TULIP GEMS

“But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.”  (2 Peter 3:18)

THE WIND AND THE SPIRIT

“The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is BORN OF THE SPIRIT.”   (John 3:8)

The Spirit of God is SOVEREIGN.  Like the wind, He moves where and when and how He pleases.  Like the wind, man cannot regulate him, nor does He ask man for permission to move. 

Like the wind, the Spirit of God can be neither harnessed nor hindered.  So close is the likeness of the Spirit to the wind, that the SAME WORD is used for BOTH Spirit and wind -- in BOTH Hebrew (ruach) AND Greek (pneuma). 

Sometimes the wind moves very gently, with hardly a rustle.  Sometimes it blows harder, moving leaves and branches.  Sometimes it roars with great fury -- as in a tornado or hurricane.  It's sound can be heard and its results seen from miles away. 

So it is with the Spirit of God in the new birth.  With some of the elect, He deals so gently that His work is almost imperceptible to other people. 

With others of His chosen, His work is so powerful and radical that His action in that person's life is obvious to many.  The difference in that person BEFORE and AFTER their new birth is like the difference between night and day.

Such was the case of Saul of Tarsus (Paul).  He was on his way to persecute Christians in Damascus when converted to Christ.  He then began to preach the faith he once destroyed.  He later compared his calling to his physical birth and attributed both to the power of God.

“But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by his grace,”   (Galatians 1:15)

“Sometimes the wind is purely local in its reach, at other times wide-spread in its scope.  So it is with the Spirit: today He acts on one or two souls, tomorrow He may, as at Pentecost, 'prick in the heart' a whole multitude.”   -- Arthur W. Pink

The new birth is known by different figures of speech in the Bible.  It is sometimes termed a “circumcision of the heart”, a “new heart” with God's Law written on it, “regeneration”, a  “sanctification (setting apart) of the Spirit” and a spiritual “quickening” (making alive).

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