John the Baptist said, “As for me, I baptize you with water for repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, and I am not fit to remove His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire…. After being baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove and lighting on Him, and behold, a voice out of the heavens said, ‘This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.’”
We call John the Baptist the forerunner of the Christ. It was said of him,
“And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare His ways; to give to His people the knowledge of salvation by the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, with which the Sunrise from on high will visit us, to shine upon those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.” (Luke 1:76-79)
Jesus said of John, “among those born of women there has not arisen anyone greater than John the Baptist!” (Matt. 11:11a). Jesus said to all of us, however, “Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.” (Matt. 11:11b) John said of himself, in relation to Jesus, “He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30).
In one of his devotional thoughts, John Henry Jowett wrote “The Holy Spirit…will create an atmosphere in my life which will quicken all sweet and beautiful growth. And this shall be my native air…And the Holy Spirit…will create a holy enthusiasm in my soul, an intense and sacred love, which will burn up all evil intruders, but in which all beautiful things shall walk unhurt….” (My Daily Meditation, May 23)
God seeks to do acts of amazing grace and love in our world, and His Church is the vehicle of that grace. We are not the story. Jesus is the story, and the Holy Spirit is the fire in our bellies that moves us to say to the world that Jesus is God’s beloved Son, in whom God is well-pleased. Come to Him. Let the Life of His Life be in you. Let Him draw you to Himself that you may know how much God loves you.
“With the Holy Spirit and fire” Jesus lives in His people. As the influence of His presence in us increases, we discover the magnificent reality of a love that will not let us go. As we live in Him we discover that grace is extended to everyone, and that Jesus was incredibly and overwhelmingly truthful when He said, “I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved…the thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they might have life, and have it abundantly” (John 10:10).
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