“I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! But I have a baptism to undergo, and what constraint I am under until it is completed!”
Our Lord is speaking here of His mission on earth, His trip to the cross to die in our place for our sin. He calls it His baptism - and we Baptists all understand what He means – for we understand immersion baptism as a symbol of our Lord’s death, burial and resurrection - and as a public declaration of our unity with Him in His death, burial and resurrection. Note that these verses are 2 parallel statements, which means that fire and baptism describe the same event. How could we know without our Lord telling us? How could anyone possibly know that a fire was lit when Christ died on the cross- a fire that will devour sin from the earth. Will we this day go to the cross, and surrender to our Lord and have His holy fire burn the sin from our lives? Or will we resist the Spirit’s call and be devoured on the Day of Christ’s appearance?
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