The Holy Spirit and Fire

Matthew 3:11-12

February 3, 2002

  

John the Baptist was no showman. His goal was to decrease while Jesus Christ increased (John 3:30). He was a pointer-not the goal of men's faith. He spent his life pointing to Jesus Christ as "the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world" (John 1:29). But people were enamored with John. Some wondered if he might be the Messiah. He recoiled at the idea of accepting personal praise or glory. He was "the voice of one crying in the wilderness, make ready the way of the Lord, make His paths straight!" So it is no surprise that on every occasion, he explained something of the Messiah, for that was his ministry.

 

Perhaps the most shocking statement to his audience was the effectiveness of the Messiah's ministry. John had shaken Judea with his preaching and the call to repentance, but he was limited. He could preach and baptize but he could not change a man's heart. The Messiah was dramatically different! He would baptize in the Holy Spirit and fire! He would winnow to separate the wheat and the chaff. He would gather the wheat into his barn and burn the chaff with unquenchable fire. The work of Jesus Christ is transforming, purifying, and distinguishing. Every one of us will be affected ultimately by His work. The question that demands our response is just this: will the work of Christ bring blessing or judgment in my life? Our text helps us to sort out this question.

 

I. A Contrast

 

Though the crowds pressed John to adopt a messianic posture, he refused. He knew that he was not the Messiah, and that the Messiah was on the way. He understood quite clearly that his whole ministry functioned to "make ready the way of the Lord," to "make His paths straight." So John labors to show the contrast to between himself and the Messiah-Jesus Christ.

 

We must consider the weight and pull that would have been felt by anyone getting this kind of attention. John was at the pinnacle of success, if we might call it that. Crowds from Jerusalem, Judea, and the regions of the Jordan flocked to hear him preach in the wilderness, and to be baptized by his hand (3:5-6). In spite of the sternness of his message, people found him intriguing, almost magnetic. He needed only to say the word, and a virtual mob would have been intoxicated with "messiah-fever." And John would be the center of their attention, affections, and accolades.

 

Luke explains the reason for the contrasting statements in our text: "Now while the people were in a state of expectation and all were wondering in their hearts about John, as to whether he was the Christ, John answered and said to them all, 'As for me..." (Luke 3:15-16a). John's Gospel explained that a delegation of priests and Levites asked whom he was, with the implication that if he was the Messiah then he needed to speak up. He records, "And he confessed and did not deny, but confessed, 'I am not the Christ'" (John 1:20). John the Baptist reiterated this to his own disciples who were concerned that the ministry of Christ was overshadowing his own. "John answered and said, "A man can receive nothing unless it has been given him from heaven. You yourselves are my witnesses that I said, 'I am not the Christ,' but 'I have been sent ahead of Him.'" And then he gave this analogy, "He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's voice. So this joy of mine has been made full. He must increase, but I must decrease" (3:27-30). Consider how John explained this contrast in terms of office, honor, and effectiveness.

 

1. In office

 

The context gives us help at this point. John is called, "The voice of one crying in the wilderness." He had the office of announcer, one who was preparing the way for the Messiah to come. The ancient prophets foretold of John's ministry, and its significance, but called him simply "a voice" (the Greek does not have the article). John was like the Sergeant-at-Arms of the House who announced the arrival of the President prior to his state of the union speech. He did not give the speech; he just prepared the way and announced the arrival of the President. His office was one of preparation-a voice.

 

Matthew quotes Isaiah in establishing who this person was that John announced: "Make ready the way of the Lord, make His paths straight!" John explained that He "is mightier than" himself, and would be the one who baptized in the Holy Spirit, and who exercised final judgment, all of which are allusions to the Messiah promised in the Old Testament. He is the Prophet who is mightier than John the forerunner. He is the Priest who baptizes in the Holy Spirit rather than in water as John. And He is the King that "will thoroughly clear His threshing floor" and "burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire" in the exercise of eternal justice. John was the announcer-a voice, while Christ is the Prophet, Priest, and King.

 

2. In honor

 

The contrast is also seen in the honor John ascribes to Jesus Christ. While Luke points out that some were asking John if he was the Messiah, John says, "He who is coming after me is mightier than I, and I am not fit to remove His sandals." Though John had heard the accolades of men, he did not accept them. In light of the majesty in Christ, John did not even consider himself worthy to take the position of the lowest slave in the house, the one who would loosen and remove the sandals from the master's feet before washing them. Alexander Maclaren perceptively wrote, "It is given to very few to know so clearly their limits, and to still fewer... to abide so contentedly within them, and to acquiesce so thankfully in the brightening glories of One whom self-importance and ambition would prompt to take for a rival and an enemy" [Expositions of Holy Scripture, vol. 6, 49]. John saw no rivalry in Christ, for he understood that His worth was far beyond his own imagination. Though Jesus stated, "Truly I say to you, among those born of women there has not arisen anyone greater than John the Baptist," John thought of himself as unworthy of taking a position of lowest slave before the Christ (Matt 11:11).

 

John preached with great power, and stood fearlessly before kings and religious leaders, yet he said of Christ, "He who is coming after me is mightier than I." In other words, you think that I am strong, bold, and courageous? The one who comes is stronger than me, and so strong that it does not brook comparison with me.

 

3. In effectiveness

 

The true test of the Messiah of whom John spoke would be the effectiveness of His ministry. John had stirred large crowds, and many stood in the Jordan River to be baptized by him and openly confess their sins. Frankly, people were amazed by what was happening. It was unheard of in that day. No spiritual leader was drawing such crowds and having such massive impact upon the populace like that of John. But his confession showed his limitation: "As for me, I baptize you with water for repentance," or better, 'I baptize you in water with reference to repentance' [the preposition en with the dative noun clearly expresses location rather than instrumentation, and should be translated as 'baptize you in water' in each of the cases it is used]. John's baptism had limitations. He baptized in water, and he did so on the basis of evidence of repentance, but the effect of his baptism did nothing to change the hearts of those who came to him. His was an external act of declaration or profession. John could not transform even the least person.

 

Yet in contrast, John stated, "But He who is coming after me...will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire." What John did was external, what Christ does is eternal. What John did was evidence of profession, what Christ does involves transformation.

 

The godly John, recognizing his purpose before Christ, was like a tree heavy with fruit, bowing low to the ground before the honor and majesty of Jesus Christ. He understood his position and accepted it. He knew his place and was willing to give way before the attention given to Christ.

 

II. A Declaration

 

What John the Baptist had to say about Jesus Christ in a few, brief words, opens for us a clearer understanding of our Lord. John was steeped in Old Testament prophetic thought. He knew that the Messiah would initiate the new covenant promise of the Holy Spirit: "I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances." "I will put My Spirit within you and you will come to life." "'I will not hide My face from them any longer, for I will have poured out My Spirit on the house of Israel,' declares the Lord." John also understood that He would bring a distinguishing between the wheat and the chaff, "For behold, the day is coming, burning like a furnace; and all the arrogant and every evildoer will be chaff; and the day that is coming will set them ablaze,' says the Lord of hosts, 'so that it will leave them neither root nor branch'"(Ezekiel 36:27, 37:14, 39:29; Malachi 4:1). In Jesus Christ, John explains, there is either the promise of blessing or the assurance of judgment. We will all do well to pay heed to his words and ask the Lord whether we are under His blessing or judgment even now.

 

1. Promise of blessing

 

There are several components to this blessing promised in Christ that John explains. The first involves the baptism with the Holy Spirit and fire. "He will baptize you with [in] the Holy Spirit and fire" [again, en with the dative noun is used here and in all the other New Testament references to this same phrase, so that all are best translated, baptize in the Holy Spirit; Mark 1:8, Luke 3:16, John 1:33, Acts 1:5, 11:16, I Cor 12:13]. Baptism in the Holy Spirit remains one of the most controversial teachings in Christianity. It has been one of the major divides between Pentecostal/Charismatic Christians and Evangelicals. Pentecostals and Charismatics, for the most part, hold that the baptism with the Holy Spirit is subsequent to salvation, and will be accompanied by the sign gift of speaking in tongues as experienced in Acts 2, 8, 10, and 19. Without the gift of ecstatic language, then a person cannot claim to be baptized in the Spirit. The basic problem with this interpretation is three-fold: 

(1) the gift of tongues was never declared to be normative for all believers, rather Paul asks, using a construction that expects a "no" answer, "All do not speak with tongues, do they?" He explains in the same chapter that each spiritual gift is sovereignly given for the good of the body, and that it is not the believer's whim that determines his giftedness, including tongues (I Cor 12:30, 11). In addition, if this is a normative experience, then surely it would be explained in the epistles as such; but it is not.

 

(2) The instances of baptism with the Spirit and tongues cited in Acts are all evidence of transitional manifestations of the Holy Spirit. While the Spirit was actively at work in the Old Testament era, He came with fullness and power at Pentecost to the Jews, at Samaria upon the Samaritans, at Caesarea upon this initial group of Gentiles, and at Ephesus upon the more widely extended Gentile world. In each case it is clear that there was a need for the Christian experience of the Samaritans and Gentiles to mirror that of the believing Jews so that the barriers between them would be broken, and the Gentile believers might be accepted on the same level as Jewish believers.

 

(3) The implications of baptism in the Holy Spirit spoken of in the Gospels clearly refer to salvation, and the blessings of the new covenant in Christ, not an experience subsequent to salvation. It is clear in the context of how John the Baptist mentions it, that he refers to salvation on one hand, and judgment on the other [this will be clearer as we go through the text].


Having pointed out this division, there is also considerable division between evangelical believers on this subject. While rejecting the Pentecostal/Charismatic teaching on the subject, some evangelicals hold that the baptism in the Holy Spirit is subsequent to salvation and is a special effusion or empowering or dispensing of the Holy Spirit for anointing in ministry or service or in association with times of revival without the evidence of tongues. I think that our text will help us to understand this in better light.

 

It is clear that John intends to contrast the external work he did in baptism with the internal work Christ would do. "I baptize you [in] water for repentance...He will baptize you [in] the Holy Spirit and fire." His announcement of the Messiah pointed to the coming of His kingdom, which we noted last week implies primarily His rule over our lives, not a locality. John was using salvation language. He further shows that there would be a distinction between the wheat and the chaff; again using salvation language to refer to believers as "wheat" and unbelievers as "chaff." There is no hint in John's language of experiences subsequent to salvation.

 

We know from reading Acts 1:4-5 that the baptism in the Spirit would not come until Christ had ascended back to the Father. John 7:39 tells us, "But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive [pointing to a yet future fulfillment at Pentecost, that time of transitioning from Christ's completed work and the continuing work of the Spirit]; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified." In the fullest teaching on the Holy Spirit, John 14-16, Jesus told His troubled disciples, "But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go [referring to the ascension of Christ that culmination of His death and resurrection], I will send Him to you" (16:11). Assuming [rightly, I think] that the disciples were believers prior to Pentecost, then the baptism of the Holy Spirit was not to be viewed as a normative, subsequent experience for all believers who followed, but the receiving of the promise of the Spirit given by Christ at the transitional time appointed by God for those who were believers in that timeframe. Once this transition was complete, then the baptism of the Spirit would accompany the salvation experience not follow later.

 

One more illustration from Acts will help us to see how this truth refers to the initial experience of the believer's salvation, Acts 10:44-48 and 11:15-17. In the first, Luke records the events surrounding the conversion of Cornelius' household. The language he uses to describe this is clear: " While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon those who were listening to the message. All the circumcised believers who came with Peter were amazed [and why?], because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles also [note that they had not yet been delivered from all their inbred prejudices against Gentiles]." And then Peter describes what happened, "Surely no one can refuse the water for these to be baptized who have received the Holy Spirit just as we did, can he?" When Peter gave his report in Jerusalem [11:15-17] about the conversion of this group of Gentiles, here is how he described it: "And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them just as he did upon us at the beginning." Now we must ask one simple question, were these Gentiles already converted and only in need of a deeper work of the Spirit, or were they converted just at this time? The answer is quite clear: they were newly converted. Peter describes this as having the Holy Spirit fall upon them. Then he added, "And I remember the word of the Lord, how He used to say, 'John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.' Therefore if God gave to them the same gift as He gave to us also after believing in the Lord Jesus Christ [what is this but salvation!], who was I that I could stand in God's way?" When we compare the two passages, and the language used, surely there cannot be any doubt that what John spoke of concerning the baptism of the Spirit refers to the Holy Spirit's work at conversion, and was in fact the very promise made in the new covenant.

 

So why use the word "baptize" in reference to the Holy Spirit? Our dear Baptist forefather, John Broadus, gives one of the sanest answers: "And it could be very naturally thus employed, since immersion in water furnished an apt and expressive image for representing the soul as being as it were immersed in, bathed in, brought completely under the influence of, thoroughly affected by, the operations of the Holy Spirit" [Selected Works of John A. Broadus, vol. III, 48]. That is true Christianity!

 

The baptism of the Spirit is also accompanied with "fire." Some take this to be a reference to the judgment explained in the previous and following verse. Contextually, that seems to be a good fit. I do think we can make a point of this, showing that either you are baptized by the Holy Spirit or baptized with the fire of judgment. But grammatically, one preposition governs both "baptize you with [in, Gk. en] the Holy Spirit and fire." Leon Morris points out that this "normally suggests a unified concept" so that the baptism referred to is both in the Holy Spirit and in fire, with the first being the substance and the second being a metaphor to express the extent of the Spirit's work [EBC: Matthew, 105]. Verses 10, 11, and 12 in our translations all end in "fire." Maclaren thinks that the first and last refer to judgment, and the middle one of verse 11 to the work of the Holy Spirit in the believer [49]. I wish to pursue it from this same angle, though I don't believe anyone can be dogmatic on this.

 

Why does he use the word "fire" to describe what Christ does in saving us? It is a wonderful picture when we consider what fire does. I was helped by the Puritan, John Trapp's exposition on this word. He pointed out six areas of application regarding the baptism with fire as metaphorical language for the work of what the Spirit is doing.

(1) Fire enlightens us.

(2) Fire enlivens and revives us.

(3) Fire assimilates us, "as fire turns fuel into the same property with itself; so doth the Spirit inform the mind, conform the will, reform the life, transform the whole man more and more into the likeness of the heavenly Pattern" (II Cor 3:18).

(4) Fire burns upward, so it implies "to elevate and carry the heart heavenward, as fire naturally aspireth."

(5) Fire purifies us from our dross.

(6) Fire unites us to the saints and separates us from the sinners [Commentary on the Old & New Testament, vol. V, 21].


One other promised blessing is found in Christ gathering the wheat together into His barn: "He will gather His wheat into the barn." The picture is of winnowing day, when the grain and husks lay together on the threshing floor. The threshing implements were driven over the floor time and again, until the farmer comes with "His winnowing fork...in His hand," and then "He will thoroughly clear His threshing floor." The "winnowing fork" or shovel had tines on it that would be used to scoop the pile of wheat and husks from the floor, toss them into the air, then the wind would separate the chaff from the wheat. The process was continued until all the chaff was removed and only the pure grain remained. The farmer would then store the grain in his granary or barn.

 

The day will come when Christ will end the hypocrisy of those who masquerade as believers, and when He will end the toil of suffering Christians. He will clear the threshing floor-religious world, the world itself, or perhaps even the external church-and gather the wheat-believers-into His barn. Will you be gathered together with the people of God through the ages, and brought into Christ's barn?

 

The Holy Spirit gives us new life, purifies us unto sanctification, and Christ promises to gather us to Himself whom He has baptized by His Spirit. Have you known this transforming work of God's Spirit in salvation?

 

2. Assurance of judgment

 

John was dealing with plenty of religious people, most all whom believed that they were in good standing with God. Some thought that due to their heritage, they were secure (3:9). Others believed that their good works trumped any threat of judgment. John's day was not unlike our own in which we find the same attitudes and false security. So we must heed the assurance that John gives concerning judgment. "His winnowing fork is in His hand." Even though he was speaking initially of Christ's coming, in true prophetic fashion he saw the beginning and the ending, what Hendriksen calls, "prophetic foreshortening" [NTC: Matthew, 206]. The way to God had come, giving life to those who repent and believe, and delivering judgment to those who go their own way. Judgment was imminent.

 

"And He will thoroughly clear His threshing floor." It is "His threshing floor," His world and realm to command and judge. His threshing will be done "thoroughly" or literally, 'clean right through' His threshing floor. There is a decisiveness and thoroughness in the work of Christ in judgment. His fire discriminates. For those who have trusted Him, the fire purifies. For those who have rejected His provision in the cross, His fire destroys forever [Broadus, 52].

 

"But He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire." The chaff will be separated, gathered up, and burned. The "unquenchable fire" describes eternal punishment, with the word for unquenchable being the Greek term from which we get asbestos, the fire retardant. It is an interesting combination, asbestos fire: the fire that destroys but is never consumed. If you are without Christ, then the only thing that stands between you and that "unquenchable fire" is the mercy and pleasure of God. It is not that you are a good person or that you have good intentions or that you might trust in Christ one day that keeps you from this fire. It is the mercy and kindness of God. Will you presume upon God's mercy another day? Will you continue to pursue your own way, rebelling against the gospel of Christ, with no promise for blessing, only an assurance of judgment?

 

Conclusion

 

Are you living under the promise of blessing or the assurance of judgment? The blessing of God has both present, transforming effect in the Holy Spirit's work, and future, glorifying certainty of being gathered into Christ's barn.

 

But judgment is just as certain for those who are not in Christ. Many in John's day presumed upon God. Some among us may be doing that very thing. God has shown His mercy to you this day so that you might find the only refuge from His judgment in the crucified and risen Lord Jesus Christ.

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