What is the promise of the Father?
Y'shua* provides the answer to this question:
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Acts 1:4-5 (NASB)
Gathering them together, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised, "Which," He said,"you heard of from Me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now." Acts 1:7-8 (NASB) He said to them, "It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority; 8 but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth." *Y'shua is Messiah's actual Hebrew name. Jesus is a transliteration of that name from Greek to Latin to English. I prefer to call Him by the name that Gabriel told Mary to give Him. |
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John the Baptist alluded to the fact that Y'shua had a twofold minsitry. After identifying Y'shua as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, John testified:
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John 1:30-34 (NASB)
This is He on behalf of whom I said, 'After me comes a Man who has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me.' I did not recognize Him, but so that He might be manifested to Israel, I came baptizing in water. John testified saying, "I have seen the Spirit descending as a dove out of heaven, and He remained upon Him. I did not recognize Him, but He who sent me to baptize in water said to me, 'He upon whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining upon Him, this is the One who baptizes in the Holy Spirit.' I myself have seen, and have testified that this is the Son of God." Matthew 3:11-12 (NASB) As for me, I baptize you with water for repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, and I am not fit to remove His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.** His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clear His threshing floor; and He will gather His wheat into the barn, but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire." |
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**The book of Matthew was originally written in Hebrew. In Hebrew, Matthew 3:11 reads, "He will baptise you with the fire of the Holy Spirit" The unquenchable fire that Y'shua will use to remove the wheat from the chaff is the fire of the Holy Spirit. Y'shua did not just come to save us, but to save us so that we could receive the promise of the Father which He identified as the baptism in the Holy Spirit! Have you received the promise of the Father?