98 GOOD MORNING, HOLY SPIRIT
have never considered it possible for the Holy Spirit to
make His own decisions. He certainly can, but His
decisions are always in harmony with the Father's and the
Son's. Speaking of spiritual gifts, Paul wrote, "One and the
same spirit works all these things, distributing to each one
individually as He wills" (1 Cor. 12:11). In other words, the
Holy Spirit makes the decision.
Doves and Lambs
It is the question of the "body" of the Holy Spirit that
causes much confusion. A man recently said to me,
"Benny, the body of the Holy Spirit is really that of a dove.
That's how He descended from Heaven." I replied, "If that's
true, then you must believe that Jesus was really a little
lamb. That's how He is presented in Revelation."
In the book of the Revelation John the apostle heard an
elder say, "Do not weep. Behold, the Lion of the tribe of
Juda... has prevailed" (Rev. 5:5). He turned, expecting to
see a roaring lion, and instead he saw a gentle lamb that had
been slain. Now Jesus went to heaven with a physical body,
with nailprints in his hands. But the symbol John saw was a
lamb. Why? The lamb symbolized the Lamb of God—Jesus
Christ.
The Holy Spirit was seen by Jesus immediately
following His baptism: "the heavens were opened to Him,
and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and
alighting upon Him" (Matt. 3:16). Just as the Father and the
Son can be seen, so can the Holy Spirit. But His descent as
a beautiful dove does not mean that He flies around in
heaven like a dove. Nor does Jesus walk around heaven
with the body of a lamb.
In Revelation the Holy Ghost was seen again as "seven
lamps" of blazing fire (Rev. 4:5). If the Spirit came as a
dove in Matthew, you can't expect Him to have a body