After the brooding of the Spirit is the leading of the Spirit (Matt. 4:1; Luke 4:lb). The leading of the Spirit in the Gospels is in reference to Jesus. First, the Spirit broods over Jesus for His ministry of producing life. Then the same Spirit, the brooding Spirit, became the leading Spirit. He led Jesus to carry out His ministry for producing life.
The Spirit has the function of speaking in the believers (Matt. 10:20; Mark 13:11; Luke 12:12). It is hard to find a verse in the New Testament which says that the Spirit speaks in Jesus. This is because Jesus is absolutely one with the Spirit. Therefore, every time He spoke, the Spirit spoke.
With us it is a little different. First Corinthians 6:17 does say that we have been joined to the Lord and that we are one spirit with Him. We should arrive at the point that whatever we do is God’s doing. God’s chosen people through Christ and in the Spirit can arrive at this destination, the destination where they are one with God. Paul said that to him to live was Christ (Phil. l:21a). This is the same as saying, “For me to live is God.” Christ is God, and we are the sons of God. It is the function and work of the Spirit to make us one with God.
Because we are joined to Christ, we are the parts of Christ, the members of Christ (1 Cor. 12:12; Rom. 12:4-5; Eph. 5:30). The church is the corporate Christ, the Body-Christ. In 1 Corinthians 12:12, Paul said, “For even as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of the body being many are one body, so also is Christ.” This verse refers to the corporate Christ, the Body-Christ, including all of us. In this sense, we are all parts of Christ. Our experience of being the parts of Christ in our daily life, however, may be different. If we live by ourselves, we are not parts of Christ in our daily life.
As long as we live by the Spirit, we have the presence of the Lord. The presence of the Lord in Matthew 10:20 is the Spirit for speaking. In this portion of the Word, the Lord Jesus was instructing His disciples concerning the way to meet persecution. We should face opposition and confront attack not in ourselves, but by turning to our spirit where the Spirit of God dwells. We need to trust in Him, let Him lead us, and let Him do the speaking.
Matthew 12:18 reveals that the Spirit is the announcing Spirit. To announce is to preach, and to preach is to proclaim or report. Although preaching, proclaiming, announcing, and reporting are synonyms, they are still a little different. When we report something, this is usually not done with a loud voice. But announcing is done loudly. Sometimes Christ preached in the way of reporting, and other times He announced. Matthew 12:18 says, “Behold, My Servant whom I have chosen, My Beloved in whom My soul delights; I will put My Spirit upon Him, and He shall announce judgment to the nations.”
The Spirit has the function of casting out demons. In Matthew 12:28 the Lord said that He cast out demons by the Spirit of God. In Luke 11:20 He said that He cast out demons by the finger of God. This means that the Spirit is signified by the finger of God. This also shows how powerful God is. Note 201 on this verse in the Recovery Version points out that this is a Hebraistic expression. This kind of expression means that God needs only a little strength to carry things out. To cast out demons does not need the hand of God or the arm of God; just the finger of God is powerful enough to do it. The Lord uses His arm to carry out things (Isa. 53:1; Luke 1:51a). In John 10:28 and 29, the Lord said that no one can snatch His sheep out of His hand or out of His Father’s hand. Therefore, we have two hands holding us. But to cast out demons, God needs only to use His finger, which signifies the Spirit of God.