Holy Ghost Baptism

What is it and why the fuss?

God started to promise the gift of the Holy Spirit as early the time of Joel the prophet when he made this statement; Joel 2:28 “Then after I have poured out my rains again, I will pour out my Spirit upon all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your old men will dream dreams. Your young men will see visions.” This promise is reinforced by Jesus before he ascends into heaven in Luke 24: ⁴⁹ “And now I will send the Holy Spirit, just as my Father promised. But stay here in the city until the Holy Spirit comes and fills you with power from heaven.”

There are several things that are important to understand prior to Holy Spirit Baptism; we have already discussed where we heard it from, now we need to talk about what it’s for. The Holy Spirit is extremely important for the Christian witness. The Holy Ghost gives people the power to be effective witnesses as seen in Acts 1:⁸ but when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, you will receive power and will tell people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” This is a fitting entrance to the Acts of the Apostles as I believe that these Acts could not have been accomplished without the Power and the Help that comes from the Holy Spirit.

So how does one now get the Holy Spirit? The very first baptism of the Holy Spirit happened on the day of Pentecost with the 120 disciples in the upper room (Acts 2:1). There was a huge rush of wind and tongue of fire rested on each of them and they were filled with the Holy Ghost and began speaking in tongues. I wish we all had baptism like that. However the general pattern of baptism occurs in the laying on of hands Acts 8:17 says that Peter and John laid hands on people and they received the Holy Spirit. Ananias laid hands on Saul in Acts 9:17 and he was filled with the Holy Spirit and Paul laid his hands on people and they also received the Ghost (Acts 19:6). Although this seems to be the standard way in scripture it is not the only as further on some gentiles received the Holy Spirit even before they had hands laid (Acts 10:44-46).

The power to be a witness is the main reason for the baptism in the Holy Spirit as discussed before but how does this power manifest? When one is baptized he receives Spiritual gifts from the spirit, gifts of prophecy and speaking in tongues just to mention a few. Paul talks about these spiritual gifts briefly in 1 Cor. 14. “Pursue love and desire spiritual gifts” is part of the Apostles opening statement.

Therefore a Christian must desire the gifts that come from the Holy Spirit to allow him/her to be an effective witness for the gospel of Christ.