I did a quick word study on the phrase “poured out” and here’s what I discovered.
I found myself wondering what the Bible meant when it said “poured out” when referring to the Holy Spirit. The phrase is mentioned 28 times in the New Testament. The most common use is the one we see referring to the Holy Spirit, but the same words are used when Jesus is talking “pouring” new wine into new wineskins. The same phrase is used when speaking the communion cup, and Christ’s blood being “poured out”. Similarly, it also describes the way the prophets died, with their blood “spilled out”. Judas is said to have fallen onto the ground and his intestines “spilled out”. And, the same phrase is used when the Angels in Revelation “pour out” their bowls of wrath upon the earth.
The first contemporary picture that comes to mind is when we baptize someone in the Church by pouring water over their head. By the time we are finished, there is no doubt that they have been baptized….they are soaking wet. Sure, there are still some dry spots on them, but they are now different from every other member of the congregation. They look different. They even act different (people who are wet have mannerisms that they share…ie: wiping their face, brushing back their hair, shaking their hands or pulling at their clothes..) The point is: you can tell if someone was just baptized.
I was just thinking: many of these illustrations refer to the shedding (or loss) of blood, which is the source of life, according to the Bible. (Leviticus 17:11). Is the Holy Spirit the “life force” of heaven? When we receive the Holy Spirit, are we receiving a “blood transfusion”? I know that the Holy Spirit is a person in His own right…I’m thinking metaphorically. When I receive a life giving transfusion, could it be said that blood is being “poured” into me? Most of the images in the Bible describe something dramatic and generous. A bowl tipped upside down, a body sliced open, a wineskin (a bottle) being filled.
Thinking of the wineskin; the whole purpose of the skin is to contain wine. Without the wine, the skin is really useless. Containers are generally valued for what they contain. Are we “wineskins” for the Holy Spirit (once we become Christians)?
Thinking of the blood of Christ: there is no forgiveness of sins without the shedding of blood. Sin remains unless blood is “poured out”. We often celebrate the fact that Christ shed His blood for us. How exactly did the Holy Spirit become poured out? Did He “shed himself” into us? Was there sacrifice involved for the Holy Spirit, or was it more of a celebration brought about by Christ’s sacrifice? If the pouring out of the blood of Jesus brought forgiveness, what does the pouring out of the Holy Spirit bring? (Jesus says “you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you”). Acts 1:8.
The power of the Holy Spirit is almost always thought of as tongues of fire and speaking in tongues, and as the gifts of the Spirit. I wonder if the Spirit is also present when the bowls are poured out? Is the Holy Spirit also active in expressing God’s wrath? Does the Holy Spirit inhabit the bowls of wrath? If you want to pour something out, it’s generally in a cup or container. God says that the apostate world will “drink full strength the wine of His fury, poured full strength into the cup of His wrath”. What’s in the cup of wrath? Clearly anger and punishment aren’t necessarily evil, so it isn’t heretical to say that the Holy Spirit could be part of the cup of God’s wrath. Right? (Jeremiah 25 and Revelation 14:10 are two instances of the cup of God’s wrath)
Whatever the case, the Holy Spirit is the life giving, power supplying, vital ingredient for discipleship for every Christian. Christ died to erase our sins SO THAT we could be filled with the Holy Spirit. Both are needed and anticipated. If we have any hope of being like Jesus, and entering into heaven, then we must move from salvation (upper room, locked doors, prayer and introspection) to Spirit infused fullness (City streets, testifying and witnessing, teaching and sharing, outward focus…as an addition to the previous, not to exclude them). Just as people without blood, or with blood borne illnesses and diseases bear the evidence in their demeanor and appearance, so the unsaved appear. And, as the Christians are filled with the Holy Spirit, we should glow with power and health that come from that new life.
celebrating transfusion,
PR