JESUS CHRIST’S BAPTISMS OF FIRE

[Matthew 3:12; Numbers 28:6; Isaiah 43:2] 

This fiery Baptism is inextricably connected with the Mystery of God appointed for this Age that effects all Ages. This mystery has to do with the presentation of the glorified called out ones caught up and presented to the Lord in the heavens just above this earth. This is that heavenly kingdom calling that Christ be formed in us, for which we are to have this “hope of glory.” [Hebrews 3:1; Colossians 1:27; Romans 8:29; Galatians 4:19] 

Fallen man believed 2 lies. One being that God was reluctant or grudging to grant some betterment. And the 2nd lie being that they might attain God– likeness through disobedience. And through this sin they were separated and fell out of God’s World into another World; out of one Kingdom into another. Where then man may not exist, as he is made in God’s image, It prohibits him from existing there. He fell, in a spiritual sense from the 3rd Heaven to the carnal World. He became a sensual being, looking now to that which is external to escape looking to that which is internal. He distracts himself with the pleasures of this World. 

God has declared that there is no escape from this World except through death. For as long as we live in this World, we are more or less subject to this World. God has ordained Jesus as the Saviour out of this World. And by death in Christ we escape this World. And while we are yet here, we may reckon (something more than just thinking) ourselves already dead and resurrected in Christ. And therefore, we are dead to the World as we crucify the carnal flesh that is so attached to this World and mind the things of the Spirit/spirit. 

So it is by sin unto death we fell out of the World / Kingdom of God. And it is only through death to sin and to this World that we are delivered out of this World into His Kingdom. And that death to sin is accompanied by the sufferings associated with following Christ. Our spirits, being regenerated, (John 3:3,5) are no longer willing participants with the flesh and  worldliness. Our spirits are restless, and constantly dissatisfied with this human condition. The spirit, having been regenerated, is now spiritual. Its realm is not that of the body, nor that of the soul in contact with this World. Yet, it is not lifted up into the 3rd Heaven with Christ. It finds its work and toil for the change of its host in the 1st heaven of this World. As the body and soul toils for change in the World on the earth. 

Christ overcame in both realms of this World; the spiritual and the enticing elements of this World. (Spiritual and physical) He died to sin and this World. [Romans 6:10] But it was not enough to just physically die to this World to be back into the World of God. He must have life to enter into the Kingdom/World of God. Just as we could not enter into this World without its life, nor can we enter into the World of Hades without its life. So it is, we cannot enter into God’s Kingdom/World without its life.  And as this World’s life and nature is quickened by lies, the new nature of God is quickened in life by Truth. That Truth is the Word which is received in the womb of our being (the new resurrected life of Christ birthed in our spirit). He then grants His World’s “Life” before we may enter therein, in its different capacities. 

So first, God’s nature is birthed in our spirit, then the newness of life is comprehended as is our application to death of the flesh. This leads us to live that “Life” more and more perfectly that we once again have that nature that brings us back into the Kingdom/World of God. Thus, to meet the first lie, we have the promise of God from the Garden forward, and to confront the 2nd lie, we have the Law. That after it has done its work, we might have the Gospel. So it is God’s salvation plan for the ages that by faith in the promise we might receive the sperm of life in our spirit. And that by the knowledge of Law we might see we are hopelessly condemned to a nature unworthy of His World in ourselves, thereby addressing the 2nd lie. Then by the Gospel Cross, the Truth of God’s love meets both lies head on. The revelation of which causes our fighting and yielding in the empowerment of the Spirit and through His judgment and chastisement, we condemn and crucify the flesh in us to death.  

The result of all this is a New Creature in Jesus Christ, brought into being by death. Those elect, through loving faith in waters and fire and sufferings, yet choose God’s judgment and gladly accept it here and now on their carnal flesh that this New Creature who is destined to Bride–ship may come forth. Those of this World reject the judgment on the death of the flesh in this World. And they are thereby disqualified as one of those worthy New Creatures of the heavenly calling, and must face the death of the carnality in a more horrible form when they die. 

(The buried rich man is an example of one as now having become the SEED of Abraham who now dresses himself in spiritual purple and pleasure seeking self absorption and forgets is fellows. Blind in their spiritual self–love, they refuse the Words of light and life. They avoid the judgment fires of the Holy Spirit in this World, but they prepare their souls for the torments of the purgings after this life.) 

THE TWO SIDES OF THE ATONEMENT 

“….YE IN ME, AND I IN YOU…” [John 14:19,20] 

It should be understood from Scripture that cleansing of the heart is not the same as the changing of the nature. The first work of the Spirit on the unregenerate spirit (represented in the water baptism rite), “ye in me” is that cleansing of the heart. And although that work has the secured promise of a eternal quality of life, this is not all that is required to be found assimilated into the Body of Christ, the “I in you”.  This is the further fiery work of the Holy Spirit after the Pentecost type experience in the receiving of power. [Acts 1:1-8; 1 Corinthians 12:13] The Holy Spirit being by whose power, not merely His presence, the image of Christ (God’s First–Born Son from among the dead) is progressively formed within. [2 Corinthians 3:18] 

All Born Again/ “ye in me” are betrothed. The objective of the faithful betrothed is readiness.  All are called to be a part of the Body/Bride “I in you”, but all will not maintain their relationship to the Head. [John15:6; Colossians 2:19] And therefore, they will not have that most intimate glorious relation in the Age to come.  It is in the falling away, and continued apathy that New Covenant Scripture warns of a grieving and even a quenching of the Holy Spirit. [Ephesians 4:30; 1Thessalonians 5:19] 

It is in the First Resurrection out from among the dead that the Body/Bride of Jesus will be discovered. That being which Paul says is the high or heavenly calling, to which he had not yet attained, but which he strived to obtain. [Philippians 3] His words were “if by any means I may arrive at the (first) resurrection which is out form among the dead”. This is that which corresponds with that 1000 year heavenly kingdom of Jesus Christ and His Bride who had made herself ready through willingly passing through the Baptismal fires of the Holy Spirit. [Revelation 20:5 & 19:1-9] The Baptism of fire is the Holy Spirit, for the promise of the outpouring of the Spirit in the first place is judgment. What should be understood from Scripture is that the flesh must be consumed before a better life can be quickened. [Isaiah 66:15,16; Revelation 19:13-15]  

The altars of (our heart once kindled) which the fire (the further work of the Holy Spirit) is never to be quenched. [Leviticus 6:13 with Romans 12:1]  

We, as the offering fires of the law of Moses, are perishing in one form and finally rising in the pillars another. This is that “…being made conformable unto his death; If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.”) [Philippians 3:10,11; 1 Corinthians 3:13,15; Luke 12:49; 1Peter 1:7, 4:12; Hebrew 12:29; Isaiah 4:4,5; Mark 9:49] “For every one shall be salted with fire, and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt.”  It is by the purging fire of loving obedient faith He will make a Bride. 

BEING FORMED INTO THE IMAGE OF JESUS IN THE POWER (BAPTISM) OF THE HOLY SPIRIT…SO THAT WE MIGHT QUALIFY FOR BRIDE–SHIP IN THE COMING AGE. 

As the body’s chemistry is enabled to take the fruits and meats of this world and make of it blood, and by the blood change again into bone and sinew. So, by the fires of the Holy Spirit may we partake of His Word and be transformed, transmuted into the image of Jesus. The Word alone cannot change us. We may even be hardened by its letter, or deceived in a false sense of its security. It’s only by the Holy Spirit judgment fire that we may apprehend and comprehend the Mind and Heart of God, and receive. 

To be formed into the image of Christ answers to the Scriptures’ BRIDE of CHRIST /  FIRST FRUITS /  FIRST BORN / CLEAN. The blessed FIRST-born (as exampled in Jesus the Savior) must save others.  THE CLEAN are called, and are content, to be sacrifices for others. [Genesis 7:2 8:20,21] He was the Clean, spotless Lamb who redeemed the “ass”.  [See Exodus 13:12,13-16] Thus we, by the revelation of God’s heart found in Jesus, enter willingly into the sufferings of a sacrificial life with Christ and die to ourselves for others. Sufferings and denying ourselves as well as the unselfish giving of ourselves in this World, is not to be seen as meritorious as it is capacitating us for the World to come. This is the heart to rule with Christ in His heavenly Kingdom. [Romans 8:17,18] 

The law of redemption, which is first the law of love, is that those that are first blessed and redeemed must bless and redeem others. This is their joy, to be like their Redeemer, to be a channel to bless the unclean, viler, weaker souls. THE LAW OF THE KINGDOM IS all the higher and elders serve the lower and younger. Jesus was the First–Born of a certain kind. He was the First Born from among the dead. He was the First–Fruits and the first First Fruits offering from the dead. The Redeemer must first die. All redeemed must also die to the flesh to be kings and priests. The heavenly calling is to be like Christ, and as the first born, to be a blessing and channel of life to the later born. (The horrendous sacrifices of the first-born in Moloch worship is founded upon the spiritual truth that the First Born sacrifice would redeem the rest.) 

BEHOLD THE HEAVENLY KINGDOM COME… 

“Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints, to execute judgment on all, to convict all who are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.” [Jude14,15] 

Jesus Christ, the First Fruit, the Holy root, will give over His glory to His First-Born branches. Who having been SHOWN the way out of the world and death, they, with Him, may (as those with the double portion) redeem the brethren, the Jews, who lost their inheritance, and bless and purge all the nations of the earth. [Romans 11:16] Then shall the laver be multiplied to 10 lavers. Which describes the far greater cleansing ability of Christ’s Kingdom, wherein the great Babylon will even be swallowed up. Then will Christ’s overcoming First–Born rule with the same rod of authority.[Revelation 2:27; 12:5] Christ says to some, “have thou authority over ten cities. And the second came, saying, Lord, thy pound hath gained five pounds. And he said likewise to him, Be thou also over five cities.” [Luke 19:17,19] These, the firebrands, Christ’s appointed priest’s, light the fires among the hay stubbles of the earth. It is then that the promised consuming baptismal fire will be cast into the earth and the Spirit of the Lord will be over the entire earth.  

The little flock, the few who made it through the narrow way, they are yet connected to the whole, Jew and Gentile, to the “all” who will be blessed in the Seed of Abraham; the entire earth. Here lies the answer to the seeming contradiction. That is that the narrow way and the few as opposed to the all will receive blessing and mercy in Scripture. That is in that the few bless the all. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,… that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth—in Him.” [Ephesians 1:3,10] The whole earth AND THE HEAVENS will then be “..subdued…” and taken into “..dominion..” [Genesis 1:28; 1 Corinthians 15:28; Colossians 1:20] 

“So in Christ shall all be made alive.” [1 Corinthians 15:22] That is to say, as declared before, not all at the same time are to be resurrected “…but every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits: (as the head coming first in all proper births) afterward they that are Christ’s (members of His Body) at his coming”. This being the first resurrection out from among the dead in that some worthies (Luke 20:35) are freed from death before others. Paul said that it was given to him to preach  “…the unsearchable riches of Christ; And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ; to the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church (His Bride now replacing them in rulership in the heavenly realm associated with this earth) the manifold wisdom of God, According to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord…” [Ephesians 3:8-11] 

The purposes of God are wrought not at one time, but over successive Ages. 

Father, let us have the heart to see what this great prize is. And like Paul, let us consider everything else as nothing in comparison, not even a close second. Let us see that our death to the control and lusts of the World is the just and only way back into intimate relationship with Him in His World. This being that which enables us to qualify to be those raised up into the heavenlies with Christ Jesus to rule and reign and to administer authority and life as kings and priests. That we will have such an inheritance as a result of our sacrificial death that the whole earth may be saved in the Age to come. 

Help us move on from just the understandings of our need to die, but to yield unto that death to ourselves that we may pass through the refining fire. And that we may experience the death on the (our) cross, that we might receive the glory of the Bride and to follow Him withersoever He goeth. [Romans 8:17; 1 Corinthians 15:19; 2 Timothy 2:11,12; Romans 8:36; Revelation 14:4] This is the Holy Spirit Baptism of fire; like that of the Pentecostal experience, that purges, and renounces all things worldly/earthly. The soul, passing through the blood, and fire and pillars of smoke ascends up in the high calling unto the Father as a sweet smelling aroma.    

If we do not subject ourselves to His Fires, then we shall go the way of the Christian common man, as the common later born. (As opposed to being First-born inheritors.)