Acts 2:2

Acts 2:2 , Acts 2:17

(with John 2:20 )

The Fourfold Symbols of the Spirit

I. A rushing mighty wind. In this symbol we have set forth the highest work of the Spirit the communication of a new and supernatural life. In this sign lies the thought of a life (1) derived, (2) kindred with the life bestowed, (3) free like the life which is given, (4) a life of power.

II. The fire of the Spirit. The emblem of fire is selected to express the work of the Spirit of God, by reason of its leaping, triumphant, transforming energy. The metaphor of fire suggests also purifying. Get the love of God into your hearts, and the fire of His Divine Spirit into your spirits to melt you down, as it were, and then the scum and the dross will come to the top, and you can skim them off. Two things conquer my sin; the one is the blood of Jesus Christ, which washes me from all the guilt of the past; the other is the fiery influence of that Divine Spirit which makes me pure and clean for all the time to come.

III. The symbol of water. The Spirit is (1) cleansing, (2) refreshing and satisfying. Our thirst can be slaked by the deep draught of the river of the Water of Life, which proceeds from the throne of God and the Lamb. (3) Productive and fertilising. In Eastern lands a well of water is all that is needed to make the wilderness rejoice. The one means of lofty and fruitful Christian living is a deep, inward possession of the Spirit of God.

IV. The oil of the Spirit. The reason for the use of such a symbol, I presume, would be in the invigorating and in the supposed, and possibly real, health-giving effect of the use of oil in Eastern climates. Whatever may have been the reason for the use of oil in official anointings, the meaning of the act was plain. It was a preparation for a specific and distinct service. And so when we read of the oil of the Spirit, we are to think that it is that which fits us for becoming priests, prophets, and kings, and which calls us because it fits us for these functions.

A. Maclaren, A Year's Ministry, 2nd series, p. 99.

References: Acts 2:12-37 . Homiletic Magazine, vol. vi., p. 279. Acts 2:14-16 . Homiletic Quarterly, vol. iii., p. 165.Acts 2:14-26 . J. Oswald Dykes, Preacher's Lantern, vol. iv., p. 193.