.
That is what the Holy Spirit is doing in Genesis Chapter 1 - waiting for the Word of the Father and the Son to get this universe on the go.
Genesis Chapter 1 is more about the Creator than Creation - God is mentioned some 35 times.
God said - "Let the light in" - and it was no sooner said than done. The Holy Spirit gets things done - and that is why we so need the power of the Holy Spirit in the Church of Jesus Christ today - and in our lives. If anything real and lasting is going to be achieved - it has to be done by the Holy Spirit and through the power of the Holy Spirit.
The opening words of the Gospel of John explain and teach us of the presence and activity of the Son – the Word – whom we know as Jesus Christ.
We see here the wonderful unity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
They are each present - they are so united - they agree. They are so united that a singular verb can be used. What human author would ever think of writing like that? No man would!
From the beginning we learn that everything God created and made was good.
“Lord God, may the light and love of Jesus shine upon me and within me so that I may share that light and love, in some real and meaningful way, everywhere I go. Amen”
Alexander 'Sandy' Shaw is pastor of Nairn Christian Fellowship in Nairn, Scotland. Nairn is 17 miles east of Inverness - on the Moray Firth Coast - not far from the Loch Ness Monster!
Gifted as a Biblical teacher, Sandy is firmly committed to making sure that his teachings are firmly grounded in the Word.
Sandy has a weekly radio talk which can be heard via the Internet on Saturday at 11:40am, New Orleans time, at wsho.com.
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