I often find that Christians live largely in ignorance of who the Holy Spirit is and the relationship that he sustains to all who have come to faith in Jesus. There are two metaphors in the NT that portray how the Spirit relates to each of us, and I want to briefly explain them in this article.

The first metaphor or image is found in the words of John the Baptist. In John 1:33 he declares that whereas he baptizes people in water, there is one coming after him who will baptize you in/with the Holy Spirit. I assume most if not all of you have been baptized since you came to faith in Jesus. The one thing you should remember is what it felt like to be immersed in water. You got wet! Your clothes were drenched. Your hair was soaked. And when you stepped out of the baptistry you dripped wherever you walked.

In a similar way, John is saying that when you came to saving faith in Jesus you were immersed in the Holy Spirit. You were inundated with the presence and power of the Spirit. You got wet with the Spirit! He saturated your soul and body and mind and spirit and emotions and heart. You were baptized in the Spirit. He, not water, but his person and power were, so to speak, the element in which you were dunked! And as a result, you should drip with his presence and power wherever you go.

The second metaphor is just as graphic. Jesus himself was speaking to his disciples just before his ascension into heaven. And he said: “And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high” (Luke 24:49).

This time it isn’t a comparison with water but a comparison with getting dressed. To receive the Holy Spirit is likened unto or compared with putting on a shirt or a blouse or shoes or a winter coat and a scarf.

In the first metaphor, you are drenched with the Spirit. In the second, you are dressed with the Spirit. In one sense you are immersed in the Spirit and in another sense you are adorned with the Spirit. And of course, if we looked elsewhere in the NT we would read repeatedly about being filled with the Spirit. Dunked in his power. Dressed in his power. And perhaps most graphic of all, the Spirit is poured out and into you such that you are filled up to the full with his presence and power.

What you wear, physically speaking, often serves to identify who you are. When you see a man wearing a sweater vest your immediate reaction is to think that Sam Storms has just walked into the room. I am, either for good bad, identified with what I wear. Somewhat similarly, all of you are identified as children of God because you are clothed with the Spirit. He is what you wear, not just during the day when it is hot or during the night when it is cold, but every moment of every day and night. His presence and power in your life is what specifies for others and for yourself who you are and to whom you belong.

May God grant to each of us an increased awareness of and gratitude for all the Holy Spirit does in and through us for the glory of Jesus!