Immersion In The Ruach HaKodesh
Mark 1:7-8
"After me comes One who is mightier than I am, I’m not worthy to stoop down and untie the strap of His sandals! I immersed you in water, but He will immerse you in Ruach HaKodesh.”
Matthew 3:11
“As for me I immerse you in water for repentance. But the One coming after me is mightier than I am; I am not worthy to carry His sandals. He will immerse you in Ruach HaKodesh and fire.”
There is something special and powerful in what Yeshua does for us after our immersion in water into Y’Hovah’s Name. Our baptism in water is based on our repentance and confession as to being lawless sinners, not following Torah, and needing Yeshua’s redemption as Saviour, and the Father’s forgiveness. In Yeshua we are immersed into the waters of death! Death to the works of the flesh, death to the old religious beliefs, traditions, practices and lifestyles that are contrary to, or in violation of, the Torah, the teachings of God. For that is what sin is!
1 John 2:3-6, 3:4-7
Verse 4 says, “Everyone practising sin also practices lawlessness – indeed, sin is lawlessness.” Who are those truly abiding in Him? The Torah keepers! Our confession to being lawless, and turning away from it in obedience to the Word and then being immersed into discipleship and the observing of all that has been commanded (as stated by Yeshua in Matthew 28:18-20) is of little value if we don’t move into that which John told us was an essential next step in our salvation experience. Us being immersed by Yeshua in Ruach HaKodesh and fire. This is essential to moving from life in the flesh and lawlessness, to life in the Spirit and into righteousness.
Acts 8:14-17
This is clearly a moving from Pesach to Shavuot, from Passover to Pentecost. Fire speaks of many things, from being purified from the dross and contaminations of the old way of thinking, to serving and believing into the power of a new life, now lived in the Ruach. “Not by might, nor by power, but by My Ruach”, says Y’Hovah of Hosts.
Fire is a metaphor of the transforming power of God being released into our lives. Acts 1:8. “But you will receive power when Ruach KaKodesh has come upon you; and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and through all Judah, and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
Fire is a powerful purifying force that consumes everything in its path, and can be unstoppable. Fire is the blazing, purifying force that emanates from Yeshua’s eyes. The description of Yeshua in Revelation 1:12-16 is a description of the glory of God’s presence flowing out through Yeshua in the power of Ruach, as the ultimate authority to every congregation. Revelation 2:7,11,17. Yeshua was given the Ruach without measure at His baptism in the Jordan River. We need the same experience as promised by the Father and imparted by Yeshua.
This is not just about our giftings, but firstly about having Torah written into our hearts and minds. To function in a gifting without the proper message of Torah and obedience to the Word or Commandments of God will only lead to judgement sooner or later, as stated in the Scriptures. Signs and wonders must confirm the truth of the Torah and the Kingdom of God, or it will lead to curse and judgement. The house built on sand instead of the Rock will collapse under the judgements of God, the storms of life and the blaze of His eyes.
“Judgement begins with the house of God.”
As Yeshua said often, “He who has an ear to hear, let him hear what the Ruach is saying.” Are the pastors and leaders of the Church listening, or will it take judgement and curse?
Resurrection Power
The power of a resurrected life, a new life, in the Spirit is what we want to see at work in the Communities that Yeshua said He would build. What we see happening in the Book of Acts is what we need to see happening in our Communities and ministry. People getting saved, healed and delivered, with new Messianic Communities being established across the nation.
The message of the apostles was that Yeshua is the Messiah, the anointed One. He has risen from the dead, and in His Name miracles and healings are taking place. The Kingdom of Heaven was being made manifest in the earth once again.
Yeshua said to the apostles that all authority in heaven and on earth was given to Him. And now, He is sending them into all the world with that authority, invested in His Name. In His Name they would do just as He did, but in a greater way than He Himself did. We need to see the same happening today!
Faith In the Name
Acts 3:1-16
This event took place soon after the Feast of Shavuot, when Ruach HaKodesh had been poured out on the apostles (or emissaries). 3,000 people that day gave their lives to Yeshua, and a new religious system in the Name of Yeshua the Messiah under the leadership of the apostles began. Their baptism in Ruach and fire transferred them into the people of the Way, the way of Messiah, the Messianic Way. They were first called Messianic Believers in Corinth as a distinguishing name from Judaism, or any other religious belief systems of their day. They were Y’Hovah’s set apart people, the chosen, the kadosh, the saints, the holy people.
They were not called the Church or Christians or Christs. That is the Christian theologian’s definitions, names and doctrinal choices, and that was for political and religious reasons. It is the same today – Christian terminology, beliefs and traditions are based on religious systems of political power.
Peter and John went to the Temple at 3 o’clock in the afternoon. It was the hour of prayer and the time of the evening sacrifice. The sacrifice was now nothing more than a ritual, a religious tradition without any power or spiritual truth about it. Its meaning and message, purpose and truth were well and truly lost. The One this sacrifice represented had well and truly come and gone. They had put this Yeshua to death, and they hated His Name and His interference in their rituals, feasts and traditions. He had been a regular visitor to their Temple, and they would do anything to put a stop to His message.
Luke 21:37-38, John 8:2
Now, Peter and John would do exactly the same thing, in the same Name. The ruling elite and priesthood fiercely controlled what went on in the Temple courtyards and precinct. But the command of Y’Hovah to the disciples was for them to keep on going back and to do the same thing, to keep telling the people and proclaiming the message of the Kingdom and of Yeshua’s resurrection as their Messiah. Acts 5:17-21, 25-26.
Don’t give up on the lost sheep – take the message into the halls and churches of the struggling people who are wanting to see, hear and experience the power of His Name.
Acts 3:6-10
Peter and John brought healing to a man crippled from birth in Yeshua’s Name. He had been this way for 40+ years of his life. Every day was the same. He would be carried to the Temple gate to beg, and nobody could do anything for him to change that. Just to think about it is enough to make you cry. That’s the condition of our churches in this nation. What an amazing response as the people rushed toward them.
Verses 11-13 – Peter's response to them was that this healing was God at work, exalting His servant Yeshua, the One that had been in this Temple doing miracles and was put to death by you.
Verse 16 – Peter went on to say, “Now through faith in the Name of Yeshua, His Name has strengthened this man whom you see and know. Indeed, the faith through Yeshua has given this man perfect health in front of you all.”
Peter exclaims, ‘His Name has made this man strong.’ Faith in the Name of Yeshua is what was at work. Faith in the Name releases the authority and power that is in the Name of Yeshua.
This is about faith, trust, belief in Yeshua’s Name to accomplish what you are believing for. It wasn’t the faith of the healed man that was needed, because he had none. He just believed for a coin or two to help him survive. This was a faith that Peter and John had in the Name that was important. Father, move us into that faith, belief and understanding. With faith in that Name, nothing is impossible. There is an authority in who Yeshua is and in what He says to do. All we have to do is believe in it. Ruach, bring us into that gifting!
The rulers didn’t like the message or what they were doing in the Name of the One they had just gotten rid of. Yeshua was the biggest trouble maker they had ever encountered, and now His apostles were doing exactly the same things in His Name – so they threw them into prison. The rulers’ only thought was to protect their name and their positions of power. They didn’t care about the man and his family one little bit. But Y’Hovah was at work, and about 5,000 men got saved in the process.
Acts 4:1-4. The Name of Yeshua was exalted high in Israel.
The Message Proclaimed
Acts 3:19-26
This is a very religious people, all meeting at the Temple at the hour of prayer. Thousands of God-believing people, and Peter speaks to them as if they are rank, outsider heathens. 5,000 repented! Don’t be afraid to speak the Word.
The Boldness Required
Acts 4:8-22
It’s not about how learned we might be or not be that’s important, it’s about how well we know Yeshua, and that we have an anointing of the Ruach when needed. In these verses they prayed a prayer that resonated with Elohim of their faith and their boldness and obedience. Ruach moved in earth-shaking power and filled them anew with His presence and power.
The Purpose And The Outcome
Acts 4:23, 32-37
The great objective of Y’Hovah, who is watching over His Word to perform it, is to establish Communities of Messiah’s Believers – Messianic Communities.
Peter and John went to the failed and finished religious institution of their day to teach and proclaim the true Word of the Kingdom of God – but then, they “went to their own people and reported” (verse 23) and prayed together for utmost courage to keep doing what they were doing. Verses 29-31.
The establishment of growing, united, Messianic Communities that love and take care of one another in Yeshua’s Name is what the Father wants us to do and be involved in. Healings, miracles and salvations are all important in the congregations of God’s people. What the Kingdom of God is about is what is important. We will be one of those Communities in every respect. To this end we pray, serve and exercise faith.