Students of the Bible have discovered that numbers are used in scripture with special care and mathematical precision. The number two, for instance, bears relationship to witness, so we read that 'in the mouth of two witnesses every word shall be established'. Of old, at least two persons were required as witnesses to an event before anyone's word or allegations became acceptable as proper testimony, or could be established as legal evidence. By this means also a thing is established and bears spiritual authority. As an illustration of this we only need to read Joseph's words in Genesis 41:32 ..... 'it is doubled unto Pharaoh twice because the thing is established by God and God will shortly bring it to pass'.
We find then that concerning this matter of baptism the scriptures surely reveal a change of order tantamount to a change of method being introduced into the life of the Church by God Himself. It seems that in breaking out of the narrows of Jerusalem and Judea into the largeness of the uttermost parts of the earth, the Lord also broke with much that had already become traditionalism in the earliest days of the new-born Church. It can be neither accident nor coincidence that both the apostle to the Gentiles and all the members of the original Church established under Gentile authority were baptised in Spirit before they were baptised in water.
Be not Entangled Again
Begging the question that may be asked, we observe that by doing this, God was evidently breaking with the limiting traditionalism and doctrine which had already grown up about the practice of water baptism. What He did at Damascus and Caesarea firmly placed it back in its true position, laying the emphasis where it should be laid and putting things into proper perspective. Water baptism had its beginnings and first became established in Judaism under an Old Testament prophet who could not minister the Spirit. This man's practice and limited doctrines had, without any discredit to him, become a precedent among believers and necessarily so, for they were right for the time. Why, even the Lord Jesus Himself followed John's method, for it was of God.
The whole sprang from the fact that during that entire period the Holy Ghost was not available for man, either before or during or following water baptism. Therefore it can readily be grasped that the ideas in human minds governing the understanding and practice of baptism in the Church needed to be rearranged. They certainly needed to be taught of God about it, for among Church leaders the lesser had already become established as a necessary step toward the greater baptism. And this is not entirely surprising, for all those leaders were Jews by nature, with a most ready tendency to become traditionalised in their beliefs. But God would have none of it; He therefore struck out in a definite, if not a contradictory manner to rescue His Church. He would no more have John's baptism than Moses' law or Abraham's circumcision made necessary or obligatory upon His people.
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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.