“Either Here Or There”

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

I am reading about John the Baptist in Luke 1:15.  In this verse, it explains that the angel of the Lord tells Zacharias that his son, John, will be "filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb."

This made me wonder if during this time in history, both Jesus (God's Son) and the Holy Spirit were present upon the earth at the same time, leaving the Lord Father in Heaven alone, or does the idea of "omnipresent" fit in here?

Pardon me if this seems silly to ask, but when reading the Bible, I was lead to believe that in the beginning, God the Father walked upon the earth with Adam and Eve and spoke directly to them, but then, after mankind became so corrupt, He stepped away, and His Son, Jesus, came and walked among men.  Finally, now that we are under the New Testament, the perfect has come, the Bible and the Holy Spirit, which is our comfort in today's world.  So would it be correct to assume that the Scriptures show exceptions, such as in this case?  Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,
Looking For God

Dear Looking For God,

Yes, the idea of omnipresent is probably the answer in this case.  There is no doubt that The Father, The Son, and the Holy Spirit are distinct entities.  A great example of Their distinctness is seen at Jesus’ baptism.  The Father spoke from heaven, the Son came out of the water, and the Holy Spirit descended as a dove (Lk 3:21-22).  However, it is only the Son who took on permanent, finite, human form (Php 2:5-8).  The Father and the Holy Spirit are still completely omnipresent and omnipotent.

In fact, the Holy Spirit’s omnipresent ability is how He could fill John the Baptist with the Holy Spirit while also filling Jesus simultaneously.  He eventually also filled the apostles and many of the first century christians.  The Scriptures do say that the Holy Spirit was sent after Jesus’ ascension (Jhn 16:7).  However, we also know that even though the Holy Spirit is here, He is also in heaven making intercession for us as we pray (Rom 8:26-27).

Everything you said about the Father walking with Adam and Eve, Jesus walking among mankind, and the Holy Spirit being our Comforter is true, but that doesn’t mean that the other two Deity were excluded during those times.  The details of what God can do and where He goes are simply beyond us.  How God can be in all places at all times is a concept that is too much for us to comprehend.

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