What is the Baptism of the Holy Spirit? Part 3
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This is the third instalment in my series in which I am actively
exploring what the nature of Holy Spirit baptism is, when it happens and
what it looks like; and I am taking you along on the ride. If you haven't read my first two articles, I strongly encourage you to do so so that you can follow along properly. I am building on foundations that are already laid, and jumping in in the middle of the series could leave you confused or misdirected.
In my first article, we looked at how the Bible talks about Holy Spirit baptism and we touched on Jesus' own Holy Spirit baptism. In my second article,
I presented the idea that there are two distinct aspects of our
relationship with the Holy Spirit; that which begins when we confess
faith in Jesus, which I referred to as the indwelling of the Holy
Spirit, and a second experience of Holy Spirit baptism which empowers
the Believer into better obedience to God. As I think that this topic of
a dual nature of Holy Spirit influence is worth further investigation,
that is what we will dig into in this article.
This is likely a foreign concept to many, and I will admit that I have never really thought about it like this before. I have always believed that we receive the Holy Spirit when we take the steps to accept the salvation that is available to all through the blood sacrifice of Jesus the Christ. I think that the Bible is pretty clear that, from that point onward, we do not walk the path of faith alone, and I will show that this is true according to the Scriptures.
But there is also evidence that there is a further depth of engagement with the Holy Spirit that is available to Believers, but we need to want it, and it requires active engagement to live in it. It is this depth of engagement with the Holy Spirit that I think empowered Jesus to do the things that He did, and He demonstrated what a life lived in this way can accomplish. Jesus told His disciples that "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father" (John 14:12). This is not just a word for His disciples, those who would lead the evangelism of the gospels and establish His church; He says that "he who believes in Me" will do the same things that Jesus did and more.
That's you, and that's me. So why
are we not doing as much as and even more than Jesus did? I posit that
it is because we have failed to learn how to live in the baptism by the
Holy Spirit. And I want to be clear that I place myself right there beside everybody else; just because I have come to the realization that this is necessary does not mean that I have figured out what it looks like. That is part of the journey that I am currently on.
I will first submit evidence to confirm that anybody who believes in Jesus will receive the Holy Spirit, because there are probably those out there who will find offence in the idea that they are not living under the influence of the Holy Spirit. That is not what I am stating; at least not entirely.
I am going to start in Acts 2:38-39. What we are about to look at occurs on the Day of Pentecost after the Holy Spirit has first come on the disciples in the upper room, which caused such a commotion that those who were outside in the street took notice. Peter has just finished his first sermon on the salvation that is available through the blood of Jesus, whom all the people will have known about, since it had occurred just a little while before, and it will have been a public spectacle.
Note
that Pentecost refers to 50 (49) days following the resurrection of
Jesus, so less than two months had lapsed between the death and
resurrection of Jesus and these happenings at Pentecost. Jesus had had a
powerful ministry of teaching and healing all around Israel and then
was killed in a dramatic, though not unheard of fashion, just outside the walls of Jerusalem during one of the Israelite feasts that drew untold multitudes to the city. So not even two
months later, when Peter stood up among the people and preached about
what the death and resurrection of Jesus meant, those who were there for
the sermon had a first person recollection of that which he was talking
about. In fact, there were likely many of the same people in Jerusalem
celebrating the Feast of Firstfruits at this time as there were in
Jerusalem celebrating the Passover just two months earlier.
After Peter relates how the happenings at Passover related to what the people had just witnessed with the coming of the Holy Spirit, "Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself."
This is the fulfillment of long ago prophecies that we read in Isaiah 44:3 and in Joel 2:28–29, 32. The Jews were anticipating that there would come a time when the Holy Spirit would come upon all of them in power, and not just for a short time. And what does Peter say is the impetus for receipt of the Holy Spirit? "Repent, and each of you be baptized in the
name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins". That is the extent of our part in receiving the Holy Spirit; believe and receive.
We see Paul stating the same thing in a number of his letters too. In his letter to the church in Ephesus, he writes, "In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, 14 who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory." (Ephesians 1:13-14). So we see both of the most prominent leaders of the church agreeing that upon the confession of faith in the saving nature of Jesus' sacrifice, we receive the Holy Spirit, sent "as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession". The Holy Spirit is our seal of approval for entry into eternity with God. Ephesians 4:30 confirms this; "Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption."
And again, in Paul's letter to the church in Rome, he states that, "However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him. 10 If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness. 11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you." (Romans 8:9-11). Paul testifies that the Holy Spirit will raise us up to be with God in the same way that the Holy Spirit raised up Jesus from the dead, the Firstfruits of humanity. And Paul also gives the counterpoint in the same letter, just two sentences earlier; "But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him."
So we have at least three passages of Scripture that confirm that when we enter into relationship with Jesus, claiming Him as our personal Saviour, we will receive the Holy Spirit, and He will dwell within us.
But...
"There is a difference between the baptism “with” or “in” the Holy Spirit. The Greek preposition is en and it may be translated either way. From a study of Scripture we find that Jesus Christ is the baptizer and the Holy Spirit is the means, or the sphere, into which the believer is baptized. In other words, people are either baptized “by” or “with” the Holy Spirit (means) or they are baptized “in” or “into” the Holy Spirit Himself (sphere)." [a]
I had to read that statement several times to make sure that I was understanding it properly, and I encourage you to do the same if you need to. If we jump over the explanation of the Greek language, what this is saying is that there is a difference between having the Holy Spirit living in us, as begins at the moment of our salvation, and us operating within the "sphere", or the influence of the Holy Spirit. And this is the crux of my argument.
Like so many things in the Bible, there is a duality in the nature how the Holy Spirit works in us. As I mentioned at the beginning of this article, the coming of the Holy Spirit into us at the moment of confession is, in my mind, best described as the "indwelling" of the Holy Spirit; He is the witness of our decision and the seal of redemption. This is the first nature.
The second nature is the empowerment of God's people to accomplish His will, and this is the second experience of our relationship with the Holy Spirit. This second experience is one that too many Believers never experience. It is manifested in the exercise of spiritual gifts, as opposed to the displaying of the fruits of the Spirit.
Here I want to look back to the "Introduction to Christian Theology" that I occasionally refer to in my writings. H.Orton Wiley S.T.D. and Paul T. Culbertson Ph. D, spend some time talking about the person and the work of the Holy Spirit. On pages 251 and 252, they state that, "The Holy Spirit...ministers in two distinct though related fields - that of the fruit of the Spirit, and that of the gifts of the Spirit." "The fruit of the Spirit is the communication to the individual of the graces flowing from the divine nature, and has its issue in character rather that in special qualifications for service." "The gifts of the Spirit...are gifts of grace. They are the divinely ordained means and powers with which Christ endows His Church in order to enable it to properly perform its task on earth." "The gifts of the Spirit are supernatural endowments for service, and are determined by the character of the ministry to be accomplished. They are vital to the successful achievement of the mission of the Church. Such gifts are distributed as the Spirit wills. They are related to, but distinguished from, natural gifts and abilities. Not all members of the Church are similarly endowed. There is a diversity of gifts in the Church (1 Cor. 12:29-30). These divine bestowments upon individual members determine their functions in the body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:21-25), and constitute essential factors in the spiritual progress of the Church in every age." [b].
I want to point to two particular parts of the above quotations, that being that the gifts of the Spirit "are vital to the successful achievement of the mission of the Church", "and constitute essential factors in the spiritual progress of the Church in every age."
I can't help but consider what the world might look like if Believers were, first of all, aware of the call to be baptized by the Holy Spirit, and second, were actually living that way. It is my position that God does not work on a timeline, but rather the sequence of events. He does not look at the world and watch as things progress according to the march of time as we experience it. Rather, I believe that God moves and acts in line with events that happen on earth. His plan proceeds according to "when this happens, then that will begin" rather than, "on this date, this thing will happen".
If I am right about this, then the church living under the baptism by the Holy Spirit could theoretically push back the second coming of Christ indefinitely. If the church was operating as it should, we would be constantly pushing evil back and containing it's effects on humanity. God destroyed the world with a flood when the evil had become too widespread to contain anymore; all of creation was about to be lost, so God had to intervene. I believe that these are the same conditions that God is watching for before Jesus returns. It is God's will that none should perish (2 Peter 3:9), but there will come a time when the last possible person that can still choose Jesus either chooses or rejects Him, and then the end will come.
Following this line of reasoning, it is the fault of the church that this world has become what it is today. Hosea 4:6 tells us that "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge." There is a chance that our lack of understanding about living directly under the leading and the guiding of the Holy Spirit, and therefore our failures to teach others about this way of living, has doomed the world to the fate that the Scriptures have foretold. And as the world is doomed to it's fate, we are all doomed to live under the heavy thumb of the persecution that will come first.
I didn't intend for this article to get so heavy, but does my thinking not track, based on Scripture? God has provided a means for us to live in such a way that we could have been positively affecting the world around us, just like Jesus did; just as He told us we could do. We have failed to recognize this baptism, this way of living in power, and because of this first failure, we have failed to teach others the same, and we have failed to affect the world towards God.
Time has not lapsed yet, though. It may be too late for the vast majority of the world, but it is not too late for your home, your church and your community. Paul warns us in 1 Thessalonians 5:19, "Do not quench the Spirit;". To quench means to take an active role in stopping or suppressing. The Spirit desires to move, but He needs those who are willing to become vessels for Him.
If you have read this article and you receive what I have written, then you are now aware of what the Holy Spirit desires of you. You have the choice of what happens next. In Luke 11:13, we read Jesus' words to us; "If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?” This passage follows the familiar passage that we read in verses 9-10; "“So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks, receives; and he who seeks, finds; and to him who knocks, it will be opened." We have the promise that we will receive what we seek, but we have a responsibility. We need to ask, seek, knock.
But you need to be prepared for the outcome of the request. It is entirely possible that God is waiting for that request from you in order to change your life in ways that you have never expected. Acts 1:8
records Jesus' words, as reported by Luke, as He tells His disciples what they can expect when the Helper comes; "but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and
you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and
even to the remotest part of the earth." You may be sent to places that you haven't even considered. It may mean world travel, or it may mean going to the roughest part of your city. You may live right in the remotest part of the earth and God is just waiting for you to answer His call.
Do you have the guts to say to Him that you are ready to accept the baptism by the Holy Spirit?
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