He Shall Baptize You With The Holy Ghost

by Frank Klin and Rex Conklin

Come now let us reason together. We are challenged to be Bereans so test the spirits and
search the Scriptures preserved and handed down by the church in the wilderness to see if these
things are so. Study with a friend and pray for discernment because we are promised that
wherever two or three are gathered in Jesus’ Name, He is there. Encourage each other. Pray with
and for each other. May you be richly blessed as you study His Word.

“Behold My Servant, whom I have chosen; My Beloved, in whom My soul is well

pleased: I will put My Spirit upon Him, and He shall shew judgment to the Gentiles.
(Matthew 12:18)

“In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea, And saying,
Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand . . . I indeed baptize you with water; but One
mightier than I cometh, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose: He shall
baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire:” (Matthew 3:1-2, Luke 3:16-17)

“The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which
taketh away the sin of the world. And Jesus, when He was baptized, went up straightway out of
the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto Him, and He saw the Spirit of God
descending like a dove, and lighting upon Him: And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is
My Beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” (John 1:29, Matthew 3:16-17).

The acknowledgement of the Father was foretold by the prophet Isaiah, “Behold My Servant,
whom I uphold; Mine elect, in whom My soul delighteth; I have put My Spirit upon Him: He
shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles.” (Isaiah 42:1)

John the Baptist refers to Jesus as the Lamb of God twice. Jesus became this Lamb by His
sacrifice on the cross. John the beloved disciple is the only gospel writer to use this distinction. In
his book of Revelation alone you will find the Lamb mentioned twenty nine times. There’s
spiritual significance in these declarations.

“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: 32-33)

In Isaiah 11:1-2 we read another prophecy, “And there shall come forth a rod out of the
stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots: And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest
upon Him, the Spirit of Wisdom and Understanding, the Spirit of Counsel and Might, the
Spirit of Knowledge and of the Fear of the Lord;”

So what did John the Baptist mean when he said that Jesus would be the one to baptize with
the Holy Ghost? We get a foretaste when Jesus appears for the first time to the disciples in the
upper room after the resurrection.

“Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent Me, even so
send I you. And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive
ye the Holy Ghost:” (John 20:21-22).

This was the beginning of a fulfillment of Scripture that would bear fruition on the Day of
Pentecost, ‘And it shall come to pass afterward, I will pour out My Spirit upon all flesh; and
your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men

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shall see visions: And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour
out My Spirit.” (Joel 2:28-29)

We know from Luke 2:40 that from a child Jesus, “grew, and waxed strong in Spirit, filled
with Wisdom: and the Grace of God was upon Him.” A definition of Grace in Strong’s
Concordance is the “Divine Influence upon the heart and its reflection in the life.” So it can
truly be said that because of the gift of the Spirit from His Father in the beginning of His life,
“Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man.” (Luke 2:52)

This brings us back to the baptism of the Spirit from His Father, which is different than the
Grace of His Father. Jesus returns to Nazareth and Scripture tells us what this baptism would do
in His life. “And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood
up for to read. And there was delivered unto Him the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He
had opened the book, He found the place where it was written, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon
me, because He hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; He hath sent me to heal
the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord” . . . “This
day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.” (Luke 4:16-19, 21)

With the baptism of the Spirit upon Him Jesus is empowered to preach the Good News and
declare how the Father wants to redeem His children and bestow the same gifts to them that He
has given to His Son. Jesus teaches us to pray to His Father for the gifts, as He did, “Ask,
and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For
every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be
opened.” (Luke 11:9-10)

If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? Or if a fish, will
he for a fish give him a serpent? Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If ye then,
being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly
Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him? (Luke 11:11-13)

In His encounter with Nicodemus, Jesus illuminates the way, “Verily, verily, I say unto thee,
Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit . . . For God so
loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him
should not perish, but have everlasting life.” (John 3:5-6, 16)

When we sing the hymn “Fill My Cup” do we understand the significance of the words? “Like
the woman at the well I was seeking for things that could not satisfy, and then I heard my Saviour
speaking, “Draw from my well which never shall run dry.”“

How will Jesus Himself fill our cup? How will He quench the thirsting of our souls? Listen as
He tells the woman of Samaria about Himself, “the Gift of God.”

“If thou knewest the Gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give Me to drink; thou
wouldest have asked of Him, and He would have given thee living water. . . Whosoever
drinketh of this water shall thirst again: but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give
him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water
springing up into everlasting life.” (John 4:10, 13-14)

This was foretold by the prophet Isaiah, “For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and
floods upon the dry ground: I will pour My Spirit upon thy seed, and My blessing upon thine
offspring:” (Isaiah 44:3)

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**See our related studies on “The Early and Latter Rain” & “The Gift.”
http://www.scribd.com/my_document_collections/2657032

“It is the Spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the Words that I speak unto
you, they are Spirit, and they are Life. But there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus
knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who should betray Him. And He
said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto Me, except it were given unto him
of My Father. (John 6:63-65)

More truth shines forth, “In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried,
saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink. He that believeth on Me, as the
scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this spake He of the
Spirit, which they that believe on Him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given;
because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)” (John 7:37-39)

During the last Passover meal of our Saviour we are privileged to read wonderful insights,
things shared only from the pen of John, who introduced us to the Lamb of God and the baptism
of the Holy Ghost. Let’s visit the end of the discourse because it sheds light on everything Jesus
had shared up to that point in His conversation with the disciples, “These things have I spoken
unto you in proverbs (figurative language, figures of speech): but the time cometh, when I shall
no more speak unto you in proverbs, but I shall shew you plainly of the Father." (John 16:25)

Now in the beginning of His conversation with the disciples Jesus declared, “I am the Way,
the Truth, and the Life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me . . . If ye love Me, keep
My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter,
that He may abide with you for ever; the Spirit of Truth; whom the world cannot receive,
because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him: but ye know Him; for He dwelleth with you,
and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.” (John 14:6, 15-18)

Once again Jesus says that He will personally be with us, “He that hath My commandments,
and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me: and he that loveth Me shall be loved of My Father, and
I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.” (John 14:21) Not only will Jesus manifest
Himself to us He says that, “If a man love Me, he will keep My words: and My Father will love
him, and We will come unto him, and make Our abode with him.” (John 14:23)

“Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the
Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send Him unto you . . . Howbeit when
He, the Spirit of Truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth: for He shall not speak of
Himself; but whatsoever He shall hear, shall He speak: and He will shew you things to come.
He shall glorify Me: for He shall receive of mine, and shall shew unto you. All things that the
Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that He shall take of mine, and shall shew unto you.”
(John 16:7,13-15)

It sounds puzzling. If Jesus tells us He is the Truth then who would the Spirit of Truth be? Did
Jesus refer to Himself as another Comforter, the Spirit of Truth that the Father would send in His
name? Look again at the language in His conversation with the woman at the well. It is similar as
He talks to her about Himself as if He were talking about another person.

Jesus represented His Father here on earth and as the Son He is like His Father in Spirit and
purpose because He inherited His nature from Him. He wants us to receive the same baptism of
the Spirit that He was given from His Father. He gave up His position and glory in Heaven. He
clothed His divine nature with humanity and humbled Himself, to be our sacrifice and show us the
Father and the way back to Him. When He returned to the Comforter of Heaven, the divine
influence that was upon His heart, and received the full glory He had with the Father before the
world was, Jesus could then come to us glorified as another Comforter, the Spirit of Truth.

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 Jesus is nearer to us now than when He was here physically in human form. He is
everywhere present with all believers the world over by His own Spirit. What an awesome
realization! The Spirit could “reprove”, “guide”, “shew”, “bring to remembrance”, “glorify”,
“receive”, because it is a part of Him. That’s why Jesus could say to His disciples, “A little while,
and ye shall not see Me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see Me, because I go to the
Father. (John 16:16)

The disciples finally understood what their Saviour was saying. They declared, "Lo, now
speakest thou plainly, and speakest no proverb. Now are we sure that thou knowest all things,
and needest not that any man should ask thee: by this we believe that thou camest forth from
God . . . (Jesus replied), These things I have spoken unto you, that in Me ye might have peace.
In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." "All
power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth,” He declared. (John 16:29-30, 33- Matthew
28:18)

Jesus then, “commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the
promise of the Father, which, ye have heard of Me. For John truly baptized with water; but ye
shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence. But ye shall receive power, after
that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto Me both in Jerusalem,
and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth." “[A]nd, lo, I am with
you alway, unto the end of the world." (Acts 1:4-5, 8, Matthew 28:20)

Can you hear His followers in the upper room as they pray and encourage each other? “Jesus, you
promised you would be with us in Spirit.” "And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were
all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing
mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven
tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost,
and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. (Acts 2:1-4)

“He’s Here!! He’s here to abide with us forever, just as He promised. Praise to our Heavenly Father
for this unspeakable gift”, we can imagine the believers exclaiming with excitement. Peter shares this
truth with the gathering multitude, words that were brought to his remembrance about the life, death
and resurrection of his Master, Saviour, and Comforter. “This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we
all are witnesses. Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the
Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, He hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear . . .
Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins,
and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.” (Acts 2:32-33, 38) These were words Peter had not
been able to express or utter before and now spoke plainly, openly, and boldly.

What a testimony. We can have the same testimony when we repent and are baptized with the
Spirit of Jesus and receive the Spirit of Adoption from our Heavenly Father. “For ye have not received
the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of Adoption, whereby we cry, Abba,
Father. And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts,
crying, Abba, Father.” (Romans 8:15, Galatians 4:6)

“And He that sat on the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And He said to me, Write: for
these words are true and faithful. And He said to me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the
beginning and the end. I will give to him that is thirsty of the fountain of the water of life freely.
And He showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of
God and of the Lamb. In the middle of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the
tree of life, which bore twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the
tree were for the healing of the nations. (Revelation 21:5-6, 22:1-2)

“That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with
us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.” (1st John 1:3)
See our study “Communion & Fellowship” http://www.scribd.com/my_document_collections/2657032