Alpha Course, Who Is The Holy Spirit?

This week Alpha moves into an interesting middle section focusing on the third member of the Trinity — The Holy Spirit.

Nicky starts out the lesson with a couple notes on the Holy Spirit — That He's been ignored and that He's been misunderstood. If you think about it, both those things are probably true. And it's fascinating and exiting that the role of the Holy Spirit is the focus of Alpha right now, given that we just passed Pentecost Sunday and a message aimed at the way the Holy Spirit can work through us. That, of course, will be the subject of weeks 9 and 10 of Alpha, for now the focus is on who the Holy Spirit is.

Most of us, when we think about the Holy Spirit, think about the New Testament. Clearly you see the Holy Spirit at Jesus' baptism — descending in a shape like a dove in Mark 1:9-11. You also think about the promises made to believers, that the Holy Spirit is left with us to dwell within us even after Jesus ascends. There is also plenty of New Testament focus on the gifts of the Holy Spirit — both the conventional spiritual gifts and the so-called sign gifts, or miraculous gifts.

But the Holy Spirit, like Jesus, has been part of the Trinity since the beginning. In fact, did you know the Bible references the Holy Spirit as early as Genesis 1? Genesis 1:1-2 says, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 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." That's right, the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. Before plants, animals, and men, the Spirit of God was present on the Earth.

But we often overlook that.

In a lot of ways the Holy Spirit is probably more integral to our daily lives than God the father or Jesus Christ, but we just don't think about it. When you feel that nag of conviction in your soul — that's the Holy Spirit working in you. When you find the words, the courage, or the conviction to stand up for your faith — that's the Holy Spirit working inside you. When you feel lost and the peace of God suddenly comes upon you — that's the Holy Spirit working inside you.

But we don't think about those subtle things much, instead we think of tongues of fire, or a dove floating above Jesus' head when we think of the Holy Spirit.

One of the things I love about this episode of Alpha is how Nicky talks about us living in the Age of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit, in fact, comes upon all how believe. It is God's promise to us, it is the Holy Spirit that indwells us so that we are never alone when we are in Him. Acts 2:37-39 says, "When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.”

God might get all the glory, and Jesus might get the name recognition, but we can't forget the Holy Spirit's work in our lives.