In the garden of Eden, Adam was a three-part being — body, soul, and spirit. God made Adam in His own image which was spirit so He could walk and talk with Adam. When Adam sinned, the part of Adam that died was his spirit. He lost his connection with God.
God needed someone to pay for Adam’s sins because as it says in the book of Romans, “the wages of sin is death.” So rather than require Adam, God’s son, to die physically, God promised He would send a redeemer to pay for Adam’s sin and all the sins that resulted from his sin. That redeemer was Jesus Christ. Once all that was required for the redemption of mankind was paid in full, God shed forth the gift of holy spirit on the day of Pentecost. So, all that confess Jesus Christ as lord and believe that he was raised from the dead could be become whole again — body, soul, and spirit. All through the Old Testament times, most of Israel were just body and soul.
Romans 10 gives us the criteria for having God’s spirit born within any who want it.
Romans 10:9-10 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
So, now it is available for all that desire to walk and talk with God.
But what about the people in Old Testament times? The new birth was not available to them. Jesus Christ had not yet come and paid in the cost of redemption, yet God still walked and talked with people.
First, we need to recognize that God can only speak to what He is – Spirit. If you have the spirit from God, then God can communicate to you.
God did speak at times to people by way of angels, a burning bush and even an ass. Some of the Old Testament believers had the spirit of God upon them — not born within but upon them. As we will read with King Saul, Saul lost the spirit of God because he stopped listening to God’s reproof. We on the other hand, who are born from above have the spirit born within. It is now part of us and cannot depart as it did with Saul.
We read the criteria for the new birth, for having God’s spirit being born within in Romans 10. There is an interesting verse in Proverbs.
First, remember that Proverbs was written for young people so that they could acquire some wisdom. This verse is in the first chapter of Proverbs and helps set the foundation for the entire book.
Proverbs 1:23 Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you.
To turn at the reproof of God would take someone with a humble heart. It would take someone that is not self-willed but is willing to learn, to listen and to align their life up with what God sets forth. Turning at His reproof may be another way of saying “walk with me, listen to my words, heed my instructions, keep my words first in your life.”
Then God promises to pour out His spirit unto them. So then was the spirit of God upon a person reserved for just special people? Prophets, kings, and priests? If you were not fortunate enough to be in one of those categories, were you just out of luck?
Romans 2:11 For there is no respect of persons with God.
As we will see in a minute, God poured out His spirit upon many people including women. He is not a respecter of persons. At a certain point in each of their lives, they must have been very humble people that “turned at His reproof.”
Then God also promised He would make His words known unto them.
So, God set forth the standard for spirit upon in the Old Testament just as He set forth the standard for receiving the gift of holy spirit after the day of Pentecost.
Let’s look as some of the people in the Old Testament that obviously had the spirit of God upon them.
Joseph and Pharoah
Genesis_41:14-16 Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph, and they brought him hastily out of the dungeon: and he shaved himself, and changed his raiment, and came in unto Pharaoh. And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, I have dreamed a dream, and there is none that can interpret it: and I have heard say of thee, that thou canst understand a dream to interpret it. And Joseph answered Pharaoh, saying, It is not in me: God shall give Pharaoh an answer of peace.
Genesis_41:25 And Joseph said unto Pharaoh, The dream of Pharaoh is one: God hath shewed Pharaoh what he is about to do.
Genesis 41:38 And Pharaoh said unto his servants, Can we find such a one as this is, a man in whom the Spirit of God is?
Here God spoke to Pharaoh in a dream just He does at times today.
Acts 2:17 And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:
Pharaoh was humble enough to listen to Joseph, speaking from the mouth of God, and carrying out what God showed Joseph.
Many of the people with the spirit of God upon them spoke for God. These people speaking from the mouth of God told the people what God wanted them to know.
2Peter 1:21 For the prophecy (the Word of God) came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.
God gave the words for them to speak to the spirit that was upon them. And in some cases, God gave the words to women also as we will see.
Moses and the Seventy
Numbers 11:16-17 And the LORD said unto Moses, Gather unto me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom thou knowest to be the elders of the people, and officers over them; and bring them unto the tabernacle of the congregation, that they may stand there with thee. And I will come down and talk with thee there: and I will take of the spirit which is upon thee, and will put it upon them; and they shall bear the burden of the people with thee, that thou bear it not thyself alone.
Moses judged the people and spoke for God. These 70 men were to be judges also, so God put His spirit upon them to show them how to judge.
Bezaleel – the wise-hearted and the wise-hearted women
Exodus 28:3 And thou shalt speak unto all that are wise hearted, whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom, that they may make Aaron’s garments to consecrate him, that he may minister unto me in the priest’s office.
Exodus 31:2-3 See, I have called by name Bezaleel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah: And I have filled him with the spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship,
Exodus 31:6 And I, behold, I have given with him Aholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan: and in the hearts of all that are wise hearted I have put wisdom, that they may make all that I have commanded thee;
Exodus 35:25-26 And all the women that were wise hearted did spin with their hands, and brought that which they had spun, both of blue, and of purple, and of scarlet, and of fine linen. And all the women whose heart stirred them up in wisdom spun goats’ hair.
Exodus 35:34 And he hath put in his heart that he may teach, both he, and Aholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan.
Exodus 36:2 And Moses called Bezaleel and Aholiab, and every wise hearted man, in whose heart the LORD had put wisdom, even every one whose heart stirred him up to come unto the work to do it:
We saw in Exodus 28:3 that the wise-hearted were filled with the spirit of wisdom (God) So we can conclude that these wise-hearted women, that were spinning cloth were filled with the spirit of God also. It is interesting that these people were more like tradespeople, not prophets. To really know HOW to do their work, they needed the spirit of God/wisdom. Both the men and the women. People that walked with God, were willing to learn. People that had turned at His reproof.
A side note here: it is interesting that many times the emphasis of what the spirit of God is like is that it brings wisdom. So much wisdom that it is called “a spirit of wisdom” at times. Many times in life, we know what the problem is, and that spirit of God can tell us how to handle it. In the above verses, the spirit of wisdom or God’s spirit showed them how to make the things for the tabernacle, how to teach others and as with the judges, how to judge.
Joshua
Deuteronomy 34:9 And Joshua the son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom; for Moses had laid his hands upon him: and the children of Israel hearkened unto him, and did as the LORD commanded Moses.
It is interesting that God here calls the spirit of God a spirit of wisdom. Joshua had to know HOW to fight the armies of the nations occupying the promised land, and he had to know HOW to divide the land for an inheritance among the people so they would be blessed with their inheritance
Abigail
1Samuel 25:32-35 And David said to Abigail, Blessed be the LORD God of Israel, which sent thee this day to meet me: And blessed be thy advice, and blessed be thou, which hast kept me this day from coming to shed blood, and from avenging myself with mine own hand. For in very deed, as the LORD God of Israel liveth, which hath kept me back from hurting thee, except thou hadst hasted and come to meet me, surely there had not been left unto Nabal by the morning light any that pisseth against the wall. So David received of her hand that which she had brought him, and said unto her, Go up in peace to thine house; see, I have hearkened to thy voice, and have accepted thy person.
David the great king and prophet of God recognized that God had sent the woman with a message for him. God could only speak directly to those that had spirit upon them. She must have been a humble woman. One that walked with God herself.
The Sons of the Prophets
These were young men, the same people addressed in the book of Proverbs, who were called by God and had it in their hearts to walk with God and work for Him. All prophets had the spirit of God upon them in the Old Testament and these were young men learning from an older wise prophet Elijah, how to walk with God for themselves. They were then called “the sons of the prophets.”
2Kings 2:7 And fifty men of the sons of the prophets went, and stood to view afar off: and they two stood by Jordan.
Saul
1Samuel 16:14 But the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD troubled him.
Here we see that Saul had the spirit of God upon him, but he had stopped turning at the reproof of God, and so God took the spirit away. This cannot happen to us because since Pentecost our spirits are born within. Thank God!
David
Psalm 51:11 Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me.
Here David recognized that he could lose the spirit for the murder of Uriah, but he humbled himself and became a man after God’s own heart.
Solomon
1Kings 4:29 And God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much, and largeness of heart, even as the sand that is on the sea shore.
God made His words known unto Solomon in much wisdom by way of the spirit of God that was upon Solomon. Wisdom – to know how to handle situations, to know what to do.
Judges
2Chronicles 19:5-6 And he set judges in the land throughout all the fenced cities of Judah, city by city, And said to the judges, Take heed what ye do: for ye judge not for man, but for the LORD, who is with you in the judgment.
These judges were the same as in the time of Moses and the seventy we read about earlier. The only way you can judge righteously is to have the spirit of God. That is why as Jehoshaphat promised these men, that God would be with them in the judgement. You must be able to discern who is telling the truth and who is lying, like Solomon and the two women with one baby. You must know how to deal with what is presented, and they would be doing the judging in the place of or for the Lord.
Cyrus King of the Medes and Persians
Isaiah 44:28 That saith of Cyrus, He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure: even saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built; and to the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid.
Isaiah 45:1 Thus saith the LORD to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him; and I will loose the loins of kings, to open before him the two leaved gates; and the gates shall not be shut;
This man was not an Israelite, but he was anointed of God, had the spirit of God upon him and was credited with the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem after the captivity.
2Chronicles 36:22-23 Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the LORD spoken by the mouth of Jeremiah might be accomplished, the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying, Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, All the kingdoms of the earth hath the LORD God of heaven given me; and he hath charged me to build him an house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Who is there among you of all his people? The LORD his God be with him, and let him go up
Once again God is not a respecter of persons, but He is a respecter of those that walk with Him and that turn at His reproof. He promised He would pour out His spirit upon such people and make His words known unto them.
In the gospels, we have people with the spirit of God upon them that were not prophets, kings, or priests, but I have included one special priest to show the grace and mercy of God.
Elizabeth and John the Baptist
Luke 1:41-42 And it came to pass, that, when Elisabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elisabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost: And she spake out with a loud voice, and said, Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb.
This was Mary’s cousin and the mother of John the Baptist. Filled with the holy ghost means she spoke for God by prophecy, so she had to have the spirit of God upon her AND her yet to be born son, John the Baptist, who was filled with the spirit from his mother’s womb, leapt for joy. Interesting question: John being not yet born leapt for joy: what part of John was the spirit upon?
Mary
Luke 1:46-47 And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord, And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.
Now Mary prophecies, speaks for God so she, as a woman and the mother of the Messiah, the redeemer, had the spirit of God upon her also.
The Twelve
Matthew 10:5-8 These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not: But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give.
These were men who when they heard Jesus Christ preach the Word, they turned back to God at the reproof they heard. The only way you can heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead and cast out devils is with the spirit of God being upon you.
The Seventy
Luke 10:17 And the seventy returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name.
So here the seventy had been at least casting out devils which takes the spirit of God being upon a person.
Others Casting out Devils
Mark 9:38-39 And John answered him, saying, Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name, and he followeth not us: and we forbad him, because he followeth not us. But Jesus said, Forbid him not: for there is no man which shall do a miracle in my name, that can lightly speak evil of me
Here were others sent by God, who had turned at His reproof, who had the spirit of God upon them, who were not sent personally by Jesus, yet they too were doing the work of God.
The High Priest
John 11:49-51 And one of them, named Caiaphas, being the high priest that same year, said unto them, Ye know nothing at all, Nor consider that it is expedient for us, that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not. And this spake he not of himself: but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus should die for that nation;
The high priest this year had to have had the spirit of God upon him to prophesy. God gave him the prophesy even though God knew this high priest would be in favor of killing God’s only begotten son. That is a lot of grace and mercy.
God’s great desire has always been to be able to walk and talk with His children. Therefore, he created Adam in His own image, spirit. This is why God gave the gift of Spirit on the day of Pentecost to all that wanted to become His sons and daughters. As we have seen He made it available even in the Old Testament to have spirit upon those that would turn at His reproof, listen to Him, and walk and talk with Him. What a loving Father!