Many of us do not realize that there is a difference between what people have voiced in receiving the Holy Spirit and the original experience that is recorded in the second chapter of Acts. And when the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent, rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them tongues as of fire distributing themselves, and they rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance. Acts 2:1–4. This is a precious passage that has been preached on and expounded many times, but in this hour it is important to understand something fresh and new in it. The word “baptism” does not occur again in the book of Acts as referring to people receiving the Holy Spirit. We read of people receiving the Holy Spirit and being filled with the Holy Spirit, of the apostles laying hands on the people who then received the Spirit and spoke with tongues or prophesied.
Many groups have heralded the return of the baptism of the Holy Spirit spoken of in the book of Acts. However, in the great scale of the restoration, many times an experience is quite shallow before the fullness of the experience is restored. In the early days of the Methodist movement, people talked about receiving the Holy Spirit. John Wesley had a vision of what the Holy Spirit was to do. He talked about the Spirit coming to sanctify the believer, eradicating the old nature by burning the chaff. That is exactly what John the Baptist said would happen: “The wheat He will gather into the garner, but the chaff He will burn with unquenchable fire.” Wesley, a dedicated and mighty man of prayer, saw the vision, and perhaps he leaned into the experience himself; but he did not enter into it fully. He was aware of a group in England that believed in the restoration of the Church and in the apostolic ministry. He claimed that this group had the gifts and the ministries of the Spirit.
Wesley preached about this experience; the tragedy is that years later when the Pentecostal movement was born out of the Methodist church, the Methodists were as quick to reject the people who received the Holy Spirit and spoke with tongues as the Church of England had been to reject them. Groups of Methodists and Free Methodists began waiting on God and seeking for the Holy Spirit on Azusa Street in Los Angeles and in Topeka, Kansas; they received the Holy Spirit and spoke with tongues. You can read about some of those early experiences in the book With Signs Following by Stanley H. Frodsham. People really saw visions and manifestations of the Spirit in fire that came upon them. Yet the people who have received the Holy Spirit since the turn of the century have concentrated largely on tongues. They have completely rejected the fire that would deal with their lives.
The fire was given for a purpose. When the early Church received the Holy Spirit and the tongues of fire settled upon them, what happened to them? On the day of Pentecost about three thousand souls were baptized and brought into the Church. And they were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. And everyone kept feeling a sense of awe; and many wonders and signs were taking place through the apostles.
And all those who had believed were together, and had all things in common; and they began selling their property and possessions, and were sharing them with all, as anyone might have need. And day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart, praising God, and having favor with all the people. And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved. Acts 2:42–47.
You see the same picture in the fourth chapter, verses 32–35: And the congregation of those who believed were of one heart and soul; and not one of them claimed that anything belonging to him was his own; but all things were common property to them. And with great power the apostles were giving witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and abundant grace was upon them all. For there was not a needy person among them, for all who were owners of lands or houses would sell them and bring the proceeds of the sales, and lay them at the apostles’ feet; and they would be distributed to each, as any had need.
Note also Acts 5:12: And at the hands of the apostles many signs and wonders were taking place among the people; and they were all with one accord in Solomon’s portico.
Notice that the baptism of the Holy Spirit and fire, as it was prophesied, resulted in a unity and an unselfishness that has not been seen since in the Church. For over seventy years the Pentecostal movement has proclaimed the return of the Holy Spirit. They have had tremendous experiences, but unity has not come out of it. It has resulted in more denominations and more organizations springing up, not in unity.
Even what is called the moving of the Holy Spirit in the Charismatic movement did not producing unity. It tears up churches and denominations. It divides, with people going in different directions as they are being pulled into one group or another. It does not result in the unity that was seen in the early Church.
You must look at this realistically. You may wonder if the experience is real. Absolutely—the experience people are receiving is real. But why not contend for what the early Church had? Why not go a little further and submit to the fire—the same fire that in a few days time changed a group of disciples who were arguing over who would be the preeminent, foremost one, to those who would lay down their lives for one another, with no one seeking his own place. That fire is needed. The chaff needs to be burned.
I do not believe that the Lord does anything unless we submit to it. There is a way that we say yes. There must be some faith in the one who receives. To some degree we submit, even though we may be ignorant of what we are submitting to. There is a way that we unconditionally open our hearts to it. There must be a way that God deals with those who have received the Holy Spirit, to add that experience which John the Baptist spoke of, “He shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” The fire must also be included in our experience.
How can God bring the fires of judgment to the earth through instruments of judgment if they themselves have not experienced the fire to remove the offensive chaff from within them? Will God excuse in them what He is going to condemn the world for in judgment? Absolutely not! He must purge them first; and when their obedience is complete, then the Lord is in all readiness to avenge every disobedience (II Corinthians 10:6). But their obedience and cleansing must first be complete.
Our walk with the Lord must lead to the dealings of fire and purging, of the sanctification of the vessel and the purification that John Wesley saw, but not in some unwholesome and repulsive way that we have seen in other movements. It has to be brought back to the scriptural standards, to the beautiful grace of God that comes to those who believe. The Lord is not only the author; He is also the finisher of our faith (Hebrews 12:2). He has begun a work and He is able to perform it unto the day of the Lord (Philippians 1:6).
Let us consider some Scriptures in the light of the early Church’s experience of the Holy Spirit and what the Lord has been showing about it. I Corinthians 12:4–11 tells of the varieties of gifts, ministries, and administrations, and continues in verse 12: For even as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ.
Note this very carefully, so that you will not be confused. You cannot think of the Lord Jesus Christ today as an individual, as a man with a beard walking on the sand by the Sea of Galilee. II Corinthians 5:16 says, “Though we have known Him after the flesh, yet know we Him so no longer.” He dwells in a glory that is unapproachable (I Timothy 6:16). He is the spiritual Head of a great spiritual Body, and that spiritual Body consists of many members. Though they are many, they are one Body; so also is Christ (I Corinthians 12:12).
Christ used to be an individual. You used to be an individual! If you are trying to retain your individuality, you are missing it, for I Corinthians 12:13 says: For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body… That is what the baptism of the Holy Spirit was meant to do—to bring the fire that burns out the chaff of individuality, of selfishness, of everything that hinders. In an instantaneous experience? Yes, and also in a process, an expanding experience. Even though God does it, He continues to do it. He saves you, but He goes on to save you to the uttermost. Christ is ever interceding to bring that to pass, until the uttermost of salvation is your experience.
The same principle applies to the experience of being baptized into one Body. Sometimes it happens without your realizing it, but ultimately you will become completely aware that you have ceased to be an individual. It is more than a dedication. It is more than an individual dedicating himself to something. You become a part of it. You become aware of how complete the Body is. When one member suffers, all suffer. When one member is honored, all rejoice. Individuality ceases, and there comes a mutual concern. The Scripture calls it having the same care for one another (I Corinthians 12:25–26).
Paul’s first Epistle to the Corinthians is the only book in the Bible that names the gifts of the Holy Spirit. The first chapter begins by stating that they did not come behind in any gift; they excelled in all utterance and all knowledge, waiting eagerly for the coming of the Lord (I Corinthians 1:5–7). But as we continue to read, we see the coexistence of the flesh life: they had a sectarian spirit; they were guilty of sins of the flesh; they had very little discipline. This indicates that even when the Holy Spirit dwells within you, you may be rather carnal. Does that statement startle you? Some of the most vehement, opponents of what God is doing today are those who speak in tongues, yet they grieve and quench the Spirit of God in their own lives. The Spirit would readily give them an experience of fire that would burn out the chaff, but they do not want it burned. They want to maintain their own lives.
The submissive interaction among the members in the Body of Christ becomes a channel for this dealing of fire. This is not a phony, shallow submission. Only true submission to divine order brings the baptism of fire within your life. We still have much to learn about submission. In some people’s minds, submission applies only to women and children.
Actually, submission is ninety-five percent submission to the Lord and five percent absolute submission to the divine order that God is restoring. When you magnify the individuals who are in a position of authority, you get away from the fact that it is the Lord working in them, and then it is easy for them to become egotistical with it. We must be baptized by one Spirit into one Body.
I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, entreat you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing forbearance to one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all. Ephesians 4:1–6.
When the Corinthians used tongues excessively in an open service, Paul told them to be quiet unless they were going to interpret what was said, and even then only two, or at the most three, should speak and one interpret. Although Paul did not emphasize speaking in tongues, do not get the idea that he did not approve of it. He said, I thank God, I speak in tongues more than you all. I Corinthians 14:18. That should end the arguments which maintain that Paul did not believe in tongues. He knew their proper usage and purpose. He also did not place much emphasis on water baptism. He wrote to the Corinthians that he had not baptized any of them except Crispus and Gaius and the household of Stephanas (I Corinthians 1:14, 16). Even in Paul’s day, baptism was an experience that had already gone into a decline. No doubt, water baptism will become an important experience again. The baptism into His death will be a very significant experience, one that is fully restored to the Church.
One truth that Paul did emphasize was the unity and oneness in the Body (the same thing mentioned in the book of Acts; all were in one accord). He realized that this unity is not produced and maintained by leadership; it is produced by a baptism of fire—the same baptism of fire that was associated with the fullness of the Holy Spirit. A denomination which emphasizes a pet doctrine often insists that this experience includes every other experience in the grace of God. But it is not that simple.
If we are to have what God wants today, there must first be the restoration of the Body of Christ in its integral spiritual unity, where by one Spirit we are all baptized into one Body. This would seem to create a doctrine stating that not everyone who is saved is in the Body of Christ; however, that is not what we are saying. We are concerned here with that which produces unity. People can be married, but that does not mean they are one; they can be very contentious and disunified. When by one Spirit we are baptized into one Body, we endeavor to keep that unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. I do not disown my brother just because I am not one with him. He may contend with me and exclude me from his little circle. That does not bother me, for I know I am one in Christ with him. Unity will not come until God deals with him and with me through fire, and we are fused together in what God wants.
…we are to grow up in all aspects into Him, who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by that which every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love. Ephesians 4:15–16. The fire of God comes to weld the members together. Welded metal is usually stronger than the metal around it. Usually, the metal can be broken easier than the weld. This illustrates what God wants to do in us.
Let God deal with your heart until regardless of what a man does or says, you maintain a unity in the Spirit with him. Believe to be one with him. Even if he is wrong, determine that you will not let him turn away. Hold him to that oneness. Hold him to that bond of love. Predetermine in your heart to do this because God has wrought it within you to be one with him. Many New Testament churches are accused of being divisive, and they are divisive in the sense that they must deal with the utter corruption that parades as unity in the denominational systems.
You must humbly say, “Send the fire upon my life.” Never feel that you have everything; you are deceiving yourself if you do. Back off and say, “Lord, put the fire that I need to this experience. Deal with my heart.” He will. After a while, you may even regret having prayed that prayer, but in time you will be grateful for it. In His wisdom, God sees your hunger and need when you first cry out to Him, “Put the fire to me.”
For if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. Galatians 6:3. There is such a thing as having an opinion about your experience that is more pride than reality. We have to claim things by faith, so claim the fire of God to burn up the chaff. Not everyone will experience it. It will be a day of judgment, and many people who do not submit to the dealings of the Lord will go the way of judgment and tribulation. Zechariah 13:9 promises that a third will be brought through the fire. Do you want to have a real experience of God’s fire put to your heart and be an instrument in His hand? There is nothing more wonderful than to have the promise of the Lord that He will give you beauty for ashes. When the fire is finished, then the beauty of the Lord comes forth.