What Was the Baptism With Fire?
The most logical way to view this text is to assume that everyone in the audience was going to be baptized either with the Holy Spirit or with fire. The baptism with fire seemed to be fairly close at hand, since John said that the ax was already at the root of the trees that were not producing good fruit. I think this baptism refers to the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70, although others think it refers to hell itself. Malachi 4 provides a good commentary on the work of John the Baptist, and I think addresses both the baptism with the Holy Spirit and the baptism of fire. Take a few minutes to study out this prediction of John’s work as the “new” Elijah. At any rate, the NT has much more about the destruction of Jerusalem in it than most people realize, but we will save this subject for another column in the near future. Regarding the baptism of the Holy Spirit, two passages in Acts are essential to our comprehension of the subject: Acts 2 and Acts 10. In Luke 24:49, Jesus had promise
