The Spirit and the Fire by Daniel Tomberlin, Pastor danielt@surfsouth.com Northwoods Church of God 640 Hall Road Thomasville, Georgia 31757 Luke 3:15-17 NKJV Now as the people were in expectation, and all reasoned in their hearts about John, whether he was the Christ or not, John answered, saying to all, "I indeed baptize you with water; but One mightier than I is coming, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather the wheat into His barn; but the chaff He will burn with unquenchable fire." The people of Israel knew that God was about to do something and they hoped that He was about to bring forth their long awaited deliverer. They were a people expecting redemption and revival. They were expecting deliverance from Roman domination. They desperately wanted to be free from Roman soldiers, Roman taxes, and Roman culture. As God had redeemed their ancestors from Egypt and Babylon, they now placed their hope in a new deliverer, a messiah that would be Moses, Joshua, and David all in one new king. They were also expecting revival. They desperately wanted a revival of Jewish culture and religion. They wanted to hear the thundering words of the prophets once again, sing their psalms of praise anew, and see the glory of God descend upon the Temple. As the people heard the thundering words of John the Baptist calling the nation back to the wilderness, back to the Jordan river, they heard his call for corporate repentance. Maybe this fiery new prophet was their long awaited messiah! They asked, "Are you the messiah?" The Baptist replied, "The Messiah is coming and he will bring the Spirit and fire" (my paraphrase). These words resonated in the ears and hearts of all who heard. Anyone familiar with the preaching of the ancient prophets knew that God had promised both the Spirit and fire. Concerning the coming Messiah, the prophets proclaimed, The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord (Is. 11:2). Behold! My Servant whom I uphold, My Elect One in whom My soul delights! I have put My Spirit upon Him; He will bring forth justice to the Gentiles (Is. 42:1). The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, because the Lord has anointed Me to preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound... (Is. 61:1). As to the coming of the Spirit, the prophets proclaimed, Because the palaces will be forsaken, the bustling city will be deserted. the forts and towers will become lairs forever, a joy of wild donkeys, a pasture of flocks-- Until the Spirit is poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness becomes a fruitful field, and the fruitful field is counted as a forest (Is. 32:14f) For I will pour water on him who is thirsty, and floods on the dry ground; I will pour My Spirit on your descendants, and My blessing on your offspring... (Is. 44:3). I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them. (Ezek. 36:26f; see also Ezek. 11:19; 18:31). "I will put My Spirit in you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken it and performed it," says the Lord. (Ezek. 37:14; cf. Ezek 37:1-14; 39:29). And it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions. And also on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days. (Joel 2:28f). And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn (Zech. 12:10). The coming Messiah would be anointed by the Spirit, but also, his coming would mean that all of Israel would receive this anointing of the Holy Spirit. By no means would the coming Spirit be limited to the Messiah! The coming Spirit would restore the barrenness of the land, He would bless the children, He would transform the hearts of the people, He would bring forth life. In short the coming of the Spirit would mean the redemption of the people of God! Not only would the Messiah bring with Him the Spirit, but also fire! Let us hear from the ancient prophets concerning this messianic fire. Isaiah proclaimed, Therefore the Lord, the Lord of hosts, will send leanness among his fat ones; and under his glory He will kindle a burning like the burning of a fire. So the Light of Israel will be for a fire, and his Holy One for a flame; it will burn and devour His thorns and his briers in one day (Isaiah 10:16- 17; also Is. 5:24). Behold, the name of the Lord comes from afar, burning with His anger, and His burden is heavy; His lips are full of indignation, and His tongue like a devouring fire (Isaiah 30:27). The Lord will cause His glorious voice to be heard, and show the descent of His arm, with the indignation of His anger and the flame of a devouring fire, with scattering, tempest, and hailstones (Isaiah 30:30). For behold, the Lord will come with fire and with His chariots, like a whirlwind, to render His anger with fury, and His rebuke with flames of fire. For by fire and by His sword the Lord will judge all flesh; and the slain of the Lord shall be many (Isaiah 66:15-16). Jeremiah proclaimed, "O house of David! Thus says the Lord: Execute judgment in the morning; and deliver him who is plundered out of the hand of the oppressor, lest My fury go forth like fire and burn so that no one can quench it, because of the evil of your doings" (Jeremiah 21:12). Ezekiel cried out, "...I shall gather you and blow on you with the fire of My wrath, and you will be melted in the midst of it" (Ezekiel 22:21; see also Ezek. 15:4-7 and 21:31f). Amos prophesied of coming fire upon various cities seven times and then proclaimed, "Seek the Lord and live, lest He break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and devour it, with no one to quench it in Bethel" (Amos 5:6; see also Obadiah 1:18). Nahum speaks of God’s fury being poured out like fire (Nahum 1:6); Zephaniah speaks of the earth being devoured by the fire of God’s jealousy (Zeph. 3:8); and Malachi speaks of the coming of God and says "...who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner’s fire..." (Malachi 3:2). There can be little doubt that the fire of the Messiah will be the fire of judgment, first upon the house of Israel and then throughout the whole earth, fire upon all those who reject God’s Messiah. The question then is how can we reconcile the message of the coming of the Spirit unto redemption and the coming of fire unto judgment? The day of the Lord is a day of salvation for the righteous and a day of judgment for the wicked. The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, because the Lord has anointed Me... to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God (Isaiah 61:1f). Let us examine how this prophecy of John the Baptist was fulfilled in the life of Jesus of Nazareth, the Messiah, the people of Israel, and the church. Luke tells us that Jesus went forth "in the power of the Spirit" (Luke 4:14). Certainly the intention here is to establish that Jesus of Nazareth is the fulfillment of Isaiah’s messianic prophecies (Luke 1:35; 3:16, 22; 4:1,14, 18, 36; 5:17; 6:19; 10:19, 21; 11:13; 21:27; 22:69). But Luke also wants us to understand that not only did Jesus go forth in the power of the Spirit, but this same messianic empowerment, the Holy Spirit, is given to His disciples, which is a fulfillment of the messianic expectation. Other prophets, including John the Baptist, were empowered by the Spirit, but only Jesus has the authority to empower his disciples. In fact, his disciples have become a messianic community, going forth in the power of the Spirit! According to Luke, Jesus will baptize his disciples with the Holy Spirit (Luke 3:16); He gave the power over demons and disease (Luke 9:1); this power of the Spirit is given as power over the enemy and protection for the followers of Jesus (Luke 10:19); the Holy Spirit is given by the Father as a sign of His love and grace (Luke 11:13); the Holy Spirit inspires speech in times of persecution and proclamation (Luke 12:12). The post resurrection promise of Jesus that He will send "forth the promise of My Father upon you" and you will be "clothed with power from on high" (Luke 24:49) is a promise pregnant with prophetic expectation and fulfillment. The very words of Jesus cause us to remember the prophetic words of the ancient prophets concerning the coming of the Spirit upon the people of Israel and also upon the people of the whole earth! Further, it is here, with the coming of the Spirit that we began to see the preparation for the coming messianic baptism of fire! There is no doubt that the promise of the Spirit (Luke 24:49) is fulfilled on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1ff). Throughout the Acts of the Apostles Luke demonstrates how the followers of Jesus were empowered by the Holy Spirit and how the promise of the Spirit is fulfilled in the life of the church. But in our emphasis on the coming of the Spirit upon the disciples of Jesus in the upper room, it is possible that we have overlooked something about the coming of the Spirit that is just as significant, that is, where the Spirit did not come! When the Holy Spirit was given, He did not come upon the Temple, the center of Israel’s religious life! There can be little doubt that when John prophesied concerning the messianic baptism of the Spirit, that all who heard those words assumed that the coming of the promised Spirit would be centered upon the Temple. Certainly, the coming of the Spirit would have been thought of as a fulfillment of the prophetic words of Haggai: "The latter glory of this house will be greater than the former..." (Haggai 2:9 NASB). Possibly, many could have thought of the coming of the Spirit to be a prophetic fulfillment of Ezekiel’s vision of the glory of the Lord descending upon and filling the Temple (Ezekiel 10:1ff). In any case, there can be no doubt that the words of John the Baptist were understood to mean glory and power for Israel, and this coming glory and power would have been centered in the Temple, as had happened in the past. But that is not what happened! The Spirit of God did not descend upon worshippers in the Temple, nor did He come upon the priest of the Temple, but upon the disciples of Jesus in an alternative temple, the upper room! It is here that we begin to see the work of the Holy Spirit in separating the wheat from the chaff and the coming baptism of fire (Luke 3:15ff). Concerning the coming Messiah and the baptism of the Spirit and fire, John the Baptist used the metaphor of separation of the wheat and the chaff with a winnowing fan. It was the custom to begin the process of separation on a windy day when the harvested wheat could be tossed into the wind. The wind would blow away the chaff as the heavier kernels of wheat would fall to the ground. The wheat, separated from the chaff, would then be gathered into the barns and the chaff would be burned. It should be noted that it is the wind (pneuma) that does the separating. In other words, the mighty wind of the Spirit of Pentecost began the process of separation that must occur before the baptism of fire! Those who heard these prophetic words of John the Baptist undoubtedly interpreted them to mean that God would separate Israel (the wheat) from Rome (the chaff) and that would mean the destruction of Rome and the redemption of Israel! But the separation that God accomplished began with Israel itself, separating those who would accept the Messiah from those who rejected Him. When the baptism of fire did come, it was not Rome that was burned, but the Temple and Jerusalem! In A.D. 70, the Roman General Titus entered Jerusalem and burned the city and the Temple with fire. The people of Israel who were disciples of Jesus were baptized in the Spirit and formed an alternative community, the new people of God. Those of Israel who rejected the Messiah were baptized in the fire. As we consider the implications of this baptism of fire, we must understand that this baptism of fire is a redemptive judgment! Yes, God judged Jerusalem and the Temple because of their rejection of the Messiah, but Paul says that the rejection and judgment of Israel will ultimately become their salvation (Romans 11:11ff). Further, Paul told the Corinthians that they would be saved in the end as a result of the fire of judgment (1 Corinthians 3:12-15; see also 1 Peter 1:7). Peter wrote that the present heavens and earth would be burned with fire so that we can look for a "new heavens and a new earth" (2 Peter 3:7, 10, 12-13). Summary and Implications The people of God were expecting a redemptive event. John the Baptist prophesied that such an event was about to occur, that a Mighty One, the Messiah, was about to appear and with His appearance would come the Spirit and fire. The coming of the Spirit was a fulfillment of the redemptive promises of the ancient prophets and the coming fire was a fulfillment of the judgment oracles of the prophets. As the mighty wind of the Spirit began to blow God’s glory descended upon an alternative Temple, the upper room (that is, the church assembled together). Then began the cleansing, separating, work of the Holy Spirit which is preparation for the coming fire of God. After the division between the church and the Jewish establishment became well defined (the center of activity for the church moved from Jerusalem to Antioch, then Rome) then came the baptism of fire upon Jerusalem and the Temple. The church continued to go forth into the world, empowered by the Holy Spirit. Now let us consider the implications of John’s prophecy (Luke 3:15-17) for the church today. The church in America is at a crossroads. Like the people who heard the prophetic preaching of John the Baptist, Christians in America are expectant. Many are praying for revival and renewal and it certainly seems that the wind of the Holy Spirit is blowing. We should not, however, remove from our minds and hearts the possibility that with renewal and revival, there will come a baptism of fire. This baptism of fire will not begin in Washington, New York, New Orleans or any of the great cities of our society. They will fall, Babylon will fall, but as Peter has told us, "For it is time for judgment to begin with the household of God..." (1 Peter 4:17). Rome was eventually burned and Roman society and culture did fall, resulting in the dark ages. But the fire of God began at Jerusalem! If revival and renewal does come to the church in America, the fire of God will follow and all of the religious institutions, traditions, and practices that have been built from wood, hay, or straw shall be consumed by the fire of God. Remember, this is not bad news! This is not the message of a pessimist! This is the promise of God that the church shall be saved even if by fire! (1 Corinthians 3:12ff). Now, let us consider some words of caution. This does not mean that established churches or church institutions will not be a part of the revival and renewing work of the Spirit. Although the Spirit did not descend upon the Temple in Jerusalem, we are told that as the "word of God kept on spreading, ... a great many of the priests were becoming obedient to the faith" (Acts 6:7). Also, much of the Apostles early ministry was done within the confines of the Temple complex (Acts 2:46; 3:1ff; 5:20ff; 21:26; et. al.). The message of the separating and cleansing work of the Spirit is no excuse for Christians to deny the unity of the faith or to reject legitimate spiritual headship in the church. The Holy Spirit not only separates the wheat from the chaff, His work also causes the kernels of wheat to be gathered into the barn! The Lord God, who gathers the dispersed of Israel, declares, "Yet others I will gather to them, to those already gathered" (Isaiah 56:8; also Isaiah 11:12; 40:11; 43:5; Jeremiah 29:14; 31:8, 10; 32:37; 40:10; Ezekiel 11:17; 28:25; 34:13; 36:24; 37:21; 39:27; Micah 2:12; 4:6; Zeph. 3:18-20; Zech. 10:8, 10). Jesus said, "And I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they shall hear My voice; and they shall become one flock with one shepherd" (John 10:16). How then should the church respond to the message of the Spirit and the fire? Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance...! (Luke 3:8).

Dear Brother Bell, 

Here it comes again! 

 

The Spirit and the Fire

by Daniel Tomberlin, Pastor

danielt@surfsouth.com

Northwoods Church of God     640 Hall Road      Thomasville, Georgia  31757 

 

Luke 3:15-17 NKJV   

Now as the people were in expectation, and all reasoned in their hearts about John, whether he was the Christ or not, John answered, saying to all, "I indeed baptize you with water; but One mightier than I is coming, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather the wheat into His barn; but the chaff He will burn with unquenchable fire."

The people of Israel knew that God was about to do something and they hoped that He was about to bring forth their long awaited deliverer. They were a people expecting redemption and revival. They were expecting deliverance from Roman domination. They desperately wanted to be free from Roman soldiers, Roman taxes, and Roman culture. As God had redeemed their ancestors from Egypt and Babylon, they now placed their hope in a new deliverer, a messiah that would be Moses, Joshua, and David all in one new king. They were also expecting revival. They desperately wanted a revival of Jewish culture and religion. They wanted to hear the thundering words of the prophets once again, sing their psalms of praise anew, and see the glory of God descend upon the Temple. As the people heard the thundering words of John the Baptist calling the nation back to the wilderness, back to the Jordan river, they heard his call for corporate repentance. Maybe this fiery new prophet was their long awaited messiah! They asked, "Are you the messiah?"

The Baptist replied, "The Messiah is coming and he will bring the Spirit and fire" (my paraphrase). These words resonated in the ears and hearts of all who heard. Anyone familiar with the preaching of the ancient prophets knew that God had promised both the Spirit and fire. Concerning the coming Messiah, the prophets proclaimed,

The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord (Is. 11:2).

Behold! My Servant whom I uphold, My Elect One in whom My soul delights! I have put My Spirit upon Him; He will bring forth justice to the Gentiles (Is. 42:1).

The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, because the Lord has anointed Me to preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound... (Is. 61:1).

As to the coming of the Spirit, the prophets proclaimed,

Because the palaces will be forsaken, the bustling city will be deserted. the forts and towers will become lairs forever, a joy of wild donkeys, a pasture of flocks-- Until the Spirit is poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness becomes a fruitful field, and the fruitful field is counted as a forest (Is. 32:14f)

For I will pour water on him who is thirsty, and floods on the dry ground; I will pour My Spirit on your descendants, and My blessing on your offspring... (Is. 44:3).

I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them. (Ezek. 36:26f; see also Ezek. 11:19; 18:31).

"I will put My Spirit in you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken it and performed it," says the Lord. (Ezek. 37:14; cf. Ezek 37:1-14; 39:29).

And it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions. And also on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days. (Joel 2:28f).

And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn (Zech. 12:10).

The coming Messiah would be anointed by the Spirit, but also, his coming would mean that all of Israel would receive this anointing of the Holy Spirit. By no means would the coming Spirit be limited to the Messiah! The coming Spirit would restore the barrenness of the land, He would bless the children, He would transform the hearts of the people, He would bring forth life. In short the coming of the Spirit would mean the redemption of the people of God!

Not only would the Messiah bring with Him the Spirit, but also fire! Let us hear from the ancient prophets concerning this messianic fire. Isaiah proclaimed,

Therefore the Lord, the Lord of hosts, will send leanness among his fat ones; and under his glory He will kindle a burning like the burning of a fire. So the Light of Israel will be for a fire, and his Holy One for a flame; it will burn and devour His thorns and his briers in one day (Isaiah 10:16-17; also Is. 5:24).

Behold, the name of the Lord comes from afar, burning with His anger, and His burden is heavy; His lips are full of indignation, and His tongue like a devouring fire (Isaiah 30:27).

The Lord will cause His glorious voice to be heard, and show the descent of His arm, with the indignation of His anger and the flame of a devouring fire, with scattering, tempest, and hailstones (Isaiah 30:30).

For behold, the Lord will come with fire and with His chariots, like a whirlwind, to render His anger with fury, and His rebuke with flames of fire. For by fire and by His sword the Lord will judge all flesh; and the slain of the Lord shall be many (Isaiah 66:15-16).

Jeremiah proclaimed, "O house of David! Thus says the Lord: Execute judgment in the morning; and deliver him who is plundered out of the hand of the oppressor, lest My fury go forth like fire and burn so that no one can quench it, because of the evil of your doings" (Jeremiah 21:12). Ezekiel cried out, "...I shall gather you and blow on you with the fire of My wrath, and you will be melted in the midst of it" (Ezekiel 22:21; see also Ezek. 15:4-7 and 21:31f). Amos prophesied of coming fire upon various cities seven times and then proclaimed, "Seek the Lord and live, lest He break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and devour it, with no one to quench it in Bethel" (Amos 5:6; see also Obadiah 1:18). Nahum speaks of God’s fury being poured out like fire (Nahum 1:6); Zephaniah speaks of the earth being devoured by the fire of God’s jealousy (Zeph. 3:8); and Malachi speaks of the coming of God and says "...who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner’s fire..." (Malachi 3:2).

There can be little doubt that the fire of the Messiah will be the fire of judgment, first upon the house of Israel and then throughout the whole earth, fire upon all those who reject God’s Messiah. The question then is how can we reconcile the message of the coming of the Spirit unto redemption and the coming of fire unto judgment? The day of the Lord is a day of salvation for the righteous and a day of judgment for the wicked. The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, because the Lord has anointed Me... to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God (Isaiah 61:1f). Let us examine how this prophecy of John the Baptist was fulfilled in the life of Jesus of Nazareth, the Messiah, the people of Israel, and the church.

Luke tells us that Jesus went forth "in the power of the Spirit" (Luke 4:14). Certainly the intention here is to establish that Jesus of Nazareth is the fulfillment of Isaiah’s messianic prophecies (Luke 1:35; 3:16, 22; 4:1,14, 18, 36; 5:17; 6:19; 10:19, 21; 11:13; 21:27; 22:69). But Luke also wants us to understand that not only did Jesus go forth in the power of the Spirit, but this same messianic empowerment, the Holy Spirit, is given to His disciples, which is a fulfillment of the messianic expectation. Other prophets, including John the Baptist, were empowered by the Spirit, but only Jesus has the authority to empower his disciples. In fact, his disciples have become a messianic community, going forth in the power of the Spirit! According to Luke, Jesus will baptize his disciples with the Holy Spirit (Luke 3:16); He gave the power over demons and disease (Luke 9:1); this power of the Spirit is given as power over the enemy and protection for the followers of Jesus (Luke 10:19); the Holy Spirit is given by the Father as a sign of His love and grace (Luke 11:13); the Holy Spirit inspires speech in times of persecution and proclamation (Luke 12:12). The post resurrection promise of Jesus that He will send "forth the promise of My Father upon you" and you will be "clothed with power from on high" (Luke 24:49) is a promise pregnant with prophetic expectation and fulfillment. The very words of Jesus cause us to remember the prophetic words of the ancient prophets concerning the coming of the Spirit upon the people of Israel and also upon the people of the whole earth! Further, it is here, with the coming of the Spirit that we began to see the preparation for the coming messianic baptism of fire!

There is no doubt that the promise of the Spirit (Luke 24:49) is fulfilled on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1ff). Throughout the Acts of the Apostles Luke demonstrates how the followers of Jesus were empowered by the Holy Spirit and how the promise of the Spirit is fulfilled in the life of the church. But in our emphasis on the coming of the Spirit upon the disciples of Jesus in the upper room, it is possible that we have overlooked something about the coming of the Spirit that is just as significant, that is, where the Spirit did not come! When the Holy Spirit was given, He did not come upon the Temple, the center of Israel’s religious life! There can be little doubt that when John prophesied concerning the messianic baptism of the Spirit, that all who heard those words assumed that the coming of the promised Spirit would be centered upon the Temple. Certainly, the coming of the Spirit would have been thought of as a fulfillment of the prophetic words of Haggai: "The latter glory of this house will be greater than the former..." (Haggai 2:9 NASB). Possibly, many could have thought of the coming of the Spirit to be a prophetic fulfillment of Ezekiel’s vision of the glory of the Lord descending upon and filling the Temple (Ezekiel 10:1ff). In any case, there can be no doubt that the words of John the Baptist were understood to mean glory and power for Israel, and this coming glory and power would have been centered in the Temple, as had happened in the past. But that is not what happened! The Spirit of God did not descend upon worshippers in the Temple, nor did He come upon the priest of the Temple, but upon the disciples of Jesus in an alternative temple, the upper room! It is here that we begin to see the work of the Holy Spirit in separating the wheat from the chaff and the coming baptism of fire (Luke 3:15ff).

Concerning the coming Messiah and the baptism of the Spirit and fire, John the Baptist used the metaphor of separation of the wheat and the chaff with a winnowing fan. It was the custom to begin the process of separation on a windy day when the harvested wheat could be tossed into the wind. The wind would blow away the chaff as the heavier kernels of wheat would fall to the ground. The wheat, separated from the chaff, would then be gathered into the barns and the chaff would be burned. It should be noted that it is the wind (pneuma) that does the separating. In other words, the mighty wind of the Spirit of Pentecost began the process of separation that must occur before the baptism of fire! Those who heard these prophetic words of John the Baptist undoubtedly interpreted them to mean that God would separate Israel (the wheat) from Rome (the chaff) and that would mean the destruction of Rome and the redemption of Israel! But the separation that God accomplished began with Israel itself, separating those who would accept the Messiah from those who rejected Him. When the baptism of fire did come, it was not Rome that was burned, but the Temple and Jerusalem! In A.D. 70, the Roman General Titus entered Jerusalem and burned the city and the Temple with fire. The people of Israel who were disciples of Jesus were baptized in the Spirit and formed an alternative community, the new people of God. Those of Israel who rejected the Messiah were baptized in the fire.

As we consider the implications of this baptism of fire, we must understand that this baptism of fire is a redemptive judgment! Yes, God judged Jerusalem and the Temple because of their rejection of the Messiah, but Paul says that the rejection and judgment of Israel will ultimately become their salvation (Romans 11:11ff). Further, Paul told the Corinthians that they would be saved in the end as a result of the fire of judgment (1 Corinthians 3:12-15; see also 1 Peter 1:7). Peter wrote that the present heavens and earth would be burned with fire so that we can look for a "new heavens and a new earth" (2 Peter 3:7, 10, 12-13).

Summary and Implications

The people of God were expecting a redemptive event. John the Baptist prophesied that such an event was about to occur, that a Mighty One, the Messiah, was about to appear and with His appearance would come the Spirit and fire. The coming of the Spirit was a fulfillment of the redemptive promises of the ancient prophets and the coming fire was a fulfillment of the judgment oracles of the prophets. As the mighty wind of the Spirit began to blow God’s glory descended upon an alternative Temple, the upper room (that is, the church assembled together). Then began the cleansing, separating, work of the Holy Spirit which is preparation for the coming fire of God. After the division between the church and the Jewish establishment became well defined (the center of activity for the church moved from Jerusalem to Antioch, then Rome) then came the baptism of fire upon Jerusalem and the Temple. The church continued to go forth into the world, empowered by the Holy Spirit.

Now let us consider the implications of John’s prophecy (Luke 3:15-17) for the church today. The church in America is at a crossroads. Like the people who heard the prophetic preaching of John the Baptist, Christians in America are expectant. Many are praying for revival and renewal and it certainly seems that the wind of the Holy Spirit is blowing. We should not, however, remove from our minds and hearts the possibility that with renewal and revival, there will come a baptism of fire. This baptism of fire will not begin in Washington, New York, New Orleans or any of the great cities of our society. They will fall, Babylon will fall, but as Peter has told us, "For it is time for judgment to begin with the household of God..." (1 Peter 4:17). Rome was eventually burned and Roman society and culture did fall, resulting in the dark ages. But the fire of God began at Jerusalem! If revival and renewal does come to the church in America, the fire of God will follow and all of the religious institutions, traditions, and practices that have been built from wood, hay, or straw shall be consumed by the fire of God. Remember, this is not bad news! This is not the message of a pessimist! This is the promise of God that the church shall be saved even if by fire! (1 Corinthians 3:12ff).

Now, let us consider some words of caution. This does not mean that established churches or church institutions will not be a part of the revival and renewing work of the Spirit. Although the Spirit did not descend upon the Temple in Jerusalem, we are told that as the "word of God kept on spreading, ... a great many of the priests were becoming obedient to the faith" (Acts 6:7). Also, much of the Apostles early ministry was done within the confines of the Temple complex (Acts 2:46; 3:1ff; 5:20ff; 21:26; et. al.). The message of the separating and cleansing work of the Spirit is no excuse for Christians to deny the unity of the faith or to reject legitimate spiritual headship in the church. The Holy Spirit not only separates the wheat from the chaff, His work also causes the kernels of wheat to be gathered into the barn! The Lord God, who gathers the dispersed of Israel, declares, "Yet others I will gather to them, to those already gathered" (Isaiah 56:8; also Isaiah 11:12; 40:11; 43:5; Jeremiah 29:14; 31:8, 10; 32:37; 40:10; Ezekiel 11:17; 28:25; 34:13; 36:24; 37:21; 39:27; Micah 2:12; 4:6; Zeph. 3:18-20; Zech. 10:8, 10). Jesus said, "And I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they shall hear My voice; and they shall become one flock with one shepherd" (John 10:16). How then should the church respond to the message of the Spirit and the fire? Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance...! (Luke 3:8).