The Holy Spirit is so fun and colorful. There are so many facets to His nature. Yes, He’s intertwined with the Father and the Son, but He has qualities of His own that are also beautiful. This is the mystery of the Trinity—that all of His qualities belong to the Father and Son, yet He has a very specific personality Himself. We see this in the different forms in which He reveals Himself in the Bible. The Bible says, “He came as a dove,” but He is not a dove. He appeared as a burning bush, but He is not a bush. He is spoken about as being a wind, but there is so much more to Him than being a wind. The point is this: These beautiful pictures are descriptions of His nature, and He wants you to get to know Him.
Let’s talk about the Holy Spirit as fire. John the Baptist said, “There’s one coming after me who will baptize you in the Holy Spirit and fire, whose sandals I am not worthy to unloose” (see Matt. 3:11; Luke 3:16). Again, we see in Exodus chapter 3 that Moses encounters a bush that would not burn, and from that bush there was a fire. As the
children of Israel walked through the wilderness for forty years, a pillar of fire went before them and led them through the dark night of their journey to the Promised Land. That fire was not only a light but also a warmth that would protect them, keep predators away, and let the nations of the world know that although they were in the wilderness, they still belonged to God. He was their light and their heat.
When Moses dedicated the tabernacle, God showed His approval by descending as fire on the altar, and that fire never went out. Solomon fulfilled the dream of his father and through the wisdom of God built the temple and followed the blueprint that David handed down to him. After assembling Israel, the Levites, the musicians, the beautiful choir, the different artifacts, and the pieces of the holy temple, Solomon dedicated it to the Lord, and the Lord appeared, descended as fire, and consumed the sacrifice.
Around God’s throne is fire. In front of Him is a sea of glass with fire inside of it. That fire is the Holy Spirit. What a picture John was painting for those who came to be baptized by him when he said, “One’s coming after me who will baptize you in the Holy Spirit and fire” (see Matt. 3:11; Luke 3:16). Again, the Bible says, “Our God is a consuming fire” (Heb. 12:29). It’s interesting that John chose to introduce Jesus as the baptizer in the Holy Spirit and fire while John was baptizing people himself in water. It was the perfect opportunity to give an illustrated sermon.
In every baptism, there are a few things we need to understand regarding God’s way of baptizing. There is the baptizer, there is the baptizee, there is the element that we’re baptized into, and then there is the result or fruit of the baptism. In John’s baptism, John was the baptizer, the people that came to him were the baptizees, the element was water, and the fruit of that baptism was repentance. This is why John said that we were to show the fruit of repentance to work the works of repentance (see Matt. 3:8). In the baptism of the Holy Spirit and fire, the baptizer is Jesus, the baptizees are you and me, the element is the Holy Spirit and fire, and the fruit is this: “You will become witnesses unto Me” (see Acts 1:8).
So, as John stood at the banks and took people who came to him and plunged them into the waters of the Jordan, so Jesus takes us as we come to Him and plunges us into the depths of the river of God, a river of presence and fire. We literally come out dripping with the very substance of God Himself.
Now, God is not just a flame. He is not a tiny little candle hoping to be seen. No, the Lord is a real fire. To be even more precise, He is a certain type of fire: He is a consuming fire. The fire of the Holy Spirit protects us, warms us, illuminates us, but it also burns up all that is in us that is not of God. In other words, when the Holy Spirit is done burning in us, only He and His presence remain.
We need fire again. We need real Holy Spirit fire. Our generation is tired of sitting through services that are perfectly planned, perfectly calm, perfectly directed by men and women, yet leave the sinner a sinner, leave the backslider backslidden, and leave those sick and suffering in their disease. We need real fire again.
The Magnet of the Cross
I believe in impartation. In fact, I’m going to talk about that later in the book. I believe in serving and honoring those who have gone before us. This is a precious and vital truth in growing in the Lord and influence on the earth. I believe in surrounding ourselves with men and women who have achieved more and experienced more in the Lord than we have. I have many of those people in my own life. While I do believe that mantles can be transferred and that impartation can take place, I have also seen many people take their eyes off Jesus because they’re so focused on a man’s mantle.
Let’s have a look at the life of Jesus and see the mantle that He chose. The Bible says that on the night He was betrayed, He took the cup and shared the Last Supper with His disciples. When they were through celebrating the Passover, the Scripture says that Jesus took off His cloak, laid it down, took a rag, and girded Himself with it (see John 13:4). This is incredibly powerful language. In those days, what you wore told the world who you were and what you did. Your clothing was a picture of your status in society. Jesus was a rabbi; therefore, He wore a rabbi’s clothing. But here in this holy moment, He takes His garment off and wears a rag. This is amazing. He was not merely saying, “I am here to serve and to wash feet,” though that is amazing in itself. He was saying, “I am here to be a servant.” You see, being and doing something once are completely different. And so, Jesus took off His mantle of honor, took on the nature of a servant, and began to wash the feet of His disciples.
What was the next mantle that Jesus sought? I would venture to say you’ve never heard what you’re about to read. Jesus endured the cross with joy and put the cross on His back as a mantle. He wore a mantle of wood—a mantle that marked Him as a reject of society and as a criminal. And today, I can say unequivocally that beyond the mantles you seek, that Somebody Else has walked in power and miracles. We see miracles in every meeting, and I will never shortchange that. But more than any mantle of man that you need, we all need to wear the mantle of the cross.
This is a heavy mantle. It’s a mantle whose weight you feel. It’s not a burden, but it’s a holy weight that marks you before the heavens and the world, that notifies demonic powers that you are following the path of Jesus. As Madame Guyon said, “God gives us the cross, and the cross gives us God.”1 When you say, “Jesus, I will carry my cross” and obey His command that “ if any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me” (Luke 9:23 KJV), the moment you do that—the moment you deny self and put a cross on your back—every devil in hell will know something: This man belongs to God. It’s a clear announcement to the unseen world that you are not your own.
What we often forget to realize is that once that cross is embedded into your nature and you wear it gladly, it becomes more than a cross. It becomes an altar. That’s right, the cross is an altar. That’s why the altar of sacrifice in the tabernacle was in the shape of a cross. It’s because instead of a lamb being slaughtered every day, one day the Lamb of God would be slaughtered on that cross. And so, the cross is Heaven’s altar. Instead of the blood of animals, the blood of Jesus runs down that cross. The cross becomes an altar in the eyes of Heaven.
Do you remember what falls on the altar? Can you remember how God gives His “amen” upon an altar? It’s by sending fire. And so, as you place the cross on your back, it becomes a magnet for the fire of the Holy Spirit.
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