The disciples of Christ could not yet imagine the great scope of their work when the Lord Jesus gave them the great commission to go and make disciples of all nations. The Lord understood the immensity of this calling and therefore promised the disciples just before his ascension, "You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you." He then commanded them to be his witnesses in Jerusa­lem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.

The power of the Holy Spirit became evident ten days later when the apostles received the opportunity on Pente­cost to speak to the people in Jerusalem about Jesus Christ as the risen Lord. On that day, three thousand souls were added to the church. It was a powerful testimony to the power of the Spirit to open hearts and minds.

Senseless people⤒🔗

In the Scriptures, the Lord God makes clear there is no knowledge of God apart from the witness of the Holy Spirit. The presence of the Holy Spirit is the distinguishing mark be­tween the mind of the senseless person and the righteous one in Psalm 92. "The senseless man," literally someone who has the mind of a beast, "does not know, fools do not understand" (v. 6). They do not know and they cannot understand God's great works and how profound are God's thoughts (v. 5).

The psalmist acknowledges that such senseless people will often flourish, many will be known for their great achievements when they amass great wealth, or create a great name for themselves in the field of science, or become powerful world leaders, and yet the reality is that they do not know, they do not understand the great works of God or how profound are his plans.

The righteous understand←⤒🔗

On the other hand, the psalmist pictures the righteous person as someone who will flourish like the palm or ce­dar tree, for they are planted in the courts of the Lord. A righteous person will still bear fruit in old age, for they are firmly planted in the spiritual soil of God's holy word. Only the righteous know and understand, for only they can see the world through the lenses given by the Holy Spirit. Paul reflects on this in 1 Corinthians 2, when he argues that wis­dom comes from the Spirit. He argues that without the Holy Spirit, we cannot accept the things that are revealed by the Spirit of God — they would be foolishness to us and beyond human understanding. He concludes that these things can only be spiritually discerned.

Theology as the Queen of Science←⤒🔗

In modern society, people look to the universities and academics to explore the great questions about life. Today society has the expectation that all the answers to life can be found by exploring the material things of this universe. If we do not yet know the answers today, we will know them tomorrow. There is optimism, for a better future for tomor­row will bring more knowledge and better understanding.

Over a period of centuries, the field of scientific inquiry has completely divorced the spiritual from the material things of this universe. Many of our universities, even in Canada, began as seminaries for the study of theology and other areas of inquiry arose around the seminary. In medi­eval times, theology was called "The Queen of the Sciences." For a long time, it was accepted that science and academic work could only be done within the framework of theology and that without the revelation of God's Holy Spirit there was no knowledge and understanding.

That close relationship between academic study and theology be­gan to change when the sacred text of Scripture became severed from the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. When the Holy Spirit is severed from the Holy Scriptures in the mind of mankind, the Scriptures are now open to criticism as just another work created by human beings. The result of this separation is that a new arrogance entered the academic world, for surely you cannot expect an intellectual person today to believe that people who lived thousands of years ago could have any insight into life that is still valid for us today. The result of this new attitude is that history is either meaningless or it has become totally irrelevant and unimportant.

This modern attitude was expressed by John Kerry, for­mer secretary of state of the U.S., in a speech given in Ethi­opia, "Some people believe that people ought to be able to ... live by their interpretation of something that was writ­ten down a thousand plus, two thousand years ago. That's not the way I think most people want to live." When the Holy Spirit is separated from the Word of God, it is easy to dismiss God's Word as of no value for us today. The Apostle Paul had a high view of God's Word and so reminded the Corinthians that the things in Scripture were written down as warnings for us (1 Cor 10:11).

The Holy Spirit and scientific inquiry←⤒🔗

A high view of Scripture as the work of the Holy Spirit provides a perspective on the universe that the senseless and foolish do not have. The Spirit says that the senseless do not know and the foolish have no understanding. With­out the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit, human beings cannot see the great and mighty works of God in creation, they cannot understand the thoughts or accept the plans of God. In every area of academic investigation, knowledge is impossible without the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit.

Scientific inquiry is impossible without a theological understanding about God. When the witness of the Holy Spirit is removed, science is no longer done in the service of God, to uncover the awesome glory and wisdom of the Lord, but it must now be used exclusively in the service of man­kind to serve the needs of human beings. The psalmist in Psalm 92 does not argue that the senseless and foolish can­not do great things. In fact, he speaks about the senseless and foolish as springing up and flourishing like the grass. There are brilliant minds in the field of science, people who know so much about their area of expertise, and yet the Spirit says they are senseless and foolish.

Knowledge comes with humility←⤒🔗

Think about the great strides modern science has made today in understanding the human body. Such prog­ress also leads to an arrogance in which people believe that over time they will learn everything there is to know about how the body functions, that every mystery will be completely explained in a mechanical way. But those enlightened by the Spirit understand that even as we learn more about the human body, there will always be that mystery about the body that we will never be able to understand.

The body is much more than a mechanical instru­ment, for who can fathom the spirit or the soul of mankind? Faith gives us a spirit of humility that acknowledges that God's wisdom is so great that we can never fully fathom the mystery of the human body and soul.

The same humility must be present for those who study the universe. There is so much that we can learn about the beau­ty and majesty of God's creation, but we are also left with a sense of awe in which we cannot explain the wisdom of God. Humans attempt to give a rational theory about the beginnings of the universe, people want to explain it in a mechanical way, but the Holy Spirit reveals that the world was created by the voice of God. The more the believer learns about creation, the more we stand in awe at the infinite wisdom of God.

The purpose for knowledge←⤒🔗

The work of the Holy Spirit also affects the way we ap­proach the use of science. When science is understood to be solely in the service of mankind, then its ultimate end is only to serve the needs of humanity. Then the question becomes, "How does this serve mankind?" and there is no longer any thought on how it glorifies God. Modern science and academic study must now fit the narrative that is de­termined by human beings. It is not God who determines how science will benefit us but it is mankind who deter­mines how science should serve us.

When God is divorced from the material world, utili­tarianism becomes the driving force behind society. What is considered moral today is no longer what God teaches is moral, but whatever is useful to human beings becomes moral. From a Christian perspective, we feel like we are liv­ing in a world that is set upside down. When a child is con­ceived in the womb of the mother, the Holy Spirit creates in us a sense of wonder for this new life. There in the womb, God has created a child with both body and soul, one on whom he lavishes his love. Without the wisdom of the Spir­it, modern society simply looks at what lives in the mother as a piece of flesh that is either wanted or not wanted. If it is not wanted and loved, it is easy to remove and if it is, you can let it grow to its useful end. Even the definition of what is moral changes as seen with Richard Dawkins' advice to someone who asked about being pregnant with a child with Down Syndrome; "Abort it and try again. It would be im­moral to bring it into the world if you have a choice."

Without the Holy Spirit, mankind is infused with an arrogance in which everything must serve their own needs. Today we live in a society that largely functions on this basis. The most important question is not what is right or wrong, but what do you feel, or what are your needs? To serve God and to do God's will, as Jesus Christ revealed two thousand years ago, is no longer considered moral, but the new morality is to be true to yourself.

Knowledge leads to the praise of God←⤒🔗

When the heart of mankind is not being transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit, it will affect every area of life, even that of music which has the power to deeply af­fect and move the heart of mankind. Without the Spirit of God, music becomes sterile when its purpose is solely to give people pleasure and to gratify our human sense of hearing. Without the transforming work of the Spirit, the sole purpose for music is to give pleasure to oneself. On the other hand, Bach understood the first purpose for music was to give glory to God and as God received the glory, it gave refreshment to the soul. Or as the psalmist expresses so beautifully, "It is good to praise the Lord and make music to your name, O Most High, to proclaim your love in the morning and your faithfulness at night, to the music of the ten-string and the melody of the harp." Through the power of the Holy Spirit we lift high our hearts to praise our God and Maker.