The Baptism of the Holy Spirit Part 1 — Billy Strachan

I want you in these next series of lectures that take us on into next week to listen like you've never listened before because it's vital you get these things so clarified in your mind and I will be praying as the Holy Ghost enables me to take you through word from word from word so that it will be clear so that there will be no more confusion and you will be settled and believe me it is such a tremendous issue and I haven't just sat down and compiled these notes just by sitting down and saying let's put together something on the Holy Spirit.

I was first asked to do this subject two or three years ago and I know if they'd asked me earlier than that I wouldn't have been ready because it took me some 16 years 12 13 14 15 years to come through the whole mess.

Everybody's done everything possible to get me blessed and to get me this and get me that and get me the other thing and I can safely say that I have come through the maze and I am founded in Jesus Christ.

The Baptism of the Holy Spirit Into the Body of Christ

I recognize the ministry of the Holy Spirit in my life but I am going to stick to my belief by the text of the Bible and not by men's experiences or their misuse of language. So let's deal with the baptism of the Holy Spirit not a baptism into the Holy Spirit because there isn't one in the Bible.

There's only one baptism that's spoken of in scripture and it's a baptism of the Holy Spirit into the body of Christ the church. Now there are exactly seven references to the baptism of the Holy Spirit in the Bible exactly seven references.

There are not eight. There are not six. There are seven and I'm going to give you all of them but what I want you to notice this five of them are prophetic. Five of them are prophetic they are looking forward to its happening.

One of them is historic looking back to the fact that it did happen and one of them is didactic in other words it's for teaching purposes only aimed at teaching so there are seven references altogether to a baptism of the Holy Spirit.

Five are prophetic telling us that it is going to come to pass. One is historic saying it did happen and the other is purely for teaching and is contained in the epistles. Now here they are number one and we'll look at them as we go through Matthew's gospel chapter 3 verse 11.

Matthew 3 verse 11. John the Baptist speaking I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance not unto salvation but 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. That's number one. Number two. Mark's gospel chapter 1 verse 8. Mark's gospel chapter 1 verse 8. I indeed have baptized you with water but he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost.

He shall do it. It's yet to come. Number three. Luke's gospel chapter 3 verse 16. Luke 3 and 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.

Number four John's gospel chapter 1 verse 33. John 1 33. And I knew him not but he that sent me to baptize with water the same said unto me upon whom thou shall see the spirit descending and remaining on him the same as he which baptizes with the Holy Ghost.

Number 5. Acts chapter 1 verse 5. Acts 1 verse 5. For John truly baptized with water. But you shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days. Hence now these are all prophetic in the gospels. He's coming to do it.

He's coming to do it. He's coming to do it. He's coming to do it. Acts he says it'll be in a few days. It'll be in a few days. Now these are all prophetic. Number 6. Acts 11 verse 16. Acts 11 verse 16.

Well we can look at verse 15 as well. And as I began to speak says Peter relating about his ministry to the Gentile household of Cornelius as I began to speak the Holy Spirit fell on them as on us at the beginning.

Then remembered I the word of the Lord how that he said John indeed baptized with water but you shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost. For as much then as God gave them the light gift as he did unto us who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ what was I that I could withstand God.

They believed on Christ and received the Holy Spirit as on us at the beginning that is historic and the seventh one is in 1 Corinthians 12 13 the verse we've already looked at for us the body is one for by one spirit are we all baptized into one body.

Baptism of the Spirit and Baptism of Fire

Now just some things that you have to note in the five prophetic references two of them that is to say the one in Matthew and the one in Luke speak of a baptism of the Spirit and of fire. The one in Matthew and the one in Luke speak of a baptism of the Spirit and of fire.

The other three speak only of a baptism of the Spirit now the baptism of the Spirit and of fire are not the same thing. The baptism of the Spirit speaks of the formation of the body of Christ on the earth, the true Church, while the baptism of fire speaks of judgment.

Leviticus chapter 10 and verse 2. Leviticus 10 and verse 2. And there went out fire from the Lord and devoured them, and they died before the Lord. Fire speaks of judgment. Now a close reading of these prophetic references will show that there were, in the case of the ones that mentioned a baptism of fire and the Spirit, two types of people present.

There were those who had repented and submitted to the water baptism under the ministry of John the Baptist for the forgiveness and remission of their sins, and also there were the scribes and Pharisees and Sadducees that were referred to by John as being vipers.

In other words, on the two Gospels that talk about baptism of the Holy Spirit and fire, at the moment he said it on that occasion, there were also unbelievers present. For those who'd repented would be the baptism of the Holy Ghost, putting them in the body of Christ, and for those who hadn't, judgment and fire.

On reading the other references, you will note that only believers were present. The baptism of the Spirit for believers. The baptism of fire, judgment for the unbelievers. And all five prophetic references point to the future arrival of the Holy Spirit to constitute the Church.

The one historic reference in Acts 11 -16 looks back to his arrival to constitute the Church. Therefore, it can be safely deduced that the baptism of the Holy Spirit is a historical event that comes between the prophetic and the historic references.

And that was at Pentecost, Acts chapter 2. And it's important to realize that the baptism of the Holy Spirit is not in order that men might be endued with power to do miracles, such as were carried out by the Apostles.

The Apostles, as well as many Old Testament servants of God, were able to do these things prior to their baptism by the Holy Spirit. Now, put down these references. We shan't look at them, but I want you to look at them sometime.

Great feats that were carried out by men who were not baptized by the Holy Spirit into the body of Christ. So, baptism has nothing to do with endowment of power to do miracles. Exodus 7, 10 -13. We'll just put these down, but not look at them.

Exodus 7, 10 -13. Numbers 22, verses 28 -30. Numbers 22, verses 28 -30. One Kings, 17 -1. Two Kings, 6, verses 4 -6. Two Kings, 6, verses 4 -6. And lastly, Mark's Gospel, chapter 6, verses 12, 13, and 30.

The Church as an Organism and the Once-for-All Pentecost

The Church is an organism, not an organization. The Church is an organism, not an organization. The baptism of the Holy Spirit is that act of God that unites believers into that organism. I'm going to take you back to the Old Testament to show you that there could never be another baptism of the Holy Spirit other than that one.

If it's going to fulfill everything that's been written in the Old Testament, it's an occasion that can only happen once. So, please hold fire on anything that you have in the way of feeling like having an argument.

There can never be another Pentecost. Now, this is the first piece of language that has to be cleaned up. When someone comes to you and states that they've had a Pentecostal experience, and that it's happened today, you must understand what they're saying.

It's not something new, and it's wrong if they are attempting to convince you that what took place on the original day of Pentecost has taken place in their lives when they tell you about it. That doesn't happen.

That doesn't happen. You see, as we look back in faith to everything that Christ did on the cross, and by his resurrection, and appropriate the advantages, men can look back to the one Pentecost and realize that at that point in time, the Holy Spirit brought into being the body of Christ, the organism, the Church, and the Holy Spirit will make real in them the fact that they too are part of the organism.

Now, let's get that clear. I, in 1956, looked back 2 ,000 years through history to an occasion when Jesus Christ died for me. Now, Jesus Christ in 1956 didn't have to come in to Great Britain and die all over again for me.

He didn't. There was no reenactment of the crucifixion for sin. He died for sin once, for all, forever, never to be repeated again. And as I look back down through the ages and admit to my heart that Jesus did die then, for me now, and said, thank you.

For me now came the appropriation of what he did then, and I was forgiven, redeemed to God. He becomes my Father, and I am now one of his children. As I look back down through history, and believe the record that God has given of his Son, that he's now an eternal being, and has been raised again from the dead, and is alive forevermore, and I acknowledge that fact by faith in my heart that 2 ,000 years ago he rose from the dead, he didn't have to come and go through another resurrection the day that I believed in him as a risen Savior.

That was done then, for me now. And as I now say, you're a living Savior, raised then, for me now, at this moment now, that power of his resurrection then, becomes mine. And I now know that I have a living Savior within.

Similarly, as the scripture foretells that there will come a day in history that God has been waiting for, where at long last he's going to be able to bring into being the organism, the body, called the Church, that it took place then.

So now, as I come by faith to thank him for dying for me then, rising for me then, and acknowledge that then he inaugurated the body by the Holy Spirit on that great day history he'd been waiting for, I become a member of that body.

I realize that I'm in that body. But I'll tell you something far more fantastic. And that is, the majority of you found yourself in the body without ever knowing there was a Holy Spirit. Because most of the people that come to Christ, come to Christ.

They never come to the Holy Ghost. When I get converted, I never knew there was a Holy Ghost. I didn't even know much about the existence of a Father. All I was confronted with, was the claims that there was one Jesus, who could forgive me, restore me, empower me, and save me, and guarantee me eternity.

And I knelt down and asked the Lord Jesus Christ to become my personal Savior. And I totally ignored the existence of the rest of the Godhead. For the simple reason I didn't know there was such a word as the Godhead.

And I didn't know there was a Holy Spirit. I didn't know about God the Father. But you know, I didn't find that heaven acted in a human fashion, and said, hmm, the cheek of it hasn't even noticed me. Well, if he thinks for one minute I'm going to bless him, and he hasn't even said, hello Holy Spirit.

Nice to know you. How are you? Hi Father. All he's done is come to Christ. But that's the, that's what the Scriptures presents. Christ. And the amazing thing is, that in our ignorance of the knowledge of the existence of the Holy Spirit, he still did his work.

And when he inaugurated the body of Christ, the organism then, the minute Billy Strachan put his faith and trust in Jesus Christ, irrespective of my knowing he was in existence, the Holy Spirit picked me up, and baptized me into the body mystical, universal, that is a unit, the organism, the body of Christ.

That is something external, that I don't even have anything to do with. And that's one of the things you must get about the baptism of the Holy Spirit. It's a baptism of the Holy Spirit, putting you into the body of Christ, universal, international.

That organism, his body, and you have nothing to do with it. It's an external thing. It's a non-conditional thing. There's nothing you have to do to get the Holy Spirit to do it. He does it. And when you become aware of the fact that it has taken place, it becomes an assured, real thing for you, in your heart, that you're part of the organism.

You see, someone put it this way, lots of people have crossed the city boundary, but it's not until they see the name above the post office, that they're finally convinced they're in the town. They drive over the city boundary, and they're already in the town, but all they see is a building that says police station.

That doesn't give them much assurance. They see another sign that says motel. That doesn't tell them much. They see another sign that says town hall. That doesn't tell them much. And they just don't seem to have any assurance that they've arrived, until they finally see above the post office, the post office of such-and-such a town.

And when they see that, they say, I'm here. How long have they been there? Since they crossed the border. But at last it's been confirmed in the Word. And many of us find that we come to Christ, the Holy Spirit picks us up, puts us into the organism, but until we finally see the writing on the wall, till we finally see it in print, there is an organism, and you were placed into it by the Holy Spirit at conversion.

We never really understand that we've arrived, we're there. And so that's what the Holy Spirit does by His baptism. And remember, there's no such thing as being baptized into the Holy Ghost. It's not in the book.

You won't find it anywhere in the book. He baptizes you into the body. He baptizes you into the body. Look at Ephesians 4 and verse 5. Ephesians 4 and verse 5. Well, let's read from verse 3. Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, there is one body and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, putting you into the body by the Holy Spirit.

There are no two baptisms of the Holy Ghost. One. And it's into the body of Christ. Now, it's important to note now that the Holy Spirit came right on time. And He couldn't have come at any other time, nor will He come at any other time.

Passover, Firstfruits, and Pentecost in Old Testament Typology

You see, in the Old Testament typology, the Passover pictured the death of Christ for us. Put down these scriptures. Exodus 12. Exodus 12, verses 11 and 21. And thus shall ye eat it with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, your staff in your hand, and ye shall eat it in haste.

It is the Lord's Passover. This was the sacrificial Passover lamb. Verse 21. Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel and said unto them, draw out and take you a lamb according to your families and kill the Passover.

This is as they were getting prepared to leave Egypt. To be delivered from the bondage and slavery of Egypt, it necessitated the blood sacrifice of the Passover lamb. Now you look in 1 Corinthians chapter 5 and 7.

1 Corinthians 5 and 7. Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us. Even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us.

That lamb in the Old Testament foreshadowed the coming of Christ to be the lamb slain since before the foundation of the world. And John the Baptist shouted to the people, behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world, Jesus Christ the Passover lamb.

Now that is your day of crucifixion in the Old Testament. That is your picture of the crucifixion. Now the offering of the firstfruits of the harvest is the type of resurrection of Jesus Christ in the Old Testament.

The offering of the firstfruits of the harvest is a type of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Now if you will look in Leviticus chapter 23. Leviticus 23 verses 1 to 14. And the Lord speak unto Moses saying, speak unto the children of Israel and say unto them concerning the feasts of the Lord which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are my feasts.

Six days shall work be done but the seventh day is the Sabbath of rest, a holy convocation. Ye shall do no work wherein it is the Sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings. These are the feasts of the Lord, even holy convocations which ye shall proclaim in their seasons.

In the fourteenth day of the first month that even is the Lord's Passover. And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread. And to the Lord seven days ye must eat unleavened bread.

In the first day ye shall have an holy convocation. Ye shall do no servile work wherein, but ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord. Seven days. In the seventh day is an holy convocation.

You shall do no servile work wherein. And the Lord speak unto Moses saying, speak unto the children of Israel and say unto them, when ye become into the land which I give unto you and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest.

And he shall wave the sheaf before the Lord to be accepted for you. On the morrow after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it. And ye shall offer that day when ye wave the sheaf. And he lamb without blemish of the first year for a burnt offering unto the Lord.

And the meat offering thereof shall be two tenths deals of fine flour mingled with oil, an offering made by fire unto the Lord for a sweet savor. And the drink offering thereof shall be wine, the fourth part of an hymn.

And ye shall eat neither bread, nor parched corn, nor green ears until the selfsame day that ye have brought an offering unto your God. It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.

This was the picture of the resurrection because you put one seed in the ground and it dies. And from the one seed that dies comes new life, resurrection, new life. And Jesus said in John 12, 24, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone.

But if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. And he shows us there that he was going into death, that he might become fruitful and have a resurrection. So the Passover lamb helped us to see that there was the Lord at Passover at one crucifixion.

Leviticus tells us the waving of this sheaf of wheat reminded him that out of death came abundance of new life, resurrection. 1 Corinthians 15 and 23. But every man in his own order, Christ the firstfruits, Christ the firstfruits.

Afterward they that are Christ's at his coming. Speaking of resurrection, Christ is the firstfruits. Now that is Easter Sunday morning in your Old Testament. The Passover is Good Friday, the crucifixion.

The waving of the firstfruits is your Easter Sunday morning. Now the next festival was the Feast of Weeks and it is Pentecost. It is the type of Pentecost. Exodus 34 verse 22. Exodus 34 verse 22. And thou shalt observe the Feast of Weeks of the firstfruits of wheat harvest and the Feast of Ingathering at the year's end.

The Feast of Weeks. Deuteronomy 16 verse 10. Deuteronomy 16 and verse 10. And thou shalt keep the Feast of Weeks unto the Lord thy God with a tribute of a freewill offering of thine hand which thou shalt give unto the Lord thy God according as the Lord thy God hath blessed thee.

And the same chapter in verse 16. Three times in a year shall all the males appear before the Lord thy God in the place which he shall choose, in the Feast of Unleavened Bread, in the Feast of Weeks, in the Feast of Tabernacles, and they shall not appear before the Lord empty.

Now Leviticus 23, Leviticus 23 and verse 15. And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the Sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering, seven Sabbaths shall be complete.

Seven Sabbaths. Even unto the morrow after the seventh Sabbath shall ye number fifty days. Exactly. And ye shall offer a new meat offering unto the Lord. Ye shall bring out of your habitations two wave loaves of two-tenth deals.

They shall be of fine flour. They shall be bacon with leaven. They are the firstfruits unto the Lord. And ye shall offer with the bread seven lambs without blemish of the first year, and one young bullock, and two rams.

They shall be for a burnt offering unto the Lord with their meat offering and their drink offerings, even an offering made by fire of sweet savour unto the Lord. Then ye shall sacrifice one kid of the goats for a sin offering, two lambs of the first year for a sacrifice of peace offerings, and the priest shall wave them with the bread of the firstfruits for a wave offering before the Lord with the two lambs.

Pentecost and the Mystical Unity of the Church

They shall be holy to the Lord for the priest. Now this wave now is with two loaves. Two loaves. Now this is significant. Your Passover is the lamb slain to free from sin, the death of Christ and the cross.

Your firstfruits is waving a sheaf of grain. Resurrection. But now at Pentecost, the fifty days after, they have to bring two loaves. Now what are loaves made of? Fine flour. Where do they get the flour?

From grain. And so what happened was they took a sheaf and all the individual grain heads were put into a vessel and beaten and ground into flour, baked into one body, a loaf. Here you are baking these loaves, showing bread, waving them before the Lord, and the body is all flour, all made of individuals, but you can no longer see the individuals, yet they're all there.

Each individual grain is in that loaf somewhere. It's in there somewhere, but they're such a unit now, mystically blended and baked together, that they no longer have, in that condition, an individual identity.

They are mystically bound together in a unit. And that's the picture of the body of Christ. The church, where all the individual Christians, by the Holy Spirit's baptism, are made into a big loaf. See?

One body. And that's why it's possible to go around the world, sit down and meet someone who's received the Lord Jesus Christ as their Saviour, that you've never met before, and you find in a tremendous way you can have immediate fellowship with them.

Oneness of heart, not sameness of opinion. When it says they meet with one accord, it doesn't mean they all had the same opinion, suit and hat on. They were still individuals, but the great thing of the Holy Spirit's baptism, of picking people up and putting them into the body of Christ, is that he gives them a one-hearted unity, so that you can have fellowship with people from every walk of life, that have received the Lord Jesus Christ.

I think one of the sweetest afternoons I ever spent in my life, was with the Mother Superior of a convent in Austria. And we sat there, and she had fellowship in the Lord Jesus Christ. And she was as sure of Him being her personal Saviour as I was.

And we both prayed over our meal, and we ate together, we spoke together, we talked of the things of the Lord together, and I know that we had a unity of fellowship. Because although she was from one particular denomination, and I am from a conglomeration of abominations, denominations, we had fellowship.

Why? Because there is this mystical union that binds those who have been born again of the Spirit of God, baptized into the body, that gives them that tremendous time together. And this is what the Spirit is doing, making a body, where we are all mixed together, becoming a mystical unit in Jesus Christ.

And nobody can break it down. And any ministry that divides and slices the loaf, is not of the Holy Spirit. And any ministry, so-called the Holy Spirit ministry, that splits a church, that divides people, that sends them to different corners, creates bitterness, envy in factions, cold-heartedness in ostracizing people, is not of the Holy Ghost.

The Holy Ghost has one ministry in His baptism into the body, and that is to unite in love the most unlikely characters, but to unite them, and they'll still be unlikely characters, but united as unlikely characters.

I'm glad you don't get the opportunity to meet the whole of Caboodle in this place on the platform at once, because you'd really get a fright. You never saw such a conglomeration of characters. It staggers some people around the world that our team hasn't constantly changed weekly, because they can't understand it.

How on earth can you get men so diverse in character, to share the same fellowship and platform, and still get on with each other, and see God blessing? Because you see, there is one person that has picked up the individuals and put them into the same body, and united them, and placed them in a work, but never denied them the right to be individuals.

But we know that by the Holy Spirit's work, we have become members of a work that He is doing, and none of us can get in the way. And yet we still retain our individuality. This is the greatness of the body.

You can still be yourself, but in love, and in a unit with the most unlovable characters, and still find compatibility when it's centered around the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what the baptism of the Holy Spirit is.

And so we have this one loaf, that's Whitsun, that's Pentecost, the Feast of Weeks. So when we find the disciples in Acts chapter 2, tarrying in the upper room, waiting as were their instructions in Acts chapter 1, to be endued with power from on high, you must get it clear right now, that they weren't in that room praying the Holy Spirit down from heaven upon themselves.

That's one thing you must get rid of, is tarrying meetings. There is no warrant in Scripture for tarrying meetings, to struggle, and squeeze, and shout, to pull down the Holy Ghost upon yourself. When they were asked to wait in the upper room for endowment of power, it was not in order that they, by their prayers, could pull down and release the Holy Spirit for the first time in the world.

And remember this, had they not prayed, the Holy Spirit would still have been pulled out on the fiftieth day. He would have inaugurated the body that day, whether they'd prayed, or whether they hadn't.

Whether they'd followed their instructions, and remained in the upper room, or whether they hadn't. He had to come on the fiftieth day, whether they prayed, or whether they didn't. Because that was the day the scriptures laid down, that would be the day for the inauguration of the organism.

The fiftieth day after the crucifixion. He couldn't arrive on the forty-ninth day. He couldn't come late on the fifty-first day. According to the scriptures, he came right on time. But, I'll say this about their waiting in the upper room and praying.

It was necessary for them to pray, and be prepared in heart and attitude to be filled with the Spirit in that day. It was necessary for them to prepare their hearts through prayer for the filling of the Holy Spirit.

Now, that's going to be touched with in the later lecture. But it's enough at the moment just to conclude that there is the feast of the Passover fulfilled at Calvary. Christ died once for all and will never die again.

The feast of Pentecost was fulfilled by the baptism of the Holy Ghost and there will be no more Pentecost. There will never be a re-fulfillment of the Passover lamb. There will never be a re-fulfillment of Pentecost.

And so it's past. It's a historical event. So you cannot have reproductions of the day of Pentecost at all. And remember that when the signs were there, that was in order that people would know He came.

Because no one can see the Holy Spirit, therefore there were the evidences, He's arrived. The sound of the mighty rushing of wind. The tongues of fire upon each of them. That was all there. And if you're going to insist on a re-enactment of the Holy Spirit's day of Pentecost today, you must have your tongues of fire.

You must have your mighty rushing wind. And that has never been repeated in spite of the liars that claim that it has. It hasn't been repeated. Now another thing that's important to note is that the Feast of Weeks in the Old Testament specified who should enjoy the harvest.

Israel, the Poor, and the Gentiles in the Pentecost Harvest

It specified who should enjoy the harvest. Put down Leviticus 23, 22. Three classes of people were to enjoy the benefits of this harvest, which also foreshadows who should the harvest of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit when he would be released into the world to start the body of Christ.

Leviticus 23, 22. And when you reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not make clean riddance of the corners of thy field when thou reapest, neither shalt thou gather any gleaning of thy harvest. Thou shalt leave them unto the poor and to the stranger.

I am the Lord your God. Now here are the three classifications of person that were to enjoy Pentecost, the harvest, the Feast of Weeks. One, Israel in general. Israel in general. Number two, the poor.

The poor. And number three, the strangers. Israel, the poor, and strangers. Now when we turn to the New Testament time, when Pentecost took place, we find three ethnic groups in existence. Three ethnic groups in existence.

They are number one, Israel. Israel. Number two, the Samaritans. That's the poor. The Samaritans. Number three, Gentiles. That's the strangers. Israel, Samaritans, Gentiles. Israel, the poor, and the strangers.

Now in the next lecture this afternoon, we are going to look at the process by which the above three groups were baptized by the Holy Spirit. Thank you very much, you are dismissed.