Well, God did it again: He revealed the meaning of another verse that had remained hidden to me up to this point. I was at youth group today, and the last song we sang before the sermon was Fire Fall Down, by Hillsong United. Then the pastor got up on the stage, and he said something that made something click in my mind. I don't remember what he said, except that it was about fire.
The Bible talks about fire in a lot of places. Hebrews 12:29, which quotes Deuteronomy 4:24, calls God a "consuming fire." One of my personal favorites is the story of Elijah in 1 Kings 18:18-39, where Elijah challenged the prophets of Baal to see whether the Lord God or Baal was real. Elijah and the prophets of Baal both set up their own altars with several requirements added to the challenge. God completely consumed Elijah's altar in fire, while the altar of Baal stood untouched, proving that the Lord is the one true God. And of course, everyone knows the story of Moses and the burning bush.
But today I want to go to Matthew 3:11, which I have been hearing repeated several times over the last couple weeks: "I baptize 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 baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire." Whatever it was the pastor said today, something finally put another piece into the puzzle that God has given the world in His Word. Up until the sermon, I had only understood the part about being baptized with the Holy Spirit: the apostles had been told to wait in Jerusalem after Jesus' resurrection until they had received the Holy Spirit. When the Spirit came upon them, "tongues of fire" appeared above them, and they began speaking in tongues. But that's not what John the Baptist meant when he said that Jesus would baptize with fire.
Look at 1 Thessalonians 5:19: "Do not put out the Spirit's fire." When I finally made the connection between this verse and Matthew 3:11, I realized that the fire of Jesus' baptism is the holy passion the Spirit gives us when He comes and begins moving in us. John the Baptist's statement finally makes sense to me: "But after me will come One who... will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with [passion]." We know that we have been baptized by Christ because we can feel the fiery passion of the Holy Spirit burning within us.
I really have nothing else to draw from that. I just felt like sharing my discovery because it excited me so much! You could say it "set me on fire." Anyway...
Until next time, God bless!
Michael
—————————————————————
"I want men everywhere to lift up holy hands in prayer, without anger or disputing." ~ 1 Timothy 2:8
"I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to live is Christ and to die is gain." ~ Philippians 1:20-21
No comments:
Post a Comment