Reincorporation

All spirit-beings who abandon their bodies for a time will eventually get their bodies back. For example, every Christian who has died will get their body back in the Resurrection. Demons will get their bodies back before God has them hurled into the Lake of Fire. Good angels can turn into bodiless spirits for a time—but they always reincorporate.

So, what about the Holy Spirit? We’ve already proven that he has a body. He gave it up for a time—this period of history in which we live—to serve God by dwelling in the bodies of believers. He abides within all who have repented and have been baptized in the name of Jesus. But the Holy Spirit will eventually reclaim his body. He will take it back and once again be visible to us.

When this happens and you see him, what will the Holy Spirit look like? He’ll look like the Being we see in Ezekiel 8. You’ve read it already, but it’s worth repeating.

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 and in visions of God he took me to Jerusalem… Then he said to me, ‘Son of man, look toward the north’ (Ezekiel 8:2-5).

Nice. That’s a magnificent description of the appearance of the Holy Spirit! But notice that if the Spirit took Ezekiel by the hair and lifted him up, that means that the Spirit was flying.

How did the Holy Spirit fly? If he flew by using wings, then we have to picture him as winged. Should our concept of the Holy Spirit include wings?

The Word Hover

When we are first introduced to the Spirit, we find him hovering over the surface of the waters. Other translations say that he was moving, fluttering, or brooding over the deep waters that existed at that time—but the majority say hovering.

… the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters (Genesis 1:2; LEB).

To hover, the Spirit would have had wings. Let’s look at the different uses for the Hebrew word hover. It’s only used three times in the Bible: The first is the one we just read—and it’s used right at the start of the Bible in Genesis. At Creation, the location of the Holy Spirit was over the surface of the waters. His hovering kept him physically above—and at a short distance from—the ocean waters.

Then the word hover appears a second time, four books later, in Deuteronomy to describe how an eagle hovers over its young in the nest. In that example, we’re supposed to see hovering as an act of protection. It’s the capability of a bird to shield its young with its wings.

… he [God] guarded him [Israel] as the apple of his eye, like an eagle that stirs up its nest and hovers over its young, that spreads its wings to catch them and carries them aloft (Deuteronomy 32:10b-11).

The third time the Hebrew word hover is used in the Bible is when the prophet Jeremiah tries to communicate how much he fears God He states ‘… all my bones shake’ (Jeremiah 23:9; NKJV). That word shake doesn’t sound much like the word previously translated hover, but that’s because hovering involves a shaking movement. Both the Literal Standard Version and Young's Literal Translation translate the Hebrew word as fluttering.

So, the two most literal translations interpret the Scriptures to say that in the Beginning the Spirit of God was ‘fluttering on the face of the waters’ (Genesis 1:2; LSV, YLT). Either way, in every passage it’s used, this verb implies movement. That is why at least ten popular versions (KJV, NKJV, NASB, Amplified, ASV, CEV, D-RB, ERV, GNT, and the NET) translate Genesis 1:2 as ‘the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters.’

Wing Power

The question naturally follows: What was the Holy Spirit moving so rapidly that God would use this word? The obvious answer is: his wings. Most Christians are very reticent to recognize that the Holy Spirit has wings because they are preconditioned to think of him as bodiless. But what will they do with the New Testament parallel to Genesis 1:2? In the New Testament the Holy Spirit hovered over the waters again—and there it tells us that he hovered over the waters ‘in bodily form.’

… the Holy Spirit descended on him [Jesus] in bodily form like a dove (Luke 3:22).

Now, the Holy Spirit is no dove—but why did he appear as a dove? God wanted the Spirit to appear physically, but not in his glorious man-like body. The Spirit’s appearance as a dove proves that if we will liken him to any creature, a dove is the best. Why?

Could it be because doves have wings?

Could it be because doves can fly?

Is it because they hover and flutter?

Hummingbird Comparison

The term hover in modern English brings to mind hummingbirds, helicopters, and drones. Hovering is not equal to floating. For example, a balloon floats, but does not hover. Anything that hovers is more at home flying. Indeed, they hover because in addition to flying they have the unique ability to convert a flying pattern to stationary stillness. The hummingbird, for example, loves to fly from flower to flower, but its flight pattern is unique among birds.

… hummingbird flight is different from other bird flight in that the wing is extended throughout the whole stroke, which is a symmetrical figure of eight, with the wing producing lift on both the up- and down-stroke. Hummingbirds beat their wings at some 43 times per second (Retrieved from https://en .wikipedia.org /wiki/Bird_flight #Hovering on July 10, 2020).

Seraphim also hover. The Hebrew word in the following verse is translated as flying, but it’s clear that the seraphim of Isaiah 6 were hovering in a stationary position. They were not moving from point A to point B like hawks in flight, but were hovering in fixed locations like hummingbirds.

Above him [God] were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying (Isaiah 6:2).

Under His Wings

Most Christians find it very difficult to conceive that the Holy Spirit would have wings. This is due to their lack of any visual image of the Holy Spirit. Most Christians think that he is completely bodiless—a thought produced by the Trinitarianism that makes their One God a mystery.

But these same people often make Psalm 91 into a song and delight in its words:

… the Almighty… shall cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you shall take refuge (Psalm 91:4).

Granted that the wings and feathers of this psalm symbolize God’s protection over us. But if we can sing of the Father’s wings in a symbolic sense, why can’t we speak of the Holy Spirit’s wings in a literal sense? Nobody feels offended by Psalm 91 and the image it invokes, but we’re offended by the Bible’s hints that lead us to visualize the Holy Spirit with wings?

Beings That Fly Snatch Up

Did not the Holy Spirit snatch up (Acts 8:39) Philip the deacon? Angels—who we know have wings—will snatch us up in the Rapture (Mark 13:27). Likewise, the Holy Spirit caught Philip away (Acts 8:39, NKJV)—the Holy Spirit snatched Philip up. That means that the Holy Spirit does the same thing as angels. Angels are flying beings. They snatch us up because they fly!

Snatching up is indisputably the action of a being which flies. For example, hawks and eagles snatch up their prey. Snakes and wolves do not snatch up because they do not fly. Snakes and wolves pick up, they don’t snatch up. You never say that a snake “snatches up” its prey unless the snake is hanging from a branch, reaches down, and quickly pulls its prey up to it—an uncommon phenomenon.

It’s important to note that the same Greek word God uses for Philip’s being snatched up by the Holy Spirit in Acts 8 is the word Paul uses in 1 Thessalonians 4:17 when he talks about the Rapture. The Amplified Bible shows this when it gives the optional translation of caught up as raptured.

Then we who are alive and remain [on the Earth] will simultaneously be caught up [raptured] together with them [the resurrected ones] in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord! (1 Thessalonians 4:17; AMP)

So the Bible uses the same word for the action of angels for the action of the Holy Spirit. If angels perform this action while flying, wouldn’t the Holy Spirit perform the same action while in flight? And if he flies, he has a body. And his body might very well have wings.

So, back to the original question: What do wings prove?

Overcome Fear

The goal of this study isn’t to prove that the Holy Spirit has wings. It’s to prove that he has a body. You can deny that he has wings, but you cannot prove that he doesn’t. You cannot deny that the Holy Spirit has a body. And if you try to deny it, why make that effort? Do you fear what you might discover about him?

We can see how someone might argue against the Holy Spirit having wings, but why would anyone make an effort to deny that the Holy Spirit has a body? Does he have less than you and me? We have a body, soul, and spirit. The Holy Spirit is only a spirit then---and he is bodiless?

Or rather is the great denial of the body of the Holy Spirit just an effort to keep the Holy Spirit relegated to the “mystery” category bad theologians have given him for hundreds of years? Since the days when they pegged him “the Third Person of the Holy Trinity” he has been considered a mystery. Do pastors want to promote that characterization?

What honors the Holy Spirit more: stifling the study of who he is and calling him a “mystery” or wondering at the greatness of what he does and digging into the Scriptures to understand him more?

As Great as He Is

The topic of the Holy Spirit's wings proves that Christians are afraid to study the Holy Spirit. One of the seven basic Realities of the Universe is that there is One Spirit (Ephesians 4:3). Will we be negligent in knowing this Spirit? He stands alongside the One Lord and the One God. How great is he? Will pastors also restrict the study of Jesus and the Father?

Will we be afraid to question what men have said about the Holy Spirit? Men who clearly know nothing about him must limit our understanding of the One who is named right along with God and Jesus Christ? Far be it for us to allow such a restriction! We must know the Spirit, and we cannot allow anyone to stop us from knowing him more—as great as he is!

… make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19).

May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all (2 Corinthians 13:14).