Thus Jesus fills the throne in the heavens, and possesses all power and
prerogative for accomplishing the purposes of the Godhead, concerning
the human race—the redeemed and the lost; concerning Satan and his
angels, and the whole universe of God, moral and physical, as
inseparably connected with the moral history and destinies of these. And
thus, in every aspect of his work, as it progresses, from the day of
Pentecost to the final consummation and glory, he is in the exercise of
that office wherein he was announced by his herald John, as he that
should baptize with the Holy Ghost, and with fire,—that office of the
gracious aspects of which as toward his people, the baptism of water has
been, for all ages, the symbol and seal. For, on Pentecost, Jesus only
began to fulfill the prophecy and promise,—“I will pour out of my Spirit
on all flesh.” Not even yet is the breadth of its meaning accomplished.
He will continue to breathe his Spirit into his people, till all are
gathered in. So, of them, individually, the purifying, although assured
by the first baptism which they respectively receive, is brought to
fruition only through the daily breathings of Christ’s life in them, the
influences of his Spirit quickening them continually; as the leper was
not cleansed by one affusion, but was sprinkled seven times. And while
the idea of baptism has special reference to the first act of grace in
bestowing the Spirit, it views that act as comprehensive of the whole
process of grace, which is potentially involved in, and secured by it.
It is not for us to know the times and seasons “which the Father hath
put in his own power.”—Acts i, 7. But, respecting some things of vital
interest as to the order and issue of coming events, in the history of
Christ’s baptizing office, we do know by the testimony of God.
1. Whatever, to our limited and carnal apprehensions, may be the
mysteries of the past history of the gospel in the world, there has been
no lack of power in the baptizing scepter of Christ, nor mistake in its
exercise. The Baptizer is that Son of man in whom dwelleth all the
fulness of the Godhead bodily, and who is the personal Wisdom of God,
and the Power of God. His blood paid the price of salvation. His arm
overcame and his heel crushed the serpent, during the days of his
humiliation in the flesh. And now, enthroned in power, he doeth in his
wisdom according to his pleasure. If the heathen of old could say, “The
mills of the gods grind slow, but they grind exceeding fine,” well may
we confide in our King, that he need not make haste, in the fulfillment
of his purposes. “Beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one
day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one
day.”—2 Pet. iii, 8. Four thousand years rolled by, before the promise
made to the fallen woman in the garden was fulfilled, in the virgin
birth of the babe of Bethlehem. And now, “the vision is yet for an
appointed time; but at the end it shall speak and not lie; though the
promise tarry wait for it; because it will surely come; it will not
tarry.”—Hab. ii, 3.
It does not fall in with the purposes of the present discussion to enter
into the prophetic question, as to the time and manner of the future
developments and glory of the Redeemer’s kingdom. Respecting it, one
thing is certain. The past has been a time of the hiding of his power;
but the light of the knowledge of the glory of the Lord will yet cover
the earth as the waters cover the sea. The Branch of Jesse “shall stand
for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek; and his rest
shall be glorious.”—Isa. xi, 10.
2. Every soul to whom the grace of God has come, from the day of
Pentecost to this hour, has received it from the immediate hand of
Jesus, baptizing him with the Holy Ghost. And so it will be to the end.
Thus, each one so redeemed is a new proof and pledge that Jesus fills
the throne,—that Satan and all the powers of darkness are under his
feet; and that the hearts of men are in his hands, to give eternal life
to as many as the Father hath given him.
3. When the end shall come, and the mystery of God shall be finished, it
will appear that in every aspect of the issues joined with Satan,
triumph and glory crown the head of the Son of man. Nor will it be the
mere force of physical omnipotence crushing the feebler powers of Satan.
But the glory of perfect righteousness, of wisdom and understanding, of
counsel and might, of knowledge and fear of the Lord, in the Head and
leader of the salvation,—a perfection, not merely of moral excellence
but of all gifts and endowments, tried and proved, first, in the form of
a servant under the law, in obedience and sufferings, amid the
temptations of the world and the flesh, the wiles of the devil, and the
inflictions of God,—a perfection then shown upon the throne of glory, in
administering with perfect wisdom and perfect skill the vast and various
affairs of God’s boundless empire, thwarting and turning to confusion
the plots and policies of Satan and his angels, rectifying the disorders
wrought by the enemy, and vindicating God’s glory impeached through man.
It will be a moral triumph revealed in each one of the redeemed, once a
prostrate slave of Satan and sin, baptized and quickened, and aroused to
struggle for liberty, and made more than conqueror, in the conflict,
through the grace and Spirit of Christ, over Satan and all his powers
without, and indwelling sin and corruption,—each one scarred with the
wounds of battle, but all—the crushed serpent writhing beneath their
feet,—wearing the white robes of triumph and waving the palms of
victory;—all clothed in the righteousness of One, and each grown to the
stature of Christ, in the perfection of holiness and beauty, after the
image of God.
It will be the moral triumph of the whole ransomed host, by one Spirit
baptized into one body, her garments of wrought gold and needle-work,
received and revealed, spotless and complete in all divine
perfections,—the bride of the Lamb, the glory of her husband, as he is
the image and glory of God. (1 Cor. xi, 7.) In them shall the
principalities and powers in the heavenly places behold and study and
admire the reflected likeness of the unapproachable glory of the
infinite Invisible.
It will be the triumph involved in all this revelation of glory and
blessedness in contrast with the spectacle of Satan and his followers
and work, exposed before all intelligences, in shame and everlasting
contempt;—his achievements seen in discord and darkness, in sin and
suffering and sorrow, in lamentation and woe, in the loss to him and to
his of all the divine perfections in which they were created, and in
distortion, deformity and discord, possessing and pervading them all;
his confident wisdom and power turned to imbecile folly, and his
conspiracies and wiles made the occasions and means of fulfilling God’s
plan which he opposed, and crowning the Son of man with glory.
The true dignity and significance of the rite of baptism can only then
be adequately realized when we appreciate this comprehensive extent and
grandeur of the baptizing office of Christ, signified by it. In the
fulfillment of that office he now orders all things; and its exercise
must be continuous to the end. The Great Baptizer must breathe the
Spirit of life into all that mighty multitude, out of every generation
and race, whom the Father has given Him. He must send fire upon the
earth, and divide between his people and his enemies, and vindicate the
Father’s sovereignty and grace in all his dealings with the wicked. He
must, at last, by the quickening virtue of the baptism of His Spirit,
raise up his saints,—their bodies glorious as his own glorious body, and
their souls perfect in holiness,—and place them on the throne of
judgment with himself; judge and cast the wicked out of his kingdom;
confirm the holy angels in rectitude and blessedness, and cast
Satan,—thwarted, defeated and bound in chains of darkness,—into the gulf
of fire,—him and his angels and followers. He must purge the earth and
heavens with fire, from the defilement which Satan and sin have wrought,
and out of them create and adorn the new heavens and the new earth, the
abode of righteousness, the home of the holy and the blessed,—where the
many sons shall dwell with God and the Lamb. He must make all things
new.
Then may the triumphant Son of man proclaim his work accomplished, and
his office ended. Then may he,—not now from the cross, but from the
throne,—cry, “It is finished!” “The former things are passed away, and
behold I have made all things new.” Sin and the curse are
abolished;—tears, and death, and sorrow, and crying, and pain are no
more; and in life and immortality the earth-born sons of God possess the
glory.
“It is done!” The floor is purged; the garner filled; and the chaff
burned. The baptism is accomplished. Then shall the Son, his commission
fulfilled, deliver up the kingdom to God even the Father, and shall
himself also be subject to Him that put all things under him, that God
may be all in all. (1 Cor. xv, 24, 28.)