Four Baptisms - Part Two

We looked last time at the fact that there are four different baptism mentioned in the Bible. In order to save any confusion it is important for us to understand just what these baptisms are and what they mean to us today.

We looked at the baptism of John. We noticed that John’s baptism had passed and it was replaced by Christ’s baptism and therefore was not for us today (Acts 19:3-5). We also noticed that the Baptism of Fire was referring to the judgment at the end of the age (Matthew 3:11-12). This is a baptism that no one in their right mind would want a part of.

Baptism of the Holy Spirit
This time we are looking at the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, a subject about which there is much confusion, but there shouldn’t be if it is studied in a orderly manner. The first mention we have of the baptism of the Holy Spirit is from John the Baptist. In Matthew 3:11 we read “As for me, I baptise you with water for repentance, but He who is mightier than I, and I am not fit to remove His sandals; He will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” This is repeated by Jesus Himself where we have recorded in Acts 1:5, “for John baptized you with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now”.

The occurrence of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit is recorded in the very next chapter, Acts 2:1-4,

“And when the day of Pentecost had come, they were together in one place. And suddenly there came form heaven a noise like a violent rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them tongues as of fire distributing themselves, and they rested on each one of them. And they were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with tongues, as the Holy Spirit was giving utterance.”

Notice, four things happened at this time: 

1. A violent rushing wind, 

2. Tongues as of fire came upon them, 

3. They we filled with the Holy Spirit, and 

4. They spoke in tongues. 

It is very important that we recognise these four things because they were the marks of the baptism of the Holy Spirit and they were to be referred to later.

It may seem surprising but we read of this baptism in only one more place in the Bible. In Acts 10 and 11 the apostle Peter was instructed by a vision to go to the gentile, Cornelius. While Peter was preaching to this man and his family they received the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. In Acts 11 Peter relates this wonderful occurrence to the Jews in Jerusalem. We read where he says, “And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them, just as He did upon us at the beginning. And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he used to say, ‘John baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’”

Notice he said the Holy Spirit fell upon them “just as He did upon us at the beginning”. What happened when the apostles received it? A violent rushing wind, tongues as of fire, they were filled with the Holy Spirit and the spoke in tongues. That was the Baptism of the Holy Spirit.

There are some people who claim to have had this baptism today, but whatever they had was not the same as happened “ at the beginning”. The baptism of the Holy Spirit only happened in two places in the New Testament, and what is claimed today falls short of what happened then.