For I will take you out of the nations; I will gather you from all the countries and bring you back into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. (Ezek.36:24 -27)

The Old Testament is full of promises regarding an increase in the move and ministry of God’s Spirit such as the one quoted above. Joel also spoke of a great “pouring out of God’s Spirit” that was fulfilled on the day of Pentecost in Acts 1-2. As we read the gospels, the promise is moved from the backburner where it has simmered for centuries and placed on the front the burner so that it began to boil. In my last blog, I listed several scriptures that raised some important issues about the “baptism of the Spirit” and which also give us some insights into the biblical meaning of that phrase. Let’s begin to connect some of those dots now.

John the Baptist came to prepare hearts for the coming of Messiah. When asked if he himself were the Messiah he clearly said that he was not. He also clearly pointed them to one greater than himself who would not just baptize with water, as John was doing, but would also baptize with the Holy Spirit. This was such an important mark of the Messiah that it is mentioned in all four gospels (Mt. 3:11; Mk.1:8; Luke 3:16; Jn. 1:33).

The obvious question that every serious Jew had to be asking was when was this “baptism” going to take place and what would it look like? In John 7, Jesus spoke of rivers of living water flowing from within believers. John explained that Jesus was speaking of the Holy Spirit whom believers were later to receive because Jesus had not yet been glorified and had not yet released the Spirit.

The “promise of the Spirit” then would come only after Jesus was glorified. John is not saying that there was no ministry or work of the Spirit at that time because the Spirit had been evident and working since Genesis 1:2 when he was brooding over the chaos of earth. The Spirit is powerfully evident in the lives of the prophets, the judges, and the great men and women of the Old Testament. He had also landed on Jesus himself at his baptism by John. This “promise of the Spirit” then was not just the coming of the Spirit because he had already come but it would be an unprecedented manifestation of the Spirit called a “baptism.” This “baptism” would occur after the glorification of Jesus.

Another hint is given in John 14:16-17. Jesus, speaking about the Spirit, told his disciples, “the Spirit lives with you and will be in you.” Prepositions are important. Jesus described the Spirit as being with believers at the time but pointed to a time when the Spirit would be in them. This indicates that the Spirit had ministered to and through believers but would soon actually take up residence within believers as a result of Christ’s sacrifice.

Then, in John 20:19-22, an interesting thing takes place. This incident occurs after the resurrection when Jesus is making multiple appearances to his followers. In this section, Jesus appeared to his disciples – a term used for all of his followers and not just his apostles. In this appearance, Jesus commissions them by saying, “As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” We are then told that Jesus breathed on his disciples and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit!” Was that the baptism of the Spirit? Apparently, it was not because a short time later in Acts 1:5, Jesus told his followers to stay in Jerusalem where, in a few days, they would then be baptized with the Holy Spirit. So…what did they receive when Jesus breathed on them? We’ll discuss that in my next blog. Until then, be blessed in Him.