Musings on the Book of John PROMISES written by Connie Hecker
John 1:32-34 (NIV) Then John gave this testimony: “I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him. And I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’ I have seen and I testify that this is God’s Chosen One.” Repeatedly, we are told that Jesus’ cousin John the Baptist did not recognize the Messiah in Him until the day he baptized Jesus. He had been waiting to see who it would be, knowing that one day the Spirit would descend and remain on The One. How excited John must have been that day! The whole reason John was in the Jordan was to be used by God for that one moment. The Spirit touched
many, but with Jesus it remained. This is the sign for all of us, not just John, that Jesus is indeed The One. Jesus will baptize in the Holy Spirit, and John made sure others, including the contingent from Jerusalem, knew and were aware of this new change. Jesus has been shown to me as well. Let me too be excited over the certainty that He IS THE ONE! The prophecy is fulfilled and a new one given - we will be baptized now in the Holy Spirit. The writer sets us up at the beginning for what will happen at the end with Pentecost. He knows how it unfolded and it was completed. We can be confident as we walk by His Spirit now, that whatever He has promised shall be as true in our lives as in the life He lived. Do I have unfulfilled promises? Praise God, for His timing is perfect and the end shall not come before His work is complete and His promises fulfilled.
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