The Holy Spirit as wind
In both Hebrew and Greek, ‘wind’, ‘breath’ and ‘spirit’ are the same word. In English we make distinctions between these things, but it’s easy to see what they have in common: immateriality, invisibility, and life/movement. Sometimes the necessary ambiguity is lost in translation. When the LORD God “breathed into Adam’s nostrils the breath of life” (Genesis 2:7), we should probably understand God’s breath to be His life-giving Spirit. When Ezekiel was in the valley of dry bones and was commanded to “prophesy to the wind/breath,” (Ezekiel 37:9), the life-giving breath is explicitly said to stand for God’s Spirit (Ezekiel 37:14). Similarly, after His resurrection, when Jesus “breathed on the disciples and said, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit,’” (John 20:22) His breath and the Holy Spirit are one and the same. Breathing is gentle and intimate; but at the opposite end of the spectrum is the ‘hurricane’ with which the Spirit swept into the Church at Pentecost (Acts 2:2)!
What does this tell us about the Holy Spirit?
He is unpredictable
We can’t control, contain or predict the actions of the Holy Spirit. This makes a lot of people feel uncomfortable! But they’re in good company… Joshua was unhappy when two elders began prophesying in the Israelite camp, outside the place where they were ‘supposed’ to be (Numbers 11:26-29). And Obadiah was fearful when Elijah asked for his help, because he couldn’t be sure that a prophet under the Spirit’s control would ‘stay put’ (I Kings 18:11,12)!
I’m therefore wary of people in ministry who promise that the Holy Spirit will do certain things at a particular time and place (whether this is healings, or miracles, or the giving of specific spiritual gifts such as tongues). I know that sometimes He gives the gift of faith to someone (advance warning, if you like, of what He will do in a specific situation); I’m talking about those people who talk as though they have the Holy Spirit ‘on tap’. But it is He who makes the decisions; to move in the Spirit means following Him, not Him following us!
He is invisible
“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)
How can we know where the Holy Spirit is or what He is doing? We can’t see Him directly, but we can see the effects that He has on people. These may be instant and dramatic. A sudden ‘large dose’ of the Spirit, in particular, can have physical effects - including the experience often described as “being slain in the Spirit” (e.g. I Samuel 19:23,24). But He is also responsible for the gradual transformation into Christlikeness that follows someone’s conversion - a process that takes years.
Unbelievers, however, will see these effects but not realise what the cause is behind them. This is why it’s not enough to just ‘live’ the gospel; we must also be prepared to explain why we are different, and give the credit to God.
He is powerful
“‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says the LORD Almighty.” (Zechariah 4:6)
The Bible speaks of prophets being “carried along by the Holy Spirit” (II Peter 1:21) – which conjures up an image of a leaf being blown along by a strong breeze. The 3000 conversions on the Day of Pentecost were not the result of Peter’s preaching alone, but of the working of the Spirit on the hearts and consciences of those who heard him. Paul’s success as an apostle was not due to his own talents, or to training from others; in his own words, what he achieved was “what Christ has accomplished through me in leading the Gentiles to obey God by what I have said and done - by the power of signs and wonders, through the power of the Spirit of God.” (Romans 15:18,19) He undoubtedly worked hard - but the spiritual power to give people new life through his ministry came from the Holy Spirit.
This is something that we so easily forget. Go to any Christian conference, and there will be seminars on “how to” evangelise, worship, pray, plant churches, etc, etc. The modern church seems to be increasingly dependent on technique, and even technology - and yet we fail to turn even our neighbourhoods upside down, let alone the whole world (Acts 17:6)! We are neglecting a fundamental principle: “My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power.” (I Corinthians 2:4,5)
In both Hebrew and Greek, ‘wind’, ‘breath’ and ‘spirit’ are the same word. In English we make distinctions between these things, but it’s easy to see what they have in common: immateriality, invisibility, and life/movement. Sometimes the necessary ambiguity is lost in translation. When the LORD God “breathed into Adam’s nostrils the breath of life” (Genesis 2:7), we should probably understand God’s breath to be His life-giving Spirit. When Ezekiel was in the valley of dry bones and was commanded to “prophesy to the wind/breath,” (Ezekiel 37:9), the life-giving breath is explicitly said to stand for God’s Spirit (Ezekiel 37:14). Similarly, after His resurrection, when Jesus “breathed on the disciples and said, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit,’” (John 20:22) His breath and the Holy Spirit are one and the same. Breathing is gentle and intimate; but at the opposite end of the spectrum is the ‘hurricane’ with which the Spirit swept into the Church at Pentecost (Acts 2:2)!
What does this tell us about the Holy Spirit?
He is unpredictable
We can’t control, contain or predict the actions of the Holy Spirit. This makes a lot of people feel uncomfortable! But they’re in good company… Joshua was unhappy when two elders began prophesying in the Israelite camp, outside the place where they were ‘supposed’ to be (Numbers 11:26-29). And Obadiah was fearful when Elijah asked for his help, because he couldn’t be sure that a prophet under the Spirit’s control would ‘stay put’ (I Kings 18:11,12)!
I’m therefore wary of people in ministry who promise that the Holy Spirit will do certain things at a particular time and place (whether this is healings, or miracles, or the giving of specific spiritual gifts such as tongues). I know that sometimes He gives the gift of faith to someone (advance warning, if you like, of what He will do in a specific situation); I’m talking about those people who talk as though they have the Holy Spirit ‘on tap’. But it is He who makes the decisions; to move in the Spirit means following Him, not Him following us!
He is invisible
“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)
How can we know where the Holy Spirit is or what He is doing? We can’t see Him directly, but we can see the effects that He has on people. These may be instant and dramatic. A sudden ‘large dose’ of the Spirit, in particular, can have physical effects - including the experience often described as “being slain in the Spirit” (e.g. I Samuel 19:23,24). But He is also responsible for the gradual transformation into Christlikeness that follows someone’s conversion - a process that takes years.
Unbelievers, however, will see these effects but not realise what the cause is behind them. This is why it’s not enough to just ‘live’ the gospel; we must also be prepared to explain why we are different, and give the credit to God.
He is powerful
“‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says the LORD Almighty.” (Zechariah 4:6)
The Bible speaks of prophets being “carried along by the Holy Spirit” (II Peter 1:21) – which conjures up an image of a leaf being blown along by a strong breeze. The 3000 conversions on the Day of Pentecost were not the result of Peter’s preaching alone, but of the working of the Spirit on the hearts and consciences of those who heard him. Paul’s success as an apostle was not due to his own talents, or to training from others; in his own words, what he achieved was “what Christ has accomplished through me in leading the Gentiles to obey God by what I have said and done - by the power of signs and wonders, through the power of the Spirit of God.” (Romans 15:18,19) He undoubtedly worked hard - but the spiritual power to give people new life through his ministry came from the Holy Spirit.
This is something that we so easily forget. Go to any Christian conference, and there will be seminars on “how to” evangelise, worship, pray, plant churches, etc, etc. The modern church seems to be increasingly dependent on technique, and even technology - and yet we fail to turn even our neighbourhoods upside down, let alone the whole world (Acts 17:6)! We are neglecting a fundamental principle: “My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power.” (I Corinthians 2:4,5)
