"The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters." (Genesis 1:2) "Whither shall I go from your Spirit? or whither shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend up into heaven, You are there; if I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; Even there shall your hand lead me, and your right hand shall hold me." (Psalm 139:7-10) "I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it sees Him not, neither knows Him; but you know Him; for He dwells with you, and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless [or orphans]; I will come to you." (John 14:16-18) "When He, the Spirit of truth is come, He will guide you into alltruth; for He shall not speak of himself. ... He shall glorify me; for He shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you. All things that the Father has are mine; therefore said I, that He shall take of mine, and shall show it unto you." (John 16:13-15) "The Spirit is life because of righteousness." (Romans 8:10) "It is the Spirit that quickens;...the words that I speak unto you, they are Spirit, and they are life." (John 6:63) "I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named,16 That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might, by His Spirit in the inner man." (Ephesians 3:14-15) "All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go therefore." (Matthew 28:18-19) "You shall receive power, when the Holy Ghost is come upon you; and you shall be my witnesses." (Acts 1:8) "There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are diversities of ministrations, and the same Lord. And there are diversities of workings, but the same God who works all in all. But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit to profitwithal. For to one is given through the Spirit, the word of wisdom; and to another, the word of knowledge, according to the same Spirit; ... But in all these works the one and the same Spirit, dividing to each one severally as He will." (1 Corinthians 12:4-8,11)
The word "moved," in Genesis 1:2, is from a Hebrew word signifying: "To cherish one's young, to brood or hover over, as the eagle its young."
It occurs in: "As an eagle stirs up her nest, flutters over her young, spreads abroad her wings, takes them, bears them on her wings." (Deuteronomy 32:11)
The Syriac equivalent, which is far more common, "is used of birds which brood over their young; of a mother cherishing her infant; of Elisha cherishing the dead body of the child; also of a voice descending from heaven, and hovering in the air; also to pity." (Gesenius' Hebrew and English Lexicon)
There is no spot in the universe where the Holy Spirit of God is not. Read this in the second text quoted in this lesson. Read the texts that tell plainly that the Holy Spirit is the direct Representative, the personal Presence of God, both Father and Son. So God is present in every place by His Spirit. "Do not I fill heaven and earth? says the Lord." (Jeremiah 23:21)
This is the Scripture teaching as to the "Real Presence."
The word "hell," in Psalm 139:8, which occurs so often in the Bible, is really the same as our common word "hole." Both are from one and the same Anglo-Saxon word. The Hebrew word from which it is translated is often rendered "grave," or "pit." It signifies, as will readily be seen, the portion of the earth under the surface, the hidden, secret part. So we learn from the text that there is no place, even in the inner part of the very earth itself, where the Spirit of God is not. "In His hand are the deep places of the earth." (Psalm 95:4)
When God strengthens one with might, it is by His Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the power of God. We have already learned that Christ is "the power of God," (1 Corinthians 1:24) and this lesson tells us that the Spirit takes the things of Christ, and shows them to us.
So it is that "the invisible things" of God, "even His everlasting power and Divinity," which "are clearly seen" in "the things that are made," become plain to us by the working of the Spirit. (Romans 1:20) He shows Christ, "the power of God" to us in the things that are made.
The Spirit is everywhere, in heaven and in the lowest and most remote parts of the earth, always the same Divine power. He is Christ's Representative, simply revealing Christ's power. Thus we see that in the most literal sense "all power" "in heaven and in earth" is given unto Christ, (Matthew 28:18) "the Author of eternal salvation." (Hebrews 5:9)
Remember that the Gospel of Christ is "the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believes." (Romans 1:16)
A man can do a great many different kinds of work with the same strength. The same steam power can be applied in a great variety of ways. The power that pushes, can also pull. The same power that lifts up, can also cast down. So, "There are diversities of workings, but the same God who works all in all." (1 Corinthians 12:6)
This that is said of the power that works in the church, is as true of the power that appears in creation, since the power that is revealed in the things that are made, is the power by which God saves those who believe. All the power, or force, as it is usually termed, that is seen in matter whether in earth or heaven, is but the working of the one Spirit of God.
Men have changed the truth of God into a lie. Instead of recognizing God in His works, they said that the works themselves were God. So they "worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator." (Romans 1:25)
Not only so, but the ancients, in their limited idea of God, thinking that He could do but one thing, made every different work, and every different manifestation of energy, a different god. They had a god of the heavens, and a god of the earth; a god of the winds, and a god of the waves; gods for trees, and gods working different things in men. "But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by Him." (1 Corinthians 8:6)
The foolishness of the men of old who could not see the power of the one God in all things that exist, is perpetuated unto this very day, by the men of earth who profess to be wise. Every distinct manifestation of energy is regarded as a different power or force, and to each one a different name has been given, as gravitation, cohesion, chemical affinity, electricity, etc.
Men will tell us that such and such a thing is accomplished by the power of gravitation, and another thing by electric force, and another by chemical affinity, as though there were so many different gods working. It is as though they should say that it requires a different power to plow the ground from what it does to sow the grain, and that a still different power is needed to reap it, and another to thresh it, and still another to lift the bags of grain into a cart.
But we all know that one man, with the strength that is given him, can do all these things. Even so one God by one Spirit shows His power in an infinite variety of ways in all creation.
The Spirit of God hovered or brooded over the face of the waters in the beginning, and brought order out of chaos. Matter was thus as it were impregnated with force, because the same Spirit of power still works in it. The so-called different forces, cohesion, gravitation, etc., are not different forces, but different manifestations of the one Spirit's power, working to preserve the earth, and make it a safe dwelling place for men.
The Word of the Lord is Spirit and life. (John 6:63) So the power of the Spirit in all creation is the power of the Word that upholds all things. God's Word is not a dead letter, but a living Spirit.
Recall the last lesson, in which we found that power is mercy. The power of God, which is seen in all creation, is the mercy by which He saves us through "the renewing of the Holy Ghost, which He shed on us abundantly." (Titus 3:5)
Recall also the fact that the word rendered "moved," which describes what the Spirit of God did to the unformed earth, has also the idea of "to pity." Thus we may know that God, in filling the earth with His power, has filled it with His tender love and pity for mankind. The whole earth is full of His mercy: "The earth, O Lord, is full of your mercy: teach me your statutes." (Psalm 119:61)
The power by which the earth holds together,--the force that is seen in all created things, whether in heaven or in earth,--is the power by which the Lord protects His people, when He gathers them as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings. (Matthew 23:37) "How excellent is your loving-kindness, O God therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of your wings." (Psalm 36:7) "He that dwells in the secret place of the Most High, shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. ... He shall cover you with His feathers, and under His wings shall you trust." (Psalm 91:1,4)
How true it is, that God has stretched out His hand, and caused "all the ends of the earth" (Isaiah 52:10) to see His salvation.
When all Thy mercies, O my God,
My rising soul surveys,
Transported with the view, I'm lost
In wonder, love, and praise.
--Joseph Addison, Hymn: When All Thy Mercies, O My God, 1712.
--Present Truth, July 21, 1898.