The Holy Spirit’s Mission On Earth: Elijah
In the past, the Holy Spirit was received in parts, signified by the parted tongues of Fire that descended upon the apostles on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2:3). Consequently, prior testimonies and prophecies in Scriptures were partial. In contrast, the Holy Spirit is now fully revealed, as evidenced by the unveiling of Mount Zion, representing the comprehensive embodiment of Truth and Justice. Therefore, the prophesied restoration of all things spiritual (the parted tongues of fire) has been fulfilled (Matt. 17:11; Mark 9:12; Isa. 49:6).
Jesus alluded to these dynamics in the following passages:
When the Paraclete comes, whom I will send from the Father, even the Spirit of Truth who proceeds from the Father, He shall testify of me (John 15:26)
Notice that Jesus differentiated the particular testimony of the Holy Spirit as a Person from the Spirit’s partial workings through the disciples by elaborating in the subsequent verse.
And you shall bear witness as well because you have been with me from the beginning (John 15:27).
The forensic nature of the Holy Spirit’s Mission on Earth is attested to here by His title of the Paraclete: The Exponent* or Advocate of Righteousness. Another evidence of this is seen in another scriptural passage: “[The Servant] will bring forth [i.e., reveal] Justice** [the Holy Mountain] to the nations” (Isa. 42:1).
In keeping with the designation of the Holy Spirit as the Paraclete, He advocates for God’s cause by recalling, affirming, and synthesizing—essentially synthesizing—the teachings of Jesus, the apostles, and the prophets through the Cryptogram, thus fulfilling another prophecy made by Jesus.
The Paraclete, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said to you (John 14:26).
Observe that it is the Father who sends the Holy Spirit. Actually, the Primal Spirit merely unfolded from Its transcendent, Infinitesimal Source, to reveal the Absolute Spirit, the Holy Spirit. And so, God the Father is fundamentally the Exponent of the immanent, Cosmic Spirit.
Thus far, Divine Truth had been revealed incrementally, as the Spiritual Structure was yet to be fully disclosed. Jesus recognized the shortcomings of prior Scriptures, and even His own teachings, by acknowledging the Holy Spirit, as the forthcoming Ultimate Guide and Teacher, The Messiah:
When, He, the Spirit of Truth comes, He will guide you to all truth: for He shall not speak by Himself; but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak, and He will show you things to come (John 16:13).
In essence, what had been revealed before was perceived as if through a glass, darkly (1 Cor. 13:12). But, by the unencumbered light of the Holy Spirit incarnate, a completely lucid picture has, now, been revealed.
With Jesus, the Primal Spirit was in transition: still in the process of bringing light (i.e., revealing Truth [the Holy Spirit], Itself, fully) to the world. Thus, Jesus was a Torchbearer without the Flame. Hence, Jesus said: “I have come to light a Fire on Earth. How I wish the Flame were kindled”(Luke 12:49). Thus, He is the Unlit Star of David: The Pre-Exalted Christ.
As for the Consummate Spirit, the Scriptures said: “In your [Flame]—[that is, the Holy Spirit’s Flame: The Spiritual Structure***] —shall we see light” (Psalms 36:9). As such, it is the aggregate of the Flame-Source and Its Radiance that constitute the Holy Spirit in the Structure. The Holy Spirit is thus the Bright and Morning Star: The Exalted Christ.
The coming of Jesus enabled the opening of the floodgates of the Holy Spirit—a milestone of spiritual enlightenment—whose denouement marks another milestone: the coming of the Consummate Elijah bearing the Ultimate Spiritual Torch—the Cryptogram, or the Consummate Word of God. Regarding this spiritual light, it was noted further in Scriptures:
The revelation of your words sheds light, giving understanding to the simple (Psalms 119:130)
Your word is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my path (Psalms 119:105).
Elijah, as the Definitive Word of God and the Holy Spirit, stands as the Consummate Light of the world, the Standard Spirit of Wisdom, the Consummate Law, and the Will of God. Indeed, Elijah’s given name bespeaks His Mission: Olisadumkwu: May God help me speak (the Word of God).
The Early Testament’s references to the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob (Ex. 3:6, 15: 1 Kings 18:36) prefigured the Mid Testament’s rudimentary concept of the Blessed Trinity♥—God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit—now revealed in greater detail, in this Late Testament as Mount Zion.
Just as God’s blessing devolved upon Isaac from Abraham, and finally rested on Jacob, so also the Holy Spirit, the Word of God, proceeds from the Father through Jesus, and rests on Elijah; hence Elijah’s given name: The Word of God. With Jesus, the Apparent Cornerstone, the Spirit was still Becoming, but in Elijah, the Consummate Rock of Salvation, It attained Supreme Being. Thus, Elijah supplants Jesus, much as a developing fruit supplants a flower, and a seedling a seed. In essence, Jesus metamorphosed into Elijah. It is in Elijah that the outpouring of the Spirit finally matures and settles (ahabam), reaching Its zenith: the Omega. Thus, He is the Embodiment of All Spirits: from Alpha to Omega, Beginning to End, First to Last. Elijah embodies the Primal Spirit completely unfurled to reveal the various forms of Its Offspring, bringing to completion the development of the subject of faith.
Appropriately, the salvific process was initiated through an individual named Abraham, meaning ‘father of multitudes’ and was realized through one named Nnebisi, ‘mother is supreme’. Originating from the transcendent, Infinitesimal Seed, it culminated in the immanent, Infinite Womb; from the momentous, Primordial Spark to the interminable, Cosmic Stream; from Alpha to Omega, Beginning to End, First to Last. Hence Lao-tsu was prompted to utter this admonition: “Know the Man, but keep the Woman . . . know the White, but keep the Black” (Tao Te Ching [28]).
Jesus said of HIs Mission on Earth: “I am not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matt. 15:24; 10:6). Of Elijah’s Mission, however, He said: “He shall restore all things” (Matt. 17:11; Mark 9:12; Isa. 49:6).
The Misnomer
In view of this Revelation, and the significant role of the Trinitarian Nature of God in the process of salvation, the prior reference to pilgrims as Christians was a misnomer. This terminology failed to acknowledge the Complete Standard Spirit: God the Father, the Source of the Salvific Scheme, and God the Mother—Onishe Ahaba—that is the Holy Spirit, the Consummation of the Process; the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. This is particularly significant, since it is the Holy Spirit who embodies the Trinity consummately (Nnebisi: [God the] Mother is Supreme); unless, of course, the anointed role of the Holy Spirit is acknowledged by that terminology. Jesus not only differentiated the Holy Spirit from Himself but also implicitly affirmed the encompassment of the Divine in the Holy Spirit:
Whoever blasphemes against the Father will be forgiven, and whoever blasphemes against the Son will be forgiven, but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Ghost will not be forgiven, either on Earth or in Heaven (Gospel of Thomas 44; Mark 3:28-29; Matt. 12:31-32; Luke 12:10).
Thus, Jesus acknowledged another—the Holy Spirit as a Higher Standard. He likewise honored God the Father, in another passage: “The Father is greater than I” (John 14:28). Together, the Father and the Spirit are the Complete Standard embodied by the Consummate Messiah. These Complementary Standards—the Father and the Spirit—were symbolized by the two gilded, identically carved cherubim in the transitory throne of God; their contiguous wings signalized their Union (Ex. 25:18-20, 22; 1 Kings 6:23-28). It is in this capacity, as the Consummate Standard, that the Messianic King, the Consummate Rock, exercises the Supreme Authority: “to bind and to lose on Earth and in Heaven” (Matt. 16:19).
(This Blog Post is an excerpt from the Book between Pages 175-179 (pdf) [155-159] (text). The Book version has more footnotes.)
*In His role as Divine Exponent—Interpreter of the Law—this Personage is identified with the Divine Emblem or Seal: the Cryptogram. Indeed, the role of “Interpreter of the Law” is generally associated with Elijah.
**For the co-relation of Justice with the Holy Mountain see Jer. 31:23c
***Recall that Combustion—Fire—is the source of the Structure. And that the Fire of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost Day was the Fire Jesus was referring to, above. In His capacity as the Spiritual Torchbearer, the Holy Spirit is often referred to, in Scriptures, as the Spirit of Truth.
♥Recall, also, that God appeared to Abraham by the oaks of Mamre as Three Persons (Gen. 18).