Baptized in fire
Matthew 3:11
There is a new term under theologians – historical criticism. According to this theory it means that we can not take the Bible just as it is but we have to be very critical about the Bible. The Bible, according to them, is just a lot of books decided by mere men to put together to be the Bible. They do acknowledge the working of the Holy Spirit in this process but it is still just the work of men. And because the Bible, to them, is just the work of men, it means that the specific culture group the reader is in, and not God anymore, gives authority to the Bible. So it is not God who gives authority to His word but a lot of different culture groups. If you are within the culture group of the Roman Catholic Church, then all the books they believe in are then the Word of God. If you are in the cultural group of the Islam, then the Koran is the Word of God.
That is why different people can read the Bible and read the same verse, but for each of them that verse can have totally different meanings depending of your culture.
According to these theologians in order to understand the Bible correctly there are 3 things to take in consideration:
• that which is behind the text,
• that which is on the text, and
• that which is in front of the text.
With the behind the text they say that one must take in consideration the background wherein the text was written, to whom it was written to, for what culture group it was written.
On the text = must look at the literature = is it a poem or is it a prophesy.
In front of the text = you as reader’s background, training, culture.
This means that for every person and every culture group the Bible will have different meanings because we as people differ from each other. Even in the same culture group people will see the Bible different because we are different. For this reason we cannot read the Bible anymore alone. We must, according to them, read the Bible with a lot af other books in order to receive a true picture that will fit into what I would like to see. That’s why the Bible can no longer have a direct influence om our lives, but can only influence us indirectly.
Because of these statements we cannot see the miracles in the Bible anymore as miracles but only as the rich imagination of the writers of the Bible. Miracles like Jonah in the belly of a whale, Daniël in the lions den, the virgin birth of Jesus, and many more are then only a figment of someone’s imagination and cannot be the truth.
The Bible is thus no more the Word of God but only the work of men.
That is why people will see the same verse different from others and one such verse is Matthew 3:11.
There is one of two ways to interpret this verse depending, according to the theologians, of your background. (It does not matter what Jesus meant when He spoke these words – it only matters what you want it to be.)
Because there are a lot of people that do not believe in the baptism of the Holy Spirit, they believe that John is referring here to 2 totally different happenings. According to them the baptism of the Holy Spirit happened on the day of Pentecost and it was a once off thing. It will never happen again. The baptism in fire has nothing to do with the day of Pentecost.
According to them John is here talking to the Pharisees and Sadducees. He told them that they must have the fruit that is part of repentance. Verse 8 – 10. So they believe that the baptism in fire refers to the fact that some people will receive the Holy Spirit while the others will burn in hell.
But the question is: does this vers really refers to the hell?
Fire in the Bible does have 2 different meanings depending on the context of the Word. There are a lot of verses that will show that fire is associated with the wrath and anger of God. God sent fire to destroy Sodom and Gomorra.
Psalm 21: 9
AMP: You will make them as if in a blazing oven in the time of Your anger; the Lord will swallow them up in His wrath, and the fire will utterly consume them.
Jeremia 4:4
AMP: Circumcise yourselves to the Lord and take away the foreskins of your hearts, you men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, lest My wrath go forth like fire [consuming all that gets in its way] and burn so that no one can quench it because of the evil of your doings.
CEV: With all your hearts, keep the agreement I made with you. But if you are stubborn and keep on sinning, my anger will burn like a fire that cannot be put out.
Just the thought of fire usually fills us with fear. When we think about fire, we think about pain and sorrow and hardship. We think about the wrath of God. That’s why we don’t understand what John meant by baptism in fire.
There is also a second meaning of fire in the Bible and I believe it is time for the church to start to see and understand and experience this second meaning. It is time for the church of God to be baptized in fire again.
Acts 2:3
I want you to see an order here. First there were the tongues of fire and after that the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
Luke 12:49
CEV: “I came to set fire to the earth, and I wish it were already on fire!”
MSG: "I’ve come to start a fire on this earth--how I wish it were blazing right now!
If fire only have one meaning namely the wrath of God and hell, then Jesus is very negative here because He then declares that His desire is to destroy the whole earth with fire.
That was not His intention or meaning. His hearts desire was that the whole earth will be on fire for Him, burning with a passion and a zeal to serve and love Him. Even today God’s desire is that a fire must burn in His church. He desires for His church to be on fire for Him.
So what is the meaning and purpose of this fire?
Exodus 3:2
AMP: The Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush; and he looked, and behold, the bush burned with fire, yet was not consumed.
Exodus 19:18
AMP: Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke, for the Lord descended upon it in fire; its smoke ascended like that of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked greatly.
Exodus 24:16 & 17
AMP: The glory of the Lord rested on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it for six days. On the seventh day [God] called to Moses out of the midst of the cloud. And the glory of the Lord appeared to the Israelites like devouring fire on the top of the mountain.
Exodus 40:34 – 38
2 Chronicles 7:1 – 3
Zechariah 2:5
AMP: For I, says the Lord, will be to her a wall of fire round about, and I will be the glory in the midst of her.
I hope you have received something here. What are all these verse saying?
Numbers 14:21
Psalms 72:19
Fire comes just before God Himself appears. Every time that the glory of God appeared, fire come first and prepared the way for His glory. Fire does the preparing for the glory of God because fire devours everything that will be in the way of the glory of God. Fire prepares our hearts so that we can live in the glory of God. This is the reason why Jesus cried out that He has a desire for fire and wishes that it is already burning because the whole world must be filled with the glory of God.
It is time to cry out: Lord send Your fire because we desire the glory of God. We must understand without the fire there can be no glory. That is why John said that Jesus will baptize us in fire because this fire will prepare the way for the glory of God.
It is time for the fire of God because it is time for this earth to be filled with the glory of God.
Isaiah 64: 1 – 2
Must understand this vers correctly. The nation of Israel were in exile and they were longing for the times when the glory of God visited them – Isaiah 63:9 – 14. Then they declare their hearts desire – 64:1 – they desire to see His face, His glory but understand something must first happens – 64:2.
I also want to say come Lord kindles the wood with Your fire so that the water can start to boil.
Jesus said in John 7: 38 that out of our bellies will flow streams of living water. If we leave water in a pot nothing will happen but the moment there is fire under the pot, soon the water will start to boil and if you leave it on the fire it will boil over the sides of the pot.
For streams of living water to flow out of our bellies we need the fire of God to make the water boil.]
Come Lord and baptize us in fire.
