The Baptism in the Holy Spirit II
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“He who believes in Me (who cleaves to and trusts in and relies on
Me) as the Scripture has said, From his
innermost being shall flow (continuously) springs and rivers of living water. But He was speaking here of the
Spirit, Whom those who believed (trusted, had faith) in Him were afterward to receive. For the (Holy) Spirit had not yet been given, because
Jesus was not yet glorified (raised to honor).”
John 7:38-39,
Amplified
“As
the Scripture has said”
I cannot find any
single verse or portion of Scripture that Jesus is citing here. It seems to me
that Jesus is not referring to one certain promise or prophecy, but to a
spiritual principle of which the Old Testament Scriptures taught in many parts
and many ways. The symbol of water meant much to the Jew. Israel is “a land of hills and valleys which drinks
water by the rain from heaven, a land that the Lord your God care for. The eyes
of the Lord your God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year to the
end of the year” (Dt.11:11,12). Waters symbolize the abundant blessing of
God upon His people. They are waters in the desert: “I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I
will pour my Spirit upon your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants” (Is.44:8).
They are “deep enough to swim in, a
river that could not be passed through” (Ez.47:5).
There are two
stories in the Old Testament that prefigure the Baptism in the Spirit. One has
to do with the Israelites crossing the Jordan River. In Egypt, the blood of a
lamb, sprinkled over the doorposts of a house, saved each Israelite from the
death angel; they were able to escape Egypt and the slavery of the tyrant,
Pharaoh, who symbolizes Satan. Their salvation was not complete until they
miraculously crossed the Red Sea on dry land; when the sea closed, their old
life was left behind. Israel’s liberation from the slavery of Egypt symbolized
salvation from sin, brought to pass by the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin
of the world. Every Jew could testify that he had been saved by the blood. Paul
called the crossing of the Red Sea “a
baptism” (1 Co.10:2), because it signified a death and a resurrection into
a new life. Only the miraculous hand of God saved the Israelites from death
that day; however, afterwards there was another baptism.
The plan of God
was not completed, when Israel arrived on the other side of the sea. Before
them was a great desert, which they had to cross, living in tents. It was
impossible that hundreds of thousands of Israelites could rest there, building
houses, planting and harvesting. God had promised a land that flowed with milk
and honey, and wanted them to enter there quickly.
From the
beginning, when God chose Moses to be their liberator, He gave him the plan: “Say therefore to the people of Israel… ‘I
will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver
you from slavery to them… I will bring you into the land that I swore to give
to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. I will give it to you for a possession’” (Ex.6:6,8).
It was never God’s intention that they should pass their lives in a terrible
desert. He took them to the Promised Land. After they heard the spies tell of
the threatening situations that they found in that land, they were full of
fear. Because of their sin of unbelief, they had to wander 40 years in the
desert, and only the following generation was allowed to enter.
At last, they
arrived at the border of the Promised Land, but there they encountered another
great obstacle: “The Jordan overflows
all its banks throughout the time of harvest” (Jos.3:15). In order to pass
over the river, as they crossed the Red Sea, Israel had to experience a second
miracle, that is, a second baptism. It
was necessary to see again the powerful hand of God working, in order to take
possession of the land. Once again, God opened the waters and they were
“baptized” in the Jordan River, before entering the Promised Land. Then they
erected a monument on the other side of the river, “so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the
Lord is mighty, that you may fear the Lord your God forever” (Jos.4:24).
Forty years and a
desert were between the “two crossings”. There was a difference in time, place
and purpose. The first helped them escape slavery and death; the second gave
them possession of the Promised Land: “You
will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you,” Jesus assured
His disciples, “and you will be my
witnesses… to the end of the earth.” Now, the plan of God will unfold. They
will become involved with impossibilities: killing giants, tumbling walled
cities, disposing of nations that were stronger than they, and taking
possession of their lands… ALL by the power of God!
A second example
in the Old Testament of the Baptism in the Holy Spirit is that of Elisha, when
he crossed the Jordan River. When Elijah found Elisha he threw his mantle over him. Elisha was never the same (1 K.19:19).
As the Israelites left slavery behind, putting the Red Sea between them and the
Egyptians, so Elisha abandoned his field, burnt his plow and killed his oxen.
From that day, he followed Elijah, much as Israel followed Moses in the desert.
However, he asked for a double portion of the Spirit (2 K.2:9). Elisha was
there, when Elijah ascended into heaven and he witnessed it. He took the mantle
of Elijah, which fell on him the second
time, and with it he smote the waters. They opened, just as they had for
Elijah, and Elisha crossed on dry land (2 K.2:14).
Elisha was
clothed with power from on high. He experienced a ministry that surpassed that
of Elijah. Jesus, referring to any of His disciples said: “Whoever believes in me will
also do the works that I do; and greater works that these will he do, because I
am going to the Father” (Jn.14:12), however, “stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high” (Lc.24:49).
They were there, when He ascended into heaven and His mantle, the Holy Spirit,
fell on them.
There are many
Christians that can only testify of a new birth and, of course, I will take
nothing away from the greatness of that experience. However, they assume too
much, if they believe that for that reason, they have been baptized in the
Spirit. They have not yet entered into the complete plan of God, since they
cannot testify of a second baptism. They
are not yet able to testify to “the peoples
of the earth… that the hand of the Lord is mighty” (Jos.4:24). They still
have not crossed the flooding banks of Jordan and died to their human
possibilities, in order to demonstrate through their lives, the miraculous
power of God. They have not been baptized in the Holy Spirit.
The waters of
Jordan are not only for the benefit of Israel; the Dead Sea, on the east side
of their land, is a geographical lesson that teaches what happens to a body of
water that has only an inflow, but no outflow; the water becomes stagnant and
nothing can live in it. Concerning the waters in Ezequiel 47, verse 9, the
Hebrew indicates a plurality… rivers that
are filled with fish and on their shores, there are fishermen and trees. The
waters that come in contact with the salt water, purifies it. The promise of
the Spirit, given by Jesus, assured the believer that “from his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water”. The waters spring up and out, for the
benefit of many other people!
Have you crossed
the Jordan? Do you know the day and the hour, in which the mantle fell on you?
Are you prepared to be a supernatural witness in the land of impossibilities?
If you are not, then focus on this second great necessity. Do not continue
wandering in the desert!
Acts
2:8 is not the same as Ephesians 5:18
No one questions
that the baptism in the Holy Spirit, of which John the Baptist spoke, is that
which finds its fulfillment in Acts 2. Nevertheless, chapter two does not use
the term baptism, but rather filled with the Spirit. Commonly that is
the term most used in the entire book of Acts. These people did nothing, but
pray, and Jesus filled them, pouring the Holy Spirit over them, as He had
promised. However, we should not confuse these experiences with the command of
Paul, concerning what the born-again believer must do: “Be filled with the Spirit.”
Over this point,
I would like to cite the words of D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones from his book, “Joy Unspeakable,” which I believe to
be the best that exists, concerning the theme of the Baptism of the Spirit: “Many people are utterly confused by what we
read in Ephesians 5:18, ‘And be not
drunk with wine, wherein is excess, but be filled with the spirit.’ ‘Now
there it is,’ they say, ‘be filled with
the Spirit'. And the disciples were filled with the Spirit on the day of
Pentecost.’ So these people tend to fall into the error and confusion of
imagining that these two things are identical.”
“In Ephesians 5:18, as I want to show you, he
is dealing with sanctification… it has really nothing to do directly with this
whole matter of being able to define what is meant by the baptism with the
Spirit. The baptism with the Spirit belongs to the category of the exceptional
and direct… the great term is ‘poured out’. This, of course, suggests at once a
great profusion – and this is what we must emphasize. The Spirit came upon them
as he came upon our Lord. He came upon those people who were assembled together
in the upper room.”
“People seem to think that this is some
strange new doctrine. It is very old indeed, as old as the New Testament, and
it has received prominence in the church throughout the centuries. There is an
illustration which may help to bring out this point…”
You may be walking along a country road and
there may be a slight drizzle, but because you haven’t got an overcoat you go
on walking through this drizzle and eventually you get thoroughly wet; but it
has taken some time because it was only a slight drizzle.”
“But then you may be walking along the same
road at another time and suddenly there is a cloudburst and you are soaking wet
in a matter of seconds. It is raining in both cases, but there is a great
difference between a gentle drizzle, which you scarcely observe, and a sudden
cloudburst which comes down upon you. Dr. John Owen (the great Puritan of 300
years ago) says, referring to Romans 5:2…”
‘That rejoicing in hope of the glory of God…
which carries the soul through any tribulation, even with glorying, hath its rise
in the Spirit’s shedding abroad the love of God in our hearts. He doth it
immediately by Himself without the consideration of any other acts or works of
his or the interposition of any reasonings or deductions and conclusions. He is
a well of water springing up in the soul immediately exerting His efficacy and
refreshment. He immediately works the soul and the minds of men to a joyful
rejoicing and spiritual frame, filling them with exultation and gladness (as He
caused John the Baptist to leap for joy in the womb upon the approach of the
mother of Jesus).’
“That is the point I am making: this is not
the ordinary, this is the extraordinary, the unusual, to be at the very gateway
of heaven, as it were. There is only one thing beyond it, and that is the glory
everlasting itself. Our greatest danger, I feel today, is to quench the Spirit.
This is no age to advocate restraint; the church today does not need to be
restrained, but to be aroused, to be awakened, to be filled with a spirit of
glory, for she is failing in the modern world.”
“The baptism with the Spirit is always
associated primarily and specifically with witness and testimony and service.
Go through Acts and in every instance when we are told either that the Spirit
came upon these men or that they were filled with the Spirit, you will find
that it was in order to bear a witness and a testimony. This is not primarily
concerned with moral qualities or character, this is primarily concerned with
witness, testimony, and efficiency in operation.”
“The whole essential difference is this: in
Ephesians there is an exhortation to us to do something, whereas in every
single instance of the baptism with the Spirit it is something that happens to
us, which we do not control… You can live a good life, surrender yourself, do
all you are told to do, but still you are not baptized with the Spirit… As far
as Ephesians 5:18 is concerned I could show you that there is a grave danger
that we may misunderstand even what the apostle is saying there, and reduce it
to our old level of church life at the present time.”
“What does Paul mean by ‘Speaking to one
another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs?’ It you want the answer to
that, you go to 1 Corinthians 14 and there you find the type of meeting they
had in the early church – ‘One hath a psalm, one hath a testimony, one hath an
experience, one hath a tongue, etc.’ The whole thing was alive with a pneumatic
spiritual power… It is a type of singing about which the majority of us know
nothing at all. So be careful lest you reduce even what was the normal regular
life of the early Christian church down to the level of what has become
customary in our churches.”
To bring
Lloyd-Jones’ argument to a close, he is saying, basically, that “be filled with the Spirit” is a
commandment towards the process of sanctification. The counsel to not be
drunken with wine is a similar order to those, which Paul gives in other parts;
not to lie, but speak the truth one to another; to not be unequally yoked with
unbelievers, to cleanse ourselves from all the filthiness of the flesh, etc…
A
weak doctrine that stems from unbelief and pride
I mentioned in
the first part of these articles about the baptism in the Holy Spirit, a
position of the church that worries me more than anything else. It is what Paul
described to Timothy, which would occur in the last days. He spoke of those who
loved themselves, those “having the
appearance of godliness, but denying its power” (2 T.3:5). I need to
confront the principal doctrine, which advances that state of being. Those who
teach this doctrine look for a portion in the Bible to support them; they offer
the one, to which I will now refer.
The Apostle Paul
placed his majestic “love song” in 1 Corinthians 13, between his teaching about
the miraculous gifts of the Spirit and his correction of the Corinthians for
their misuse of the gift of tongues (1 Corinthians 12-14). Chapter 14 concerns,
principally, the gifts of prophecy and tongues. It is important, where the
chapter about love is placed. At the end of chapter 12, the apostle says that
he will show “a still more excellent
way”.
What follows is
not a replacement of the supernatural gifts with love, because then, he would
place this discourse at the end of the subject of gifts. He would say, “All
right, because the use of gifts and miracles is going to end, I am now going to
demonstrate that, which will take their place… love.”
Besides, notice
carefully that Paul does not speak of love as a gift, but as a way. When
the Bible teaches about the ways of God, it is referring to the manner, in
which God acts. Paul describes the love of God, so that the Corinthians will
follow this way, in making use of the
gifts. He teaches us that without love, the gifts are useless. Then, he follows
with correction in chapter 14. Paul himself destroys the argument that love
replaces gifts in the first verse: “Pursue
love, and earnestly desire the spiritual
gifts, especially that you may prophesy”.
We now consider
this: What is the part of chapter 13, on which the “cessationists” lean? We
begin with verse 9: “For we know in part
and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass
away. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I
reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now we
see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall
know fully, even as I have been fully known. So now faith, hope, and love
abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love” (1 Co.13:9-13).
I suppose that
there are different opinions among the cessationists, but I think that
basically and in short, they hold to the following: They believe that Paul is
writing to the Corinthians during a period of transition in the early church.
The apostles are coming to the end of the writings of the New Testament. These
churchmen assume that the apostles’ personal time and ministry, and the entire
account of the book of Acts, pertains to that time of transition. Until John
finishes the Revelation and dies, the canon is not complete. At the time of the
writing to the Corinthians, there were still other inspired epistles to be
written, as well as the Gospel of John. However, they tell us that, when the
canon is entirely finished, the gifts of prophecy, tongues and knowledge, as we
find them in the New Testament, will lose their usefulness.
According to
their theory, the supernatural gifts were necessary during the time of the
apostles, in order to back the church and its messengers in its infancy. Also,
they were needed to convince the Jews, who depended especially upon signs and
wonders. Once that the New Testament would be completed, it would be the only
authority, and gifts and miracles would disappear. They believe that Paul
considered the gifts to be “toys” for children, imperfect and temporal, and
that the only perfect gift is love. The Christian should mature in love, and
only by means of love, can he correctly see his position before God… “I shall know fully, even as I have been
fully known.”
I hope, in
general, that I have correctly presented the doctrine of the cessationists, but
they also hold to other particulars, along with those already mentioned. They
believe that tongues were not unknown, but known languages, spoken mainly, in
order to miraculously preach the gospel. They do believe that prophecy exists today,
not as a supernatural word to the hearers (as, for example in 1 Co.14:24-25),
but that it is little more than the preaching of the word, spoken with
inspiration. A close study of chapter 12-14 of Corinthians will show
discrepancies in these arguments, but it is not the purpose of this article to
refute them one by one.
I have four
things to say about this matter. 1) It appears to me that there is an excuse in
this argument for the lack of power in the ministry of those who hold to it, 2)
I see a pride of spiritual superiority in it, doubting that anyone could
experience anything beyond what they are experiencing. 3) I think, that it is
the fruit of unbelief. 4) I think it is weak, even insulting the intelligence
of those, who propose it.
I do not want to
be overly harsh and I am not judging these people, concerning the entire
spectrum of their evangelical doctrine. I am only wondering why they are so
intolerant and so adamantly against something, against which the Bible says
nothing. Could it possibly be that this doctrine could be born among people,
who are hungry for truth on this subject, motivated by a zeal to bring glory to
Christ? I find it hard to believe that that is the motivation. Rather, I imagine
them as theologians, reaching for a reason to excuse and justify the lack of
the manifestation of the power of God in their circles. They need to find
something in the Bible to back their position. I imagine that some believe that
the best presentation of Christianity and the best doctrine occurs in their churches
and movements. They are God’s superior children, and since they do not
experience gifts, then the only reasonable answer is that they have ceased
altogether.
Jesus marveled
that in His own hometown, Nazareth, there existed a terrible unbelief. Because
of it, Matthew relates: “He did not do
many mighty works there, because of their unbelief” (Mt.13:58). The reason
that I say that this is a weak doctrinal position, is because there is no
indication in any other part of the Bible to confirm their conclusions in 1
Corinthians 13. John Wesley, in a letter written in June of 1746 declared: “I can recall no Scripture where it teaches
us that miracles should be confined to the apostolic age or any other period of
time.”
I will once again
resort to Martyn Lloyd-Jones, who saw that this is “an argument that is being put forward at the present time, and which
has been put forward very largely during this present (20th) century. Let me begin to answer it by
giving you just one thought at this point. It is this: the Scriptures never
anywhere say that these things were only temporary – never! There is no such
statement anywhere.”
“‘Ah but,’ says somebody, ‘what about that
passage from 1 Corinthians 13?’ You see what we are asked to believe by that
kind of exposition? We are told that the coming of the New Testament Scriptures
puts us into a place of perfection; whereas if you look at verse 12, it
actually says: ‘For now we see,’- that
is the apostle and others. The apostle is included with all other Christian
believers before the New Testament canon, much of which was written by Paul
himself, had been completed. We read: ‘Now
we see though a glass, darkly; but then’ – when the Scriptures have come
and are complete – ‘face to face:’ Now I
know in part; but then’ – which they say means the completion of the
Scriptures – ‘shall I know even as also
I am known.’ You see what that involves? It means that you and I, who have
the Scriptures open before us, know much more than the apostle Paul of God’s
truth. That is what it means and nothing less, if that argument is correct. It
means that we are altogether superior to the early church and even to the
apostles themselves, including the apostle Paul! It means that we are now in a
position in which we know ‘face to face’ that ‘we know, even as also we are
known’ by God because we have the Scriptures.
It is surely unnecessary to say more.”
“What the apostle is, of course, dealing with
in 1 Corinthians 13 is the contrast between the highest and the best that the
Christian can ever know in this world and in this life and what he will know in
the glory everlasting. The ‘now’ and the ‘then’ are not the time before and
after the Scriptures were given. That position is inconsistent, and
contradictory – indeed, there is only one word to describe such a view, it is
nonsense. The ‘then’ is the glory everlasting. It is only then we shall see him
as he is. It will be direct and ‘face to face’. So you see the difficulties men
land themselves in when they dislike something and cannot fully understand it
and try to explain it away.”
“My friends, this is to me one of the most
urgent matters at this hour. With the church as she is and the world as it is,
the greatest need today is the power of God through his Spirit in the church
that we may testify not only to the power of the Spirit, but to the glory and
the praise of the one and only Savior, Jesus Christ our Lord, Son of God and
Son of Man.”
The saints of
past centuries never arrived at developing a theory as ridiculous as the one
that we just examined. Just as Lloyd-Jones, they always interpreted the phrase face to face as the perfect state of the
Christian in heaven. Fanny Crosby, the blind hymn writer, titled one of her
most well-known works, Face to Face, seeing
Christ her Savior, far beyond the starry sky. Then I shall know fully, even as
I have been fully known, obviously applies to the same occurrence, of which
John wrote: “We know that when he
appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is” (1
Jn.3:2), and of which Paul declared, “When
Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory” (Col.3:4).
If the Body of Christ
does not function today by spiritual, supernatural gifts, how is it expected to
function? Can you believe that the church, which is the manifestation of the
heavenly Jerusalem on earth and the bride of the King of Kings, can be led
forward by means of human wisdom and capabilities?
There is another
question, which I will not attempt to answer in this article, although I want
to put it before you, so that you can meditate upon it. How are we supposed to
wrestle against a supernatural enemy, with only a human spear and sword? We
certainly would be defeated. It is said that, before any of the great revivals
of the church began, there were first clear manifestations of demon powers. The
reality of the spiritual world drove desperate and humble people to seek the
power of God… and God poured His power upon them
Some, who oppose the Baptism in the Holy Spirit, think
that it is a doctrine invented during the Pentecostal movement at the beginning
of the 20th Century; some Pentecostals may agree with them. That, in fact, is
an outright lie. Beware of limiting this experience in time or quality. What
follows are a few testimonies of people, who had a second experience after
salvation. I have chosen only these, who existed before the Pentecostal
movement, which took place in California at the beginning of the 20th
Century. I do this, so you can plainly see that the Baptism in the Holy Spirit
is not a new doctrine, but something that God has poured over his people during
the entire history of the church.
Testimonies as old as the 17th
Century
The Puritan, John
Flavel
His thoughts began to swell and rise higher and higher
like the waters of Ezekiel’s vision, until at last they became an overwhelming
flood. Such was the intention of his mind, such the ravishing tastes of
heavenly joys, and such the full assurance of his interest therein, that he
utterly lost all sight and sense of the world and all the concerns thereof, and
for some hours he knew no more of where he was, than if he had been in a deep
sleep… On reaching his inn, the influence still continued, banishing sleep,
still the joy of the Lord overflowed him and he seemed to be an inhabitant of
another world. He many years after called that day, as far as he was concerned,
one of the days of heaven on earth.
The great
theologian, Jonathan Edwards
In Edwards’ own words: “As I rode out into the woods,
having alighted from my horse in a retired place to walk for divine
contemplation and prayer. I had a view that was for me extraordinary, of the
glory of the Son of God, which continued, as near as I can judge, about an
hour; such as to keep me a greater part of the time in a flood of tears, and
weeping aloud. I felt an ardency of soul to be emptied and annihilated; to lie
in the dust, and to be full of Christ alone; to love Him with a holy and pure
love…”
John Wesley
He was an ordained minister of the Anglican Church, even
before he experienced new birth in 1738. About six months later, he had a
powerful encounter with the Holy Spirit. In his own words: “Mr. Hall, Hinching,
Ingham, Whitefield, Hutching and my brother Charles were present at our love
feast in Fetter Lane with about sixty of our brethren. About three in the
morning as we were continuing instant in prayer the power of God came mightily
upon us, insomuch that many cried out for exulting joy and many fell to the
ground. As soon as we were recovered a little from the awe and amazement at the
presence of His Majesty, we broke out with one voice, ‘We praise Thee O God, we
acknowledge Thee to be the Lord.’”
Here is something about the kind of people, who will make
an impact in the Kingdom… On one occasion, another minister asked Wesley, how
he could get many to come to listen to him. Wesley answered: “If the preacher is
on fire, many will come to see the flames. Give me 100 preachers, who do not
fear anything, except sin, and who desire nothing, except God. I care not if
they are ministers ordained by a church, or if they are common men, because
they will shake the gates of hell.”
Dwight L Moody
This man, whose formal education reached to five years of
grade school, founded three well-known schools. Without theological education,
he reconstructed the Christianity of the Victorian Age, and without radio or
television, reached 100 million people. It all began, when this shoe salesman
initiated a Sunday School, which became the biggest in Chicago.
He had a tremendous zeal for God and ambition to serve
Him. He had already seen a lot of success, when he came to know two old ladies,
who told him: “We are praying for you… you need power! You need power!” “My
immediate reaction,” said Moody, “was… Why don’t you pray for the lost? I
thought I had power! I had the largest congregation in Chicago and saw many
conversions. I was in a sense satisfied. But right along those two godly women
kept praying for me, and their earnest talk about anointing for special service
set me to thinking.”
When Moody asked specifically to what they were
referring, when they said that he needed power, they answered that he needed
the Baptism with the Holy Spirit. “I asked them to come and talk with me, and
they poured out their hearts in prayer that I might receive the filling of the
Holy Spirit. There came a great hunger into my soul. I did not know what it
was. I began to cry out as I never did before. I really felt that I did not
want to live if I could not have this power for service.”
D. L. Moody’s good friend R. A. Torrey wrote a small book
about Moody and his experience. Torrey gives his own testimony, as well, of
being baptized in the Spirit. He knew the old ladies, who confronted Moody
about his need for power. He wrote, “There were two humble Free Methodist women
who used to come over to his meetings in the Y.M.C.A. ‘Auntie Cook’ once told
me of the intense fervor with which Mr. Moody prayed on that occasion. She told
me in words that I scarcely dare repeat, though I have never forgotten them.”
“Not long after, one day on his way to England, he was
walking along Wall Street, in New York, and in the midst of the bustle and
hurry of that city, his prayer was answered. The power of God fell upon him as
he walked up the street and he had to hurry off to the house of a friend and
ask if he might have a room by himself, and in that room he stayed for hours.”
Moody, himself, commented on that experience: “One day,
in the city of New York – oh, what a day! – I cannot describe it, I seldom
refer to it; it is almost too sacred an experience to name… I can only say that
God revealed Himself to me, and I had such an experience of His love that I had
to ask Him to stay His hand.
From there he went out to hold great evangelistic
meetings. As he explains: “The sermons were no different; I did not present any
new truths, and yet hundreds were converted. I would not now be placed back where
I was before that blessed experience, if you should give me all the world – it would
be as the small dust of balance.”
From that point on, he insisted on the necessity that
every Christian should be baptized in the Holy Spirit. R. A. Torrey relates: “Time
and time again, Mr. Moody would come to me and say: ‘Torrey, I want you to
speak on the Baptism in the Holy Spirit.’ On one occasion, he arranged for me
to speak in a prestigious church in New York. He said, ‘This is a big church, and
I want to ask you to speak your message on the Baptism in the Holy Spirit.’
Whenever he learned that I was preaching some place, he would call and say to
me, ‘Torrey, be sure that you preach on the Baptism in the Holy Spirit.’
Charles Finney
“As I went in and shut the door after me, it seemed as if
I met the Lord Jesus Christ face to face. It seemed to me that I saw Him as I
would see any other man. He said nothing, but looked at me in such a manner as
to break me right down at his feet. I have always since regarded this as a most
remarkable state of mind; for it seemed to me a reality, that He stood before
me, and I fell down at his feet and poured out my soul to Him.”
“I wept aloud like a child, and made such confessions as
I could with my choked utterance. It seemed to me that I bathed His feet with my
tears; and yet I had no distinct impression that I touched Him, that I
recollect. I must have continued in this state for a good while; but my mind
was too much absorbed with the interview to recollect anything that I said.”
“But I know, as soon as my mind became calm enough to
break off from the interview, I returned to the front office, and found that
the fire that I had made of large wood was nearly burned out. But as I turned
and was about to take a seat by the fire, I received a mighty baptism of the
Holy Ghost. Without any expectation of it, without ever having the thought in
my mind that there was any such thing for me, without any recollection that I
had ever heard the thing mentioned by any person in the world, the Holy Spirit
descended upon me in a manner that seemed to go through me, body and soul. I
could feel the impression, like a wave of electricity, going through and
through me. Indeed it seemed to come in waves and waves of liquid love, for I
could not express it in any other way. It seemed like the very breath of God. I
can recollect distinctly that it seemed to fan me, like immense wings.”
“No words can express the wonderful love that was shed
abroad in my heart. I wept aloud with joy and love; and I do not know but I
should say, I literally bellowed out the unutterable gushings of my heart.
These waves came over me, and over me, and over me, one after the other, until I
recollect I cried out, ‘I shall die if these waves continue to pass over me.’ I
said, ‘Lord, I cannot bear any more;’ yet I had no fear of death.”
“How long I continued in this state, with this baptism
continuing to roll over me and go through me, I do not know. But I know it was
late in the evening when a member of my choir – for I was leader of the choir –
came into the office to see me. He was a member of the church. He found me in
this state of loud weeping, and said to me, ‘Mr. Finney, what ails you?’ I
could make him no answer for some time. He then said, ‘Are you in pain?’ I
gathered myself up as best I could, and replied, ‘No, but so happy that I
cannot live.’
He turned and left the office, and in a few minutes
returned with one of the elders of the church, whose shop was nearly across the
way from our office. This elder was a very serious man; and in my presence had
been very watchful, and I had scarcely ever seen him laugh. When he came in, I
was very much in the state in which I was when the young man went out to call
him. He asked me how I felt, and I began to tell him. Instead of saying anything,
he fell into a most spasmodic laughter. It seemed as if it was impossible for
him to keep from laughing from the very bottom of his heart.
In conclusion: I
am just scratching the surface… there are many, many others. However, I think
you can see already that I am recounting the experience of some of the greatest
men of God over the last centuries. May I emphasize that George Whitefield was
with John Wesley, when the Spirit was poured out upon those early Methodists?
J. I. Packer writes one of the recommendations on Lloyd-Jones’ book, from which
I quoted, on the Baptism in the Holy Spirit. Weigh their experience and
ministries against those, who are teaching another doctrine during these last
decades. Let me add some men from the last generation. I have already quoted D.
Martyn Lloyd-Jones, highly respected by almost all the most well-known pastors
and theologians of our day. He was pastor of Westminster Chapel (not to be confused with Westminster Abbey) a short distance from Buckingham Palace. Queen Elizabeth
used to visit the Chapel to listen to him.
Another man, widely read by the most prominent
evangelicals of our day, A. W. Tozer, tells how the Holy Spirit fell upon him
in his mother-in-law’s living room. I could relate the experience of Duncan
Campbell, who saw revival on the Hebrides Islands, off the coast of Scotland,
in 1949-50. I will only mention two current preachers, who also advocate the
Baptism in the Holy Spirit… Paul Washer and John Piper.
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