Quenching the Spirit is to bring about injustice; for "He (the Holy Spirit), when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment;” [John 16:8] and Christ spoke, “The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify about it that its works are evil.” [John 7:7] To quench the Spirit is to hold back the Words of the Lord, to smother a burning wick; as the Psalmist said,
I said, “I will guard my ways,
Lest I sin with my tongue;
I will restrain my mouth with a muzzle,
While the wicked are before me.”
I was mute with silence,
I held my peace even from good;
And my sorrow was stirred up.
My heart was hot within me;
While I was musing, the fire burned. [Psalm 39]
Or as Jeremiah the prophet said, as he was refusing to speak,
For whenever I speak, I cry out, I shout, “Violence and destruction!” For the word of the LORD has become for me a reproach and derision all day long.
If I say, “I will not mention him, or speak any more in his name,” there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I am weary with holding it in, and I cannot. [Jeremiah 20:9]
So fire smothered and held in, burns. And it’s unjust because evil must be rebuked and rendered good through judgement; however,
He who winks his eyes does so to devise perverse things; He who compresses his lips brings evil to pass. [Proverbs 16:30]
As the Apostle of the Lord says,
Do not quench the Spirit; [1 Thessalonians 5:19]
And what does the Father say?
Who will stand up for me against evildoers? Who will take his stand for me against those who do wickedness? [Psalm 94:16]
A prophet is one who “bubbles up” the words of the Lord from within. The confession of Christ is life; for “with the mouth one confesses and is saved.” [Romans 10:10] And it says, “The water that I will give to him will become in him a spring of water, bubbling up into life eternal.“ [John 4:14] Or even it says, “The words of a man’s mouth are deep waters; the fountain of wisdom is a bubbling brook.“ [Proverbs 18:4]
“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,” (Romans 1:18) and the fire is unquenchable of hell for they who quench; but salvation is for they who confess.