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and lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased"
(Matt. 3: 16, 17).
On another occasion there was a voice from heaven (John 12: 28, 29), and of that the
Lord Jesus Christ said:
"This voice came not because of Me, but for your sakes" (John 12: 30, K.J.5:).
"The voice was for your benefit, not mine" (John 12: 30, N.I.V.).
Similarly the voice from heaven, following John's baptism, and the appearance of the
Holy Spirit as a dove could not have been for His sake. It was for John the Baptist's sake
(John 1: 33) and for the benefit of others who were there, including the twelve (Acts.i.22).
"but that He should be made manifest (revealed) to Israel, am I (John) came baptizing
with water. And John bare record, saying `I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a
dove, and it abode upon Him. And I knew Him not: but He that sent me to baptize with
water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and
remaining on Him, the same is He which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost" (John 1: 31-33).
Thus Christ was to baptize them with the Holy Ghost but if the Holy Ghost is just like
the wind, how would they know the promise had been fulfilled? One possibility was that
the Spirit would again take, briefly, a visible form and this was what happened, but why
cloven tongues of fire? Why this form? Some point to Matt. 3: 11 where John says of
Christ:
"He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire."
They claim that the fire mentioned there refers to the tongues of fire seen on the day of
Pentecost but from the context this does not seem to be correct. Matt. 3: 10 speaks of
the fire of judgment:
"And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which
bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. I indeed baptize you
with water unto repentance . . . . . He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with
fire" (Matt. 3: 10, 11).
The next verse makes the link between judgment and baptism with fire even stronger.
"He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire: Whose fan is in His hand,
and He will thoroughly purge His floor, and gather His wheat into the garner; but He will
burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire" (Matt. 3: 12; see also Luke 3: 16, 17).
Thus the baptism "with the Holy Ghost" was to follow His first coming whilst the
baptism "with fire" is to do with judgment and will follow His second coming. Any who
object to such a division of these words should note that John was a typical prophet
(Luke 16: 16), just like Isaiah and others of the O.T. Luke 4: 19, 20 records how the
Lord Himself divided Isa. 61: 2 into two halves. The first half, "the acceptable year of
the Lord", was fulfilled then but the second half, "the day of vengeance of our God",
waits until His second coming for fulfillment. Thus we cannot use the words of John the
Baptist to give a reason why the Spirit appeared as cloven tongues of fire on the day of