Introduction:
John the Baptist was not only the first person to speak of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, he was also the first person to seek it. How could this be? For Scripture records that John was filled with the Holy Spirit from birth (Luke 1:15). The answer lay in the role of Jesus as Baptist and in the uniqueness of this baptism, one custom fit for a supernatural kingdom. John knew the role of Jesus as Baptist as he told his disciples "I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire" (Matt 3:11).
When Jesus came to John to be baptized in water, John tried to deter Him saying, "I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?" (Matt 3:13). It was not John's turn to be baptized; it was the LORD's. What happened next, as the gospels record, was a baptism whose meaning went well beyond an immersion in water. John the Baptist gave the following testimony "I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him. I would not have known him, except that the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, 'The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is he who will baptize with the Holy Spirit'" (John 1:32-33). In this one testimony, John not only reiterates Jesus' role as Baptist, but he mentions that the Spirit remained, a powerful illustration of the Baptism in the Holy Spirit.
After His baptism, Jesus was "full of the Holy Spirit" and was thereupon led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted (Luke 4:1). This baptism fulfilled "all righteousness" (Matt 3:15) and thus began the Spirit-led and filled public ministry of Jesus. Jesus would later lay the same model for His believers when He instructed the disciples to wait in Jerusalem before proceeding to the uttermost. Scripture is clear on one point, He did not baptize on earth. It was after He ascended that He began to baptize. Believers seeking the Baptism should be comforted by His words: "So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. "Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!" (Luke 11:9-13)
Handout: (1) Questions to Think About (2) William J. Seymour and the Azusa Street Revival
Questions to Think About
1. Through what/whose power did Jesus perform miracles, healings, and deliverances?
2. Through what/whose power did the disciples and apostles perform miracles, healings, and deliverances? (For questions 1-2, look at Matt 4:1, Luke 4:1, 14-15, 18-19, Luke 11:20, Luke 12:12, Acts 10:38, John 16:7-15)
3. What does it mean to "worship the Father in spirit and in truth?" (John 4:23-24)
4. Is it possible that Jesus' role as Baptist be limited to baptizing only the apostles and the early church? If not, when, would His role as Baptist end? If never, when would the Baptism in the Holy Spirit end as an experience?
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