The Holy Spirit Reveals to Us the Deep Things of God

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1 Corinthians 2:9-10 NIV

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—these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God.

CONSIDER THIS

My grandfather had the spiritual gift of wisdom (1 Cor. 12:8). He came to faith in Jesus later in life, and when he was in his final years and his heart was failing him, I would sit with him on his front porch swing as he shared wisdom with his teenage grandson. In retrospect, there were times, as he came closer to closer to death, his wisdom seemed otherworldly.

The Spirit living in him was revealing to him the “deep things of God.” He was seeing beyond the reach of his physical eyes as the Spirit opened the eyes of his heart to the waiting world ahead. The Spirit stirred in him a longing for a world he could not yet see, but that he could taste in his spirit—and wanted more than life here could offer him. In that desire, he was inducted into a community of heroes and heroines of faith who “Were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them” (Hebrews 11:16).

That longing within us is Spirit-born, and gives us a unique, and often counter-cultural, perspective on things. The Spirit of God is the Spirit of Revelation. We are invited to understand what God understands, and this has always proven to be a great gift to Christians, and to the Church. Such wisdom has often made us look silly to the world and its vision of the good life.

In verses 3-5, Paul tells the Corinthians how his words lacked eloquence and were not seasoned with choice morsels from the Twitter feeds of his day. He tells the believers he came with weakness, fear, and trembling. Clearly, he was not out to impress them into embracing the gospel (pause, reflect on contemporary Christian subculture, repeat). He also tells them that he came with a “demonstration of the Spirit’s power”—evidencing God’s power in a way that was impossible to replicate.

Our words can sound similar to the world’s words. Our actions can sometimes look similar to the world’s actions. But the Spirit’s power? It is inimitable. Paul knew that the wisdom of this world is confounded by the Spirit’s power. That power can be evidenced in signs and wonders, or in our unique wisdom—our perspective—on this life. Note this: it is not our words that will ultimately persuade this generation; a demonstration of the Spirit’s power will fit the job description we are now filling with words.

The Spirit knows the depths, the immensity, the grandeur of the world to which we are heading. And the Spirit stirs in our hearts a longing for it, like one magnet is drawn to another. We are being spiritually pulled, by Christ’s transforming love, toward our Home, a world we have yet to see. A world that is creating longing within us.

And what emerges from that longing? The wisdom of God. We perceive and speak of another world, another way of being human, another vision of our preferred future—and it powers our souls with a hope that refuses the best this world has to offer.

THE PRAYER

Jesus, I receive the Holy Spirit. There is a longing in my heart, that you have put there, to see the New Creation you have planned come to full fruition. Come, Holy Spirit, help me speak, influence, and minister out of that longing, in the wisdom that comes from you. In Jesus’ name, amen.

THE QUESTION

What kind of “world to come” longings has the Holy Spirit put in your heart?

For the awakening,

Dan Wilt