But if we look carefully at Luke's words, we see that what filled the
house was not agitated air, or wind, but 'a sound as of wind.' The
language implies that there was no rush of atmosphere that lifted a
hair on any cheek, or blew on any face, but only such a sound as is
made by tempest. It suggested wind, but it was not wind. By that
first symbolic preparation for the communication of the promised
gift, the old symbolism which lies in the very word 'Spirit,' and had
been brought anew to the disciples' remembrance by Christ's words to
Nicodemus, and by His breathing on them when He gave them an
anticipatory and partial bestowment of the Spirit, is brought to
view, with its associations of life-giving power and liberty. 'Thou
hearest the sound thereof,' could scarcely fail to be remembered by
some in that chamber.

But it is not to be supposed that the audible symbol continued when
the second preparatory one, addressed to the eye, appeared. As the
former had been not wind, but like it, the latter was not fire, but
'as of fire.' The language does not answer the question whether what
was seen was a mass from which the tongues detached themselves, or
whether only the separate tongues were visible as they moved
overhead. But the final result was that 'it sat on each.' The verb
has no expressed subject, and 'fire' cannot be the subject, for it is
only introduced as a comparison. Probably, therefore, we are to
understand 'a tongue' as the unexpressed subject of the verb.

Clearly, the point of the symbol is the same as that presented in the
Baptist's promise of a baptism 'with the Holy Ghost and fire.' The
Spirit was to be in them as a Spirit of burning, thawing natural
coldness and melting hearts with a genial warmth, which should beget