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“Wind dies in a box.”

In Scripture, the Holy Spirit is likened unto the wind.

Jesus said, “The wind blows wherever it pleases.  You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going.  So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.” (John 3:8)  We also know that on the day of Pentecost when the Spirit was poured out on the disciples in the Upper Room that: “ Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting… All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:2,4).  This was a primary manifestation of the Holy Spirit as He was given to the Church after the ascension of Christ. 

So why is the Holy Spirit likened unto the wind?

Here are a few similarities that I can see:

The Hebrew word for “spirit”, “ruach”, literally means “wind”, “breath”.

Wind is an unseen force, the effects of which can be seen, but not the force itself.  The same is true of the Holy Spirit.

Wind is from above, a “heavenly” force.  The same is true of the Holy Spirit.

Wind is “sovereign.”  It “blows wherever it pleases.”  The same is true of the Holy Spirit.

Wind is unpredictable.  “You cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going.”  The same is true of the Holy Spirit.

Wind is uncontrollable.  It can be harnessed and utilized to a degree, but it cannot ultimately be controlled by man.  The same is true of the Holy Spirit.

Wind is unstoppable.  When something obstructs it, it either blows the obstacle out of the way, or it finds another way around it.  The same is true of the Holy Spirit.

Wind can be gentle and refreshing.  The same is true of the Holy Spirit.

Wind can be powerful and forceful.  The same is true of the Holy Spirit.

Wind derives its movement and force from the Sun.  The same is true of the Holy Spirit (and the Son.)

Wind drives atmospheric changes which affect all life on earth one way or another.  The same is true of the Holy Spirit.

… and one last thing,

Wind needs a lot of space to do what wind does.  It doesn’t do well in a box. The same is true of the Holy Spirit.

Boxes

Boxes are man-made containers meant to hold, store, organize, sort, transport, and protect all sorts of things.  They come in a variety of shapes and sizes, and are used for all manner of tasks and purposes.  Pretty much everything that we manufacture, use or consume at one time or another spends time inside of a box.  Boxes are a staple of our consumeristic society and lifestyle.  It is hard to imagine life without them!  We love and need our boxes.

The crazy thing about “boxes”, too, is that they are not only physical.  They can also be mental.  We have “boxes” in our minds made of our personal and collective beliefs, understandings, concepts, philosophies, preferences, biases, habits, and traditions.  We live out our lives inside these mental “boxes”, feel safe inside them, and defend them when they are challenged.  On the other hand, we also tend to admire those who have the creative ability to “think outside the box.”

Of all of the incalculably vast array of items, objects and even ideas that we have put into “boxes”, I think it is fair to say that NO ONE has ever seriously tried to put WIND in a BOX!  Most of us know instinctively that is foolish.

So why is it that when it comes to the WIND OF GOD, the Holy Spirit, we lose all of our human instincts and common sensibilities, and seek to confine the Unconfineable?  We build our “boxes” out of our experiences and expectations, our capacities and comfort zones, our preferences and prejudices, our agendas and aspirations, and then we expect the Holy Spirit to come and nestle down inside of them.  We treat Him as a product for our consumption and reckon that in order for “it” to be contained, controlled, preserved, and portioned out, we need “it” in a “box.”  The Holy Spirit, however, is not a consumable “it”, but a Sovereign “Him”, and He needs a lot of space to do what He does.  When we “box Him in”, we, more often than not, end up “boxing Him out.”

God in a Box???

Many religious leaders and Christian congregations have the appearance of great reverence and respect for God the Father and God the Son, Jesus Christ, but have little esteem, in reality, for the Holy Spirit.  They may speak of Him reverently with their lips, but their true esteem is shown by their actions towards Him, not their words.  The Holy Spirit, if acknowledged or sought at all in the assembly, is often treated as a something of an accessory, an accent, a nicety, a condiment, a garnish.  He is welcomed and allowed just enough room to bring a hint of grace and life, and possibly even a few gifts or manifestations, but these are usually only allowed to the degree that they fit nicely into the particular “box” the assembly regularly lives in.  Rarely is He treated as Who He truly is….GOD!

He is as much GOD, however, as God the Father and God the Son are, and is inextricably One with them in Divine essence, purpose, and presence.  The Triune God cannot be separated.  The degree to which we show the least esteem to any one Person of the Godhead, therefore, is the degree to which we actually esteem all of them.  Likewise, when we “box in”, and in the process “box out”, the Holy Spirit, we “”box in” and “box out” the Father and the Son as well.  It cannot be otherwise!

The Holy Spirit is that member of the Godhead Who has been given to the Church as the Operative Power to carry out the will of the Father through the Headship of the Son.  He is, therefore, indispensable to the existence, life, purpose, functionality, ministry, and mission of the Church.  The will of the Father cannot be fulfilled and carried out in and through the Church without the manifest Headship of the Son, and the manifest Headship of the Son cannot be inwrought and outworked in and through the Church without the full and unhindered work of the Holy Spirit.  If the Holy Spirit is “boxed up”, so is the Headship of the Son, and, consequently, so is the will of the Father.  It is just that simple!

Ultimately, the will of the Father in creation, redemption, the Church, and the Kingdom, is, “that in all things He (Christ) might have the preeminence.” (Colossians 1:18)  The Holy Spirit is ever working with that end in view.  Wherever the Holy Spirit is “unboxed”, Christ will be brought to center stage in all of His fullness, centrality and supremacy, that the Father may be ultimately glorified and satisfied.  Wherever the Holy Spirit is given full rein in the life and assembly of the ekklesia, the governance of the church will shift from the overlording control of men and from the lifeless, rigid, forms of religious practices and protocols and placed back in the hands of Him to Whom it belongs.  Wherever the Holy Spirit is fully honored and submitted to as GOD in the midst of the church, He will administer the will of the Father, through the Headship of the Son, to and through a many-membered body yielded to His leadings, giftings, ministries, and workings.  Wherever the Holy Spirit is free to be Himself, He will not seek to glorify Himself, but will direct all attention and glory to the Father and to the Son.  These will be the marks of the “unboxed” work of the Holy Spirit.

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We love the wind for what it does, but the wind can also be scary.  The wind is beyond human control, and sometimes it is mighty and even violent.  We cannot direct it, we cannot contain it, and we cannot predict it.  When it comes to the Wind of God, the same is true as well.  The question is, will we trust that the Wind of God, if given full and free rein, will always act in perfect submission to the Father and the Son as their appointed Agent to carry out Their perfect will in and through the Church?  If we cannot fully trust and surrender to Him, we, in reality, cannot fully trust and surrender to the Father and the Son, as well.  If we, collectively, cannot yield the reins of our corporate life and gatherings to the Holy Spirit, then we, in actuality, are wresting the reins from both the Father and the Son.  Brothers and sisters, this ought not to be!  It is time that we “unbox” the Wind that the Father and the Son may once again have Their way in Their Church.

For all the good that we think we may be doing by keeping everything in a nice, neat BOX, we must never, ever, forget that…

“Wind DIES in a box.”

Related:
The Holy Spirit
The Headship of Christ in the Gathering of the Church
The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit – by R. A. Torrey (free audiobook)
The Full Blessing of Pentecost – by Andrew Murray (free audiobook)