BAPTISM WITH FIRE

 

KEY VERSES: ¹¹ 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 Ghost (KJV) and fire. ¹² His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire” (Mat 3:11-12; NKJV) 

  I used the New King James Version for clarity, but retained the original King James Version, “Holy Ghost” because the death of Jesus was the baptism of Living Water (John 7:38) that reads, “He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.” I revert to the King James Version there. Is the proper word “belly” or “heart” as is written in the NKJV? I believe “belly” is correct because most often koilia is translated “belly” or “womb” and they are the same thing. We think of the womb as the uterus, but it is the entire abdominal cavity.

  Why is the translation of koilia so important? “But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water” (John 19:34) and “This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth” (1 John 5:6). Examine one more passage:

⁷ For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. ⁸ And there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one. (1 John 5:7-8)

  Now take a deep breath. The Holy Ghost of Jesus has bodily shape (Luke 3:22). The Holy Spirit of Jesus had bodily shape as Nebuchadnezzar saw him in the fiery furnace (Dan 3:25). The specific Holy Spirit that resided in Jesus and experienced death on the Cross was recognized as the Ghost of Jesus. A “Ghost” because after Jesus died, His Ghost was the Spirit of a dead man.

  At the creation, “the Spirit of God moved upon the face of waters” Where “face” is translated, another appropriate translation is the “person of waters” (Gen 1:2). The point there is that the “Person” of God is Jesus, and the “Spirit of God” that moved on the waters is Jesus Christ. It is He who is the “Water of Life” or “Living Water.”

  Who bears witness in heaven? The Father, the Word (of Jesus), and the Holy Ghost of Jesus. John identified the Holy Trinity as three in one, and described them as water, blood, and Spirit.

  Water alone will not do for preservation; it must be by the water and the blood. The water represents the Holy Ghost, and the Blood represents the Person of Jesus. Both experienced death on the Cross; however, the body of Jesus died but the Spirit of Jesus lived on in His Holy Ghost. Water baptism is not what the Baptism of Jesus means. Jesus never baptized with water; only John, John’s followers, and the followers of Jesus. Jesus baptized with the Holy Ghost — His very own “Living Water” that would flow from Him to the sinner to redeem.

  “Belly” or “womb” is important because when mankind was created, God breathed life unto Adam, and out of His belly (not rib), flowed Living Water into Eve and gave her life. It can be assumed that Adam supplied the blood and water to give life unto Eve, and we know that God’s breath, His Holy Spirit, was the Spirit of Jesus giving life from the “Belly” of God.

  The Baptism of John was with water, but the baptism of Jesus was baptism of the Holy Ghost. There are two baptisms and two alone. The Baptism of John was for repentance for the remission of sins (Mark 1:4) but the Baptism of Jesus was for the remission of sins. They are remitted by washing with Living Water (the Holy Ghost of Jesus) just as at the generation; so it also applies to regeneration. Hence, “born again” is a the beginning of re-genesis. 

  No water was used for generating Adam, only the Breath of God into the person Adam. Therefore, out of Adam’s belly flowed God’s Spirit, water, and blood into Eve just as Jesus said to the “Eve” at the well. It would not be her “Adam” (husband) from whose belly she received living waters, but by the Blood and Living Water of Jesus!

  Baptism is a representation of the old, used Adam’s transformation back into the brand-new Adam. That act is not what changes the person, but the cleansing of the Holy Ghost of Jesus, just as Matthew wrote in the key verses. What does fire have to do with baptism? “There appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost” (Acts 2:3-4). The appearance of the Ghost of Jesus was no longer manifested in bodily shape, but as fire. The Holy Ghost of Jesus had the appearance of fire. In other words, the Holy Ghost of Jesus looked like God the Father. God did not appear as flesh or as water, but a cleansing fire.

  We learned from the deluge of Noah’s time that water was not efficacious for perfect salvation because Noah and his sons still sinned afterward, as did all mankind. Only fire has that total cleansing effect: “I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast” (Rev 15:2) and “And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death” (Rev 20:14). 

  It is not water which cleanses from all sins, but a “sea” mingled with fire, not only with water. Why is death gain as Paul wrote? The second death is when death and hell is destroyed by fire; not by water as in the first death in Noah’s time. 

  Tomorrow I will write about the significance of “sandals” in the key verses.

(picture credit: Shutterstock)

 

Tomorrow I will write about the significance of “sandals” in the key verses.