We Christians also need to experience the Spirit as the wind (John 3:8; Acts 2:2). The wind brings us the Spirit as the breath (John 20:22). The Spirit as the breath refreshes us and makes us new inwardly. The wind also brings us the Spirit as the cloud (Exo. 14:20, 24; 1 Cor. 10:2). Spiritually speaking, the Spirit as the cloud is the presence of God. God is symbolized by the cloud. When the tabernacle was erected, the cloud covered it (Exo. 40:34-38a). That covering, protecting, guiding cloud was God Himself. The spiritual wind brings God’s presence to us. If we have the cloud, we have God with us. We may even say that the cloud is the condensation of the Lord’s presence. Within the cloud is the fire that burns and enlightens. Whenever we enjoy the Spirit as the cloud, we also have the Spirit as the fire to burn us and enlighten us (Ezek. 1:4c; Acts 2:3-4).
The Spirit is also the light as the issue of the fire (Ezek. 1:4d) and the spiritual rain (Hosea 6:3). This rain comes to us through the Spirit as the wind, the breath, the cloud, the fire, and the light. On the day of Pentecost, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit was the Spirit as the rain (Acts 2:16-18). Genesis 2:5 tells us that at that time there was no rain because there was no man to till the ground. When man comes to till the ground, the rain comes. As we are laboring in the Lord, the Spirit as the wind will come. Then the wind will bring us the breath, the breath will bring us the cloud, the cloud will bring us the fire, the fire will bring us the light, and eventually the light will bring us the rain.
The Spirit is also symbolized by the living water (Exo. 17:6; John 4:10, 14; 7:38-39). The Spirit as the rain issues in the living water. This living water becomes the river of water of life. Ezekiel 47 presents a picture of the Spirit as the river of water of life. The depth of the river begins at the ankles and then rises to the knees and to the loins. Eventually, it becomes a river to swim in, a river that cannot be passed over (vv. 3-5).
In the Bible there is the line of the Spirit as a river. Genesis 2:10-14 says that a river went out of Eden to water the garden, and this river was parted into four heads toward the four directions of the earth. Psalm 36:8 says that the Lord shall make us to drink of the river of His pleasures. Psalm 46:4 says that there is a river that makes the city of God glad. Then in John 7 the Lord Jesus told us that those who believe in Him will have rivers of living water flowing out of their innermost being (vv. 38-39). The one river of water of life flows out of us as many rivers, just as the river in Genesis 2 was parted into four rivers. Finally, in the book of Revelation, there is the consummated river (22:1). This is the river that flows out of the throne of God to water the entire New Jerusalem, to supply the entire body of God’s chosen and redeemed people. The river is the consummated Spirit, and the consummated Spirit is the consummated God. The river is the flowing out of the consummated and processed Triune God to be our drink for our enjoyment.
First Corinthians 12:13 says that we have all been baptized in one Spirit into one Body and that now we are drinking of this one Spirit. The Spirit as the river of water of life is for drinking. On the one hand, the consummated God is the outpoured Spirit for our baptism. On the other hand, the same consummated Spirit is the river that is good for us to drink.
The symbols of the Spirit are illustrations to portray how our God, after being processed and consummated, becomes our enjoyment. The Bible uses all the symbols to describe and to portray how God becomes so enjoyable and so available to us through all of His processes. He becomes the bird to brood over us for God’s move. He has become the oil to soothe us and to heal us. He has become the ointment to anoint us. He has also become the wind, the breath, the cloud, the fire, the light, the rain, the water, and the river for our enjoyment. All these symbols of the Spirit portray our enjoyable God.
The Spirit is also symbolized by the seven lamps of the lampstand, which are the seven Spirits before the throne of God (Exo. 25:37; Zech. 4:2, 10b; Rev. 1:4c; 4:5b), and by the seven eyes of the Lamb, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth (Rev. 5:6). The Spirit of God has been intensified sevenfold. It is like a seven-way lamp. I have seen three-way lamps before, but I have never seen a seven-way lamp. The Spirit of God today is like a seven-way lamp with intensified light. Our spiritual lamp is sevenfold intensified. This sevenfold intensified lamp is for shining, for enlightening, and for searching. The consummated Spirit is the sevenfold lamp to shine, enlighten, and search. These seven lamps are the seven eyes of the Redeemer, the Lamb. Eyes are for observing, searching, and infusing. The Lamb redeemed us with a purpose. For Him to carry out His purpose, He needs seven eyes to observe us, to search us, and to infuse us with all that He is. These seven eyes are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth to carry out God’s purpose, God’s economy.
We have to enjoy our processed Triune God as the consummated Spirit in all these aspects. We need to study these aspects of the Spirit, and we have to experience and be constituted with the Spirit in all these aspects.