Wind, Water, and Fire: Understanding the Holy Spirit through Biblical Symbolism

The Persons of the Godhead are known by familial terms: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. God the Holy Spirit? What part of the family tree is that? Father we understand. The term is full of emotional imprint and real life imagery. Son is equally comprehensible. Spirit, however, leaves us grasping the air in our attempt to relate to Him. How do you hug a spirit? In painting a picture of Himself, the Holy Spirit wasn’t content to be cast in singular hues. He has far too many dimensions to His personality for monochromatic expressions to do Him justice. His infiniteness required symbolic language that on the surface appears contradictory but in actuality works to provide us a glimpse of the breadth, length, depth, and height of His Being. Thus, He is wind and cloud, water and fire, oil and lamp, dove and eagle, to name a few. It is through this language of symbol that we are enabled to begin to grapple with the Third Person of the Trinity. How do you hug a spirit? Better to ask how the Spirit hugs you. It is my earnest hope and desire that you feel His embrace as you read this work. Includes illustrations, bibliography, and Scripture index.