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Scripture Reading: Luke 24:49; Acts 1:5, 8; 2:1-4, 13-18, 33, 36, 38-39; 10:44-47; 11:15-16; 8:14-17; 19:1-2, 6; 1 Cor. 12:3, 13
God’s eternal purpose and ultimate intention are to mingle Himself with us for His corporate expression. We can experience this mingling because God is triune; that is, the Father is in the Son, the Son is the Spirit, and the Spirit as the very expression and realization of the Triune God can enter into us. If we miss the Spirit, we miss the entire Triune God. Thus, we must experience all the steps of the work of the Holy Spirit. First, the Spirit must enter into our spirit, which is the innermost part of our being, and regenerate us. This is our second birth (John 3:3-8). When we were born of our parents, we were born the first time, but when the Spirit enters into our spirit to regenerate us, we are born a second time. From this point on, the Spirit dwells in our spirit (Rom. 8:16). As we love the Lord and exercise our spirit to contact the Lord, we will realize that we must reject and deny our natural man, our soul-life (Matt. 16:24-25). Then the Spirit will strengthen and enable us to deny our self and will take more ground in our being. Consequently, we will be filled and saturated with Christ as the Spirit, and He will possess and occupy every part of our being. Christ will be our very element so that when we love, Christ loves in us; when we think, Christ thinks in our mind; and when we speak, Christ speaks through us.
We may think it would be good enough to be such a person. Yet if this were our condition, we would still be lacking something. We would be full of Christ inwardly, but outwardly we would still be somewhat short of Christ. However, once we experience being baptized and immersed in the Spirit — that is, being clothed with the Holy Spirit — we will be filled with the Triune God both inwardly and outwardly. We will have Christ as our life, our fullness, our power, and our covering. We will live in Christ, walk in Christ, and serve in Christ. As Christians we must be filled and saturated with the Spirit, and we must also experience being baptized in the Holy Spirit. We must have such experiences of the Holy Spirit in a definite way. Then Christ will be everything to us both inwardly and outwardly.
In this message we would like to see something concerning the baptism in the Holy Spirit, or being clothed with the Holy Spirit. In order to see the need for the baptism in the Spirit, let us use the following illustration. Suppose there was a man who was full of food but was not adequately clothed. Such a man would be very abnormal. Inwardly, he would be full and satisfied, but his outward condition would be abnormal. In such a condition, he would not be able to do anything outside his house. From this we can see that with respect to the matter of life, it is sufficient to have Christ in us as our life, but for our service we must put on Christ as our clothing. If we were clothed but had nothing inside, our outward condition would be proper, but our inward condition would be abnormal. On the other hand, if we were full within but had nothing with which to cover ourselves, our inward condition would be satisfactory, but our outward condition would be abnormal. To be a normal Christian, we must be filled with Christ as life inwardly and clothed with Christ as power outwardly. We must live by Christ as our food and drink, and we must serve with Christ as our clothing to cover us. Then we will be fully mingled with Christ; Christ will be in us (Gal. 2:20), and we will be in Christ (John 15:4-5). This is what it is to be a normal Christian, one who is normal in life as well as service.
There are two different words in the Greek language for the word fill. The Greek word pleroo denotes the action of filling something within. The Greek word pletho implies the action of outpouring, of filling something outwardly. In the Greek language these two words are clearly distinct from each other, but in English they are both translated fill. In Acts 2:2 and 4 we see these two different words used. Verse 2 says, “Suddenly there was a sound out of heaven, as of a rushing violent wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting.” The word for filled in this verse is a form of the Greek verb pleroo, indicating that the house was inwardly filled. Verse 4 says, “They were all filled with the Holy Spirit.” The word for filled in this verse is a form of the Greek verb pletho, indicating that the disciples were outwardly filled with the Holy Spirit. Because the house in which the disciples dwelt was inwardly filled with the Spirit, the disciples were surrounded and outwardly filled with the Spirit. This is similar to our baptism in water. When we were baptized in the baptistery, which was inwardly filled with water, we were also filled with water. However, we were filled outwardly, not inwardly. Thus, to be baptized in the Holy Spirit is not an inward matter but an outward matter. Just as the water of baptism is outside of us and not inside of us, the Holy Spirit of baptism is outside of us and not inside of us. Inwardly, we must be filled with the Holy Spirit, but outwardly, we must be clothed with and immersed in the Holy Spirit.
Let us consider the five cases of the baptism in the Holy Spirit in Acts. The first case occurred on the day of Pentecost when the one hundred and twenty disciples were baptized in the Holy Spirit (2:2-4). This was the fulfillment of the Lord’s promise to His disciples in Luke 24:49 and Acts 1:5. The second case involved the believers in Samaria (8:14-17). There were a number of people in Samaria who had believed in the Lord Jesus, had been baptized into His name, and had received the Holy Spirit (vv. 12, 16b). However, these believers did not have the Holy Spirit upon them. Thus, Peter and John, two of the apostles, came down from Jerusalem to visit them. These apostles prayed that the Samaritan believers would be baptized in the Spirit (v. 15), and when they laid their hands on the Samaritans, the Holy Spirit came upon them (v. 17). Before their baptism in the Spirit, the Samaritans had the Holy Spirit within, because they had believed in the Lord Jesus, but they did not have the Spirit upon them.
The third case seen in Acts was the case involving Saul, who was saved on the way to Damascus (9:1-9). At that time he received the Lord as his Savior, the Spirit entered into him, and he was regenerated. The fact that Saul prayed to the Lord (v. 11) is an indication that he had been regenerated by the Lord. However, it was not until a disciple by the name of Ananias came to him, prayed for him, and laid hands on him that Paul was outwardly filled with the Holy Spirit (vv. 17-18).
The fourth case of the baptism in the Holy Spirit in Acts occurred in the house of Cornelius (10:44-46). After Peter spoke to those in Cornelius’s house, the Holy Spirit came down upon them. Even though no one prayed for them or laid hands on them, they were baptized in the Holy Spirit. The fifth case involved the believers in Ephesus, who were genuine believers but had only been baptized into John’s baptism (19:2-6). As believers, they had the Holy Spirit within them, but they did not have the Holy Spirit upon them. Thus, when the apostle Paul laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they were baptized in the Holy Spirit and clothed with the Holy Spirit.
With the first case there was no laying on of hands, because the Lord Jesus Himself baptized the disciples in the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. The same thing happened in the fourth case in the house of Cornelius. Those in Cornelius’s house were baptized in the Holy Spirit directly by Christ as the Head of the church. There was no need for an intermediary to lay hands upon them. Out of the five cases in Acts, only these two cases are referred to as the baptism in the Holy Spirit (1:5; 11:15-16). The other three cases seen in Acts are not called the baptism in the Holy Spirit. The reason for this is that the baptism in the Spirit, like the Lord’s crucifixion, is an eternal fact. Just as all those who believe in the Lord Jesus have already been crucified on the cross (Rom. 6:6; Gal. 2:20), so also all those who believe in the Lord Jesus have already been baptized in the Holy Spirit. This is why 1 Corinthians 12:13 says, “In one Spirit we were all baptized into one Body, whether Jews or Greeks.” The baptism in the Holy Spirit was fully accomplished on the day of Pentecost and in the house of Cornelius, and once it had been accomplished, it was accomplished forever and for every believer. The baptism in the Holy Spirit that occurred in Jerusalem was for the Jewish part of the Body of Christ, and the baptism in the Holy Spirit involving those in Cornelius’s house was for the Gentile part of the Body of Christ. Thus, in these two cases both the Jewish and the Gentile believers are represented. Through these two events the Lord as the Head of the Body baptized the entire Body into the Spirit. This is why 1 Corinthians 12:13 uses the past tense in saying that we were all baptized in one Spirit into one Body. The baptism in the Holy Spirit was the baptism into the Body and was for the Body.
We must realize that the baptism in the Holy Spirit is for the Body and not for individual believers. The eternal fact is that the Lord as the Head of the Body did not baptize individual believers in the Holy Spirit. Rather, He baptized His entire Body in the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost and at the house of Cornelius. If we examine the other three cases in Acts — the cases regarding the Samaritan believers, Saul, and the Ephesian disciples — we will see that in each case there was the need of the laying on of hands. Because the Body had already been baptized in the Holy Spirit, those who had been saved and had become members of the Body needed to realize the oneness of the Body in a practical way. They needed a representative of the Body to put his hands on them to signify that they had been received into the Body and had truly realized the oneness of the Body. When that representative laid his hands on them, the Head of the Body honored that by immersing them in the Holy Spirit, who was upon the Body. Thus, if we want to experience the baptism in the Holy Spirit, we must realize the oneness of the Body. If we remain individualistic and independent of the Body, it will be nearly impossible to experience the baptism in the Spirit. However, if we stand as those who have been joined to the Body of Christ, we will experience being clothed with the Spirit.
In Matthew 3:16 the Holy Spirit came down like a dove upon Christ, and this Christ is the Head of the Body. Thus, on the day of Pentecost and in the house of Cornelius the Spirit who had come down upon the Head also came down upon the Body. Now, whenever a person is saved, he needs to realize the oneness of the Body. If he sees the oneness of the Body and takes the oneness of the Body as his stand, he will experience the baptism in the Holy Spirit, because the anointing that is already on the Body will come upon him (Psa. 133:1-2). Thus, in order to have the experience of the baptism in the Holy Spirit, we must realize the oneness of the Body. We must tell the Lord, “Lord, I am standing on the ground of the oneness of the Body, and on this ground I claim the anointing that is on the Body.” If we are truly on the ground of the oneness of the Body, we should simply claim the anointing that is already on the Body and take it by faith. We may tell the Lord, “Lord, I have the baptism in the Holy Spirit because I am in the Body, and the Spirit is on the Body. What is on the Body must also be my share, my portion.”
We must also realize that the baptism in the Holy Spirit is a testimony of the Lord’s exaltation. After the Lord Jesus ascended, He was exalted to the highest position in the universe and seated at the right hand of God (Acts 2:33a). He was made both Lord and Christ, as well as the Head of the church (v. 36; Eph. 1:20-22). People on the earth can know this by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. On the day of Pentecost Peter told the people that the outpouring of the Spirit that they had witnessed was a testimony that Christ had been exalted. It was a testimony that Christ had ascended to the heavens, had received the promise of the Holy Spirit from the Father, and had poured Himself out as the Spirit upon the earth. Thus, whenever we are outwardly filled with the Holy Spirit, we will spontaneously say, “Jesus is Lord!” (1 Cor. 12:3b) because at that moment we will realize that this Jesus, who was put to death on the cross, has been exalted to the heavens, has been enthroned as Lord of all, and has been made the Head of the church.
After His resurrection the Lord came to His disciples and breathed into them, saying, “Receive the Holy Spirit” (John 20:22), and after His ascension He poured out the Holy Spirit upon His disciples like a strong wind to empower them that they might be a strong testimony to the world for Him. In His resurrection Christ dispensed Himself into us as the Spirit of life, and in His ascension He poured Himself out upon us as the Spirit of power. If we simply stand on the ground of the oneness of the Body, look to the ascended Christ, and claim what He has already poured out upon the Body by faith, we will experience the baptism in the Holy Spirit. After we experience the baptism in the Holy Spirit, we will realize that as members of the Body, it is our portion to serve the Lord. Many things, which only the Lord knows, will happen when we begin to serve. May the Lord be gracious to us that we may seek the infilling and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and that we may be filled inwardly and clothed outwardly with the Holy Spirit. Then we will be normal Christians in life and service, those who are fully mingled with the Triune God and who enjoy all that God is to us and has for us.
