You know there is fire in hell and lots of it; but did you know there is also fire in heaven and lots of it? Well, there is. Let me show you some.
As I looked, thrones were set in place, and the Ancient of Days took His seat.
His clothing was as white as snow; the hair of His head was white like wool.
His throne was flaming with fire, and its wheels were all ablaze.
A river of fire was coming out from before Him. (Daniel 7:9-10a NIV)
See what I mean. But let me show you some more fire in heaven.
I saw in heaven another sign: seven angels with the seven last plagues—last, because with them God’s wrath is completed. And I saw what looked like a sea of glass mixed with fire and, standing beside the sea, those who had been victorious over the beast and his image and over the number of his name. (Revelation 15:1-2a)
God is a burning fire from eternity to eternity. Jesus came to bring that fire to the earth. I know that you know He came to do other things on the earth, but I mean for you to realize that He came to bring the fire of heaven to the earth! Listen to what He said in Luke 12:49: “I came to send fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled (NKJV).
I presume that most people or many people think Jesus was wishing He had already kindled the fire of judgment with that statement, fire like this:
But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.
Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat? (2Peter 3:10-12 NKJV)
Certainly Jesus knew the fire he came to kindle would eventually burn up everything that could be burned up. But I do not believe that melting the elements and burning up the heavens and the earth was the goal of the fire He came to kindle.
What do I believe was the goal then? Let’s go back to the 12th chapter of Luke and pick where we left off after verse 49. “But I have a baptism to be baptized with and how distressed I am till it is accomplished” (verse 50). What did He mean by “a baptism to be baptized with”? You already recognize by now that baptism doesn’t always mean being immersed in water; and it doesn’t always mean being “baptized in the Holy Spirit,” though of course it means either one of these sometimes. In this case it means an ordeal Jesus had to go through. You know what it was, but I’ll run it down for you. It meant being falsely accused of committing crimes against the Jewish Religion, as well as against Rome. It meant being mocked and spit on, punched and torn, and beaten nearly to death, then made to carry a cross up the Hill of Calvary, then nailed to it and hung on it to await an agonizing death. It meant something worse than that: it meant being separated from His father—separated from the Spirit of God: dying spiritually, and descending into the lower parts of the earth: going to hell! I want you to know that I know there is controversy about His going into hell, but I want you to know that many people do believe that Paul’s statement in Ephesians 4:9 means exactly that. I’m not going to deal with that now though; it is enough that He was separated from the Spirit of God, and that’s what He was dreading most of all that dreadful night in Gethsemane before His arrest.
All that is the “baptism He had to be baptized with.” Even so, I say that with the statement of how distressed He was till it was accomplished, the main thing on His mind wasn’t getting all that torture over with. The main thing He wanted was to get it going! He wanted to get the torture and the dying over with, yes. He wanted to get the burying and the resurrection over with, and He wanted to get back up to the Father, because He couldn’t get that fire kindled until He had done that. He put it this way in John 16:7: “Nevertheless I tell you the truth, It is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you.”
The Helper is the Holy Spirit. And fifty days after He accomplished that “baptism,” here came the first part of the kindling of that fire:
Now when the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind…then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit… (from Acts 2:1-4).
He wanted to send the fire of the Holy Spirit on the earth! And the sending of the fire of the Holy Spirit onto the earth changed everything on the earth! It changed men. It changed Peter from a shell-shocked deny-er of Jesus Christ into a fireball of a preacher who would look a Jewish ruler in the eye and say, “We ought to obey God rather than men,” when they told him to stop preaching in the name of Jesus—or else! It brought to the earth anointed preaching, the works of speaking in other tongues, and in prophesying, in healings and miracles and great signs and wonders of all kinds. It brought God to the earth in a way in which He could live in men! To this very day I don’t think any of us totally comprehend the magnificence of what that means. If we receive Him, God lives in us! Now!
Yes, Jesus wanted to send the fire of the Holy Spirit onto the earth, and that’s what He did after He accomplished His “baptism.” But, with all my heart I believe there is other fire, something beyond the tongues of flame the 120 people saw on the Day of Pentecost, that Jesus came to kindle on the earth. Let me tell you what I believe it is. In Matthew 3:11 John the Baptist is talking. He says: “I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” (4-26-13) There’s the other fire. He said He would baptize them/us with the Holy Spirit, and He did, and there was fire in it. But the and fire is other fire beyond the fire of the Holy Spirit; it has to be, or why would he say He would baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire? I know what the other fire is. I will show you.
Set me as a seal upon your arm; for love is as strong as death, jealousy as cruel as the grave; its flames are flames of fire, a most vehement flame (Song of Solomon 8:6). The other fire is God’s fire of love! The main goal Jesus wanted to accomplish was bringing God’s vehement flame of love to His bride on the earth!
