In Matthew 3:11, John said, “I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry, He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.”
John the Baptist was the forerunner of Jesus Christ and it was his responsibility to prepare the people for the coming of Christ. Four hundred years had passed since the last legitimate prophet had spoken to the Jewish nation. People were suspicious, so John had a very challenging mission. The people of John’s day probably had no idea what it meant, by the phrase “baptized with the Spirit.” Jesus didn’t speak of the baptism until He prepared to return to heaven. In Acts 1:4-5, we read “ And being assembled with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, “which,” He said, “you have heard from Me; 5 for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”
Jesus is referring to a series of conversations He had with his disciples just before His arrest. He promised to send the Holy Spirit after He departed. In John 14:16-17, He said, “And I will pray to the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.”
The late Charles Stanley said that the coming of the Holy Spirit (John 14) and the baptism of the Holy Spirit are the same. They are identical. His great concern is that people are interpreting scripture based on their experience rather than the other way.
So, let’s accept the fact that the word ‘baptize’ means to ‘submerge’ or ‘place within.’ If that is so then that is what happens at conversion. We are baptized, submerged, or placed within the church or body of Christ, by the Holy Spirit.
Not everyone sees the baptism of the Holy Spirit this way. Some believe they were baptized by the Holy Spirit when they spoke in tongues.
Once again, I draw upon the thoughts of Charles Stanley. He wrote, “Because this subject is somewhat controversial and divisive, I want to be as sensitive and clear as I can be. I was raised in a Pentecostal church. I have heard many people speaking in tongues. A lot of my family members do so. I believe it was a genuine gift and work of the Holy Spirit in the New Testament church. On the day of Pentecost (when the church was born) the Holy Spirit enabled them to communicate in other tongues or languages. The Greek word for tongues is similar to our word for dialect. It always means languages. The other Greek word for tongues is glassa and is never used outside the New Testament in any other writing to man, anything other than human language. The second chapter of Acts teaches that the apostles were speaking in other known languages to reach people who had assembled in Jerusalem. (vs. 4-12) I think it is interesting that Jesus mentioned tongues once and that was in Mark 16:15-18. He said to them, “You are to go to all the world and preach the Good News to every person. 16 He who puts his trust in Me and is baptized will be saved from the punishment of sin. But he who does not put his trust in Me is guilty and will be punished forever. 17 These special powerful works will be done by those who have put their trust in Me. In My name, they will put out demons. They will speak new languages they have never learned. 18 They will pick up snakes. If they drink any poison, it will not hurt them. They will put their hands on the sick and they will be healed.”
O for such an outpouring of the Holy Spirit on our Lord’s church today.
I will be covering this more fully in my series on the “Gifts of the Spirit.”
Let me close this meditation with this truth – the emphasis in the New Testament Church was evangelism and spiritual growth. Paul, in 1 Corinthians 2:2 wrote, “For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.” In Galatians 6:14 he wrote, “But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
So, be sure to be present when in the third message in the series I will delve more deeply into the subject of “Spiritual Gifts.”
God bless you,
Pastor Leonard
