We tend to think of the Holy Spirit as the straggler of the Trinity, a latecomer in God's interaction with the world. But our first introduction to the Holy Spirit is not the drama of Pentecost in the second chapter of Acts. We first meet the Holy Spirit in the second verse of the Bible, hovering there, speaking the world into existence.

Christopher Wright begins here and traces the Holy Spirit through the pages of the Old Testament. We see the Third Person of the Trinity in the decrees of prophets and psalmists, in the actions of judges and craftspeople, in the anointing of kings and the promise of a new creation.

Knowable and discernable in the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit is thus eminently knowable to us. The witness of the whole of Scripture, from its first pages to its last, directs us to a Holy Spirit empowering the people of God, and sustaining and renewing the face of the earth.



Christopher J. H. Wright (PhD, Cambridge) is international ministries director of the Langham Partnership, providing literature, scholarships, and preaching training for pastors in Majority World churches and seminaries. He has written many books including commentaries on Deuteronomy, Jeremiah, Lamentations, and Ezekiel; The Mission of God; Cultivating the Fruit of the Spirit; Old Testament Ethics for the People of God; and the three volumes of Knowing God Throughthe Old Testament. An ordained priest in the Church of England, Chris spent five years teaching the Old Testament at Union Biblical Seminary in India and thirteen years as academic dean and then principal of All Nations Christian College, an international training center for crosscultural mission in England. He was chair of the Lausanne Theology Working Group from 2005 to 2011 and the chief architect of The Cape Town Commitment from the Third Lausanne Congress, 2010.



Preface

1. The Creating Spirit



Hovering and Speaking: The Spirit and the Universe



Sustaining and Renewing: The Spirit and the Earth



Breathing and Leaving: The Spirit and Humanity



Groaning and Birthing: The Spirit and New Creation



Conclusion

2. The Empowering Spirit



Power and Ability



Power with Humility



Conclusion

3. The Prophetic Spirit



False Prophets and Their Own Spirit



God's Prophets and God's Spirit



Conclusion

4. The Anointing Spirit



Anointing and the Historical Kings



Anointing and the Coming Servant-King



Anointing and the Mission of Jesus, the Christ



Anointing and the Mission of the Church



Conclusion

5. The Coming Spirit



Re-creation and Righteousness--Isaiah 32



Renewal and Resurrection--Ezekiel 36, 37



Repentance and Restoration--Joel 2



Conclusion