In the Old Testament there is another particular designation of God as the Spirit, the Spirit of Jehovah. (Most English translations render this term as “the Spirit of the LORD,” with the word LORD in small capital letters.) Jehovah, meaning “I am who I am,” is the personal name of God, revealed to Moses before the children of Israel were led out of Egypt by God. Only the people chosen by God and in covenant with Him knew Him as Jehovah. Hence, Jehovah designates God in His personal relationship with His chosen people, and the Spirit of Jehovah designates God as the Spirit coming to man in that personal relationship. The prophet Isaiah spoke of the Spirit of Jehovah resting upon the coming Messiah, the coming Christ, when He comes to restore Israel, His chosen people (11:1-16). As the Spirit of Jehovah, God is even more intimate with His people than He is as the Spirit of God. As such, He is not only the Divine Spirit but also the Spirit of all that God is, covenanted to His chosen people and applied to them. Again, as the Spirit of Jehovah, God reaches man and applies Himself to man as man’s portion and supply.
Perhaps the most wonderful title of God the Spirit is the Holy Spirit. This title occurs exclusively in the New Testament. (The three instances of Holy Spirit in the Old Testament—Psa. 51:11; Isa. 63:10 and 11—are to be translated more accurately as “the Spirit of holiness.”) The Holy Spirit is first mentioned when God came in to prepare the forerunner of the Lord Jesus, John the Baptist (Luke 1:15), and to prepare a body for the Lord Jesus (Luke 1:35). Hence, the Holy Spirit is related to the incarnation of God in man.
We often think of holiness as religious piety, but as applied to God, holiness is the unique attribute of God that separates Him from all else. God alone is holy (Rev. 15:4) because He is unique in who He is. Everything in the universe shares something in common with everything else; all things are at least created by God. But God is unique. That which makes Him unique is His holiness. The Holy Spirit is God the Spirit coming to man to apply God’s holy, divine nature to man that man may be holy as God is. In the incarnation of Christ, through the Holy Spirit God became man. The God-man Jesus Christ was frequently called the Holy One (John 6:69; Acts 2:27; Mark 1:24; 1 Pet. 1:15) because, being conceived and born of the Holy Spirit (Matt. 1:20), He too was holy. The Holy Spirit is active in the believers, supplying God’s nature to them and making them holy as well. The apostle Paul speaks of God’s intention to make the believers holy when he writes: “He chose us...to be holy,...predestinating us unto sonship” (Eph. 1:4-5). Those who believe in Christ were chosen to be holy, that is, to have God’s divine life and holy nature and therefore be God’s sons.
To all who believe in Christ and repent of their sins, God is available as the Spirit. He is as available as the air that we breathe, and He desires to make men holy as He is holy. When we open to Him as the Holy Spirit, He enters us and bears God’s divine life to us, regenerating us and granting to us His holy nature that we may be like Him.