The Holy Spirit's Biography of Christ # 10

The Holy Spirit's Biography of Christ # 10

The Two Baptisms

Then you have the two baptisms. There are two baptisms in the Bible, and you will find these mentioned in the nineteenth chapter of the Book of Acts, when Paul came to Ephesus and discerned that there was something missing the the Christians there. He asked them: "Did ye receive the Holy Spirit when ye believed?" (verse 2), and they replied: "Nay, we did not so much as hear whether there is a Holy Spirit." So Paul said: "Into what then were ye baptized?" And they said, "Into John's baptism." Then, after Paul had explained the significance, they were baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus.

Now I do not advocate being baptized twice. I believe that in one country people are baptized every year, but, as far as I can tell, they are not any the better for that! However, here you have the two baptisms alongside one another. John said: "I indeed baptize you in water...but He that cometh after me is mightier than I ... He shall baptize you in the Holy Spirit." Water in the Old Testament speaks of judgment and death. You ask Noah about that! You remember that the Apostle Peter refers to the flood as the baptism of that time (1 Peter 3:21), and that was a baptism indeed! If you asked those people: 'What did your baptism mean to you?,' and they were able to answer you, they would say: 'Well, it was judgment and death. That is what the water meant to us.' Go on a little further in the Old Testament and ask Pharaoh about water. You know that the Apostle Paul tells the Corinthians that the Israelites were "all baptized into Moses in the sea" (1 Cor. 10:2), so the Red Sea was a baptistery. If you asked Pharaoh and his army what their baptism meant, they would answer: 'It was judgment and death.'

This was the baptism of water in the Old Testament, and John's baptism was the baptism of judgment and death. But he said: 'He Who comes after me will baptize in the Spirit,' and that is life and salvation, that is baptism into the Saviour and not into death and judgment, and that is baptism into eternal life.

The Two Lambs

Then you have the two lambs. They are here in these Scriptures, although they are not mentioned by name. John represents the Old Testament system, and therefore he gathers into himself all the types of the Old Testament, those lambs that were slain over many, many centuries. Day after day, and year after year the lambs were sacrificed, but we are told by the writer of the Letter to the Hebrews that they could never take away sin for, after all, they were only types, and not the reality. Thousands, or millions, of lambs never took away sin, but John points to the other Lamb. There is only one Lamb, but this One does what all the millions could never do. "The Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world." Here you have the reality! In the Old Testament the lambs were never effective, but this Lamb is the One Who has the power to deal with sin. What those other lambs could never do He does in one offering for ever.

Do you hear what Jesus says? "Thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness." You remember that we have already said that that word "righteousness" means "right standing with God," so Jesus is saying: "Thus it becometh us to fulfill all right standing with God." Here, however, our language is difficult, and the real meaning is: "To make full and complete right standing with God." Through all the ages all the world wanted to be in right standing with God, and now here at the Jordan is the One Who is making right standing with God complete.

I wonder if that is what your baptism has meant to you? Those waters of baptism ought to have carried away all condemnation and all judgment. All that went down the river, and all that was left was just men stripped of everything. Did your baptism mean that? The waters of the Jordan take from us all artificial things and leave us just men and women before God. That is the meaning of baptism.

Well, these two baptisms and these two lambs represent a dividing of everything that is important and a making of a way for that which is perfect, and they leave us in right standing with God.

The Two Horizons

Now we have two others things - two horizons - which meet at Jordan. "Then went out unto him (John) Jerusalem, and all Judaea, and all the region around about Jordan." Although these were different regions, they were one nation, which means that representatives of the nation were there, and when they were baptized they had to leave their national ground. They were Jews, or Israelites, no longer. You say: 'Where do you find that in this Gospel?' Well, what did John say about the Lord Jesus? 'Behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of Jerusalem? Or the sin of Judaea? Or the sin of Palestine?" Oh, yes, He does, but much more than that. The whole world meets at the Jordan and all mere nationalism goes.

When you are baptized into the Holy Spirit you lose your earthly nationality - and now you say: 'What is the proof of that?' My answer is that Hotel Bellevue, Hilter-fingen, Switzerland, is the proof of that! How many nationalities are there in this room? And how many of you different nationalities will have nothing to do with those of other nations? "Oh, he is German, or - worse still! - British, or Chinese, so we do not have anything to do with them!" No, a greater horizon comes into view in Christ. It is something that the Spirit of God does in us, so that we love one another without any regard for nationality.

I think Christians have to learn something about this. Although what I have just said may be very true with us here today, it is not true among Christians everywhere. I have been to other countries and I have overheard people say: 'I wonder what that Englishman is doing here?' They were Christians and in a Christian conference - but that is an absolute denial of Christ and the Holy Spirit.

Well, all this is very simple, but it is very blessed to have an experience of the Jordan. You see, I am talking about the real writing of the life of Christ, and there is a chapter on 'Christ greater than all.'

The Baptism

Now Jesus is baptized, and when He sinks beneath the waters He represents that whole race of mankind which is discredited to God. When He said: "This is the way to fulfill all righteousness, to make real and full right standing with God," He clearly implied that we are not in right standing with God without this. The man who is not in right standing with God must be put under the water out of the sight of God, for he is the discredited humanity. Surely we agree with that if we know men?

But these waters cover that which is discredited, and when Jesus comes up out of the water what is the first thing that happens? This One is accredited: "This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased." He is accredited by God. He is another Man. The one has been put out of God's sight, and now the other stands under an opened heaven and God is saying: "I love this One!" He is the first of a new race to be accredited by God.

~T. Austin-Sparks~

(continued with # 11 - The Anointing)