Holy Ground

There is no subject in all the Word of God that seems to me should be approached with so much holy reverence, as the subject of the Baptism of the Holy Ghost. Beloved, my heart bleeds every day of my life when I hear the flippancy with which Christians discuss the Baptism of the Holy Ghost.

When Moses entered into the presence of God at the burning bush, God said, "Put off thy shoes from off thy feet; for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground" [Exodus 3:51. How much more so when the individual comes into the presence of God, looking for the Baptism of the Holy Ghost, and remembers that in order to obtain this gift, Jesus Christ lived in the world, bled on the cross, entered into the darkness of death and hell and the grave, grappled with and strangled that accursed power, came forth again, and finally ascended to heaven in order to secure it for you and me. If there is anything under heaven that ought to command our reverence, our Holy reverence, our reverence beyond anything else in the world, it surely is the subject of the Baptism of the Holy Ghost.

My! Sometimes my soul is jarred when I hear people flippantly say: "Have you got your baptism?" Supposing that Jesus was on the cross, and we were privileged tonight to look into His face at this hour, I wonder what the feeling of our soul would be? Supposing we were to follow tonight behind the weeping company that bore His dead body and laid it in the tomb, what would our feelings be? Supposing we were to meet Him in the garden, as Mary did, in the glory of His resurrection or supposing that God in His goodness would let us look into that scene of scenes at the Throne of God, when the heavens lifted up their gates, and the Lord of Glory came in. Oh, if we could, beloved, we would have a better comprehension of the Baptism of the Holy Ghost.

The Baptism of the Holy Ghost

I love that dear old word "Ghost." The Anglo-Saxon is "Ghost" a spiritual guest, heavenly visitor, spiritual presence, the Angel One. And that Angel One that comes to you and me, comes right out of the heart of the Eternal God, breathed through the soul of Jesus Christ! When it came upon a man originally, as it did upon the hundred and twenty at Jerusalem, no one went around saying: "Brother, have you got your baptism?" They were walking with their shoes off, with uncovered heads and uncovered hearts before the Eternal God!

I believe that the first essential in a real Holy Ghost church and a real Holy Ghost work, is to begin to surround the Baptism of the Holy Ghost with that due reverence of God with which an experience so sacred, and that cost such an awful price, should be surrounded.

John G Lake

The God of Now

(1 Pet 1:13 NASB) Therefore, gird your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Many people in church are living in the past. They look to the cross and only see a suffering Saviour. They keep him on the cross because they can manage him there. He forgives them their sins when they need Him to and he doesn’t get in the way of their lives. The verse above is a comfortable verse to many because, in their minds, it sets the grace in which we hope in some future "revelation" of Jesus. But I don’t think the revelation is future. God will not be nailed up to some cross and forgotten by His people. He is the God of now.

(Rev 1:12 NASB) And I turned to see the voice that was speaking with me. And having turned I saw seven golden lampstands;

(Rev 1:13 NASB) and in the middle of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed in a robe reaching to the feet, and girded across His breast with a golden girdle.

(Rev 1:14 NASB) And His head and His hair were white like white wool, like snow; and His eyes were like a flame of fire;

(Rev 1:15 NASB) and His feet were like burnished bronze, when it has been caused to glow in a furnace, and His voice was like the sound of many waters.

(Rev 1:16 NASB) And in His right hand He held seven stars; and out of His mouth came a sharp two-edged sword; and His face was like the sun shining in its strength.

(Rev 1:17 NASB) And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as a dead man. And He laid His right hand upon me, saying, "Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last,

(Rev 1:18 NASB) and the living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades.

This Jesus is not on the cross. Here He is in His strength, the camp of the enemy shattered at His feet. Can you hear the triumph in His voice! I am the first and the last, and the living One, and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades. This was not a whisper but a shout that thundered in victory across the heavens! This is Christ worthy to worship. I do not degrade His wondrous work on the cross nor the need of the work of the cross in our lives, but I believe the Church knows little of His REDEMPTION and all that it contains


John G Lake

For so many Christians; the only vision they
have of Jesus is the suffering Savior. They
can see Him bleeding, broken, and dying for
their sins to save them. But remember the
resurrection!! Get a glimpse of the glorified,
exalted, and risen Lord!! This was the vision
that transformed Saul of Taursus into Paul the
apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ!!

JOHN MACARTHUR

_________________
Martin G. Smith

Look at these verses:

(Rev 5:11 NASB) And I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne and the living creatures and the elders; and the number of them was myriads of myriads, and thousands of thousands,

(Rev 5:12 NASB) saying with a loud voice, "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing."

(Rev 5:13 NASB) And every created thing which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all things in them, I heard saying, "To Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever."

(Rev 5:14 NASB) And the four living creatures kept saying, "Amen." And the elders fell down and worshiped.

Oh Beloved of God, Church of Christ ARISE!! Join the everlasting song and worship the risen Lamb! We have no power because we do not believe the Word. It is not that we think the Bible is untrue but we think it is untrue for us. We think it is untrue for us in specific areas. Salvation is not one of these. We have that down and many are saved and just that and no more. There is no power in their lives to resist the enemy, to crucify the flesh or to walk in "the powers of the age to come". They are clueless to the true meaning of redemption.

A pastor was part of a group of pastors that went to Somalia to succor those devastated people. He sat in a room with 12 Somali pastors, each of who in the past year had laid hands on someone and raised them from the dead! He felt as he was the one needing to be taught. These pastors had nothing but God and He was sufficient. All our dollars, books and technology of the church cannot raise one person from the dead. We are in far more desperate condition than those Somali pastors. We need to learn to plug into the power of the God of Now.

Where we fail is in such verses as:

(Mark 16:17 NASB) "And these signs will accompany those who have believed: in My name they will cast out demons, they will speak with new tongues;

(Mark 16:18 NASB) they will pick up serpents, and if they drink any deadly poison, it shall not hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover."

John G lake