BAPTISM OF THE HOLY GHOST (SECTION ONE) -Part 1 of 3 The word baptism means immersion. It also means to be completely overwhelmed’. JESUS’ BAPTISM. Isa. 61:1-2; Matt.3:13-17. Baptism in the Holy Ghost means to be completely overwhelmed by the Holy Spirit for the work of the gospel. This is God’s own empowerment of believers for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ. Eph.4:12. The enduement with power usually accompanies preaching and teaching of the word of God. The expressions used in the Old Testament for Holy Ghost baptism are ‘upon’ and ‘anointed. Lets look at this scripture: The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn; (Isaiah 61:1-2 KJV) The scripture above is an utterance of the Lord Jesus Christ heard and recorded by prophet Isaiah; it has been fulfilled in the New Testament. Lk. 4:18-21. This prophetic utterance explains the reason why Jesus came and how he hoped to accomplish his mission. Note that the penultimate part of the utterance in verse two of Isa.61:2 that says ......and the day of vengeance of our God;... has not been fulfilled. This part will be fulfilled at the final end of the world against those who have set themselves against the Lord and his anointed. Ps.2:1-5; Rev. 19:11-21; Rev. 20:7-15. Notice that JESUS quoted Isa 61:1-2 in the synagogue just after his baptism. Lets look at how he quoted it. And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears. (Luke 4:17-21 KJV). You will notice from above that Jesus ended his reading at .......the acceptable year of the Lord... The bible says ‘….To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. And he (JESUS) CLOSED the book......and sat down. He consciously stopped at that! Then JESUS says again This day is THIS SCRIPTURE FULFILLED in your ears. Therefore the latter part is to be fulfilled in future by JESUS himself. Jesus was not only anointed to PROCLAIM the acceptable year of the Lord, he was also anointed for ’the day of vengeance of ur God; to comfort all that mourn’. This scripture tells us the scope of Jesus’ ministry, classification of his mission and the duration of the work. God, by his inspiration, put a coma after the acceptable year of the Lord in Isa. 61:1-2. This is to show that ‘the day of vengeance of our God is for another period in the future! The day of vengeance of our God is an end-time mission. The bible is complete. Hallelujah!!! In addition, the last part saying ......to comfort all that mourn;... will be fulfilled in the new heaven and the new earth. Rev.21:1-5. This will be after the ‘day of vengeance of our God’. JESUS did not quote this part in the synagogue. Lk.4:17-21. This does not mean that we are not comforted as christians today. In fact, we are comforted by the Holy Spirit today because he is our Comforter. Jn. 14:16-17, 26; Rom. 5:5. Jesus had said he will not leave us as orphans. That particular quote is a reference to the future in the new heaven and the new earth. UPON: Looking closely at the scripture above (Isa.61:1-2), it tells us what the Holy Spirit did to Jesus. It says ‘The Spirit of the Lord is UPON me;’. The Holy Spirit came UPON Jesus. Therefore, he was baptised in the Holy Spirit by God the Father. God the Father baptised Jesus. That the Father baptised him is clear when Jesus said that ‘..because HE (The Father) hath anointed me…’. The other significant aspect I want to emphasise is that Jesus KNEW that the Holy Spirit came UPON him; he knew it when the baptism took place. There was an experience. Matt. 3:16-17. Jesus says ‘The Spirit of the Lord has come upon me…’. This is an affirmation of what he knew happened to him at a particular point in time. This is a fulfilment of what God had planned before the foundation of the world. In conclusion, the word ‘UPON’ is an Old testament expression in reference to the baptism of the Holy Spirit. ANOINTED: The expression is seen in Isa 61:1. it says ‘…he (God the Father) hath anointed me to…’ Here, Jesus is not just talking about the experience of baptism in the Holy Ghost alone, he is now proceeding to tell us the purpose of the baptism. Thus Jesus changed the word ‘UPON’ to ‘ANOINTED’. Whenever the word ‘anoint’ and its direct derivatives are used in the Old Testament, it is used as a function of an assignment. Baptism of the Holy Ghost is for a purpose. It is for the work of the ministry for the gospel. Therefore, the word ‘ANOINTED is another expression for baptism in the Old Testament. Whenever God had an assignment for anyone in the Old Testament, He commanded that a vial of anointing oil be poured on the called. The physical pouring of the anointing oil is an outward display or show of what had happened in the realm of the spirit. In the New Testament, NO ONE was called into office by physical pouring of the anointing oil! There is no such record after the resurrection of Jesus! There is no such record in the book of Acts! God has changed the mode. In the New Testament, it is by Laying on of Hands. 1 Tim. 4:14: Heb.6:2; Act. 5:12,18; Act.6:6; Act. 8:18-19 etc. PURPOSE OF THE ANOINTING. Isa. 61:1. 1. BOLDNESS. Though you will not find the word boldness. It takes God-given boldness to do the work of God, doing the work of God by personal effort will lead to catastrophe. Moses wanted to deliver Israel by his own game plan but ended up killing and Egyptian. This led him to flee Egypt for a better training. It takes boldness to continue in the midst of persecution. 2 Cor.4:8-12. 2. TO PREACH GOOD TIDINGS TO THE MEEK. This is a very vital point. JESUS was baptised to preach. With all the oppositions existing in his days, he need such boldness to preach the gospel. God backed him up. 3. TO BIND UP THE BROKEN HEARTED. This is another expression of preaching the gospel. When we preach the gospel and the hearer is saved, we bind or help to bind up those who have been broken by the fierceness of the world. It means to bring the comfort of the gospel to them. True comfort is given by the Holy Spirit once they are saved. The word bind up here does not mean binding and loosing prayer which is unscriptural. The receiver of the gospel must come to the honest truth and realisation that he is broken-hearted. He must be dejected of his state and condition of depravity. In addition, God must gravitate towards him and make him to be born from above. Matt. 11:28-30. 4. TO PROCLAIM LIBERTY TO THE CAPTIVE. This is another expression denoting the preaching of the gospel. Those in the world are in captivity. Isa. 49:24. They are in captivity to their depravity and sin. Those in captivity sin because they are sinners. Only when they enter into the kingdom of God are they free from depravity. The heater of the gospel must see himself index in captivity. A man can only be treated of his sickness only when he accepts that he is sick. Then and only then does he need a physician. 5. THE OPENING OF PRISON TO THEM THAT ARE BOUND. The fallen man is in prison. Any unsaved man is in prison and bound no matter how morally sound he is. Sound morality is an offshoot of human depravity expressed by those who are not saved. This is why they cannot reach God by their well-doing. They cannot access God by their good deeds. Their morality and good deeds are dead works and filthy to God. There is a big and insurmountable gulf between them and God. They can only be delivered from this prison by the visitation of the gospel. The gospel must come to them in particular. The visitation of the gospel upon those in prison clearly shows that man cannot of his own will and strength be set free from this prison. 6. TO PROCLAIM THE ACCEPTABLE YEAR OF THE LORD. When the gospel is preached as it should be, we are proclaiming the acceptable year of the Lord This is the dispensation of grace. This is the dispensation in which the love of God is proclaimed to the world. The elect have become acceptable to God. Those who are saved are no more under condemnation, the Holy of Holies has become available because the veil of the temple to the Holy of Holies was torn into two at the resurrection of Jesus after three days. Rom. 5:1; Matt. 27:50-53. The gospel is called the acceptable year of the Lord. In the year of Jubilee, when the trumpet was blown, liberty was proclaimed throughout all the land. Lev. 25:9-10. This acceptable year came into force when JESUS died and resurrected. Therefore, Baptism of the Holy Spirit is for the whole dispensation of Grace. From above, we can see that the baptism JESUS had was for the work of the gospel. It was for preaching, proclaiming, announcing and heralding. It is for the benefit of mankind who are broken-hearted and in prison. It was not for himself. Jesus had the anointing without measure. Jn. 3:34-35. He did not use it for his own purpose.
Posted on: Mon, 20 Oct 2014 06:41:12 +0000
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