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John baptized people with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit. ~ Acts 1:5
Today, we return to our study of the book of Acts which is a full presentation of the immediate history of the work the Lord Jesus accomplished through His followers after His ascension to heaven. The book of Acts is a record of the incarnate works of the Lord Jesus through His followers. It includes many examples of God's power exercised in the midst of even persecution. It is an account of the life from a living Christ through the yielded lives of His followers. The book of Acts, written by Luke who wrote the third gospel which bears his name, provides for us God's strategy by which He is changing this fallen world. Among many messages, the book of Acts reveals to us how God organically changes people from the inside out. He does this by instilling the gospel in the hearts of people via the promised Holy Spirit. The book of Acts is therefore an unfinished book. It has never ended and it is still being written through the lives of believers today.
Before the Lord Jesus went to the Cross of Calvary, John the Baptist was sent by God to tell the people of Israel to turn from their sins because the promised Messiah had come. John's message of baptism of repentance specifically challenged Israel to turn from depending upon themselves. John's message was necessary because in the coming of the Lord Jesus the kingdom of God was near and Israel had to be prepared to receive Him. John’s baptism was one in water and of repentance. But more, his ministry was one of directing people to the One who was to come. John's baptism anticipated the baptism of the Holy Spirit but John probably didn't realize it until that day it was revealed to him that standing before him was the Lamb of God who came in order to take away the sin of the world.
The "water" of John’s baptism was an outward washing of the body. It was a ritual purification intended to demonstrate an inward change in the person. The baptism of the Holy Spirit is an internal purification of the soul. Throughout the Bible the Lord used "fire" to describe this baptism. As John immersed the people in the waters of the Jordan River, so the Lord Jesus immerses believers in the Holy Spirit. The coming of the Holy Spirit was God’s stamp of approval upon the work of the Lord Jesus on the cross.
The Lord Jesus told the disciples His baptism would happen to them in a few days. No set time was given. The apostles only knew that they were to wait in Jerusalem. There are those who say there is no need to perform water baptism, that it was only intended for Israel. Though it is true that John’s baptism was in water and a baptism of repentance, this does not negate the requirement for water baptism for believers under the New Covenant. In fact, it is after the establishment of the New Covenant that the Lord began to require water baptism for believers.
When we believed in the Lord Jesus as our Savior and invited Him into our lives we were "born again." This means that God made our once dead to God spirit now alive to Him. As a result we began to learn how to give our heart to the Lord. It was then that God began to give us His heart. It is primarily our brokenness that made the Lord Jesus precious to us. To be in Christ means we have arrived before God perfect through His Son in whom we believe and now we can finally rest. The Holy Spirit is now convincing us that we no longer stand condemned by God. In fact, when God looks at us, He doesn’t see our sin or our imperfections. He now sees the perfection and the righteousness of His Son applied to us.
Finally, now that we have been inhabited by God's Spirit, we are now alive to Him. It wasn't water baptism that made us alive to God. No, water baptism is an outward sign of the inner baptism. This was necessary because we had been made dead to Him by sin. Now, we not only have access to His presence, we now have access to His power. This is very important because we could not be successful at living the Christian life without the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit. As believers in the Lord we have been freed from the pressure to perform or to earn or maintain God’s love. And now, by faith we live convinced that we have been made righteous in the eyes of the only One who matters. Amazingly, it is now the Lord Jesus who is defining us by His truth. As a result we are moving from trusting ourselves to trusting Him. Our lives now are an adventure. Every day our assignment is to "abide in Him" and allow Him to do in and through us what only He can do.
