Summer At Sea: Week 9 Day 5

Acts 1:1-5

In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach 2 until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen. 3 After his suffering, he presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God. 4 On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. 5 For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”

Luke, the author of the Gospel of Luke and the Book of Acts, decided to record the Great Commission of Christ in the Book of Acts, the story of the early church. In this, we are given other information from before the ascension of Christ. When having a meal, Jesus referenced the baptism that John did (Acts 1:5), as the baptism of repentance. He followed that with a telling of a new baptism, the one John prophesied about in Matthew 3:11: “He will baptize you with[c] the Holy Spirit and fire.”  This new baptism was not a replacement for the first, but an expansion. The Holy Spirit, the third person of the Godhead, is promised to come and fill the believer to do the works of the Lord. It is a baptism we all receive when we surrender our lives to Christ. It is the inward change and sanctification we receive in Christ's Salvation; to do the work of the Lord and glorify Him, becoming more like Christ.

Invite the Holy Spirit to work in your life today, repeating the prayer of the ancient church:

“Holy Spirit, come.”