The Symbols of the Holy Spirit

Well, good morning. We're going to be starting our lesson here on lesson four of our Pneumatology series. This is lesson four, the symbols of the Holy Spirit. If you remember, in the first three lessons of this section, we talked about the person of the Holy Spirit, and my main takeaway for that was just looking at Him as a person — that He was rational, resolute, and relational. And we looked at each one of those and how He defines who the Holy Spirit is as a person. And then in lesson two, we talked about the deity and about how the works of God are ascribed to the Holy Spirit. What stood out to me in number five of lesson two there, the deity of the Holy Spirit, was that the Holy Spirit creates, He preserves. These are the works of God that we see. He is a works of providence, He inspires, He reveals — like He reveals Himself, He reveals truth, He illuminates, He prophesies, He casts out demons. This comes from God. We still believe that God does these things.

And where God and God alone acts, He regenerates. You know, man does not regenerate; it is God the Spirit who regenerates. He redeems, He sanctifies, He mortifies sin, He intercedes between us and God the Father. He resurrects, He judges. And so that was really important to see about the deity of the Holy Spirit and what that looks like. And then in lesson three, we talked about the names and titles of the Holy Spirit. And in the heart of that lesson was differentiating between the relationship of God the Spirit's names in relation to the Trinity and also a whole other section in relation to believers. And we see that kind of spelled out where it's like, you know, the Spirit of Jesus Christ, the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Adonai — we saw that in relation to the Trinity. And then in relation to believers, we see the Spirit and other types of names and titles in relationship to believers. Very important.

So now we're here talking about the symbols, the symbols of the Holy Spirit. And so when we think about symbols here, in this particular outline, what we're going to be going through is symbols or figures that represent or help explain who God the Spirit is. In some of these biblical passages that we're coming to, it's not directly said the Spirit is like a blank, you know, where you're trying to learn symbols and figure the figure of speech like immediately. So a lot of things are here and the symbols get implied in the text. Some may be implicit and not really clearly explicit. But we use Scripture to interpret Scripture in that. And we see this revealed also in creation.

And so when we look here at the first verse in Genesis 1, verses 1 through 2, we're going to see how the Spirit is revealed here in creation, where it says in Genesis 1:1-2, "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep. And the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters." So there are different ways to be able to interpret that, which we're not going to get into today. And there are portions of Genesis 1 through 2 where it has like a summary and then more detail, and then a summary and more detail, and that kind of thing. So there's a kind of a summary here; it is implied through the rest of creation where the Spirit of God is present in these days of creation.

And so one of the days that jumps out to me is in verse 12. In verse 12, if you glance down in your Bible to Genesis 1:12, it says, "The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed after their kind, and trees bearing fruit with seed in them after their kind. And God saw that it was good." And one of the ways we see the Spirit working in that — there was dry land, there was water, and this dry land was bare, there was nothing. You could say like stone and rock and that kind of thing. And so there was, you could say like a resurrection or born-of-life that came out of this land on day three.

And you kind of back up — there was a great lecture by Michael Reeves at the 2024 Ligonier Conference that helped explain this and goes into more detail. He links up Romans 5 and talks about how Adam is the seed that gets planted in — that is all mankind. In Romans 5 it says, "For if by the transgression death reigned through the one." And so all the seeds that are in Adam's fruit walked up into that fruit, born into death, born into sin. That's where we get our doctrine — what we explained earlier about original sin in a previous systematic that we had taught on. And so it takes a new birth; we're going to get into being born into Christ, into a new fruit. A new seed comes out of being born in Christ. So there's this life that goes from death to life there from Romans 5.

And also in 1 Corinthians 15, it gets into much more detail to help explain that. In 1 Corinthians 15, it says, "Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, and in which also you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain." And then this is the verse that helps link Romans 5 and Genesis 1:12. It says, "For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures." Meaning there are Old Testament Scriptures that have been pointing to what Christ has done. In 1 Corinthians 15:4, "And that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures." And so we're talking about the third day. There are many references to Christ being raised on the third day. You think about when Jonah was spit out by the whale — in three days, on the third day. In creation, where we see back there in Genesis 1, there was new life, vegetation that came out of the bare ground. And so we kind of see that here. And you can see that verse 12 can also connect back to Genesis 1:1-2 and reference the Spirit. In verse 12 there, the Holy Spirit is symbolized. But let me read the blanks here, then we'll get into more of the Scripture.

It says, "A symbol or figure is something set beside another to represent and explain." That's the first blank: "explain." Explain it. Referencing in Hebrews 9:9, "A symbol is a material emblem portraying and unfolding a spiritual reality." Right? We have symbol and then we have reality. We have truth. And reality is that next blank. So one of the — the last line of this is, "One of the chief symbols of the Holy Spirit is the dove."

And so we're going to get into many more Scriptures that you have here listed on your sheet about a dove and about how the Holy Spirit is symbolized. One of these chief symbols is the dove. We see in Genesis 8 with Noah — after the floodwaters were going down, he sent out the dove. And it symbolized that judgment, judgment had been done, and so there was now peace. We see the practical application of that and the spiritual application of that with God the Spirit, and His judgment was over at that particular point. And so we see this symbol of the dove as peace from Genesis 8.

In Psalm 55:6, it says, "If I had wings like a dove," and it goes forward about the dove — and that's symbolizing rest, all captured in this symbol of the dove by who a dove is. We have life, we have peace, and now we have rest. In Luke 3:22, the Spirit is present there in bodily form at Jesus' baptism where He is descending as a dove. And that's another symbol of rest, resting on Jesus. John 14:16, "Another Helper, be with you forever." And there's an indwelling there.

In the Song of Solomon, just chapter 5, verses 2 and 12, it talks about "my dove, my perfect one." Now that's talking about a romantic relationship between a man and a woman. But here the symbol of the dove is used to bring out divine characteristics of love. So there's so much captured in the symbol of the dove. We have gone over life, peace, rest, indwelling, and love. Also in Song of Solomon 6:9, it says, "My dove, my perfect one, she is the pure child." And so it's talking about purity. Isaiah 59:11 talks about "moan sadly like doves." There's a gentleness there — "moan sadly like doves."

Matthew 10:16 — this is one that kind of jumps out at me when I think about how we as Christians should view the world today. Jesus cautions and says, "Be shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves." So there's an innocence applied to this symbol of a dove. In Psalm 68:13, "the wings of a dove covered with silver" — there's a beauty there. Song of Solomon 2:14, "Oh my dove, let me see your form." And there's a beauty there. Isaiah 42:1-2, "I have put My Spirit upon Him. He will not cry out." And so that's talking about a coming Messiah who's going to be a suffering servant. So there's a modesty in this figure of God the Spirit as a dove. John 16:13, "He will not speak on His own initiative." There's a modesty there. Isaiah 60:8, "Who are those who fly like the doves?" And there's a relational aspect there.

And so all those things are pointed out on your handout. On the back there, you can read Matthew 3:16-17, the account where John the Baptist, as a witness, says, "Like a dove." So the application for this first section is, what fruit of the Spirit is pictured by the dove? What fruit of the Spirit? So when we think about this — what fruit is best pictured by the dove? You're thinking about, is it the dove that represents more life? And so there was some discussion on this earlier.

From my perspective, I think peace, right? When you see a symbol you think about peace. I think Genesis 8 with Noah and sending out the dove — to me, that's one of the more primary ways that a dove best pictures the fruit of the Spirit. But it really is a packaged fruit, right? All these things are captured in the dove. And so that's where we're getting at where this symbol of the Holy Spirit is symbolized by the dove.

All right. Well, section two — we'll move to section two, and it reads: "The Holy Spirit is symbolized by water. The Holy Spirit is symbolized by water. The Spirit cleanses" — cleanses is the next blank — "The Spirit cleanses, refreshes, and brings life like water." In John chapter 3, we see this really illustrated where Jesus says, "Unless one is born of water and the Spirit" — there's a cleansing aspect to this work of the Spirit, with a form of water, with the Spirit in His work of cleansing. Remember in Genesis 1:12 where it talks about there's this creation of water, and then with that water in creation, the Spirit brings life, right? There's the separation of the waters. And then on day three, there was life that came from what we know is the symbol of water.

In the Old Testament, Ezekiel 36:25-29, a couple of phrases from this section are, "I will sprinkle clean water on you," and another phrase is, "I will put My Spirit within you." That's in Ezekiel 36:25-29. You have these Scriptures on your sheet. There is a work here that's being done with the use of water where it's like a making of a holy consecration — there's a making holy, and then the Spirit indwells. As it says in Ezekiel 36, we kind of see that sequence. There's a consecration, and then the Spirit comes in to a holy indwelling after the cleansing and the making holy is being done by the sprinkling of water here.

This is not prompted, right, when the Spirit is indwelling within someone, taking someone from Adam's seed into the seed of Christ. This is not prompted by anything of mankind. It's not something like a dead person can cleanse themselves. It takes the Spirit of God to be able to regenerate, to be able to bring life, and to bring them over into the seed of Christ. And so we see that order to be very, very important.

There in Ezekiel 36, verses 22 and 23, at the beginning of this, we see Israel wasn't even close to being holy. In fact, they were almost the exact opposite — they were profaning the name of God. They were in the midst of profaning. God the Spirit came in, cleansed them, and made them holy, and then the Spirit indwelled within them. Like we see in verse 27, God will cause them to walk in His statutes. And so that order is very important.

We see that in the New Testament, right? We see Ezekiel 36 mirrored in Titus 3:5-6, and it has a verse here that says, "He saved us." And later in verses 5 through 6, does it say "according to the righteousness of man," or does it say "according to any sort of credit to man"? No, it says "according to His mercy" — meaning there are a couple of different things: "according to His mercy," "according to the washing of regeneration," and "according to the renewing by the Holy Spirit," as in Titus 3:5-6. So this isn't just an Old Testament thing. It's both Old Testament and New Testament, where the Spirit of God would regenerate and make people new, make individuals new, and that collection would be the people of God.

Another example of going from Old Testament to New Testament is Joel 2:23-32, the promise of the Holy Spirit, where it was in reference to the day of the Lord. In Joel 2, it talks right there in the Old Testament — in verse 32, "whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be delivered." And that's just stated matter of fact, not a condition, not a prompting — if you call on the name of the Lord, then for this particular work, it is the work of the Spirit. And then after the work of the Spirit, whoever — this is the whoever that the Spirit is indwelling — calls on the name of the Lord and they will be delivered. It's like that promise. Verse 32 is at the end of all that showing of the work of the Holy Spirit.

So Joel 2 — we might say, "Oh, that's kind of an Old Covenant type of language." But the Apostle Peter in his sermon at Pentecost in Acts 2 highlights and records it there in Acts 2. He brings that whole set of verses there in Acts 2:16-21.

I love it when you have a huge chunk of the Old Testament being brought into the New Testament. And so we can interpret that in a very similar way, where God the Spirit is working in a similar way as in Joel 2. Now we have Acts 2, where Peter's sermon at Pentecost quotes that. And then the other verses here — we have John 4, where the Samaritan woman is at the well, where Jesus gives living water that leads to eternal life. So we see this continued text, this recurring way where the Spirit of God is symbolized by water. Revelation 21:6 — we talked about how the Spirit of God is in Genesis 1, and now we're at the very end in Revelation 21 and 22. Revelation 21:6, Jesus will give without cost the water to those who thirst. And then in 22:17, "The Spirit and the bride say, 'Come, take the water of life without cost.'"

And so if you flip over on the back, you can see John 7:37-39 — rivers of flowing water where Jesus says that it flows out of one's heart. And so this is something highly credited to God the Spirit, where He regenerates us and He dwells within us. And then out from someone's heart — meaning out from the indwelling of the Holy Spirit — comes living water.

And so this leads to our application here: how can you express gratitude for His grace? The blank is gratitude. How can you express gratitude for His grace? We need to come around to this understanding of the truth of the order of things, where the Spirit of God is the one who regenerates, and then it's whoever calls on the name of the Lord who will be saved as part of those particular groups. It's just a matter of fact that that's the work of the Spirit — He regenerates and dwells in two people. It's a miraculous event of the new birth. It's something that only God knows, that we only know through the revealing of His word. And so how can you and I express gratitude for this amazing miracle that we're able to witness today as a testimony, as we see each other as the product of the work of the Spirit?

There's a quote from R.C. Sproul that I love to repeat, as it applies in so many different ways. It says, "To be a Christian is to be forgiven." Think about that. "To be a Christian is to be forgiven." And he continues to say, "The essence of the Christian faith is grace. The essence of the Christian ethic is not arrogance, but gratitude." And we're thinking about how can we express gratitude for His grace? That's the Christian ethic. And so as we live our life, we need to be showing gratitude as we go. It's not like, "Oh, look at me, how I was able to make a decision and you were not, you know, God, I'm not like that sinner over there who hasn't decided to follow You, but I have decided" — no, no, no. We need to express gratitude as Christians because we are forgiven. We have received the free gift of Christ without cost. We didn't pay anything.

And so we show gratitude in the way of service to the church and service to others and doing as God has called us to do as individuals.

So let's move on to section three here. Section three reads, "The Holy Spirit is symbolized by fire." The Holy Spirit is symbolized by fire.

I think this is one of the most neglected symbols of the Holy Spirit in today's teaching in the American church, because there's so much judgment and there's so much purging that we see God the Spirit do in the Old Testament. And we see a little bit in the New Testament, which doesn't in essence negate the way that God works in the Old Testament. But here we see it greatly symbolized. The Holy Spirit is symbolized by fire. Fire is the blank. It says, "Fire pictures presence, and power, and purging." So those last two blanks are presence and power.

You see in Exodus chapter 3, there's the burning bush, right? We see this fire where it's not consuming — it's a blazing fire. In Acts 2, we see tongues as of fire distributing to each of them, as it says. And the apostles were filled with the Holy Spirit, giving them utterance. So out from the heart, they were able to speak and be inspired by the Holy Spirit. One of the reasons why we have apostolic word and apostolic authority here in the New Testament is because there was a direct inspiring of the Holy Spirit, commissioned by Christ Himself for these particular people. We see in verse 6 there that other nations — or representatives of them — could understand them in their own language. That's in Acts 2:6.

Back over to the Old Testament, in 1 Kings 18 — and you have these Scriptures on your worksheet — 1 Kings 18, where Elijah prayed. And this is a summary: "The fire of the Lord fell and consumed their offerings." In Isaiah 4:4, "The Lord has washed away the filth by a spirit of judgment and of burning." I love Isaiah 4:4 because you have the work of the Spirit being like water, and then you see the after-effect. It's almost like a combination where we see a purging and a water and a cleansing happening at the same time. What a great comfort that is. It's tough to be purged, is it not? To be purged of our sin, for our sin to be mortified in that respect. And then immediately after, or in the Lord's timing, receive cleansing like water — all because of the work of the Spirit accomplished by Christ Himself.

That was in Isaiah 4, and then Isaiah 6:6-7. This is the account from Isaiah on his illustration of the throne room of God, where it says, "The seraphim's burning coal in his hand purged Isaiah's iniquity and sin." So this burning coal, represented by the symbol of fire, was purging Isaiah's iniquity and sin. Malachi 3:2-3, "He is like a refiner's fire. He will purify the sons of Levi." And then in Hebrews 12:29, "For our God is a consuming fire." We don't have time to get into all of Hebrews 12 there, but a very important chapter — there at the end it says, "For our God is a consuming fire."

Flip over on the back to section three; let's read together in Matthew 3:7-12. This is where John the Baptist is introducing Christ, just before He is baptized. Matthew 3:7-12, "But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, 'Brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore bear fruit in keeping with repentance, and do not think to say to yourselves, "We have Abraham as our father." For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. And even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.'" What? Thrown into the fire.

Verse 11 in Matthew 3, "I indeed baptize you with water." So we see both there — the water and the fire. "I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance. But He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor and gather His wheat into the barn. But He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire."

The application for section three is, how can you walk holy along with the Spirit? How can you and I walk holy along with the Spirit?

I know for me when thinking about this particular application, I need guardrails. I need boundaries. I need God's Word. I need to be preached to. I need all these outside things to keep me in check. But furthermore, God the Holy Spirit and God alone can indwell us as Christians and make us holy from within. We have these outside things that we need to be able to keep our behaviors and our things in check. But we need a new heart. We need God, and we lean on Him, on His grace and His mercy, to be able to change us and to be able to make us holy. And so from that, we walk holy along with the Spirit. We're in desperate need of His fire, of His purging. We cannot do this on our own. And so as we walk in the Spirit, He is convicting us along the way and we are on this sanctifying walk, purging out our sin and being cleansed by the Holy Spirit in this process.

So now in section four here, back on the front — we'll read the blanks here. "The Holy Spirit is symbolized by wind or breath." The Holy Spirit is symbolized by wind or breath. The Spirit gives life and is inscrutable in His ways — inscrutable, and also like mysterious. The Spirit gives life, and you can say, mysterious in His ways. So we're going to talk about here wind or breath.

In Genesis 2:7, it talks about God breathing into his nostrils the breath of life. And so there is an understanding that God gives physical life in this. In Psalm 104:29-30, "You send forth Your Spirit, they are created." Another reference to physical life. Job 33:4, "The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life." And then I love — as most of us do here — Ezekiel, going back to Ezekiel 36 and also following in chapter 37:1-10. It starts out with this valley of dry bones, where God said to the bones, "I will cause breath to enter you." And that breath is symbolized by the Holy Spirit there.

Now, He breathed, and then He said, "I will cause breath to enter you." And then we go to the New Testament and John 20:21-22 — this is after the resurrection and Jesus visited the disciples. It says, "He breathed on them and said" — the words of our Savior — "Receive the Holy Spirit." And that was after John the apostle, inspired by the Holy Spirit, says, "He breathed on them." And so here we have the Holy Spirit empowering people for His work through this truth of the Holy Spirit being instrumentally transferred and going into the domain of a person and dwelling in the person, a human being, giving them life and also empowering them for His work. This is stuff that's unexplainable to us. This is inscrutable in His ways. We only know this because of Scripture and what it says that God the Spirit has done. This is a very mysterious thing — where God is symbolized, God the Spirit is symbolized by wind or breath — and yet that's what God's Word says.

In Acts 2:1-4, it says the apostles at Pentecost were empowered to preach the gospel. In 2 Peter 1:21, it says, "Men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God." In John 3:3-8, back with the account with Jesus and Nicodemus, where it says, "Born of the Spirit — only those who are born of the Spirit will see the kingdom of God."

And then go on your back — you can read John 3:1-8 for yourself, or flip over in your Bible and read that for yourself. But the application for this is, is it easy to trust in God's hidden work? Is it easy to trust? Trust being the blank. Is it easy to trust in God's hidden work? We walk by faith and not by sight, right? And so in that respect, it is easy, right? When we come to know God and come to know Him, it's so much more of an easy thing because God's the one doing the work. We're not doing that. But I think initially in our walk, when we get into letting go of our own self and trusting in God's hidden work as He has done through wind and breath — where God the Spirit works and applies and saves individuals — it's just a miraculous event when we think about how God saves. How did God save me? How is He saving other people? And so at first, it can be hard. I think maybe later on, as we get to know God and we see His works, it maybe becomes a little easier to trust God in His hidden work in this way.

All right, section five — the Holy Spirit is symbolized by wine. The blank being wine, W-I-N-E. The Holy Spirit is symbolized by wine. The next line is, the Spirit like wine stimulates gladness. I want to say before we get into any temptation or justification as far as like, hey, you know, God said it's okay to drink alcohol — I know for the youth, definitely listen and obey your parents when it comes to the restriction of alcohol. But just like anything else, like if we were to teach about how sex is good, well, that doesn't mean that having sex outside of marriage is good, right? We're talking about in the right context and in the right place where God has designed something to be — we are not to go outside of that. And so Scripture does tell us in Ephesians 5:18-20, do not be drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit. And so there's the caution there, right? There's a "be filled by the Spirit."

It can also be symbolized by wine, which we read in these verses here that you have on your sheet. Psalm 104:15, where it says He causes the grass to grow, and later on it says, "and wine, which makes man's heart glad." And then in Galatians 5:22-23, we see the fruit of the Spirit is joy. You know, like that part of what wine is comes from fruit. And there's joy that's part of that fruit. In Numbers 15 and Leviticus 23, we're talking about many of the different offerings. Well, one of the offerings is a drink offering, and this drink offering is a soothing aroma to the Lord, as we see repeated over and over again. It's highlighted there in Numbers 15 and also in Leviticus 23. And in Philippians 2:17, another reference to the drink offering in the New Testament, where Paul says, if he is poured out as a drink offering, that leads to rejoicing and a sharing of joy.

On the back, you can read John 2:11 — the first miracle of Jesus was being able to turn water into wine. Old wine from old wineskins to new wineskins. Very much a symbol of the act of what the Holy Spirit does, to be able to bring death into life. It's something to celebrate. We read all throughout the Bible how the Holy Spirit is symbolized by wine. So the application for section five is, how can I rejoice in the Spirit? I think one of the ways that we can rejoice in the Spirit is to dwell on the godly things and not the things of this world, which we see also explained in Philippians. Philippians is one of the major themes there — joy. And so Philippians is a great read for application. We talk about how we can rejoice in the midst of suffering, in the midst of circumstances, and all those types of things. One of our Bible studies on Sunday morning is actually going through Philippians right now. And it's a great way to learn how we can rejoice in the Spirit.

While we're doing suffering, while we're in circumstances, whatever comes — whatever comes about — we can still rejoice. Nothing can take the Spirit away from us as Christians. Okay, as we walk in the light by faith, we learn what we should hold on to. I think as we walk by faith in our life, there are things that are going to show their temporary lifespan — they're going to fall away. But we hold on to Christ. We hold on to what God has given to us. And so we rejoice in that.

In section six, we get into the Holy Spirit is symbolized by oil. The Holy Spirit is symbolized by oil. The last part of this where it says He separates — separates as the blank — He separates, empowers, illuminates. So the blanks there are: oil separates and illuminates. Let me read the whole thing now again, now that you have the blanks. The Holy Spirit is symbolized by oil. He separates, empowers, illuminates, refreshes, and rewards us.

So we see in these Scripture references how the Spirit is symbolized by oil. First one here, you have on your sheet: 1 Samuel 16:11-13. This is where David was anointed with oil, where he is separated and commissioned to be the next king. In verse 13, it says there in 1 Samuel 16, where the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon David from that day forward. First Samuel 16 — we see the Spirit of the Lord in His work symbolized by this anointing. In Exodus 28:41, Aaron and his sons were in the line of the priesthood from the Levites, where they were anointed with oil — anointed to be consecrated as priests. They were made where the Spirit of the Lord acts there, symbolized by oil.

In Isaiah 61 — now here's the word. There's going to be an Old Testament passage, and then in the New Testament it comes back again. In Isaiah 61:1-3, it says, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me," and then later on it says "to bring good news," and then later on it says "to proclaim liberty." So Isaiah 61 is prophesying here of the Spirit of the Lord coming upon someone particularly. And one of the two products of that is to bring good news and to proclaim liberty. And then in that passage in Isaiah 61, it's in reference to "the oil of gladness instead of mourning," instead of sadness, right? There's gladness. You think about the end result of the act of the Spirit symbolized here by oil — the oil of gladness instead of mourning. So that's in Isaiah 61.

It was brought up again in Luke 4. Luke 4 is when Jesus is allowed to speak in the synagogue on the Sabbath, where He's reading Isaiah 61. And one of my favorite moments of Jesus — where He reads it and He sits down, and you can go back to Luke 4 and see there — He says, "Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing." And it was like, wait, what? So that's from Isaiah 61 and then that was in Luke 4.

Also in 1 John 2, it says — this is New Testament now — you have an anointing from the Holy One. It says, "You abide in Him." And this is after an anointing from the Holy One. In Psalm 23:5 it says, "You have anointed my head with oil." Psalm 23 — we all love Psalm 23. Pull that out where it says, "You have anointed my head with oil." Luke 7:44-50 says, "Jesus was anointed with expensive oil as an act of thanksgiving."

And then another passage going from Old Testament to New Testament — this Spirit being symbolized by oil — is from Psalm 45:7, where it talks about God anointing with the oil of joy. And then that's brought right back into Hebrews 1:9, where it speaks of Christ in this way from Psalm 45:7.

On your back there is a Scripture, John 16:12-15, and this brings out how the Spirit illuminates and reveals, where Jesus reveals to the disciples. So the application for section 6 is, how does the Spirit enable you for ministry? How does the Spirit enable you and I for ministry?

He's given us His word, right? We have it all right here at our fingertips. We go over it a lot in our family. This right here is the revelation miracle of today. We read about in the Old Testament all these miracles that have happened, and we often say to ourselves, "How in the world did they miss God?" You know, like if something happened, how in the world did everyone around there not see it? Well, the same thing has happened today with the miracle — the revelation of all of God's Word, all 66 books — and we can pick it up whenever, we can buy it however we want to, pull it up on our phones even. There are many different ways to be able to read this miraculous revelation that we can't really explain, but we believe in it by faith that God the Spirit has inspired man as the physical author to be able to record these. God preserved them. This is how God the Spirit enables you and I for ministry. This is just one of the ways — through His word. He's also given us His church, to train and to make disciples and to go out to all the nations. So He has enabled us to be able to do that.

So section seven — if you pull out your sheet again, it says, "The Holy Spirit is symbolized by a seal." The Holy Spirit is symbolized by a seal. The next line there says, "The Spirit like a seal is proof of ownership and security."

I'm studying this section here and flipping through these verses, and the impact on me is that it made me rest more in Christ, knowing that there is no more work to be done. There is a seal. There is a closing off of the work that needs to be done. And I can now rest in that work after that seal is done. And the Holy Spirit seals that. And now, as far as there is nothing outside and nothing higher than God the Spirit that can come in and be able to break that seal, break that bond, or break that in any kind of spiritual legal way — I can rest because the Holy Spirit has sealed. And so we see the Holy Spirit being symbolized here by a seal.

And so we're going to read some Scriptures here. I'm going to summarize as we point out the Scriptures that are on your sheet. In Jeremiah 32:9-15 — this is right after God reveals through Jeremiah the new covenant in Jeremiah 31 — Jeremiah 32 follows with this symbol of a seal, this guarantee where it is finished. And so we kind of see that symbolic act of the sealing of a land deed that's going to happen. And yes, God's going to send them out, but He's going to bring them back. And nothing can stop that. There's no Persian empire, no Babylonian empire, no other empire that's going to come in and be able to take that seal away as they come back to this home that they have. So that's in Jeremiah 32, where the Holy Spirit is symbolized by that physical act of being signed and sealed — the deed for the land there.

And then in the New Testament, we kind of see that being carried over with the symbol of a seal. Second Corinthians 1:21-22, it says, "He establishes us with you in Christ and anointed us — is God. He is the one who has sealed us and gave us the Spirit." He owns us, and we see that by His seal. In 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, it says, "Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit," meaning you're not your own, as that verse later reveals. You're not your own. Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. We could go into much more detail with that in today's world, but we're going to move on. In Ephesians 4:30, it says, "The Holy Spirit sealed you for the day of redemption." How encouraging is that? The Holy Spirit has sealed you for the day of redemption.

Back in the Old Testament, Nehemiah 9:38, where we're talking about Nehemiah's covenant — there is a sealed document, meaning it's done. And that is very important to be able to understand the biblical context of the word "seal" and more about the symbol of what a seal is. We don't really know too much about what a seal is today, but in biblical times the symbol of a seal was very able to symbolize the legality of something being done. In Daniel 6:17, right when Daniel was thrown into the lion's den, the king put the seal on the lion's den, meaning, "No one else but me — there's no one higher than me, and I'm going to put my seal on that, and no one can open up this lion's den unless they have my authority." In Matthew 27:65-66, we see the Romans guarding the tomb of the dead body of Jesus after He was crucified. They put their seal on the stone, and we saw there was a greater authority that broke that seal, and the stone rolled away, and the seal of the Roman Empire could not hold Christ in the tomb.

In 2 Corinthians 3:18, "With an unveiled face we are being transformed to the same image, from glory to glory, just as from the Lord the Spirit." That's in 2 Corinthians 3:18.

And so the application for section 7 here is, "On whose authority do you base your salvation?" The blank: authority. "On whose authority do you base your salvation?" There was a great American Gospel video — it's also called AG TV. There are many different types of lessons and curriculums that you can pick from. Rebecca and I were watching one not too long ago, and they were talking about what is the gospel, and defining that, and how many heretics are explaining that there is a doing of the gospel, and there is a done. Almost like a dichotomy — you know, do I preach a gospel of doing, that there's still work to be done, which a lot of heretics are still doing, or is there a done aspect? Is the work finished? There's a sealing aspect. And so of that done type of gospel — the only gospel — there is no other gospel except the gospel that is done. What authority do you base that salvation on?

It's so important to be able to understand that this is on the authority of God, not on the authority of the individual, but the authority of God, where we base our salvation. When we talk about our salvation, and we want to be able to say the assurance of our salvation, well, very quickly we should be talking about the authority of God.

We can very quickly say that it is God who saved me, and then talk about all the things of who God is. We can flesh that out — by the authority of God, through faith, He saved me. And then we can get through that. We don't start by basing our salvation on "once upon a time, I did this and I did that." We get ourselves into a lot of trouble of convincing ourselves that we are saved when we are not, when we're basing our salvation on ourselves or anything else, for that matter — a circumstance, any kind of action that we do, we walk forward at a particular time, circumstance, whatever, and then another circumstance can happen in our lives, and we're going to be saved. And so we want to be under teaching and under preaching that points to Christ. We want to be, because that's what the Spirit does. The Spirit doesn't elevate even Himself — the Spirit elevates Christ. And so we can quickly tell — we read in 1 John where we test the spirits. If it's not about Christ and everything that we know about Christ, it's not true. Either or, right? Getting back to that fruit — there's death that comes out of the fruit of Adam. But in Christ the seed, there is life that comes out of that. We are sealed up in that fruit.

Very important to be able to understand that symbology in that particular way. And so we want to elevate God's name, believe in His word, believe in His promises that He has rescued you and has sealed you for Himself in eternity. And so in that respect, we know where the Holy Spirit is symbolized by a seal.

All right, well, section eight, our last section here — we talked about the Holy Spirit is symbolized by earnest, by earnest. And it says on your sheet there, "which is a down payment" — the blank is down payment — "or a pledge given beforehand." In a lesson before this one, we went into much more detail as far as what that meant as an earnest. An earnest is a legal term, saying that a payment or a sum of money is able to make a contract binding, okay? So that's where the Holy Spirit is symbolized by this legal term. So let's read a couple of these verses and then we'll wrap up this last section eight.

In 2 Corinthians 5:4-5, we talk about how the Spirit is given to His people as a pledge. That's the legal term — as a pledge. The Spirit is given to His people.

Romans 8 — Romans 8 is probably the chapter to kind of go back to. Romans 8 is that full chapter that talks about the Holy Spirit and interaction, everything that the Apostle Paul has built up from chapters one, two, three, all the way through seven, gets into Romans 8, just a beautiful chapter that gets more into the Spirit of God. And in particular in that chapter, in Romans 8:16-17, and in verse 30, it talks about the Spirit testifying with our spirit that we are children of God.

It's on His authority that we base our salvation. And it says in verse 30, "For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined." And we can talk more about that later. I think we're getting more into that in our section on soteriology. Getting back here into Romans 8, what that particularly means — but this is all true about a legal term. These are the same people, those whom He indwells, those whom He saves.

And those are the ones who believe.

And then in Philippians 1:6, "He who began a good work in you will perfect it." He is the one who makes us holy, consecrates us. And then going back to Romans 8:23, it says, "We wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body."

And then now flip over with me to 1 Peter chapter 1. This is a great introduction to the Apostle Peter's first letter. Read with me in 1 Peter 1:1-5. This is getting into how we are protected by the power of God. We are protected by the power of God. There's this legality of no higher authority that's going to break this seal, break this earnest, this legal term of this contract that's binding.

First Peter 1:1-5, read with me here. "Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who reside as aliens, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, who are chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit." Did you hear that? By the sanctifying work of the Spirit.

"To obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood, may grace and peace be yours in the fullest measure."

Verse 3, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead" — from that fruit that we were dead in, where we're a seed born into Adam. So God has now caused that transfer to happen, to be born again, as verse 3 explicitly explains.

He has caused us to be born again to a living hope, to be born again as a seed of the fruit of Christ, born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Verse 4, "to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled, and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you."

Verse 5 — who are protected. Now listen to this in relation to how this is a legal term: the work of the Spirit is binding. "Who are protected by the power of God, through faith, for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time."

And if you flip around in the back, you can read Ephesians 1:13-14, explicitly talking about the seal in Him.

And so the application for this section eight is, set your eyes on the appearing of Christ. Set your eyes on the appearing of Christ. Now let me close here by reading Hebrews 12:1-3. And may this be an encouragement for us to be able to rest in Christ, knowing the Spirit's work is enduring. In this world that we live in, we can rest in Christ and trust that the work of the Spirit is binding and no other power can be able to overthrow that.

Hebrews 12:1-3, and then we'll finish up.

"Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart."

Let me close in prayer. Lord, thank You so much for this lesson that we're able to go through and have a great worksheet to reference. You have given us a plethora of Scripture to be able to know more about You through symbols, through things that are implicit, things that are explicit. Your truth about who You are and the work that You do is so evident to us because of what You have given to us in Your word. Help us to get through our minds and our understanding of our minds, change our hearts and our disposition that we would grow to be able to please You in our daily walk as we go through, in our homes, in our workplaces, and everywhere we go. We ask these things in Jesus' name, amen.