How is the Holy Spirit like a fire?

Further, we read, "There appeared to them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them" (ver. 3). The Spirit of God had fallen upon Jesus like a dove, emblem of His own gentle and beautiful character, of whom it is said, "He shall not strive, nor cry; neither shall any man hear his voice in the streets" (Matt. 12:19). Here the sign and form of His appearance was totally different. The cloven tongues meant testimony — the power of God in testimony — the word in testimony — that carries everything before it, just like fire which destroys and judges all that comes in its way. And it was not merely a tongue, but each one divided into many, which sat on each disciple. The idea was this — the Spirit of God was there; the testimony of God in grace was no more to be confined to the Jew, but was to go out to the ends of the earth. The Gentile must hear "the wonderful works of God," no less than the once favoured Jew. The mission of grace which flows from Christ's new position must go out indiscriminately. The fire meant the judgment of what did not suit a holy God. The tongues as of fire set forth God's intolerance of evil. In the sacrifice of the cross all evil had been judged; similarly now what did not suit God and the claims of His holiness was to be condemned. "Fire" is always in Scripture the testing which God's holiness necessarily demands.

The Holy Spirit’s descent was accompanied by a sound of a rushing mighty wind, which filled the house where the disciples were assembled. Cloven tongues like as of fire sat upon each of them. The sound would set forth the irresistible power of the Holy Spirit, the permeating power of His presence. “The cloven tongues like as of fire,” speaks of the Holy Spirit calling for separation in heart and ways in the believers, who form the church of God. The cloven foot was one of the distinguishing features of the clean animals in the Old Testament dispensation. “Fire” speaks of the judgment of the flesh in the believer, and the Holy Spirit helping to this end. Separation from the world, and the judgment of the flesh are the two marks of the Christian walking in the Spirit. Alas! how much power is lost by world-bordering on the one hand and carnality on the other.

When God dealt with but one nation, He was pleased to use one language, the Hebrew tongue; but now His voice is to reach out to Gentiles as well as to Jews; hence the appearance of cloven tongues. We find also that they were "like as of fire." What does this imply? Simply that grace reigned through righteousness. There was that in man which called for judgment; and the cross had fully met it; there sin had been judged. This testimony was to be founded upon the cross, and therefore the cloven tongues "like as of fire."

There were other results. A sound was heard as of a rushing mighty wind; cloven tongues, like as of fire, sat on each disciple. Previously God had made His angels winds (Heb. 1:7, R.V.) and a flame of fire. If God desired to make some great wind blow in the souls of men, or some fire of zeal and enthusiasm to burn and glow, He brought it to pass by the service of His angels. But that was superseded at Pentecost by the gift of the Spirit. Henceforward He would be the origin of any mighty wind of God among the sons of men; He would be the author of any bright flame that God should kindle.

But the manner of the Spirit's coming was quite different in the two cases. Upon the Lord He came like a dove; the form in connection with the disciples was "cloven tongues like as of fire." Why the difference? He came upon the Lord Jesus in a form suited to the character of the blessed One Whom He was sealing. Christ was the meek and lowly One, not quenching the smoking flax, nor breaking the bruised reed. What more apt emblem of meekness than a dove? As for the disciples, they were to be witnesses as the Lord told them; hence tongues. They were cloven, for the testimony was not to be confined to the Jews, as in the day of Matt. 10 — though it was to them first, as we shall soon see — but it was to branch out to Gentiles also, "to all that are afar off, as many as the Lord our God shall call." The tongues were of fire, the usual symbol of divine holiness in judgment; for the testimony of God, while bringing blessing, nevertheless judges all before it, giving no quarter to all that is of fallen man.

But let none suppose from the fiery form that this is the baptism of fire spoken of by John the Baptist in Matt. 3. John said of Christ, "He shall baptise you with the Holy Ghost and with fire." To these words doubtless our Lord alludes in Acts 1:5, "John truly baptised with water, but ye shall be baptised with the Holy Ghost not many days hence"; but with marked omission of "and fire." If Matthew 3 be examined, it will be seen that the baptism of fire is judgment — "He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire." This is not yet; through God's longsuffering grace the baptism of the Spirit is an accomplished fact: the baptism of fire awaits another day.

But all this has a very practical side to it. If the fire has fallen upon the Sinless Victim for our salvation, fire must mark us as believers in the way of bringing us into moral accord in our lives with the will of God. This brings us to our second Scripture.

On the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit descended upon the believers, “there appeared to them cloven tongues as of FIRE and it sat upon each of them.” Here we get a plain intimation of the holiness of God’s indwelling the believer by the Spirit, that the Spirit is there to consume that which is of the flesh. This is done by bringing the believer into exercise by the Word and by the discipline of the Father to self judgment as to ways and things about us not worthy of God, refusing them in our lives, leaving the Spirit free to be engaged in His delightful occupation of guiding us into all truth.

We usually contrast the Spirit here seen as fire with the Spirit seen as a dove when it descended upon our Lord. There it signified purity; here it signifies judgment, not of course penal judgment, but in a judicial way. There was that in them which must come under judgment in order that what was of God might take precedence in their service for God. The Spirit taking a subjective place in them, must maintain what was holy in view of their being used to establish the truth of the Assembly in this world.

With the disciples it was different. The service to which they were called was chiefly testimony, and so, most fittingly, the Spirit of truth comes upon them as a tongue. The fire speaks of the holiness of God in judgment, and you will remember the Spirit's work in conviction included the judgment. But the beautiful part of it is that, if men bow now to the judgment of God and accept His salvation, they will be saved from judgment to come.

On the day of Pentecost ‘there appeared to them parted tongues, as of fire, and it sat upon each one of them’ (Acts 2:3). This sign accompanying the coming of the Holy Spirit shows two aspects of His operation: (i) the purifying effect through judgment of evil (fire); and (ii) the power for testimony (cloven tongues): not to the Jews only but also to Gentiles.

THE FORKED TONGUES WERE AS OF FLAME. It was in human words that the truth was to be spoken, but the truth was God's truth, and "our God is a consuming fire." The message was a message of grace, a glad evangel suited to the needs of a world, sinful, miserable and lost, but it came only as a result of God's righteous judgment of sin having been borne by the Holy Sin-bearer. The words were pure words "the word of righteousness." God proclaims the forgiveness of sins, but He does not tolerate sin; His gospel makes it exceeding sinful, so that those who heard that gospel and believed it did not think that sin was nothing, or at the worst something to be excused and winked at, but they were brought to deep repentance because of it. Like a flame of fire the word drove its way down into their consciences until in their horror of their own sin and with a sense of God's holiness they cried, "What shall we do?" This is the meaning of the tongues of flame.