Seeing the Fire

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

SEEING THE FIRE

John 1:32-34

32 Then John gave this testimony: "I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him. 33 I would not have known him, except that the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, 'The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is he who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.' 34 I have seen and I testify that this is the Son of God."

NIV

John makes it very clear that he has received special divine instructions regarding how he will, without doubt, know who the Son of God is and that is Jesus. That word translated as Son, cannot be mistaken as a distant relative, but as the same as a foal of a mare, or a child of a person, the Son, not of a person, but of God. Jesus is divine, as the apostle John makes us very sure of from the very beginning of his account or testimony, we call his gospel, the good news about Jesus, our salvation, the author and finisher of our faith. How exciting it is to know that we are part of his life, that he is in our life and in fact, he is our life. The apostle John does not go into the details about the baptism of Jesus as some of the others. But John the Baptist's testimony still makes it clear that as Jesus was baptized the Spirit descending upon him and although John does not mention it, we know the voice of the Father from heaven was heard, proclaiming Jesus was his Son on whom he is well pleased. It is a bit confusing as far as the timeline of when John the Baptist said. However we do know the Spirit did come down and remain on Jesus, it was not a temporary happening. This should also give us a clue as to how our lives are in a relationship to being baptized with fire. Although on the Day of Pentecost it was seen as tongues of fire on the heads of those who were in the upper room waiting as instructed by Jesus, we too are baptized with the Spirit. We may or may not have seen the evidence those in the upper room saw, as far as the tongues of fire, but we surely have seen other evidence of the indwelling of the Spirit in our lives. He comes to us bearing his fruit and his gifts to manifest in our lives. We may not see all of them in any one of us, but as the Body of Christ, we should be able to witness all of the Spirits work at some time or another. It is also true that various denominational positions disbelieve some of the manifestations of the Spirit, specifically, some of his gifts, are still available to believers. That would mean the Spirit has stopped bringing certain of his gifts when He indwells us. That would also mean that we have control over the Spirits' manifestations or work within us. We can quench the Spirit, even though we are admonished not to do so in Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians. In Greek it carries the meaning of not putting out the fire of the Spirit in our lives. There we have it, the fire of the Spirit, we have the tongues of fire resting upon on or in us as evidence of our baptism in the Spirit. Maybe we could say that if we are baptized with the Spirit, we should have a fire in our belly regarding the Word who became flesh and made his dwelling among us. Surely that is what John meant about the way Jesus was, even though Jesus is the Son of God. Of course, Jesus had a fire in his belly, he is God and he was on a mission to save mankind, his very own creation that had gone astray. But should we not have that same fire? Should we not being filled with the Spirit, have that fire? Should not his fruit and his gifts be flowing in and through us in order that others may see the glory of God? Let us not put out that fire but let it burn, let it consume us completely. Then just perhaps someone could testify, as John testified Jesus is the Son of God, that we are a Child of God. That is if they see the fire.