Fire and Blood

The Fire and the Blood.

In Luke 3:16, “John answered, saying unto them all, I indeed baptize you with water; but one mightier than I cometh, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire”. We hear a lot about the Holy Ghost/Spirit in different sermons or bible study but what about the “fire” that John stated and what is this “fire” and what is it for? They say that Luke was a physician if so then Luke would have paid close attention to details but why did he mention “fire” even in the Book of Acts, Luke said that fire in the shape of a tongue was upon their heads. What kind of “fire” was Luke talking about, is it a spiritual fire because God is a Spirit and it was God who poured out His Spirit on the Day of Pentecost (Joel 2:28-29, Acts 2:16-17).

Fire can give you warmth, fire can give you light and fire will consume different items, fire can purify items by destroying germs or heating up medal. But these things are physical and not spiritual. So what does the spiritual fire do?

When God pours out His Spirit then there must be a container and that container is our body. Paul describes our body as the “temple” (1st Corinthians 3:16). If you move into a new house then you will want that house to be clean. You will clean and paint the walls, clean the carpet, swept and mop the floors and make sure that you have done everything to disinfect it from all germs because who would move into a house that was filthy and full of germs? Will the Spirit of God dwell in an unclean temple or will God clean that temple first?

When a sinner comes to God then they bring with them all of their sins and all of their bad habits and all of their troubles. God will forgive them of their sins but forgiving is not removing their sins because the Purchased Price has not been applied. It’s like a person who owes a debt and he is unable to pay it so he ask the lender to forgive him and the lender forgives him but the lender still has the contract for the debt. It takes the Blood of Jesus for the removal of that contract of sin because the Blood of the Lamb of God is the Purchase Price for our souls that once belonged to Satan. God will forgive us for our sins and when we are baptized in the name of Jesus Christ then the Blood is applied and the contract is destroyed because the Blood of the Lamb paid our debt and without the shedding of the Blood of the Lamb there would be no remission of sin. But the Cross of Calvary became the Purchased Price for our souls. (Acts 2:38, Matthew 26:28, Romans 3:25, Acts 20:28, Hebrews 9:22).

But how is the Blood applied and what is it applied too? Does the Blood clean the inside of our temple/body or does it clean the outside of our body or does the Blood clean the soul and purify it, after all, it is the soul that was once in bondage and it is the soul that lives after death. If the Blood purifies the soul and removes all sins then what purifies the body or our temple?

Is God also a consuming fire as in Deuteronomy 4:24, and Hebrews 12:29? In John 4:24, it said that God is a Spirit. So what takes place when a person receives the baptism of the Holy Ghost/Spirit? We have God as a Spirit and we have God as a Consuming Fire does these two work together? If they do then what takes place within our body?

Luke stated two things and they are the Spirit and the Fire and Jesus said that God is a Spirit and Moses and the writer of Hebrews said that God is a Consuming Fire, does these point towards the Being of God? Is it because Luke knew what takes place when a person receives the Holy Ghost/Spirit?

When a sinner repents and is baptized, then God forgives them and the souls is washed in the Blood of the Lamb but what about the body/temple. The sinner has brought with him all of his/her sins and habits and troubles and problems, but does the Blood remove also our bad habits and troubles and problems or just our sins.

In Acts 28:3, the account of Paul’s ship wreck is very interesting account. Paul in gathering sticks for the fire had picked up a viper snake and was carrying that snake around with him not knowing that he was carrying a very poison snake. It was only when the bundle of sticks was applied to the fire did that snake appear. The fire of God’s Spirit will destroy the snakes (habits) in our lives.

Luke knew what takes place inside of our body when we receive the Holy Ghost/Spirit. The Souls is washed in the Blood and the Spirit and Fire of God moves into our body and the fire begins to consume all of our bad habits, all of those hidden vipers, it cleanse our mind and our thinking, it instills hope and faith in dealing with the troubles in our life. That Fire purifies the body which is our temple and makes it clean and then our Soul and God’s Spirit join together. When your soul starts to worship God then His Spirit receives it and then our body reacts to the joy of God’s Spirit. If one can image within their mind what takes place within our body between the Spirit of God and our Soul then it would be like the High Priest standing before the Ark of the Covenant because there was power in that Ark and we receive power when the Spirit of God dwells within our body.

A house belongs to the owner and if your soul is inside of that body of flesh then your soul is the owner of your body of flesh. The flesh will die but the soul lives after death. It is the soul that is washed in the Blood of the Lamb and wares a robe that is washed in the Blood of Jesus. It is the Spirit of God’s fire that will clean the inside and the outside of your temple or body. Isaiah 61:10, “I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels”.

How often will someone clean their house to remove unwanted items or to dust and swept and mop the floors? Paul talks about the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost in Titus 3:5-6. After a person receives the Holy Ghost and have been washed in the Blood then there is the time period when the important of this gifts begins to fade away. It is during this period of time that we can pick-up unwanted habits, unwanted things within our thinking and develop a spirit of laziness in our prayer life and studying God’s word and our service towards our Lord. This is why a person must ensure that they are always full of the Spirit of God and wash their robe daily (Romans 12:2, 2nd Corinthians 4:16, Ephesians 4:23, Colossians 3:10).

Let us there forth do as it is written in Jude 1:3, “Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints”. In this day of age, we must hold on to the faith in Jesus and never deny His name and always defend the Gospel of Jesus Christ. If we can stay full of His Spirit and always wash our robe in His Blood then we can look towards the heavens for the day of His return for His Saints.

Written by

Johnny Clay