The Bible uses three items to symbolize the Spirit—breath, wind, and fire. The two main symbols of the Spirit are breath and wind. Air, or breath, is the basis for the existence of all living creatures. Without air, there can be no living creatures. Because there is no ozone layer around the moon, there is no air around the moon. As a result, no living creatures are able to survive there. If you want to go to the moon, you have to bring air with you. Similar to air, our God is real and experiential as the Spirit. In addition, the Spirit is the basis of the believer’s living. Without the Spirit, we cannot survive.
When the movement of air becomes strong, it produces a violent wind. It may even form into a typhoon or tornado. When wind comes, air comes with it. If there is no wind in a room, there will not be enough air in the room, and the room will become stuffy. Hence, wind and air cannot be separated. When the movement of air is strong, it is wind; when wind comes, air comes with it, and once wind is weakened, it becomes simply air again.
The Greek word pneuma and the Hebrew word ruach both denote breath, wind, and spirit. In the Old Testament the word ruach in Ezekiel 37 has these three meanings—wind, breath, and spirit. This word may refer to breath in one verse, to wind in another verse, and to spirit in still another verse. In John 3 the Lord Jesus also used the word pneuma with two meanings—the word Spirit in the phrase born of the Spirit in verse 6 and the word wind in the clause the wind blows where it wills in verse 8 are both pneuma in Greek. How do we know that in verse 8 pneuma denotes wind? We know because that which “blows where it wills” is neither spirit nor breath but wind. Thus, to understand the real meaning of a word, sometimes we have to examine its context.
The New Testament says that the Lord is the Spirit (2 Cor. 3:17). We can also say that the Lord is the breath (John 20:22) and that He is also the wind (cf. John 3:8). In the evening of the Lord’s resurrection, He came in the midst of the disciples and breathed into them for them to receive the Spirit as their life; that is, He breathed the essential Spirit into them. However, on the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit was poured down like a strong, violent wind as the economical Spirit (Acts 2:2). Hymns, #212 in the Chinese hymnal says, “The Holy Spirit as a strong wind / Blows from heaven / Upon the congregation, / As He did at Pentecost.” In John 20 the Spirit is breath, and in Acts 2 the Spirit is wind.
Today all of our experience of the Lord, of God, and of Christ absolutely depend on the Spirit. In fact, the Lord, God, and Christ are the Spirit. This is what today’s Christianity neglects and does not understand. The so-called Modernists do not even acknowledge that the wind and the breath refer to the Spirit. On the contrary, they say that everything is a matter of man’s heart and is merely a feeling or a mental reaction. How do you know when the wind comes? You know because you feel it. How do you know there is air in a house? You do not see it or touch it; you feel it. This is the belief of the Modernists. They deny the spiritual reality and the spiritual facts and focus on the mind, which has been corrupted by Satan. They say that both the God who is spoken of in the Bible and the Spirit who is referred to in Christianity are imaginary perceptions. The fact remains, however, that mental perception is based upon feeling, and feeling is based upon something real. For example, you will only sense my love if I do in fact love you, you will only feel pain if I hit you, and you will only feel stuffiness if there is no air in the room. All of these feelings are based upon something real.
The Modernists deny the spiritual reality and talk only about its outward manifestations. They say that zealous Christians have been captivated by preachers and drawn into the doctrines of regeneration, transformation, and being filled with the Spirit. It may be true that some preachers have the power to captivate believers. But if there were no spiritual facts or reality behind what they preached, how could they have power and how could the believers be captivated? One time a sister testified that she had emptied herself out to the Lord and had thoroughly confessed and prayed. Initially after doing this she did not have any feeling, but an hour later she felt relieved throughout her whole being. The Modernists would say that this was merely a mental reaction. However, would the sister have felt relieved if she had not prayed? Likewise, you feel refreshed after taking a deep breath because there is air all around you. If there were no air, you would not feel refreshed after taking a deep breath. The Modernists also say that the feeling that you have after calling on the Lord is just a mental reaction. However, if you call on other names, do you still have this feeling or this supposed mental reaction? This is something that is worthy of their consideration.
God not only created us with eyes to see, ears to hear, and senses to touch but also with a spirit to contact Him and to perceive spiritual reality. As soon as you breathe, you can sense the fresh air in the room. Similarly, once you exercise your spirit, you can contact and touch the spiritual facts and reality. The key is using the right organ. Hence, Paul said, “‘The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart,’ that is, the word of the faith which we proclaim” (Rom. 10:8). This word is the Lord Himself. The Gospel of John says that in the beginning was the Word, that the Word was God (1:1), and that God is Spirit (4:24). The word, which is the Spirit and God, is not far from us; it is in our mouth and in our heart, just like the air. The question is not whether He is there but whether we are willing to receive Him. How do we receive Him? Paul told us the way—“If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved” (Rom. 10:9). As long as we pray, call, and exercise our spirit, we will receive the Holy Spirit.
I hope that you not only understand and focus on this truth but that you also release this truth and pursue the filling of the Holy Spirit. Without deep breathing and fresh air, it is hard for us to be physically healthy. In the same way, without the Spirit and the exercise of the spirit, it is impossible for us to be spiritually healthy and victorious. Thus, you should not merely speak about some spiritual terms, such as the essential Spirit and the economical Spirit; neither should you simply analyze whether the Spirit is in us essentially or upon us economically; instead, you should pursue to be filled with the Spirit. The people in the region surrounding the lower Yangtze River have a saying—“In the morning the skin encompasses the water; at night the water encompasses the skin.” There are not two different waters; it is just that water has two functions. When you drink water, the water is within you, but when you take a bath, you are in the water. This is a picture of mingling. When we are filled with the Holy Spirit inwardly and outwardly, we are mingled with the Holy Spirit. This should be our emphasis today.