God as the Holy Spirit
Our triune God is mighty. It can be challenging to wrap our heads around this idea of the Godhead, that God is 3 in 1. Each Person of the Godhead has His own unique role. And in Jesus’ prayer in John 17 we see the glory of all parts of the Godhead.
I just want to start off clarifying that I am not trying to say that God is a woman. God does not have a body, nor does He have a gender. He transcends all of that. He is consistently referred to in the Bible as Heavenly Father, not heavenly mother.
But, what I do want to point out is that there are places in the Bible where God describes Himself in motherly terms (Hosea 11: 3-4; Deuteronomy 32:18; Isaiah 42: 14; Isaiah 49:15; Isaiah 66:13). John Bevere and John Eldredge have done in depth studies on the Holy Spirit being very motherly in nature. As I pointed out 2 weeks ago, our triune God is God the Father and mirrored that with our earthly fathers; last week I wrote about God the Son and mirroring relationships with people; and this week I will touch on God the Holy Spirit.
“Can a women forget her nursing child, And not have compassion on the son of her womb? Surely they may forget, yet I will not forget you.”
Genesis 1: 27 tell us that both males and females are made in God’s image. The way that men are warriors and providers are parallel to the nature of God the Father. The way that women nurture, want to be delighted in- and want to be wanted is parallel to the nature of God the Father. The nature of our genders is truly found in Him.
If you’ve ever experienced deep pain and grief, and have found yourself utterly weeping in the arms of God, then you are experiencing the comfort, sensitivity, care, and love of God the Father through the nurturing caress of the Holy Spirit. It’s in those moments when we see the glory of our triune God in our sorrow, for He is there and He cares.
In John 17, we see HIS glory as Father, HIS glory as Son, and HIS glory through us by way of the Holy Spirit. We see our glorified God is unified, and we see how much our God loves humanity. Right up until the time Jesus was to be arrested, He was praying for us to be unified, like the Godhead is unified.
Our relationship with our earthly fathers often affects our view of God the Father. Our relationship with people often affects our view God the Son. And we see in the nature of the Holy Spirit, the aspects of a mother. All of these aspects require the spirit of unity within the church and within our families in order for proper function. God is in relationship with Himself and He makes it possible for us to be in relationship with Him and others by His love. And, He gives us mirroring relationships: earthly fathers, people, and our mothers to draw us into relationship with Him and to have a better understanding of Him.
Happy Friday!