When the three thousand were baptised on the day of Pentecost, they were baptised with Jesus Christ's baptism. Though invisible, He was there baptising together with His apostles just as He had been on earth earlier. The difference lay in the fact that during that time He had not baptised; they alone had baptised and had done so in His name exclusively. There is no question of morality involved here. It was neither morally, ethically nor spiritually wrong for Jesus to allow baptism exclusively in His name at that time. He said that all His were the Father's and that His Father had given them to Him.
Wisdom and love restrained God from thrusting upon men things they could not possibly understand. Jesus kept the men Father gave Him during His earthly life, then at the end handed them over to His Father so that they should be Father's responsibility while He underwent death. In resurrection the Lord came again to His own and reformed the idea of baptism, placing it in its eternal context, elevating the water to be a visible picture of the invisible Spirit in which people were being baptised into His own personal baptism. Before Calvary this was entirely unknown and could only at best be implied (and perhaps also in a measure imputed) but now it is a picture of an actual experience. Peter and those who we may reasonably assume, even though we cannot be sure, were co-opted with him into the vast operation of baptising all those people, knew that their own action was the least part of the transaction then taking place.
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G.W. North (1913 - 2003)
G. W. North was born in London England in 1913. As a young man he became aware that the Lord was calling him into the work of the ministry. At timely stages the Lord placed folk in his path who were able to direct him into the truth of heart purity and a more expansive understanding of the ministry of the Holy Spirit. He held pastorates in Kent and Bradford. By the late 1960s, following a significant period of ministry in Liverpool, he began a more itinerant ministry. This led him to many parts of the world, and occupied him until well into his eighties. His powerful preaching and the unique sense of the Lord's presence, which seemed to brood over his meetings, were always intensely challenging.The true secret of his remarkable ministry stemmed from his personal communion with the Lord Jesus. To him, 'entering the holiest' was not merely a theological concept; it was a distinct spiritual reality - and the central feature of his spiritual life. It was here, in the place of worship, that his revelatory ministry found its source. He preached from understanding and conviction. He was never the echo of another, nor did he take on board the ebb and flow of various contemporary emphases. He was not a man of 'books'; he soaked himself in Scripture and allowed it to saturate his heart and mind. Truly, this is a man who has lifted up a standard for the people. Mr North went to be with the Lord on 29th April 2003, shortly after his ninetieth birthday.