Church Series-The Lord Jesus Christ Prophecies Concerning the Baptism of the Spirit
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Thursday October 13, 2016
The Church Series: The Lord Jesus Christ’s Prophecies Concerning the Baptism of the Spirit
Lesson # 6
The Lord Jesus Christ prophesied about the baptism of the Spirit (John 7:37-39).
John 7:37 Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. 38 He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.” 39 But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. (NASB95)
He described the baptism of the Spirit as “rivers of living water” (John 7:38).
At that time, the baptism of the Spirit had not yet taken place when our Lord issued this prophesy (John 7:39).
In this passage, John writes that the reception of the baptism of the Spirit is contingent upon believing in Christ (John 7:38) and that the giving of the Spirit was contingent upon our Lord’s glorification (John 7:39).
The last day of the great feast refers to the Feast of Booths or Tabernacles, which lasted eight days (Leviticus 23:36), and was considered the climax to the Feast.
Seven days symbolized Israel’s wandering the desert and the eighth day was a solemn day of rest depicting the eternal state of the believer in Christ.
There was a ceremony during the eighth day in which water was drawn from the Pool of Siloam and then poured out, commemorating God’s provision for Israel in the desert.
Our Lord was interpreting the meaning of this ceremony, which depicted the baptism of the Spirit.
The phrase “from His innermost being shall flow rivers of living water” refers to the soul of the believer which receives eternal life (John 4:14; 1 Corinthians 10:4).
“Shall flow” is the Greek verb rheo, “to gush, overflow,” and was used in the ancient world of gushing or overflowing rivers.
Our Lord uses it figuratively of the soul of the believer which has received eternal life.
In John 14:16, our Lord promises to the send the Spirit in His Upper Room Discourse.
John 14:16 “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever.” (NASB95)
Our Lord promises the disciples that He will send them “another” (allon) “Helper” (parakletos) to assist them while in the devil’s world.
Parakletos means “one who is called or sent for to assist another.”
God the Holy Spirit would act in this capacity for believers during the church age dispensation.
In John 14:20, the phrase “in that day” refers to the day of Pentecost when the apostles would be placed in union with Christ by the omnipotence of God the Holy Spirit.
John 14:20 “In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.” (NASB95)
“You in Me” is our Lord’s prophesy concerning the baptism of the Spirit, which is something they had never read in the Scriptures before because it was never known to Old Testament saints and is exclusive to the church age.
The phrase “in Me” (en emoi) means that the apostles will be identified with Christ.
This prepositional phrase speaks of the believer’s intimate, eternally secure position in Christ.
It speaks of the believer’s union and identification with Christ that makes the believer eternally the object of the Father’s divine-love.
It alludes to the doctrine of positional truth and the justified sinner’s union and identification with Christ in His crucifixion, His death and His resurrection.
In John 14:26, the Lord taught His disciples that God the Father would send the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost in His name.
John 14:26 “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.” (NASB95)
At that time, it was still future to our Lord’s thinking.
God the Holy Spirit is our true teacher of bible doctrine.
God the Holy Spirit would bring to remembrance all that our Lord said during this night before He was to go to the Cross.
“In My name” has a five-fold meaning.
First, it refers to the “person” of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is undiminished deity and true humanity and, thus, the unique theanthropic person of history and creation.
Second, the word refers to the “character” of the Lord Jesus Christ, the aggregate features and traits of the Lord Jesus Christ’s divine and human nature.
It also refers to the Lord Jesus Christ’s work during His First Advent, which ended with His greatest accomplishment, His substitutionary spiritual and physical deaths on the cross.
These deaths fulfilled the righteous requirements of the Mosaic Law, destroyed the works of the devil, redeemed the entire human race from the slave market of sin, propitiated the Father’s righteous demands that every sin in history be judged, and reconciled the entire human race to God.
The phrase also alludes to Christ’s resurrection, ascension, and session at the right hand of the Father (Ephesians 1:21; Philippians 2:5-11; Hebrews 1:4), since it refers to His reputation before mankind as the Savior of the world, redeemer of all mankind, and sovereign ruler of history.
Lastly, it refers to the Lord Jesus Christ’s position before the Father as righteous and holy and as His beloved Son.
Essentially, this all refers to the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ is the only person holy enough to have merit before God the Father.
In Acts 1:5, our Lord distinguishes between water baptism and the baptism of the Spirit.
Acts 1:4 Gathering them together, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised, “Which,”’ He said, “you heard of from Me 5 for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” (NASB95)
This prophecy took place on the day of our Lord’s ascension and session.
Not many days turned out to be ten days.
Ten days after our Lord’s ascension, the baptism of the Spirit took place and the church age began.
Luke states in Acts 1:3 that our Lord appeared to His disciples over a period of forty days.
Pentecost means fiftieth and designated among the Jews the fiftieth day after Passover.
Our Lord was crucified on the Passover and rose three days later, ascended into heaven on the fortieth day after Passover and then sent the Spirit ten days later on Pentecost.
The baptism of the Spirit could not take place until our Lord was glorified which was about to take place after He finished saying these things to His apostles.
Our Lord had to go away.
In Acts 1:8, our Lord repeats His promise to the apostles of sending them the Holy Spirit.
Acts 1:7 He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority 8 but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.” (NASB95)
Our Lord gives the apostles the promise of a Person (God the Holy Spirit), a power (the omnipotence of God the Holy Spirit) and a program (missionary activity to the Jews, the Samaritans and the entire world).
Throughout the dispensation of the church age believers would have available to them one hundred percent availability of divine power to execute the plan of God the Father.
The baptism of the Spirit makes this possible.