Baptism by Fire

In the discussion between Jesus and His disciples recorded in Mark 10:32-45, Jesus, first of all, tells them of His upcoming crucifixion and resurrection which, of course, they do not comprehend. He is telling them that, as the last Adam, He is about to destroy the devil —the humanity, the ego, which characterizes man living in this world. This is what must take place before the man Jesus can be resurrected as the Christ, the Life-giving Spirit that enlightens every man that comes into the world (John 1:9).

Not understanding anything of what Jesus is saying, James and John immediately demonstrate the ego of man which must go to the death as they ask to sit on the right and left hand of Jesus in His glory. It is the glorification of their humanity that they are desiring —the very thing that Jesus is going to the cross to destroy.

Mark 10:38  But Jesus said unto them, Ye know not what ye ask: can ye drink of the cup that I drink of? and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?

Like all of us, they think that following Jesus, who is so very loving and forgiving, is a simple matter. But they (like us) hadn’t a clue as to what that meant —although John the Baptist had given them a clue when he said:

Matthew 3:11 I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire:

Jesus told us what the Holy Ghost is —the teacher, the Comforter, the Spirit of truth, the one who brings to our remembrance all that we have forgotten since we descended into mortality.

But what is this fire that John the Baptist tells us that Jesus is going to baptize us with? Is it the same baptism that Jesus says He Himself has to go through and that we will also?

We read in Scripture (Deuteronomy 4:24 (which is quoted in Hebrews 12:29) that our God is a consuming fire and also that God is love (1John 4:8,16).

And what does He consume? Paul tells us that it is all of man’s work which is not laid on the foundation of Jesus Christ —or which is not ordained of God. In other words, all that comes from our ego, from our humanity that thinks it knows something and can do something, will be consumed by fire (1Corinthians 3:11-15) —by God, by love.

But notice that it is only the works, not the man himself, that will be consumed: If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire (v 15). The same fire, the fire of God’s love (for God is love), both burns the works and saves the man.

In the book of Revelation, this love of God that gathers the wheat but burns the chaff with unquenchable fire (Matthew 3:12), is called the lake of fire. And into the unquenchable fire of that lake is thrown the beast and the false prophet (Revelation 19:20), the devil (20:10) even death and hell itself (20:14) and whosoever was not found written in the book of life (20:15).

Orthodox religion has taught us that these verses are referring to people going to hell for not accepting Jesus as their Savior. That cannot be, because hell itself is cast into that same lake of fire. And it is the humanity, the mistaken identity, that is not written in the book of life —the body of sin that Jesus went to the cross to destroy. We were all, like Paul, crucified with Jesus (Galatians 2:20) or baptized into His death (Romans 6:3); but we were also all raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father (Romans 6:4).

That is legally so, but we still have to go through the experience of baptism by fire —the death of our ego— just as the man Jesus did before the Christ could appear in Him. And it will probably cause us, too, to sweat as it were great drops of blood as it did Jesus (Luke 22:44). As the fire gets hotter, the sweating becomes more intense. It is not easy to surrender that ego that wants to preserve its human life —which must be lost to find the true Life (Matthew 10:39) that is orchestrated by God (the I that I am in my true identity). Oftentimes we experience great heartache and even despair when we realize how even our noblest efforts to keep ourselves or our families have failed miserably. This is the fire, the love of God, consuming that which He did not ordain —that which is built on the foundation of our own humanity. We find, sadly, that pulling ourselves up by our own bootstraps hasn’t worked.

We do eventually come to the place where we know, as Jesus did, that I can of myself, apart from the Christ, do nothing (John 5:30  I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me. John 15:5  I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.). Then I begin to listen to the still small voice within (which is the Christ). That becomes my only responsibility —to hear that voice and obey it. No longer do I have to figure out how to preserve lives or handle circumstances. Now that I am dead, it is the Christ living Its life as me (Galatians 2:20 (KJV) I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me); and I enter into the rest that has been prepared for me (Hebrews 4:9).

Now I begin to understand that

2Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

It is not repenting of my sin so I don’t go to hell that the Lord is desiring; it is that I would let go of my ego so I don’t have to perish. Even Jesus Himself cannot keep me from dying in my sins (never coming into a recognition of my oneness with God) if I don’t reckon myself dead unto sin and alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord (Romans 6:11). More to the point, we are all already dead in trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2:1) and must be awakened (quickened) to our true identity (be born again) to pass from death unto Life (John 5:24).

John 8:23-24  And he said unto them, Ye are from beneath; I am from above: ye are of this world; I am not of this world. I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins.

When I comprehend the baptism that Jesus went through as He allowed Himself to be lifted up on a pole as the last serpent man and am willing to let my own ego be likewise crucified, I will have come to repentance and will not perish, but have everlasting life (John 3:16). I have become as a little child, unconscious of myself, no longer living out of my mind, but living spontaneously, by intuition. I am just looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of my faith, who endured the cross for the joy (Hebrews 12:2) of knowing that I, too, could rise from the beneath to the above (John 8:23) as I follow Him into and through that baptism by fire.