What is He?

What is the Holy Spirit? Simply put: He is a spirit! And the Holy Spirit is a spirit who is set apart from other spirit-beings. That’s why he’s called holy. He is the Holy Spirit.

Make note that he is not a holy spirit—he is the Holy Spirit. We use the direct article the when we speak of the Holy Spirit because seven times in the Bible he is called the One Spirit. Here are two examples:

Make every effort to keep the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace. There is one Body and One Spirit, just as you were called to one Hope… (Ephesians 4:3-4)

… we were all baptized by One Spirit so as to form one Body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the One Spirit to drink… (1 Corinthians 12:13)

The Holy Spirit is the One Spirit. That means that there is no other spirit-being like him in all of God’s Creation. There is no archangel or cherub who compares to the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is superior to all created beings because, like Jesus, he existed before Creation. Through him, the Creation was instilled with life! He is the source of life in all living beings.

The Creation we see around us today did not exist when the Holy Spirit was ready and actively waiting for God to initiate the Creation Event. Before God said ‘Let there be light’ (Genesis 1:3), already ‘the Spirit of God was energetically hovering over the surface of the waters’ (Genesis 1:2).

How Is He Different?

But what precisely is so special about the Holy Spirit? What sets him apart from other spirits? The main thing is his nature. Angels have an angelic nature, but the Holy Spirit has the divine nature. The Holy Spirit exercises authority over angels. They serve him.

… four living creatures. In appearance their form was human, but each of them had four faces and four wings. Their legs were straight; their feet were like those of a calf and gleamed like burnished bronze. Under their wings on their four sides they had human hands… Wherever the Spirit would go, they would go…

Wherever the Spirit would go, they would go, and the wheels would rise along with them… (Ezekiel 1:5-8; 12, 20)

So, the cherubim we read about in Ezekiel follow the Holy Spirit not just sometime or someplace, but wherever he goes. They serve him. They shadow him. He is their focal point—the object of their ministry and service.

Another four powerful spirits from Heaven, the ones that stand in the presence of Almighty God, also serve the Holy Spirit. They give him rest in the land where he chooses to minister.

… there before me were four chariots… [an angel says] ‘These are the four spirits of Heaven, going out from standing in the presence of the LORD of the whole World…

the powerful horses went… were straining to go throughout the Earth… [God then said] ‘Look, those [horses] going toward the north country have given my Spirit rest in the land of the north’ (Zechariah 6:1, 5, 8).

Do you understand the relationship of angels to the Spirit of God? They do. They know that he is to be revered, followed, served, and obeyed. Why? Because he is the One Spirit—the One who is Holy, set apart, and robed with the glory of the divine nature.

Looks Like a Man

Did you know that the Holy Spirit looks like a man? That’s what Ezekiel tells us. In the following passage, the Holy Spirit does his typical snatching up of a prophet, and we get a description of what he looks like, an appearance similar to the appearance Jesus and God have right now—shining like fire and burnished metal. That’s because the Spirit has the same nature as God, the one God gave to Jesus too—the divine nature.

I looked, and I saw a figure like that of a man. From what appeared to be his waist down he was like fire, and from there up his appearance was as bright as glowing metal. He stretched out what looked like a hand and took me by the hair of my head. The Spirit lifted me up between Earth and Heaven (Ezekiel 8:3-4).

So now you know what the Holy Spirit looks like. He is like the resurrected Jesus and God in appearance because he has the divine nature. He doesn’t look like any other spirit in Heaven. He has much more glory, authority, intelligence, and power. 

Autonomy: The Spirit and Saul

Let’s try to understand how the Spirit works. To begin to understand how he operates, you first must recognize that the Holy Spirit is free. He makes his own decisions. That’s called autonomy. Jesus taught the autonomy of the Holy Spirit when he explained how the Spirit comes and goes as he pleases.

The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit (John 3:8).

Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them (Acts 2:2-4).

To illustrate the Spirit’s autonomy, let’s recall the story of King Saul. First, he was chosen by God to be king of Israel. Because Saul had such an important task, God sent his Holy Spirit to help Saul. When the Spirit came upon Saul, the Spirit transformed him into a different person.

The Spirit of the LORD will come powerfully upon you, and you will prophesy with them; and you will be changed into a different person… As Saul turned to leave Samuel, God changed Saul’s heart, and all these signs were fulfilled that day.

When he and his servant arrived at Gibeah, a procession of prophets met him; the Spirit of God came powerfully upon him, and he joined in their prophesying.

When all those who had formerly known him saw him prophesying with the prophets, they asked each other, ‘What is this that has happened to the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets?’ (1 Samuel 10:6, 9-11)

So Saul received the Holy Spirit; but as time progressed, the Spirit would abandon Saul. Why did he leave Saul? It’s probably because Saul refused to love, to act mercifully, and to be humble. King Saul grew greedy, proud, and jealous. The Holy Spirit decides of his own will when he will cease to anoint someone, and it’s normally because they turn away from God.

Now the Spirit of the LORD had departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD tormented him (1 Samuel 16:14).

Autonomy: The Spirit and David

Then we have the overlapping story of David. Since David was walking by faith, and God found him worthy, the Spirit came upon David. Precisely when Samuel anointed David as the next king of Israel, the Spirit came upon David with power.

… Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him [David] in the presence of his brothers, and from that day on the Spirit of the LORD came powerfully upon David (1 Samuel 16:13).

The Spirit came upon David and that was something David cherished more than Saul ever did. David knew that he could offend the Holy Spirit. He knew that if he were to sin, the Holy Spirit would depart from him. He learned that lesson from what he witnessed in the life of Saul, but David let down his guard.

Having committed adultery with Bathsheba and having murdered a loyal military commander, David arrived at a crisis like the one Saul arrived at years before. David also came to the point where the Spirit was ready to depart from him. So, David cried out to God in prayer:

Do not cast me from your Presence or take your Holy Spirit from me (Psalm 51:11).

A Warning

You too must understand how privileged you are to have the Holy Spirit. He will do as he pleases, so do not, after having been made a partaker of the Holy Spirit, insult him, or turn away from all the grace that has come to you through him.

… it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good Word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance (Hebrews 6:4-6; NASB).

Do not fall away from God. The Holy Spirit of God is your Life. Jesus sent him to us so that we, as God’s Church, would operate in power, truth, and love. He brings God’s power to our lives. Without him, we can do nothing.

Anyone who rejected the Law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much more severely do you think someone deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified them, and who has insulted the Spirit of Grace? (Hebrews 10:28-29)

Do not insult the Spirit of Grace. Value him! Cherish him. He is very special. He is the One Spirit, the Holy Spirit.