Holy Spirit Our Guide

The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your fellow Israelites. You must listen to him…I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their fellow Israelites, and I will put my words in his mouth. He will tell them everything I command him.. I myself will call to account anyone who does not listen to my words that the prophet speaks in my name.   Deuteronomy 18:15 to 18:18

Moses in one statement talked about a prophet greater than him, who would replace his teachings and the law that he gave.  This verse in many ways nullifies the Mosaic law and teachings, and tells us that the one to come would be the one we should listen to. Fast forward 2000 years later Jesus said

For I have not spoken on my own authority, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment—what to say and what to speak. John 12:49

The Law

Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them Matthew 5:17

The Mosaic Law was the best version of the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil it was a list of good things we should, and another list of evil things we should not do. God gave us the best version of the bad choice Adam had made in the garden of Eden.Its as if God said, go ahead try and see if it will work for you!!

When we chose the fruit of good and evil we wanted to do life on our own..to be like God and therefore not need God (Autonomy). This is the story of the old testament, an effort by man to do it on His own and so the stories goes, not even one man was successful in this quest. The fall of the Nation of Israel is not a failure on God it is the failure of the ideology of Autonomy i.e. righteousness that comes from navigating between good and evil. It simply does not work, the knowledge and awareness of  sin and using that to determine our proximity to God eventually leads us to stray from God. Paul puts it this way

What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.” ⁸ But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. For apart from the law, sin lies dead. Romans 7:7

We learn that sin in its purest form is being independent from God, by having a predefined list of rules that you choose from that does not require you to maintain relationship with God. This is the heart of legalism and what Jesus called the leaven of the Pharisees.

To resolve this stalemate God crafts a solution back to salvation called faith, faith in its basic form requires trust, relationship and total dependence on the Holy Spirit.    The Narrow Road

The Holy Spirit

After 40 days in mount Sinai Moses delivered two tablets that expressed the law of God, on the other hand Jesus ascended to heaven and some days later on the day of Pentecost the holy spirit was poured out on the disciples. The scripture spoke of this day

And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions Joel 2:28

The contrast between the old and new covenant is that in the old covenant the flesh tries to fulfill the law, in the new covenant the flesh submits to the spirit of God in order to be righteous.The best biblical illustration of how to be led by the spirit of God can be found in two stories

For those led by the spirit of God are sons of God

Jesus & the exodus

When Jesus received the Holy Spirit, He was first led to the wilderness to be tested.  Jesus had just received a great promise of sonship therefore the holy spirit the great teacher led him into a situation where this promise would be tested.

And you shall remember the whole way that the LORD your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not. Deuteronomy 8:2

“The Holy Spirit leads us into impossible situations and then teaches the children of God, it is not possible to learn from God if he is not leading you through the Holy Spirit“

The most important lesson the Holy Spirit teaches us is that God sustains as when we obey his word, therefore He is dependable

He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years. Deuteronomy 8:3-4

Not one of all the LORD’s good promises to the house of Israel had failed;every thing was fulfilled. Joshua 21:45 .

But this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days,declares the LORD.I will put My law in their minds and inscribe it on their hearts.And I will be their God,and they will be My people. Jeremiah 31:33