What Does the Holy Spirit Look Like?
What does the Holy Spirit Look Like?
As you explore the Word of God, you will find that there is more to the Person of the Holy Spirit than we could ever possibly imagine. He’s colorful, lively, magnetic, and wonderful - I mean that literally. He’s filled with wonder.
And one of the many things I love about the Holy Spirit is His mysterious nature. The mystery surrounding the Holy Spirit is partly due to the fact that He primarily points to Jesus. Glorifying the Son, the Spirit removes the attention from Himself.
For example, 2 Peter 1:21 tells us that the Scriptures were inspired by the Holy Spirit. But have you ever noticed that we are never given the name of the Holy Spirit? The Holy Spirit inspired the writers of the Word to give us names for the Father and the Son, but, true to His humble nature, the Holy Spirit does not give us His name. Yes, we have terms for Him. Yes, we have titles for Him. But we don’t see His name. His name is not “Holy Spirit” - the Bible calls Him “The Holy Spirit.” So we have His title, but not His name.
Another point of mystery is the Holy Spirit’s appearance. The Bible gives us glimpses at the Father and the Son, but does the Bible mention anything about the Holy Spirit’s appearance? According to the Bible, what does the Holy Spirit look like?
At the baptism of Jesus, the Holy Spirit took on the physical appearance of a Dove. Matthew 3:16, Mark 1:10, and John 1:32 all describe the Holy Spirit descending upon Jesus like a dove. This cannot just be a metaphor, since all accounts are describing a physical sight in the exact same manner. Whatever form the Holy Spirit took, that form reminded witnesses of a dove. In fact, Luke’s gospel puts a finer point on it:
Luke 3:22
and the Holy Spirit, in bodily form, descended on him like a dove. And a voice from heaven said, “You are my dearly loved Son, and you bring me great joy.”
Looking now at the Old Testament, we see that Ezekiel the prophet had an encounter with a man of fire - fire being a symbol for the Holy Spirit.
Ezekiel 8:1-4, NASB
It came about in the sixth year, on the fifth day of the sixth month, as I was sitting in my house with the elders of Judah sitting before me, that the hand of the Lord God fell on me there. Then I looked, and behold, a likeness as the appearance of a man; from His loins and downward there was the appearance of fire, and from His loins and upward the appearance of brightness, like the appearance of glowing metal. He stretched out the form of a hand and caught me by a lock of my head; and the Spirit lifted me up between earth and heaven and brought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem, to the entrance of the north gate of the inner court, where the seat of the idol of jealousy, which provokes to jealousy, was located. And behold, the glory of the God of Israel was there, like the appearance which I saw in the plain
Imagine that. I love that the scripture tells us that the fiery being stretched out the form of a hand. In other words, Ezekiel saw the shape of a hand - the substance being not of flesh, but of fire. And what does Ezekiel call this fiery Being Who grabbed him by the lock of his head? Look at verse 3:
Ezekiel 8:3
“He stretched out the form of a hand and caught me by a lock of my head; and the Spirit lifted me up between earth and heaven...”
Ezekiel called this fiery being the “Spirit.” Ezekiel’s vision may very well have been of a physical appearance of the Holy Spirit Himself.