The baptism with fire
When the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof by the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of burning. (Isaiah 4:4)
One provision that God has made for the cleansing of His Church, His eternal Temple, is the "spirit of judgment" and the "spirit of burning." John the Baptist spoke of the cleansing fire: "He shall baptise you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire" (Matthew 3:11).
The Church of Christ is weak today and in need of many services from the Lord Jesus. One of the principal blessings needed by the Church at this time is the baptism with Divine Fire. We must have the baptism with fire. The fire of God must test our every deed, every word, every motive, every thought, every behaviour.
When the fire of God gets hot enough we will learn righteousness. The Spirit of judgment and burning is not pleasant to experience but it purges our sins from us.
The Word of God is in us. The Word that is in us must be refined in God’s fire. A Christian who has not been through God’s fire remains full of fleshly uncleanness.
Of all the needs of the Church of Christ today, the greatest is that of the fire of God. O God, send the cleansing fire! Send the fire! Send Divine fire upon your people and then upon the whole world. Everything that cannot go through the fire must be destroyed and removed (Leviticus 13:52; Numbers 31:23; I Corinthians 3:13).
And the Lord will create upon every dwelling place of mount Zion, and upon her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night: for upon all the glory shall be a defence. (Isaiah 4:5)
As soon as a member of the Body of Christ goes through the fire with God he will find that there now is a "defence" on his Christian discipleship. No longer will he be as vulnerable, in the area touched by the fire, to the temptations of unclean spirits or to the deceitful conduct of his self-love and self-contentedness.
As the saint goes through God’s judgment he becomes aware he is covered with God’s protection to a greater extent than ever before. So often today the least root of bitterness is able to wreck an assembly of saints. During the Kingdom Age (and it should become true for God’s Temple now!) there will be a protection covering the Glory of God in the Christians. The Lord’s sheep will not be quite as defenceless as in time past.
In fact, at this point in history the Lord’s little helpless sheep are being prepared to turn into raging lions who, when they go through the earth, will tread down and tear in pieces the enemy; and no power can deliver out of their hands (Micah 5:8).
Christ, our Lamb, is a terrifying sight to behold when His anger is kindled (Psalms 2:12; Micah 5:9).
And there shall be a tabernacle for a shadow in the daytime from the heat, and for a place of refuge, and for a covert from storm and from rain. (Isaiah 4:6)
First we are made holy by our baptism with God’s fire. Second we are placed under the protection of God Almighty. No longer are we weak, innocent, helpless little lambs who are destroyed by every enemy who approaches us. Third we become a tabernacle, a place of refuge, a shelter from "storm and from rain," a place of security where those on the outside who wish to find Christ can come in and find righteousness, peace, and joy.
The churches must become such fortresses, such places of refuge today because the demonic pressures are mounting on the peoples of the earth with every passing hour.
We cannot, however, provide the protection of Christ for others during the seasons of darkness until we ourselves have been purified in God’s fire from our own lusts and self-seeking.
Until Christ in His mercy sends the fire of God on our behaviour and works, millions of Christians will continue to miss the will of God. The believers are living merry lives in the delusion that a "loving" God would never judge their behaviour with severity. They understand neither God nor the Scriptures, nor their own destiny.
Those who think God has an indulgent attitude toward sin in His Temple and in the world are in gross deception, just as Adam and Eve were in gross deception, concerning the true Nature of God.
The spirit of today’s Christian churches grasps neither the love of God nor the severity of God. The love of God was expressed on the cross of Calvary. Can you visualize Calvary as the expression of God’s love for mankind and also the expression of God’s severity? Truly, as the Lord Jesus taught, God is good. There is none good but God. He alone is worthy of our praise.
Look again at Calvary. Every particle of the Personality of the Lord Jesus Christ was roasted in the fires of Divine judgment. Did you ever hear the scream of an animal as it was being slaughtered?
God is the Judge of all the earth. God has proclaimed that those who practice the works of the flesh will be destroyed, as were the citizens of Sodom, and the whole world of the time of Noah. Christ, God’s beloved Son, came to deliver us from the works of the flesh so we may escape being condemned with the world. Christ can deliver us if we will put our trust in Him.
Woe to the inhabitants of the earth! Tribulations never before experienced by mankind are nearly upon us. Except that the coming days are to be shortened, no one would be left alive on the earth (Zephaniah 1:3). Believers in Christ will be able to escape (survive) all the coming judgments, but only if they pray without ceasing for themselves and their loved ones.
The Temple of God must be washed in God’s fire in preparation for the hour of darkness. The believers who refuse to be baptized in fire today will never be able to resist the Antichrist pressures that even now are being exerted on us.
Human love is the idol of the hour. Human love is self-cantered, although it may lead to self-sacrifice on behalf of another. Human love is not Divine love. Human love rejects the cross and the judgments of God on the flesh (Matthew 16:22). Human love seeks to please man, not God. Human love is not strong or pure enough to stand in the hour of temptation.
Human "love" may lead to sexual perversion. God’s response to sexual perversion is the Lake of Fire. Human love may lead people to band together against God’s prophets, against God’s Christ, and against God Himself. God will punish with everlasting fire those who rebel against Himself and His messengers.
Each Christian must learn to live in the fire of God’s judgement.
The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings? (Isaiah 33:14)