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Images of the Holy Spirit 2
Thursday 8 May 2008
Next Sunday is Pentecost Sunday and this is my second blog about images of the Holy Spirit used in the Bible. The prophet Malachi predicts the coming of God’s messenger in terms of refining fire, and this picture is picked up in the New Testament. John the Baptist said that Jesus would baptise with the Holy Spirit and with fire. Maybe the tongues of flame at Pentecost were intended to signify the Spirit’s refining activity.
Another image is oil. In the Old Testament, anointing with oil was a sign that God had chosen someone for a particular task. In this way, priests or kings were set apart for God’s service. The Bible tells us that Jesus was ‘anointed’ by the Spirit and Christians take this to be true of the followers of Jesus who have been called to special tasks. I will conclude this series of three blogs tomorrow.
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