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Christ was to baptize them with the Holy Spirit would have heard something very new.
Instead of the Holy Spirit staying and enabling for just short periods of time, He was to
remain within, "with the primary idea of rest or continuance . . . . . En denotes
continuance in time". This new truth was made very clear by the Lord Jesus Himself in
John 14: 16, 17:
"And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may
abide with you for ever; even the Spirit of Truth . . . . . He dwelleth with you, and shall
be in you."
This baptism with the Holy Ghost would result in Him being permanently within those
who experienced it but what, to them, was the significance of baptism?
Baptism = Baptisma, consisting of the process of immersion, submersion and emergence
(from bapto, to dip).
Baptize = Baptizo, primarily a frequentative form of bapto, to dip, was used among the
Greeks to signify the dyeing of a garment, or the drawing of water by
dipping a vessel into another (Vine).
A very informative comment on baptism is found in Classic Baptism by James W.
Dale:
"Whatever is capable of thoroughly changing the character, state or condition of any
object is capable of baptizing that object and by such change of character or condition,
does in fact baptize it."
Associated with a baptism is an agency; water, a dye or whatever, but an agency is
essential. Also associated with baptism is a change of character or condition. In baptism
with the Holy Spirit, the Spirit Himself is the agency and there must be a change of
character or status or condition for He is certainly able to bring about such changes.
These points, so essential to the understanding of baptism, are clearly demonstrated in the
first baptism of the Bible which so dramatically changed all who underwent it.
"Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers
were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; and were all baptized unto Moses
in (en) the cloud and in (en) the sea" (I Cor. 10: 1, 2).
Here the agency was the cloud and the sea, and the condition and status of the people
changed dramatically. In Egypt they had been slaves under the domination of Pharaoh.
There they had sacrificed the passover lamb which redeemed the firstborn and caused the
Egyptians to let them go. They went but were pursued by the army and escaped by
passing through the Red Sea to safety. This was the "baptism unto Moses in (en) the
cloud and in (en) the sea".
"All were baptized unto Moses . . . . . It united them with all that Moses stood for in
divine law and ceremonial and that is the first great underlying teaching of baptism . . . . .
there the whole nation of Israel, redeemed and brought out of Egypt, is linked with all
that Moses stood for in law and ceremony" (Stuart Allen, Baptism).
"The Israelites were baptized unto Moses by the cloud and by the sea. In this way
they were separated from Egypt and Pharaoh, came under the leadership of the deliverer
(Moses) and identified with him in hope and destiny" (Merril F. Unger, The Baptism and
Gifts of the Holy Spirit).