Like the Wind
What is the Holy Spirit like? To what shall we compare him so that we might understand him better? Jesus said that the Holy Spirit is like the wind. He taught:
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).
We learn important characteristics of the Holy Spirit from Jesus' words. First of all, we learn that the Spirit of God comes and goes as he pleases. We don’t know what he was doing before he visits us, and we don't know his plans for after he visits us. The Holy Spirit has his own will--that's what Jesus meant when he said that the Spirit is like the wind.
Secondly, we learn that the Spirit is able to make his presence known when he is with us. Although we may not be able to see him in his regular shape and appearance, we can have sensory perception of him when he is near. We can feel his presence. Or rather, he can make his presence felt (because he comes to us when he chooses).
Heard and Felt
It’s possible for you to hear the Spirit as he moves. Didn't the apostles hear ‘a sound like the blowing of a violent wind’ when the Holy Spirit stirred the environment of the Upper Room? Yes. The Holy Spirit was in the air around them, altering the atmosphere of the room.
And the Spirit could be felt through what seemed like wind and fire--but it wasn't actually wind or fire. It was him!
… a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from Heaven and filled the whole house where they [a group of approximately 132 people] 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).
So, the Holy Spirit manifested himself as a violent wind. Then he manifested himself as tongues of fire. He was heard, felt, and seen. He was filling the believers present in the Upper Room, and he was enabling them.
They did not have an encounter with wind and fire. Those followers of Jesus had an encounter with the Spirit, the One Spirit, the Spirit of the Living God. The proof of that is that they were never the same!
Like Flames of Fire
The Pentecost tongues of fire were the Holy Spirit—but to say that "tongues of fire were the Spirit" is grammatically awkward. In the English language, you are not supposed to use a plural verb (were) for one being. There is One Spirit, so how can he be many flames? Mustn't we use the verb is if we’re speaking of a singular being? Yes.
The Holy Spirit is One, but he has the power to duplicate himself. He can divide and multiply himself at the same time! When he duplicated himself at Pentecost, the flames of his presence became many, but each flame was his fullness, and each person who had the flame over them was filled with the One Spirit, the Holy Spirit.
This was--and continues to be--remarkable!
We know that there were about 132 flames—one for each man and one for each woman in the Upper Room. Four observations we can make about the tongues of fire are the following:
They were real tangible flames. This was not a vision.
The Scriptures say that they seemed to be tongues of fire—which means that the flames weren’t combustible fire. They were not fire as we know it.
The tongues of fire separated—they split up into new flames—so they demonstrated the same behavior as normal fire. One flame of fire can multiply itself by splitting itself.
The effect of the tongues of fire was twofold:
each person present was ‘filled with the Holy Spirit’
each person present ‘began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them’
The Fiery Divine Nature
Is the nature of the Holy Spirit fiery? Yes. Should that surprise us? No. Why not? Well, the Holy Spirit has the divine nature. Those of us who have been following along in the studies should know that by now. What we may have forgotten, however, is that the divine nature has a fiery appearance.
The Scriptures tell us about the Father that ‘what appeared to be his waist up he looked like glowing metal, as if full of fire, and that from there down he looked like fire’ (Ezekiel 1:27).
Of the resurrected Christ, John tells us that ‘his eyes were like blazing fire. His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace…’ (Revelation 1:14-15).
And Ezekiel’s vision of the Holy Spirit says ‘From what appeared to be his waist down he was like fire, and from there up his appearance was as bright as glowing metal’ (Ezekiel 8:2).
These three passages (one for the Father, one for the Son, and one for the Holy Spirit) lead us to the conclusion that the divine nature has a fiery appearance. The divine nature comes from the One God and Father. He has given that glory to Jesus and to the Holy Spirit.
The Father is first. Along with him, Jesus and the Holy Spirit have that same fiery appearance--for it's an aspect of the divine nature. Jesus and the Holy Spirit have the nature of God.
Not Combustible
If the tongues of fire had been actual combustible flames of fire, the apostles and the others in the Upper Room would have been burned. So those were not normal flames of fire. Rather, the flames were similar to the fire Moses saw on the Burning Bush.
In the passage describing Moses’ encounter at the Burning Bush, it says:
… the Angel of Yahweh appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush, and he looked, and there was the bush burning with fire, but the bush was not being consumed (Exodus 3:2; LEB).
Were the Pentecost tongues of fire the same substance as the fire that engulfed the Burning Bush? Yes, they were a fire that does not consume objects. They were Heavenly, and they brought life, not death. They built up, they did not destroy.
Similarities of Two Spirits
In the Pentecost passage we are examining, the Holy Spirit acted like an angel in a sense. Do you remember the angel who stirred the waters of the Pool at Bethesda? The Holy Spirit stirred up the environment of the Upper Room in the same way the angel stirred up the waters of Bethesda.
Let's compare the two experiences by considering the ministry of the angel at Bethesda.
… there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew, Bethesda, having five porches. In these lay a great multitude of sick people, blind, lame, paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the water.
For an angel went down at a certain time into the pool and stirred up the water; then whoever stepped in first, after the stirring of the water, was made well of whatever disease he had (John 5:2-4; NKJV).
Humans can feel a spirit’s presence even when we can’t see that spirit. Thus was the case in both the Pool at Bethesda and the Upper Room. At the Pool at Bethesda, an angel physically stirred the water with his hand, making it move. Then that same angel transmitted God's healing power to the expectant bystanders who entered the water after he stirred it.
In the Upper Room, the Holy Spirit was like the wind. Then he was like fire. Then he was like many different flames of fire. Then he filled each believer with himself. He also enabled each believer to speak in tongues. The Holy Spirit's stirring the environment became an opportunity for believers to be equipped by the Holy Spirit.
The differences between the Holy Spirit and the angel of Bethesda should be clear to you. The Holy Spirit has more power. He can do much more than an angel. For example, the Holy Spirit doesn't just heal people, he gives them healing power. In addition, he can duplicate himself. Angels cannot do that.
Differences Between Natures
The Holy Spirit has the divine nature. The divine nature has more authority, wisdom, and strength than the angelic nature. It's as superior to the angelic nature as the angelic nature is to the human nature.
And the human nature is superior to the animal nature. What animal is as intelligent or can command as much authority as a human? You need to understand the different natures to appreciate how great the divine nature is.
The similarity of the Holy Spirit to the angel of Bethesda is that they are both spirits. Outside of that similarity, the superiority of the Holy Spirit stands unquestioned.
Seraphim vs. the Holy Spirit
There are angels made of fire. They're called seraphim. You can get a glimpse of them in the Book of Isaiah, chapter 6.
I saw the Lord sitting on a Throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of his robe filling the Temple. Seraphim were standing above him, each having six wings: with two each covered his face, and with two each covered his feet, and with two each flew (Isaiah 6:1-2).
That's beautiful and fearful. Seraphim means fiery angel. They have hands and feet, and they use tongs to pick up burning coals, so they look like men. They have three pairs of wings, so they can make a lot of wind.
But the Holy Spirit is like both wind and fire. He made his presence known to the Church the day it was born by manifesting himself as both wind and fire--and that's unique.
Living Within Us
But what is most unique about the Holy Spirit? That he can live within us--each one of us at the same time! No angel can do that. God will not allow any angel to do that. Human autonomy is too precious. But the Holy Spirit has made living within us his modus operandi.
It's how he functions. It's his way. He has the divine nature. Only a spirit as holy as the Holy Spirit is could ever be authorized to do such a thing. What a precious ministry he has!
Has the Holy Spirit come into your life? Is he now operating within you? Has he begun to live within you? You'll feel him if he does. He may not sound like a strong wind or blaze like fire, but he'll be like Jesus with you.
Jesus With Us and Within Us
Remember what happened to the paralytic who missed the stirring of the water at Bethesda?
He missed the stirring of the water, and didn't get touched by an angel, but he met Jesus. That was good enough because he received all he needed through Jesus.
In these porticoes lay a multitude of those who were sick, blind, limping, or paralyzed. Now a man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. Jesus, upon seeing this man lying there and knowing that he had already been in that condition for a long time, said to him, 'Do you want to get well?'
The sick man answered Him, 'Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, but while I am coming, another steps down before me.'
Jesus said to him, 'Get up, pick up your pallet and walk.' Immediately the man became well, and picked up his pallet and began to walk (John 5:4-9; NASB).
Just like that paralytic man, you may have missed your chance for a fancy experience. You were not present on the day of Pentecost to hear the wind and see the flames, but you have something equal to it.
Jesus will come to you. He'll come to you through the same Holy Spirit who descended at Pentecost. Having the Spirit with us is just like having Jesus with us--and it's even better because he can live within each one of us individually.
The Holy Spirit testifies to us about Christ, of all the things the Lord Jesus taught us, and he teaches us from within. This is truly magnificent. It's like having Christ within each one of us!
But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of Truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me (John 15:26; ESV).
And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever (John 14:16; ESV).
But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you (John 14:26 ESV).
Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you (John 16:7 ESV).
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