He shall Baptize you with the Holy Ghost – Matthew 3:11-12

 I was surprised to find how complicated some Bible commentators want to make these verses. I don’t want to confuse you with all their jabbering, so I won’t go into their words very far. Considering the elements that we find here, for the most part this seems pretty straight forward. “Baptism” speaks of immersion – John immersed in water those who were repentant. But it was impossible to compare the ministry of John with upcoming ministry of the Lord Jesus – who was so much mightier than John. Christ would eventually immerse people in or with the Holy Ghost and with fire. Some commentators talk about Jesus’ baptism being the preaching of the gospel. Others say that it is the purifying ministry of the Holy Spirit. What some of these people forget to do is to consider the context. I think that verse 10 is talking about the final judgment. “And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.” And verse 12, as I said this morning, is talking about the final judgment as well. Under those conditions, I’m going to assume that the fire if this verse is still speaking about judgment.

But there is something else that John is saying – the Messiah is greater than I. I baptize with water, but He shall baptize in a more important element – the Holy Spirit. Christ will judge the world immersing the wicked in flaming fire, taking vengeance on those who know not God. And also in another unique act He will immerse in the Holy Spirit. What is this baptism of the Holy Ghost? For that I think we need to bring in the other scriptures which talk about this.

Very early in my ministry, when we were still in Lethbridge, Alberta, a woman asked me, “Have you been baptized by the Spirit?” How would you answer that question, if it was posed to you? Would you answer: “Yes, the day I was saved I was baptized into the body of Christ by Spirit of the Lord?” Would you say, “Yes, years ago I attended a little country church and was baptized by the Spirit, and I spoke in tongues?” Would you say, “Yes, I am currently filled with the Spirit?” Or would you say, “No, I’ve never been baptized by the Spirit, nor do I want to be or ever expect to be?” What would you say?

This subject was first brought up as a prophesy of Joel. Joel 2:28 – “It shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit. And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the LORD hath said, and in the remnant whom the LORD shall call.” Isn’t it interesting that the context of Joel’s prophecy is the same as the context of John’s prophecy?

You could say that John refers to three kinds of baptism. They are all different: one is figurative, one is historical and one is practical. Water baptism is a subject that most real Baptists understand pretty well. It is the immersion of a child of God in water, in order to depict his new life in the living Christ. It is a picture of the death, burial and resurrection of the Saviour. But what is this fire baptism? As I’ve already said, I believe that it refers to the judgment of God. The baptism with fire is not the same thing as baptism of the Holy Ghost. The only reason that they are mentioned together is because they have the same Administrator. John came baptizing in water, but Christ would baptize with the Spirit and with judgment.

But again what is this baptism of the Holy Spirit? We certainly have no clear declaration of its fulfillment before Calvary. In John 20:22, Jesus breathed on His disciples the Holy Spirit, But there isn’t a word about this being the important baptism that John described, And there weren’t any of the spectacular effects that Joel described. And then Acts 1:5 distinctly says that the Baptism of the Spirit would take place in just a few more days. “John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.“

Since the Lord made the same comparison between water baptism and Spirit baptism as John did…

Let’s make some parallels between them to help us understand Spirit baptism.I believe that there are four requirements necessary for water baptism to be scriptural: There must be a proper administrator, proper recipient, proper purpose and proper procedure. In other words, only someone truly born-again by the power of the Holy Spirit should be baptized. Today, only a scriptural New Testament church has the authority from God to baptize. It can only be by immersion in water because immersion is the meaning of the word “baptizo.” And it is with the purpose of illustrating the new life that is in Christ Jesus. Now, can I be so bold as to say that the same four requirements are true for any kind of baptism? Matthew 3:11 says that the Administrator of this Spiritual baptism is not Holy Spirit but Christ; The Holy Spirit is the substance, the element, into which the recipient is immersed. And “immersed” is again the right word, because that is the meaning of the word “baptize.” That leaves us with the questions of “who” and “why.”

Of course, if Calvary Independent Baptist church ever baptizes a cuddly little baby, it will prove that it has already ceased to be a New Testament church. Only a person who rationally and actually receives Christ as Saviour is a proper subject for baptism. Similarly, Spirit baptism is restricted as well. In Acts 1, the Lord Jesus said, “YE shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.” To whom was He speaking? Compare verse 4 with verse 15 and then move on to Acts 2:1. This is not a loosely assembled mob or crowd. This is a numbered and organized group of disciples of Christ called “a church.” They were the same group commanded to evangelize the world in verse 8. They were the people who elected Mathias to succeed Judas Iscariot as one of the apostles. They were included in the group to whom the Baptist spoke. It was the church of Christ in Jerusalem, established by the Lord during his earthly ministry. And Jesus told this church, “Not many days from now YOU will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”

What was our question? Who was baptized on the day Pentecost? Did the baptism of the Spirit fall on two Christians in Damascus, four in Jerusalem, and six in Post Falls? Did it come on a dozen worshipers of the Queen of heaven? No sir, this immersion fell on the church of Jesus Christ as a unit. Nowhere in God’s Word do we ever find a command for individuals to seek the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Nowhere will you read a promise that God will so baptize us. It never was, nor is, nor ever shall be an individual blessing.

WHAT HAPPENED on the day of Pentecost when Christ baptized with the Holy Ghost?The church at Jerusalem (the number of names of which were an 120) were assembled as commanded. They were united in prayer, doctrine, faith and even administration. And then the Holy Spirit at command of Christ engulfed the room. The Spirit filled the room and in so doing submerged the congregation in Himself. That answers the definition of baptism; they were immersed, enveloped, submerged. Later in Acts 11, Peter said, “When that happened we all knew that it was the fulfillment of Jesus’ words.” It was also a fulfillment of John’s prophecy here in Matthew 3.

Let me point out here some of the related events. Holy Spirit baptism is not the same thing as the filling of the Holy Spirit. The house was filled with the Spirit and in so doing the church was baptized. Acts 2 is linked together by a number of “ands” with verse 4 saying “AND they were all filled.” The filling of the Spirit is something individual and very important. But it is not the same thing as the baptism of the Holy Spirit. We are commanded to be filled, encouraged to be filled, and taught to be filled. But we are never commanded to seek the baptism of the Holy Spirit. And it’s important to realize that baptism of Holy Spirit has nothing directly to do with speaking in tongues. In the case of the day of Pentecost there were several miracles performed all at once. Miracles very rarely run in packs like this, but on that day they did. If all these miracles, the sound of wind, tongues of fire, and glossolalia were all were result of Spirit Baptism, and Spirit baptism takes place weekly in charismatic churches – as they say, then why don’t we hear and see the rest of the signs of Pentecost today? It is because all these gifts are individually wrapped and only incidentally related on this occasion. Speaking in tongues is not proof of the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

All right then, was his miracle of Spirit Baptism EVER REPEATED?Yes, it was, but only once, and then that at the home of Cornelius in Caesarea. You see, the baptism experienced Pentecost came on a Jewish congregation. Only Jews saw the miracles: spoke in foreign languages, and 3000 Jews were saved. The Holy Spirit endorsed the initial work of the church with undeniable evidence. But the commission of Christ was to evangelize the whole world.

Later, the apostle Peter was sent as a special missionary to a Gentile. Please turn to Acts 10:1 – “There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of the band called the Italian band, A devout man, and one that feared God with all his house, which gave much alms to the people, and prayed to God alway. He saw in a vision evidently about the ninth hour of the day an angel of God coming in to him, and saying unto him, Cornelius. And when he looked on him, he was afraid, and said, What is it, Lord? And he said unto him, Thy prayers and thine alms are come up for a memorial before God. And now send men to Joppa, and call for one Simon, whose surname is Peter.” Now look at verses 24 and 34. “And the morrow after they entered into Caesarea. And Cornelius waited for them, and had called together his kinsmen and near friends.” “Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons.” Now go down to verse 44: “While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word. And they of the circumcision which believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost. For they heard them speak with tongues, and magnify God. Then answered Peter, Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we? And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord. Then prayed they him to tarry certain days.”

What was his demonstration of the Holy Spirit? Again it was multifaceted. Was it His indwelling at salvation? Probably for some of those people it was, but that wasn’t the baptism of the Spirit. Was it His filling of those people? Apparently it was. But also, and unusually, it was His filling of the house where the people were gathered. When the Spirit filled the house, the people were submerged or baptized. verse 44. Later on the Peter explained everything in Acts 11:15-16. “And as I began to speak, the Holy Ghost fell on them, as on us at the beginning. Then remembered I the word of the Lord, how that he said, John indeed baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost.”

There was no question that Cornelius and the other Greeks were baptized in the Spirit, but why?

That leads us to I Corinthians 12:13, a verse often misused and misunderstood.“For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, Whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.”

The theme of Acts 10 and I Corinthians 12 are the same – God unites diversities. Part of the problem in Caesarea was that the Jews were not willing to accept the Greeks. Paul keeps emphasizing the same thing in this part of I Corinthians.

Verse 13 says that the church continues this unifying process through salvation and baptism. For being in one Spirit, we were immersed into the church of Corinth. There’s a heated debate about whether or not the word “Spirit” should be “Holy Spirit” or simply “attitude.” The answer is not as spectacular some people think, but I believe that refers to the Holy Spirit. And so did the translators of our King James Bible when they capitalized word “Spirit.” The key to understanding this verse is little word “by”. Remember that the promise was that the Lord Jesus would baptize “with” or “into” the Spirit. Just as ordinary baptism is “with” water or “into” water. But the Holy Spirit is never said to baptize anyone, unless you find it here. So I understand the word “by” to mean “in” in this verse. The little Greek preposition “en” is translated “by” 163 times but as “in” or “with” over 2000 times. The meaning of the verse is – “For IN one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.” This is B.H. Carroll’s understanding of the word. It’s even the opinion of the Pulpit Commentary, which is not a Baptist book. And what is the baptism of this verse? In the light of Ephesians 3:5 which says that there is only one kind of baptism today, I conclude that this is referring to water baptism. And the body into which we are immersed in water is the church, the local body of Christ.

I Corinthians 12:13 teaches us absolutely nothing about the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit baptism is not the subject of I Corinthians 12. The special baptism to which John referred was administered by the Lord Jesus on only two occasions.

And what was to be the Lord’s PURPOSE ?The baptism of the Holy Spirit was not primarily to empower anyone or anything, although that was a secondary result. The power of the Spirit is felt by those who are infilled with the Spirit, not immersed in the Spirit. The filling of the Spirit is something that comes and goes depending on our relationship to the Lord.

No, the baptism the Spirit was to prove to the Jewish mind that the church of the Lord Jesus Christ was now the chosen temple of God. Those Jews knew about God’s acceptance of Moses’ Tabernacle and Solomon’s Temple. They knew how God’s glory entered those buildings, and approved and claimed them. Well, that last Pentecost was God’s acceptance of the already existing church of Christ. And at Cornelius’ house the Jews saw that the Gentiles were excepted as well.

As 21^st century Christians, we don’t look for the baptism of the Holy Spirit. John was not speaking to us other than to say. “Christ is greater than I.” Today, we look for the return of Christ, and we desire the filling of the Holy Spirit. We are to be filled with the Spirit but not covered by the Spirit. And how desperately we need that filling.