Participating in the Tree of Life series: The source of understanding

This is the 11th post in the Tree of Life series.  Here are links to the first and most recent posts. This post continues to explore aspects of the Holy Spirit, and what Revelation 22:1 refers to as the river of the water of life.  The last post shared how the Holy Spirit is our source of truth.  This post is related, as it demonstrates the role of the Holy Spirit in helping us understand.

THE HOLY SPIRIT IS OUR SOURCE OF UNDERSTANDING

Just because a person sees something, hears something, or reads something, does not mean that the person understands what has been seen, heard, or read.  There’s a lot of misunderstanding out there about all sorts of things.  There’s many things we don’t fully understand (probably most things).  Believing in Jesus doesn’t mean you’ll instantly understand everything, but you will have access to the Holy Spirit so that you can begin to understand what is ultimately important (concerning your purpose and relationship with God and humankind).  Consider this Bible passage Paul wrote to the Corinthians (1 Corinthians 2:9-14):

9 However, as it is written: “What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived”— the things God has prepared for those who love him—10 these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. 11 For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12 What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us. 13 This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words. 14 The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit.

The Holy Spirit is our source of understanding, and we have the Holy Spirit by virtue of our belief in (and connection to) Jesus.

THE DISCIPLES UNDERSTOOD AFTER THEY RECEIVED THE SPIRIT

I love the Bible passages which relate the story of how Jesus explained to His disciples what was about to happen after his arrest, death and resurrection.  Here are four related passages out of John and Luke showing the role of the Holy Spirit in the disciples understanding, starting with the words of Jesus in John chapter 14, verse 26:

But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.

The next three passages are after Jesus’ resurrection, when He was rejoined with His disciples.  These passages out of John 20 and Luke 24 are clearly associated in time, and are simply two narrations of the same events.

John 20: 19-22  On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord. 21 Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” 22 And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”

Luke 24: 36-40  While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” 37 They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost. 38 He said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? 39 Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.” 40 When he had said this, he showed them his hands and feet. While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.”

Luke 24: 44-45 He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.” 45 Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures.

These passages confirm that what Jesus accomplished through His death and resurrection fulfilled His own words as recorded in John 7: 37-38, that those who believed in Him would receive the Holy Spirit:

37 On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.”

It is at this point of receiving the Holy Spirit, that the disciples could understand the scriptures concerning Jesus.  The ‘opening of their minds’ as indicated in Luke 24:45 was a consequence of the disciples receiving the Holy Spirit.

PARTICIPATING IN THE TREE OF LIFE PRODUCES UNDERSTANDING

We all have the need to understand, and we are provided understanding – just like the disciples were – through our belief in Jesus, which produces the flow of the Holy Spirit in us and through us, as has been described in previous posts in the Tree of Life series. 

Anyone can read the Bible; not everyone will understand it.  It was only when I understood the role of the Holy Spirit in my ability to understand scripture, and yielded my mind to receive spiritual understanding of the scripture, that I became aware of the message of the Tree of Life, which I’m writing about now!  It was always there, but I didn’t understand it in my own thinking and understanding.  Moreover, we have to recognize and understand what we have been given as a result of our belief in Jesus.  Consider this prayer of Paul for the Ephesians (Chapter 1, verses 17-21), and what he prays they will know:

17 I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. 18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, 19 and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength 20 he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, 21 far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come.

DO WE UNDERSTAND WHAT WE’VE BEEN GIVEN?

In every moment, we have the Holy Spirit moving in us – do we understand this?  Do we understand what this means for us?  Do we understand the spiritual wisdom, and power we’ve been given?  Do we understand the spiritual fruit we bear?  Do we understand the spiritual gifts we’ve been given?  We have the Holy Spirit which enables us to understand – do we acknowledge this and allow this to work as God intends for us?

This is great news, because whenever we are uncertain or confused or agitated about something in our own mind, we can be reminded that we are filled with the Holy Spirit, and can “rest” our own thoughts and instead rely on the ultimate source of truth and understanding.  I often remind myself of John 16:13, and as frequently, Proverbs 3:5-6, presented here in two translations:

The Message: Trust GOD from the bottom of your heart; don’t try to figure out everything on your own. Listen for GOD’s voice in everything you do, everywhere you go; he’s the one who will keep you on track.

NIV:  Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.