Many people who receive the Holy Spirit into their lives today do not receive anything comparable to what the believers received on the day of Pentecost, because the baptism of fire is not a part of their experience. It was the baptism of fire that was to be the pattern experience, not the baptism of the Holy Spirit; therefore the experience had to include the fire.
Since approximately the year 1900, the Pentecostal movement has been slowly growing until it now reaches out, under the term “the Charismatic movement,” to embrace even many of the denominations. Most of them claim that the evidence of receiving the Holy Spirit is speaking in tongues. We should challenge that. They tell people that they will receive the Holy Spirit exactly as the believers did on the day of Pentecost. Where is the rushing, mighty wind? Where are the tongues of fire? Where are the distinct languages the believers spoke? If they want to call that the pattern experience, what is it a pattern of?
The experience recorded in the second chapter of Acts was not a pattern for the Church age. It was an experience that was to be indicative of the receiving of the Holy Spirit and fire in the end time. It appeared on the scene as one evidence in the Scriptures. Never again in the book of Acts does it say that anyone was baptized with the Holy Spirit and fire.
In Acts 2 Peter explained what had just happened by telling the people, “This is what was spoken of through the prophet Joel. ‘It shall be in the last days!’ ” If the events of the second chapter of Acts happened in the last days, those days have lasted a long time—almost two thousand years.
In his sermon on the day of Pentecost, Peter quoted Joel and focused upon our time. “ ‘And it shall be in the last days,’ God says, ‘that I will pour forth of My Spirit upon all mankind; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams; even upon My bondslaves, both men and women, I will in those days pour forth of My Spirit and they shall prophesy. And I will grant wonders in the sky above, and signs on the earth beneath, blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and glorious day of the Lord shall come. And it shall be, that every one who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’ ” Acts 2:17–21.
This prophecy speaks of signs of end-time judgment—the great catastrophes that are to be upon the earth. I am not persuaded that all of them will happen in the material, natural, physical realm. Your being able to walk in these judgments will require an experience similar to the one the believers had on the day of Pentecost. Something happened that almost instantly transformed men like Peter, who had denied his Lord, and Thomas, who had doubted. They did not have forever to work those things out of their spirits. They needed something that would instantaneously and miraculously consume the dross and the chaff in their lives.
Notice that the Lord did not choose important religious leaders and spend a generation teaching them. He was with the disciples only about three and one-half years, and even then you cannot say that they were really ready. They were hiding behind closed doors! All forsook Him and fled. Peter said, “I am going fishing.” Some of the other disciples went with him (John 21). They had no concept of what God had set before them to do, nor were they really prepared in their hearts to do it. How did they change? The Lord told them, “You cannot go with Me. Stay in Jerusalem until you receive the promise of the Father.” This is what John the Baptist was talking about when he said, “You will be baptized with the Holy Spirit and fire” (Matthew 3:11).
The Scriptures speak of the baptism of the Holy Spirit and fire and about our God being a consuming fire. The book of Revelation tells of the revelation and vision of the colors and flames of fire coming forth. God’s people are to participate in fire. II Peter 3 tells how the waters were reserved for judgment in the beginning, and how fires were reserved for the end-time judgment. Revelation 8 gives the first indication that the churches are to participate in this judgment, and it also tells the manner in which it is to come. It speaks of the divine fire, the control and use of it, and what is to come to pass. Read the book of Revelation, especially about the two witnesses, how they minister in bringing the judgments and condemnation to the whole world, about the seven trumpets, the seven vials, and the fire. Incidentally, there are more references to the fires of judgment in the book of Revelation than in any other New Testament book.
Witchcraft and devil worship are becoming much more prevalent now, not to take over, but to be judged by God. Everything will be uncovered and judged. Through the medium of judgment, fire will be coming down out of heaven to devour the adversaries. Revelation 8 speaks of the angel with the golden censer taking fire off the altar and casting it on the earth. Then follows the description of the trumpets and the judgments that bring desolation to the earth. But there is no repentance and the people rise to blaspheme God.
Jesus said, I am come to send (cast) fire on the earth; and what will I, if it be already kindled? But I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how am I straitened till it be accomplished! Luke 12:49–50. Jesus knew that He had to be baptized with fire. Having pleased the Father when He went through His baptism and was glorified, Jesus then became the occasion of judgments. He came to cast fire on the earth.
Why did the baptism of the Holy Spirit and fire take place as it did in Acts 2? What strange thing happened that the Holy Spirit came upon them, the tongues of fire settled upon them, and they then began to speak with other tongues? Why did it happen that way? Why didn’t they dance a little jig or do something else? Could there not have been some more logical, sensible manifestation than for people to babble along? No; the tongues of fire were related to what they spoke. James said that the tongue is a little member of the body, a little fire, and yet it can be kindled and set on fire by hell (James 3:5–6). The human tongue can enter into a ministry of fire, either from Satan or from God.
This is exactly what happened to Isaiah. Isaiah saw the glory of the Lord in the temple; and it was so great that he said, “Oh, I am a man of unclean lips. I cannot speak the Word that is going to bring down nations. My mouth is unclean.” Then an angel took a coal of fire from the altar and put the burning coal on his mouth, saying, “Now you are purged. Now go and prophesy, Isaiah” (Isaiah 6:1–7).
This is what God was doing on the day of Pentecost. The cloven tongues of fire that sat upon each of the disciples were designed to purge them. The blasphemy was purged out of Peter so that he could stand up and lay the foundation of the Church and open up a new age. Never again do we find Peter wavering after that.
Jeremiah said: Therefore, thus says the Lord, the God of hosts, “Because you have spoken this word, behold, I am making My words in your mouth fire and this people wood, and it will consume them.” Jeremiah 5:14. God says, “My Word is a fire.” That is what made the prophets move.
First God brings the fire to purge you; then you can speak His Word, and the fire of God can be in the earth. What will happen after you submit to this? Once this purging is done and you are loosed, you are going to speak fire. Judgments will be loosed on ungodly men in high places. There is no other way. The prophecy of Isaiah 66:16 states, “The slain of the Lord will be many.” As soon as this experience of the burning up of the chaff is accomplished within them, judgments will flow out of the little remnant on a worldwide scale.
Let us look again to the second chapter of Acts. After Peter talked about God’s outpouring of His Holy Spirit, he continued, “ ‘And I will grant wonders in the sky above; and signs on the earth beneath, blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke.’ ” Acts 2:19. God will grant it. Who is going to pray for that? No one on earth would pray that way, except those who have been purged by the fire. The Lord will grant that they be instruments of the fire of judgment upon the earth.
The aggressive ministry of judgment will come forth because God will meet you with the fire, but something else will happen too. Once you are baptized with the Holy Spirit and fire, the fire will minister immunity to you. Zechariah saw this. Then I lifted up my eyes and looked, and behold, there was a man with a measuring line in his hand. So I said, “Where are you going?” And he said to me, “To measure Jerusalem, to see how wide it is and how long it is.” And behold, the angel who was speaking with me was going out, and another angel was coming out to meet him, and said to him, “Run, speak to that young man, saying” (don’t bother doing all this measuring and survey work), “ ‘Jerusalem will be inhabited without walls, because of the multitude of men and cattle within it. For I,’ declares the Lord, ‘will be a wall of fire around her, and I will be the glory in her midst.’ ” Zechariah 2:1–5.
The people of God who are coming forth will never be contained within a denominational wall. They will never be contained within the protective measures of defense that we have known in the past. They will grow too fast for that. There will be no way to organize them, no way to build walls around them, no way to secularize or make a denomination out of them. Do not worry about God’s end-time walk becoming a denomination. It is growing too fast. It is moving in God. Just about the time someone wants to put a wall around it, he will look around and find that there are too many people for his wall, and he will have to push it down. What is going to protect the Church then? The Lord says, “I will be a wall of fire round about her.” The fires of judgment, the dealings of God, and the glory in the midst of her will protect her. This will be the key to everything that is to come to pass in the restoration.
Notice the explanation of the parable of the tares and the wheat. Then He left the multitudes, and went into the house. And His disciples came to Him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the tares of the field.” And He answered and said, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man, and the field is the world; and as for the good seed, these are the sons of the kingdom.” (He did not talk about the Church at all, did He? He spoke of “the sons of the Kingdom.”) “And the tares are the sons of the evil one; and the enemy who sowed them is the devil, and the harvest is the end of the age; and the reapers are angels.” (The end of the age is now. Others were close to the Kingdom, but I believe that the sons of the Kingdom this Scripture is talking about are among the present generation.) “Therefore just as the tares are gathered up and burned with fire, so shall it be at the end of the age.” Matthew 13:36–40.
In verse 30, Jesus said, “Allow both the wheat and the tares to grow together until the harvest.” So far there has not been any real separation. The wheat and the tares have coexisted. But one thing you should know: tares do not grow in God’s end-time walk. It is transparent because it is a wheat movement, not a tare movement. There is no hypocrisy or cover-up. Everything is revealed and open. If a man has a problem he does not try to cover it over.
What is to be done with the tares? “First gather up the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them up” (notice: burn them up); “but gather the wheat into my barn.” Matthew 13:30b. If you are tolerant of the ecumenical movement and its organizations, thinking that they are something of God, you probably do not realize what is actually happening. They are being bundled. Everything is gravitating into bundles because the fire is to come and burn them. God is bringing an end to everything in this age that makes an offense. But first He has to make an end of the offense in you before He can use you as an instrument to minister judgment to the rest of the world. The fire of God within you is corrective; the fires of judgment upon the earth are not corrective. Those fires are ending one age and opening up another.
The Lord is coming to bring the acceptable year, the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, to give them a garland instead of ashes (Isaiah 61:2–3). First the Lord has to reduce you to ashes; but ultimately, He reduces the wicked to ashes under your feet. There is much that must be burned up in you. Then when He is finished, He gives you a garland; He gives you the overcomer’s crown. You are a winner. You have the authority, and instead of the ashes, you have the garland.
Open your heart to make a real application of this word. Can you see the relationship now between the tongues of fire in the book of Acts and the ministry of judgment of fire that is to follow? You cannot minister something that you have not experienced. You have to be faithful to the Lord to submit to it. Believe for a restoration of that experience of the day of Pentecost. Say in your heart, “Lord, baptize me with the Holy Spirit and fire.” Do not be content with anything less than that, because the day requires it. This is the day of fire. This is the day when the judgments of the Lord will be in all the earth.
The prophecy of Daniel 7:22 tells us that judgment is to be committed to the saints, and yet we do not see it working. The ministry of judgment will not be vindictive just because someone has a grudge against someone else. You must be a purified, perfect channel with your flesh and chaff out of the way completely, so that you can minister objectively in full obedience to what God wants. That kind of ministry is almost an impossibility without an experience of fire.
If you were God, would you trust yourself as being able to carry out His judgments upon the earth? If you were God, would you look at someone like yourself and say, “I’m going to allow him to judge, even until the slain of the Lord will be multitudes”? Are you objective enough? Are you wise enough? And yet to you will come the commission of judgment.
You must first go through this judgment yourself. There must be a baptism of fire, and there will be. The instances of judgment will come rapidly in the earth because this work will be done quickly within God’s people. If you are holding up the parade, you had better change in a hurry. Something has to happen fast. There are many ungodly men in high places; many principalities and powers have come against God’s people. God has promised the judgment; it will happen. This is the key for every nation. It is the key for the Kingdom coming forth. God is bringing forth His apostles and prophets by putting the pressure on them; He is putting the fire to them.
It almost seems suicidal to embrace this word. At a time when the world is going through great turmoil, we ought to be thinking of self-preservation instead of submitting ourselves to such a total destruction of our basic instincts and attitudes of the flesh, of every protective measure the old nature has ever built up. Nevertheless, as we come in absolute submission to the Lord, we say, “Put the fire to us Lord; for this is what You want, and this is exactly what we are going to have.”