Daily Friendship with God #2 Baptism/Immersed in the Holy Spirit and Fire

Luke 3:16 - John answered, saying to all, “I indeed baptize you with water; but One mightier than I is coming, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

When John said He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and Fire John was talking about Jesus being the one that will baptize them with the Holy Spirit and Fire.  In Matthew chapter 3 Jesus was baptized  

When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”  (Matthew 3:16-17)

The following is a deeper hebraic teaching concerning the an understanding of Please take note that the phrase  states “He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him.” This tells us that the Spirit of God was upon Jesus at the point that He was baptized. The word “upon” is of great significance and will be discussed in detail in order to explain exactly what the Baptism of the Holy Spirit is.  The baptism of Jesus in Matthew 3 was very specific in the Jewish culture at that time. Jesus was 30 years old and that was the point that a Jewish man could be baptized in order to become a rabbi/teacher. It was a launching point for public ministry/service. When a follower of Jesus is baptized they are like Jesus making an open display that they are now available to be used publicly by God for the ministry that He has called them to. The passage below clearly tell us as followers of Jesus the primary ministry we are all called to.  

Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation (2 Corinthians  5:18) 

To accomplish the ministry of reconciliation every follower of Jesus needs the upon empowering of the Holy Spirit which is known as the baptism of the Holy Spirit. To understand the meaning of being baptized in fire we first must understand what fire meant to the Jewish people in the day of Jesus. Fire represented the word of God, because God spoke to Moses through a bush that was on fire. “…the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush… Then He (The LORD) Said..” as noted in Exodus chapter 3. The Hebrew word for Fire is אֵשׁ and is pronounced “aysh”. It is comprised of two Hebrew letters aleph and Shin. The basic meaning of the Aleph is “powerful” and the Shin is “consume” or “devour”. This coincides with the following scriptures. For our God is a consuming fire. (Hebrews 12:29) and The voice of the LORD is powerful; (Psalm 29:4). When a person consumes something they do so by immersing it into the place they speak words from which is their mouth. The mouth is the place that contains the tongue. Psalm 30:27e states: And (the LORD) His tongue is like a devouring fire. 

Thus being baptized into fire means you are immersed into the word of God. 

“Is not My word like a fire?” says the LORD (Jeremiah 23:29)

Jesus is known as the Word of God according to John 1:1, 14-15 .

The refining pot is for silver and the furnace(of fire) for gold. (Proverbs 17:3) 

When two metals are melted together by fire they become one metal. For instance when copper and zinc are melted together they become brass. When zinc is melted together with copper the copper is strengthened by the zinc. Therefore the weaker metal is made stronger by being joined to the stronger metal. The way this happens is by fire that unites them when they are melted together. The baptism into fire is the work of God in the life of the believer by which the weaker person(humanity) is united to the stronger Person (God) in order to make the weaker person(humanity) stronger and more powerful than they could be on their own. 

 “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 fire. (Matthew 3:11, Luke 3:16)

 “I (John the Baptist) did not know Him (Jesus), but He (God) who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘Upon whom you see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.' (John 1:33)

“for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” (Acts 1:5)

This all makes it clear that the topic of being baptized in the Holy Spirit is something that John the Baptist and Jesus both said would happen to those that follow Jesus. The Holy Spirit is in relationship with each person in at least one of three ways. The three ways are “with” “in” or “upon” and Jesus spoke concerning each of the three ways that the Holy Spirit is in relationship with each person. Jesus referred to the Holy Spirit by calling Him the Spirit of Truth as noted in John 14.

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 Greek word for “with” means along side you. Next the word in the Greek for in you means just what it states meaning that the Holy Spirit in the future will live inside of you. 

These Greek words are very important when it comes to understanding the baptism of the Holy Spirit. In addition there is another word “upon” that relates to the relationship the the Holy Spirit can have with any individual that knows God personally. The word “upon” is used in Acts 1:8 (as well as in  Luke 4:18, Acts 8:16, acts 10:44, and Acts 19:6). 

“But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” (Acts 1:8)

The key Greek word in that verse which must be understood is the word for “upon”. The Greek word is “epi” and it means of position on or upon "to come upon," or, of time. 

If we take the three different Greek words and apply them to what Jesus said about the Holy Spirit we can see that the Holy Spirit:

1)     He first is “with”. To be alongside of a person to point the person to Jesus. (John 14:16-17)

2)     He second dwells “In”. To come inside a person to bring security to the individual (John 14:17, Ephesians 4:30). 

3)    He comes “upon” To give power to be a witness of Jesus as Lord (Acts 1:8) 

There are some key phrases that are used which all have the baptism of the Holy Spirit with in them. 

1)    “come upon” (Acts 1:8)

2)    “Received the Holy Spirit” (John 20:22, Acts 8:15,17)

3)    “Fallen upon” (Acts 8:16)

4)    “Filled” (Acts 2:4, Ephesians 5:18) 

5)    “Gift of God” (Acts 8:20)

Now when the apostles who were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them, who, when they had come down, prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit.  For as yet He had fallen upon none of them. They had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.  Then they laid hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit. (Acts 8:14-17)

In the definition of the word “received” it has in it the word that Jesus used in Acts 1:8, which is the word “upon”. With the idea of the understanding also of a person having their hand taken to be used, thus relating it to the baptism of the Holy Spirit. To be used by God the Holy Spirit must empower you this is all related to being used by God to be a witness to Jesus, as noted below:  

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance 

to take with the hand, lay hold of, any person or thing in order to use it

to take upon one's self. A follower of Christ must have the Holy Spirit take them by the hand and lay hold of them in order to empower them to be a witness to Jesus as Lord. This is because “no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit”. (1 Corinthians 12:3)

In the verses that follow Acts 8:14-17 we will see that when they received the Holy Spirit there must have been a display of power just like Jesus said there would be in Acts 1:8  ““But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me…”

And when Simon saw that through the laying on of the apostles’ hands the Holy Spirit was given, he offered them money, saying, “Give me this power also, that anyone on whom I lay hands may receive the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 8:18)

It is obvious from the above passages that Simon wanted power which he noted that came as a result of the laying on of hands in order to receive the Holy Spirit’s power. Simon wanted the power to draw people to himself in order to make money. God made it clear through Peter that the power of the baptism of the Holy Spirit is not to be used for self-profit in any way. 

But Peter said to him, “Your money perish with you, because you thought that the gift of God (the baptism of the Holy Spirit) could be purchased with money! “You have neither part nor portion in this matter, for your heart is not right in the sight of God. Repent therefore of this your wickedness, and pray God if perhaps the thought of your heart may be forgiven you. “For I see that you are poisoned by bitterness and bound by iniquity”. (Act 8:20)

Acts 8 makes it clear that the result of the baptism of the Holy Spirit is for testifying and the preaching of the gospel. 

So when they had testified and preached the word of the Lord, they returned to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel in many villages of the Samaritans. (Acts 8:25)

This all directly correlates to Acts 1:8 when Jesus said  

 “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me”

I keep going back to Acts 1:8 because I have seen in my 30 years of ministry many churches and people who like Simon think that the Baptism or Power of the Holy Spirit is to be used for themselves in many ways. They use the Baptism or Power of the Holy Spirit to prove to themselves or others that they are valuable or even that they are powerful. How sad that is because the Power of the Holy Spirit on a person is not their power it is God’s Power even though many people will say things about people that they see displaying the power of the Holy Spirit like “wow he is so powerful” or “she is a powerful profit”. When people do this they are not giving the Glory to God they are pointing to the person that is just a vessel which the Holy Spirit is empowering to be a witness to Jesus. When we see the power of the Holy Spirit on a person we should acknowledge and glorify God not the person.

Ultimately the display of the power of the Holy Spirit through a person is to be a witness to Jesus and the Good news of the Power of the Gospel which is the power of salvation as noted in Romans 1:16. All the power of the baptism of the Holy Spirit is displayed to show people who Jesus is. It is the union of God with man in order for man to know what Jesus has accomplished on their behalf in dying for the sin that would condemn them, burying it and leaving it in the grave to set them free from it. The baptism of the Holy Spirit is the power to make known God’s power to  rise from the dead to prove that He alone has the power over sin and death. Not only that but the best part is He did all that so each person that believes and accepts those truths can enter into a personal relationship with God which brings about entrance into His life which is eternal. That is the simple Gospel which is the power of God unto salvation that we are to be a witness of by the power of the baptism of the Holy Spirit.  Jesus told His followers the following concerning rejoicing about the power of the Holy Spirit being displayed through them.

 “Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven.” (Luke 10:20)

Every act of power that comes from the baptism of the Holy Spirit is to be a witness unto Christ Jesus (whether to the believers or unbelievers). Many people will have the Spirit upon them and see the power of God displayed through them in signs like words of knowledge, healings and emotional encounters with other people. Next they go to others in the church and give testimony of what happened. This is good to stir up love and good deeds in order to build others faith to do the same. At the same time as good as that is, it is not the main reason that the display of the power of the baptism of the Holy Spirit occurs. We must always go back to God’s word to understand what it states as our guideline for living the life of Christ. This brings us back to the reason for the baptism of the Holy Spirit, which is to empower people to be a witness of God’s love through the gospel of Jesus (Acts 1:8). The display of the power of the Holy Spirit to be a witness can manifest in many different ways which are noted in many different places in the Bible. I have included one resource which is called “THE HOLY SPIRIT IN THE BOOK OF ACTS”. In this you will see the activities of the Holy Spirit in order to learn more about how the Holy Spirit manifested His power. This will help to understand the many facets of how Jesus followers are to be a witness to Jesus. Jesus said the following concerning our heavenly Fathers desire to give the Holy Spirit.

How much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him? (Luke 11:13) 

Ephesians 5:18 tells us that God desires for us to experience the baptism of the Holy Spirit continually.  Luke tells us that it is the pleasure of God the Father to give us the overflowing power of the Holy Spirit buy just asking Him to do so. So ask God to baptize you and immerse you in the love and power of the Holy Spirit in order that you will be a witness to the gospel Jesus. Next expect God to give you the power to tell others about the love of God everywhere you Go. This leads us to the next topic of Daily Friendship with God which is #3 The Trinity.