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Scripture Reading: Acts 1:5, 8; 2:4, 17a, 21, 33, 38; 10:44-47; 11:15-16; 1 Cor. 12:12-14; Gal. 3:27-28
We have seen that with Christ first of all there is the incarnation. Following this, we have the crucifixion, resurrection, and then the ascension. After the ascension we have the baptism in the Holy Spirit. Incarnation brings God into man, mingling divinity with humanity. The crucifixion terminates and ends every negative thing: sin, the world, the flesh, the old man, the self, and Satan. All negative things have been fully terminated on the cross. The cross was the end of the old creation. Crucifixion was followed by resurrection. Resurrection is the germination of a new start so that we may have new life and be in the new creation. After this, Christ was exalted to the right hand of God. This exaltation was a kind of inauguration to put Jesus into His office. He was positioned, authorized, and inaugurated into His post to carry out God’s project of building God’s eternal dwelling place. Today this is the church, and ultimately it will be the New Jerusalem. In His ascension He has been qualified, approved, appointed, and even committed with the divine life, the Holy Spirit, and all the gifts. Now this ascended Christ has all the items that are necessary for the building of God.
The first step the Lord took to accomplish God’s project was to baptize all His members in the Holy Spirit. These were all the people whom God had chosen and predestinated in eternity past to be given to Him. He baptized all of them into Himself. This was the baptism in the Spirit. Here we have a big mystery, and this is why among Christian teachers there are different opinions, interpretations, understandings, and practices concerning the matter of the baptism in the Holy Spirit.
In the New Testament there are a few mysteries. The person of Christ is one. He is both God and man. He is the Son, the Father (Isa. 9:6), and the Spirit (2 Cor. 3:17). This is according to the pure revelation of the Bible. We have no doubt that Jesus is God incarnated; He did become a man. We all have to confess that Jesus did come in the flesh. He was God as well as man. As the expression of God, He is the Son of God. Yet Isaiah 9:6 says, “A child is born to us, / A Son is given to us; / ...And His name will be called / ...Mighty God, / Eternal Father.” The Son given to us is called the eternal Father. This is why He is so mysterious. But this is in the Word of God. Then the New Testament says in 2 Corinthians 3:17, “The Lord is the Spirit.” He is the Son, yet He is called the eternal Father. He is the Lord, yet the Lord is the Spirit. Jesus is altogether a mystery. We should not try to understand Him by our limited mentality. He is too mysterious.
How can we understand the mysterious Jesus when we cannot even understand ourselves? Do you know that you have two hearts? One heart is the physical heart, and the other is the psychological heart. Our physical heart may be quite perfect, but our psychological heart is corrupt. Can you tell where this psychological heart is in your being? We cannot even understand ourselves. Then how can we understand the wonderful Jesus? The person of Christ is a real mystery.
In the New Testament there is another mystery—the matter of the Triune God. God is one, yet He is triune. How can you define Him? When I was a young Christian, I tried to understand the trinity of God. But the more I tried, the more I could not understand. The Triune God is a mystery.
To say that the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are three persons of one God is just a kind of interpretation. This should not be pressed too far; otherwise, it will lead to three Gods. Many Christian teachers do hold the concept that the Father, Son, and Spirit are three Gods, but they dare not express this in words openly. Some say that the Father, who has a person, is one God, and the Son, who also has a person, is another God, but the Spirit, who does not have a person, is merely an influence, not another God. All these concepts with their interpretations are complicated and complicating. We should not get involved with them.
We cannot understand the mystery of the Triune God adequately. We can and should only believe the pure Word of God. Matthew 28:19 speaks of the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. There is one name for the Father, Son, and Spirit because God is triune. Then 2 Corinthians 13:14 says, “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” Christ, God, and the Spirit are the one Triune God. We cannot tell how God could be triune, but according to the Bible, we do know that He is triune. We have to forget about the theological terminology but take care of the pure word of the Bible. How could one God be the Father, the Son, and the Spirit? It is a mystery. This is why His name is called “Wonderful.”
The third mystery in the New Testament is the matter of the baptism in the Holy Spirit. This is altogether a mystery. It has been a matter of argument for over nineteen centuries.
When I first came to this country, I met two groups of people within a short time. First, I was invited to a dinner in Los Angeles and met the leader of a group that denies the water baptism. He interpreted the baptism such as mentioned in Matthew 28:19 and Romans 6:4 as baptism in the Holy Spirit. He was strongly opposed to water baptism. Then I went to Texas. While I was speaking there in a meeting about being baptized in the Holy Spirit, a lady from a certain group stood to interrupt my speaking and to argue with me about being saved by water baptism. This group believes that if you are not immersed with water by them, you cannot be saved. It has to be with their immersion, not with any other. These two occasions showed me the two extremes in the argument concerning the baptism in the Holy Spirit. It surprised me and saddened me very much.
Some people say that to be baptized in the Holy Spirit you must speak in tongues. According to them, if you have never spoken in tongues, you have never received the baptism in the Spirit. Some even say that if you have never spoken in tongues, you are not regenerated. It is ridiculous!
So many Christians today know the name of Watchman Nee. I was with him about twenty years and knew him very well. He never spoke in tongues. Does this mean that Watchman Nee did not have the Holy Spirit? Does it mean that he was never regenerated? In 1936 I was sent to work in north China by the work under his leadership. While I was there, I became influenced to speak in tongues, and I took the lead to help many others to speak in tongues. Of course, this news traveled to Shanghai where Watchman Nee was. Immediately, I received a cable from him. It simply said, “Not all speak in tongues.” He was one hundred percent against the teaching that speaking in tongues is the unique manifestation of the baptism in the Holy Spirit.
The baptism in the Holy Spirit is a mystery. How could anyone say that a man like Watchman Nee did not have the Holy Spirit? It is doubtful that Spurgeon, the “king” of preachers, ever spoke in tongues. We spent much time to study his writings, but we could not find a hint that he spoke in tongues. Does this mean that he did not have the baptism in the Holy Spirit? D. L. Moody was also a great preacher. There is no indication in his writings that he spoke in tongues. Many people know Jessie Penn-Lewis. She wrote a good number of spiritual books on the cross. She was absolutely against the so-called Pentecostal movement emphasizing the speaking in tongues in England. Andrew Murray was a very spiritual person, yet in his books you cannot find anything about him speaking in tongues. I can give you a list of names of many spiritual giants who never spoke in tongues. This is why it is too much to say that if you have never spoken in tongues you have never received the baptism in the Holy Spirit.
The Pentecostal movement came to this country in the early years of this century. At the beginning, Dr. A. B. Simpson, the founder of the Christian and Missionary Alliance Church, was with the Pentecostal movement. He was one of the most spiritual persons that America has ever produced. When most of the leaders of this movement made the decision that speaking in tongues is the unique manifestation of the baptism in the Holy Spirit, he would not agree and withdrew from the movement.
Why are there so many different opinions and interpretations about the baptism in the Holy Spirit? Because it is a mystery. Therefore, we must come back to the pure Word of God.
We need to see clearly the baptism in the Holy Spirit. We should never think that the Triune God is three Gods. We can never separate the Son of God from the Father. In John 14:8-10 Philip asked the Lord to show them the Father and they would be satisfied. The Lord immediately rebuked him by saying, “Have I been so long a time with you, and you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how is it that you say, Show us the Father?” Then He told Philip that the Father was in Him and that He was in the Father. Are the Son and the Father two or one? According to the pure word of the Bible, we should not separate the Son from the Father. The Father is in the Son, and the Son is in the Father. The Son and the Father are one (10:30). Is there then no difference? Yes, there is some difference, for the Son is the Son and the Father is the Father. But the Son is also called the Father in Isaiah 9:6. Therefore, we see that it is a mystery.
In the same way, we should not separate the Spirit from the Son. According to the Bible, this is absolutely wrong. We have at least two verses that tell us that Christ is the Spirit. Second Corinthians 3:17 says, “The Lord is the Spirit,” and 1 Corinthians 15:45 says, “The last Adam became a life-giving Spirit.” Then is there no difference between Christ and the Holy Spirit? Surely there is some difference. Christ is the Christ, and the Holy Spirit is the Holy Spirit. But to say that They are two is also wrong, because these clear verses tell us that Christ is the Spirit. It is a real mystery.
When we come to the matter of the baptism in the Holy Spirit, it is absolutely not wise to separate Christ from the Spirit. Galatians 3:27 says, “As many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.” Have you been baptized into Christ? When were you baptized into Christ? Many Christian teachers insist on saying that Christ is the Baptizer, but here it says that we have been baptized into Christ. Christ the Baptizer has baptized us into Himself. To say that Christ has baptized us into the Spirit is logical, but to say that Christ has baptized us into Himself is rather mysterious. This is because Christ is not only the Baptizer but also the Spirit into whom He has baptized us. Hence, to be baptized into Him is to be baptized into the Spirit. This corresponds to 1 Corinthians 12:13, which says, “In one Spirit we were all baptized.” Therefore, we should never separate the Holy Spirit from Christ. The Holy Spirit is just the realization of Christ. The Holy Spirit is nothing less than Christ. He is the reality of Christ. This is why He is called the Spirit of reality. Without the Holy Spirit we can never realize Christ, meet Christ, or touch Christ. Today Christ dwells in us, and the Spirit also dwells in us. This simply means that the two as one dwell in us.
After His ascension, Christ became qualified, approved, anointed, and inaugurated. Moreover, He was committed with all the necessary things to complete God’s project. The first step He took after this was to come down in the form of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost. On the one hand, He was the Baptizer, and on the other hand, He was the Spirit for this baptism. As the Head of the Body, He was the Baptizer. He put all God’s chosen people into the Spirit, that is, into Himself. On the day of Pentecost, the ascended, approved, and inaugurated Christ came down in the form of the Spirit into whom His people were immersed.
What is the baptism in the Holy Spirit? It is Christ putting all God’s chosen people into Himself as the Spirit. On the day of Pentecost He put the Jewish part of God’s chosen people into Himself (Acts 2). Then in the house of Cornelius He put the Gentile part of His Body into Himself (ch. 10). These two parts put together are the baptism in the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 12:13). It is an accomplished fact, just like the crucifixion. When did Christ die for you? Was it when you confessed your sins and believed in Him? No, He died for our sins before we were born. Furthermore, we all know that we were crucified with Christ. This also was accomplished before we were born. This is God’s divine economy. This is God’s accounting.
The crucifixion of Christ was once for all. It does not mean that today, when a sinner repents and confesses to the Lord Jesus, the Lord comes to die for him. Then tomorrow another sinner repents and confesses, and then the Lord comes to die for him. The Lord Jesus was crucified once and for all.
Allow me to illustrate with a circle. A circle signifies eternity, without beginning and without end. Now we put the cross of Jesus at a certain place on the circle. Adam is on the circle, as well as Abraham, David, and Peter. We also are on the circle. Then who is before the cross, and who is after? No one is before, and no one is after. Jesus died for and with all of us on the cross. He died there once for all. He died there for Adam, for Abraham, for David, and for Peter, and He died there for us. We do not need to ask Him to come and die for us. He has died for us already. All we need to do is to thank Him that He has already died for and with us. It is an accomplished fact. We only need to receive what He has done.
In the same principle, the baptism in the Holy Spirit is an accomplished fact. On the day of Pentecost and in the house of Cornelius, Christ as the Head put His whole Body into Himself. Otherwise, how do you interpret 1 Corinthians 12:13? “In one Spirit we were all baptized into one Body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and were all given to drink one Spirit.” This verse says that we were all baptized in one Spirit into one Body. When were we all baptized in one Spirit into one Body? It is the same as when we were crucified. We were all crucified with Christ at the same time. In like manner, if we are Jews, we were baptized in one Spirit into one Body on the day of Pentecost. If we are Gentiles, we were baptized in the house of Cornelius. The whole Body was baptized on these two occasions.
By reading our New Testament carefully, we see that only these two occasions, one at Pentecost and the other at the house of Cornelius, are called the baptism in the Holy Spirit. There is no third occasion. The others are not the baptism but the experience of the baptism that has already been accomplished. The baptism in the Holy Spirit was accomplished before we were born. What we need is just to participate in this baptism that has been effected on the Body already. Christ died for all of us once and for all. In the same principle, Christ put His Body into Himself as the Spirit once and for all.
Do you believe that baptizing people into water simply means to put them into the water? Indeed not. That is just a physical sign. The reality is that we are putting them into Christ. This is what Paul meant when he said, “All of us...were baptized into Christ Jesus” (Rom. 6:3), and “As many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.” When we baptize people in water, we need faith in our spirit to realize that we are putting them into Christ. The water baptism is just an outward sign of this.
The ascended Head, after being inaugurated by the Father, came back in the form of the Spirit. As the Head of the Body, He was the Baptizer, and as the Spirit He put the Body into Himself. The Body is composed of all God’s chosen people, those whom God marked out in eternity past. On the day of Pentecost and in the house of Cornelius, Christ put all of them into Himself. We were all baptized there. We were all put into Christ. Whether we speak in tongues or we do not speak in tongues, we are in Christ. I know many who have never spoken in tongues, yet they have full assurance that they have been baptized into Christ. Hallelujah! We all have been baptized in one Spirit into one Body.
This is not all. The first half of 1 Corinthians 12:13 says that we were all baptized in one Spirit into one Body. But the next part of the verse says that we were all given to drink of one Spirit. It is not simply a matter of being baptized. That has been accomplished already. Today it is a matter of drinking. We all have been given to drink. This means that we all have been positioned to drink. God can position us, but He cannot drink for us. We must drink for ourselves. Christ has baptized us into Himself as the Spirit, and He has positioned us to drink of Him as the Spirit. Now we must drink of Him by calling, “O Lord Jesus.” This is clear by reading 1 Corinthians 1:2: “To the church of God which is in Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, the called saints, with all those who call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ in every place, who is theirs and ours.” Paul did not say “with all those who read the Bible” or “with all those who speak in tongues,” but “with all those who call upon the name of our Lord.” According to the whole book of 1 Corinthians, to call on the name of the Lord is to drink of Him. This is also proved in the same chapter that speaks of our being positioned to drink. First Corinthians 12:3 says, “Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking in the Spirit of God says, Jesus is accursed; and no one can say, Jesus is Lord! except in the Holy Spirit.” This means that whenever we say, “Lord Jesus,” we are in the Holy Spirit; that is, we are drinking of the Spirit.
To call on the name of the Lord is to drink of the Spirit. Some say that this is merely a psychological phenomenon. But try calling, “O Confucius, O Plato, O George Washington!” When you call on these names, nothing happens. But whenever we call on the name of Jesus, no one can deny the sweetness, the refreshment, and the comfort. This is the drinking of Christ as the Spirit. We all have been baptized, and we have been positioned to drink. Now we must open our mouth and call on the name of the Lord. “O Lord Jesus, O Lord Jesus!” When we do this, we are drinking of one Spirit. Then we have the reality of the oneness in the Body. Praise the Lord! It is so real and simple. We should never forget that we all have been baptized into Christ as the Spirit, and He has positioned us that we may drink of Him all the time. Now what we need is not to be baptized again but to drink of Him every day. The more we drink of Him, the more we will grow into Him. Then we will enjoy the reality of the Body.
