{"id":11143,"date":"2023-09-18T00:00:13","date_gmt":"2023-09-17T16:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/acky4.com\/wp\/?p=11143"},"modified":"2023-09-19T07:23:46","modified_gmt":"2023-09-18T23:23:46","slug":"a-new-powerful-baptism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/acky4.com\/wp\/2023\/09\/18\/a-new-powerful-baptism\/","title":{"rendered":"A New, Powerful Baptism"},"content":{"rendered":"

Luke 3:15-17 15<\/sup>And as the people were gathering in expectation and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether perhaps he might be the Christ, 16<\/sup>John answered them all, saying, \u201cOn the one hand, I myself baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He himself will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 17<\/sup>His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear out his threshing floor and gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn up with unquenchable fire.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

John’s ministry was impressive to people. What he spoke penetrated to the hearts of those who came to hear him and be baptized by him. When the truth is spoken with conviction, and people receive it with conviction, lives are changed. Those who gathered around John came in expectation and anticipation of the Messiah. These were the sincere seekers of the truth of God and expecting God’s intervention in the situation of Israel. They saw something special in John and wondered if he could be the Messiah. There was a general sense that the “last days” when God would intervene had arrived.<\/p>\n

John answers the people’s query with a significant announcement that has the sense of an official testimony. In his response he compares his ministry to the one who was coming. John’s baptism was one of water, referring to his call to repent. His water baptism represented the change of heart and behavior God expected of people. Repentance took care of the sins of the past but did not deal with the very root of sin as a fallen nature. That would require a deeper work only the Holy Spirit could do.<\/p>\n

The one who was coming after John would be more powerful and stronger because he could accomplish this deeper work of grace. John saw himself and his ministry as only preparatory for the deeper spiritual transformation the Messiah would offer. John expresses his position and humility before the coming Messiah with the image of sandal thongs. Lowly servants would bend down to unstrap powerful people’s sandal straps. John could not even do that but was even lower than the lowest when compared to the one who would follow him.<\/p>\n

The Messiah would have a two-part baptism. The baptism of the Holy Spirit represents the deep inner work of transformation where the power of sin is replaced by the power of love. The baptism of fire represents the cleansing from the power and stain of sin so that a person can serve God in holiness. Both of these elements took place on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2. Pentecost was a direct result of Calvary. Jesus’ death and resurrection conquered the power of sin, which is death, and made a new existence and way of life possible for those who trust in him. The baptism of the Spirit and the spiritual cleansing that results are at the very heart of the promise and hope of the gospel and can be experienced in this lifetime. Without knowing the full story, John expresses here God’s plan for humanity.<\/p>\n

John also gave a warning in his preaching about those who refuse to accept this offer of full salvation. The Messiah would bring the promise of new life but also would bring judgment for those who refuse to accept his offer. The\u00a0winnowing fork<\/em> represents the powerful word of truth that will distinguish light from darkness, sheep from goats, disciples from hypocrites, and the saved from the unsaved. Fire can cleanse but can also burn up. Those who refuse Jesus will be cast into this fire with Satan and his demons (Matthew 25:41; Mark 9:43-48). John did not “mince words” but laid out the options for people while also preparing for the coming Messiah. Fear of punishment can be a motivator for repentance, but John also offered a powerful message of hope for renewal and new life.<\/p>\n

For older posts, click\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Luke 3:15-17 15And as the people were gathering in expectation and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether perhaps he might be the Christ, 16John answered them all, saying, \u201cOn the one hand, I myself baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming, the strap of whose […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11143","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-devotions","post-preview"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/acky4.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11143","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/acky4.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/acky4.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/acky4.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/acky4.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11143"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/acky4.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11143\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11163,"href":"http:\/\/acky4.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11143\/revisions\/11163"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/acky4.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11143"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/acky4.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11143"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/acky4.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11143"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}