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1. The “Baptism in the Holy Spirit” is a definite teaching of Scripture:
It is the coming of the glorious person of the Holy Spirit in power upon the believer for service and witnessing.
Zechariah 4:6 “So he said to me, `This is the Word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: `Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says the LORD Almighty.”
2. Before His ascension into heaven, Jesus told His disciples to wait in Jerusalem to be baptised with the Holy Spirit:
Acts 1:4,5,8,9 ” On one occasion, while He was eating with them, He gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift My Father promised, which you have heard Me speak about. For John baptised with water, but in a few days you will be Baptised with the Holy Spirit.” But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” After He said this, He was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid Him from their sight.”
3. Those to whom He was speaking had already been born again when He came to them after His death and resurrection:
John 20:22 “And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”
Jesus had been speaking to His disciples. They were His followers. Many, (particularly the Apostles), had been with Jesus for the duration of His ministry and teachings. He breathed on them telling them to “receive the Holy Spirit”. Surely, as followers of Jesus, these people were by the Bible’s definition – “Christians” at this point – for they had received the Spirit who testifies with our spirit that we are children of God.
If receiving the Spirit, (Christian conversion), is all there is then why did Jesus tell the disciples to wait for what we now know as the day of Pentecost?
To receive the “Baptism in the Holy Spirit”, that is why.
4. What is the baptism in the Holy Spirit?:
a) A gift from God:
A supernatural giving and releasing of the Holy Spirit into every part of a Christian’s life.
Luke 11:13 “If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!”
Luke 24:49 “I am going to send you what My Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”
John 14:26 “But the Counsellor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My Name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.”
John 16:7 “But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counsellor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you.”
Acts 2:38-39 “Peter replied, “Repent and be baptised, every one of you, in the Name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off – for all whom the Lord our God will call.”
b) The gift of Jesus:
In John 1:33 God spoke to John the Baptist saying …” The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is He Who will Baptise with the Holy Spirit.’”
In Matthew 3:11-12 and in Luke 3:16-17 John the Baptist speaks of Jesus Baptising with the Holy Spirit and with fire.
What is the fire of the Holy Spirit? Both Matthew and Luke explain what the fire is in the following verse. Here they compare the work of the Spirit to the threshing and separating of the grain from the chaff; the grain being put into the barn, and the chaff burned with unquenchable fire.
It is the trials, hardships, sorrows, reproaches and disappointments which God uses to shape us into His image. The fire consumes and purifies. It is the fire of the Holy Spirit that matures us.
5. It is Jesus Who is the baptiser:
The Holy Spirit is His gift to the believer.
Matthew 3:11 ” I baptise you with water for repentance. But after me will come One who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will Baptise you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.”
John 20:22 ” And with that He breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”
In John 7:38-39 Jesus promises those who believe Him, that from them shall flow rivers of living water.
John 7:38-39 “Whoever believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him. By this He meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.”
6. It was promised by God through His prophets:
In Luke 24:49 Jesus said, “I am going to send you what My Father has promised ”
Isaiah 59:20-21 … ” My Spirit … will not depart from your mouth, or from the mouths of your children, or from the mouths of their descendants from this time on and forever,” says the LORD.
Joel 2:28-29 “And afterward, I will pour out My Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days.”
Zechariah 12:10 “And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a Spirit of grace and supplication. They will look on Me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for Him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for Him as one grieves for a firstborn son.”
Isaiah 32:15 “till the Spirit is poured upon us from on high, and the desert becomes a fertile field, and the fertile field seems like a forest.”
Acts 2:39 “The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off–for all whom the Lord our God will call.”
Ezekiel 36:27 “And I will put My Spirit in you and move you to follow My decrees and be careful to keep My laws.”
7. Prophecies concerning Jesus’ baptism in the Holy Spirit:
Isaiah 61:1-2 is prophecy concerning Christ. Jesus Himself turns to these verses in the synagogue, and after reading them says, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”
Isaiah 61:1-2 “The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on Me, because the LORD has anointed Me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent Me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the LORD’S favour and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn”
Isaiah 11:2 foretells the Spirit of the Lord coming upon Jesus:
“The Spirit of the LORD will rest on Him – the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of power, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD”
8. The prophecies fulfilled:
Matthew 3:16 “As soon as Jesus was baptised, He went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on Him.”
John also gives record of having seen the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove.
John 1:32 “Then John gave this testimony: “I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on Him.”
God acknowledges Jesus’ Baptism in water and in the Spirit by saying,
Matthew 3:17 “And a voice from heaven said, “This is My Son, Whom I love; with Him I am well pleased.”
Acts 10:38 “how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how He went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with Him.”
Luke 4:1 “Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert”
9. Jesus had the Spirit without measure:
John 3:34 “For the One Whom God has sent speaks the Words of God, for God gives the Spirit without limit.”
10. The promise as it relates to the gentiles:
Isaiah 42:1 “Here is My Servant, Whom I uphold, My chosen One in whom I delight; I will put My Spirit on Him and He will bring justice to the nations.”
11. The teaching of Jesus:
a) To those who ask:
Luke 11:13 “If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!”
b) A well springing up within:
John 4:14 “but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
c) Rivers flowing out:
John 7:37-38 ” On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. Whoever believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.”
d) Endued with power:
Luke 24:49 “I am going to send you what My Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”
e) To be witnesses:
Acts 1:8 “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
f) In Jesus’ Name:
Mark 16:17-18 ” And these signs will accompany those who believe: In My name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.”
John 14:12 “I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in Me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.”
Mark 11:24 “Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.”
John 14:13-17 ” And I will do whatever you ask in My name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask Me for anything in My Name, and I will do it. “If you love Me, you will obey what I command. And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Counsellor to be with you forever – the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept Him, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. But you know Him, for He lives with you and will be in you.”
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