Continuing with our study on connecting with the Holy Spirit, let’s look in John 4 where Jesus spoke to the woman at the well. In verse ten, He says to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.” He is speaking of the Holy Spirit who is also the gift of God, the gift of the Father (Matt 7:11; Acts 2:38; 8:20; 10:45) and of the water that He could give her, a type of the Holy Spirit, the water from a well of eternal life. Like a well, the Holy Spirit quenches the thirst of every human soul with His indwelling presence which gives new life to all who come to believe Jesus is the Son of God who died for our sins and was resurrected to give us new life. The Holy Spirit indwells us from the moment we believe and confess Jesus is Lord.
At our recent Women’s Connect, I used a drop of food coloring in the bottom of a glass set inside a clear glass pitcher. When a little water was poured into the glass, the colored water appeared representing the Holy Spirit’s presence inside our hearts at our new birth.
John 4:14 “…whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst.” This indwelling satisfies our hunger and thirst; the filling of that God shaped hole in every human heart.
But Jesus didn’t stop there, “…Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” He prophesied that this water would “spring up.” In Num 21:17, God’s people broke out singing: “Spring up O well” Do you remember that old song:
“Spring up, O well, within my soul; spring up, O well, and make me whole.”
Jesus wanted her to know that there is an additional dimension of this “Water” that was available to her. As John the Baptist said of Jesus in John 1:33, “He is the one who baptizes in the Holy Spirit.”
Now there are at least three baptisms for believers in the New Testament. The following chart tells how each takes place:
Baptism In (subst) Agent Uniting Us In His:____
Water (Rom 6:5) Believers Death and resurrection
Body of Christ (I Cor. 12:13) Holy Spirit His Church
Holy Spirit (Jn. 1:33; Acts 1-2) Jesus His Essence & Power
As you can see the substance, agent, and purpose are different in each one. Focusing on the Baptism in the Holy Spirit we see that Jesus is the agent who performs this baptism. The substance we are baptized into is the Holy Spirit and this baptism unites us to His complete filling, His essence, presence and power. A look at the original word for baptism helps us get a clearer picture of this:
Baptismo: the process used in pickling or dyeing cloth:
1) In dyeing cloth, it meant to immerse the cloth until every fiber was permeated/ united with the dye and changed to the color of the dye.
2) In pickling – another word, Bapto meant to temporarily dip the “cuke” into boiling water, preparing it for change but our word, Baptismo meant to immerse in vinegar until a permanent change took place.
So to be baptized in the Holy Spirit means to be immersed until every part of our being is permeated and united with the Holy Spirit of Christ and we are overwhelmed with His fullness. The process of change is begun. As we continue to be filled with the Spirit (Eph. 5:18) transformation will continue throughout our lives until we are thoroughly “pickled” in His Spirit!
2 Cor. 3:17-18 Now the Lord is the Spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory…this is the ultimate makeover!
Acts 1:8 But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you shall be My witnesses…
Acts 2:33 “Therefore, having been exalted to the right hand of God and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured forth this which you both see and hear.”
Remember that glass in the pitcher? If we pour the water into the glass until it not only fills but overflows and even fills up the pitcher. The glass is not just filled but immersed in the water – that is Baptismo – that is what the baptism in the Holy Spirit is supposed to look like: Not just in us, but filling us and upon us.
Putting on the Spirit: He not only indwells us, but springs up from inside and clothes us with His Presence, His Person and His Power, becoming our constant source of Life and a source of life for others.
