3.5.3.2 The activity of the Holy Spirit in the prophets of the Old Testament

Both the Old and New Testaments attest that the Holy Spirit was active in the prophets and that He spoke through them (e.g. Ezekiel 11: 5; Micah 3: 8; Zechariah 7: 12; Acts 28: 25). In the New Testament it is emphasised that the prophets were referring to Jesus Christ: "But those things which God foretold by the mouth of all His prophets, that the Christ would suffer, He has thus fulfilled" (Acts 3: 18).

SUMMARY

Jesus Christ acted in the power of the Spirit. Before His ascension He promised the Apostles this same power. (3.5.2)

God grants the gift of the Holy Spirit through the laying on of hands and prayer of an Apostle. It is important to distinguish between the Holy Spirit as a gift of God and the Holy Spirit as a person of the Godhead. (3.5.2)

In Old Testament times the Holy Spirit would only fill a person for a limited amount of time and not–as in the New Testament–in enduring fashion as a sacramental gift. (3.5.3)

Examples of the activity of the Holy Spirit are recorded from the time of Moses, the judges, and the kings in Israel. The Holy Spirit was also active in the prophets. (3.5.3.1; 3.5.3.2)