The Daily Word of Righteousness

Reconciliation by Fire

And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. 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: whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. (Matthew 3:10-12)

There is a baptism with the Holy Spirit. There is also a baptism with fire. The saint is to be baptized both with the Holy Spirit and with fire.

The baptism with fire is, as the context suggests, the cutting down of every tree that does not bring forth the good fruit of righteousness and the casting of it into the fires of Divine judgment. It is the fanning of God's threshing floor in order to separate the wheat from the chaff, and the burning of the chaff with fire that cannot be extinguished.

It is this fire that reconciles the saint to God.

In Deuteronomy 16:16 we find the following commandment:

Three times in a year shall all thy males appear before the Lord thy God in the place which he shall choose; in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles: and they shall not appear before the Lord empty: (Deuteronomy 16:16)

The feast of Unleavened Bread.

The feast of Weeks.

The feast of Tabernacles.

There are not only two works of grace in the Christian salvation, there are three.

The first work of grace is typified by the feast of Unleavened Bread. It includes protection through the Passover blood, repentance in water baptism, and the born-again experience.

The second work of grace is typified by the feast of Weeks, or feast of Pentecost as it is more commonly known. The second work is the filling of the Christian with the Holy Spirit. Some groups refer to the filling with the Holy Spirit as sanctification. Other congregations speak of the same filling as the baptism with the Holy Spirit and it often is accompanied by speaking in tongues.

The third work of grace is typified by the feast of Tabernacles. The spiritual fulfillment of the feast of Tabernacles is the entering of the Father and the Son into the believer (John 14:23). It is the filling with "all the fulness of God" mentioned by Paul in Ephesians 3:19.

The feast of Tabernacles was the third annual gathering of "all thy males before the Lord thy God." It was itself divided into three parts.

The feast of Trumpets.

The Day of Atonement.

The feast of Tabernacles proper.

All seven feasts are set forth in the twenty-third chapter of Leviticus.

The believer is saved, baptized with the Holy Spirit, and then is to press forward to the spiritual fulfillment of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, and the feast of Tabernacles.

To be continued.