Key Passage
"I baptize you with water to show that you changed your hearts and lives. But there is a person coming later that is greater than I am. I am not good enough to take off his shoes for him. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. He will come ready to clean the grain. He will separate the good grain from the straw. He will put the good part of the grain into his barn. And he will burn the part that is not good. He will burn it with a fire that cannot be stopped."
— Matthew 3:11-12 ERV (Read Full Text)
Key Thought
So much of the discussion of this passage focuses on whether fire means judgment or purification. All sorts of interpretative clues are examined. Scholarship is divided. So which do you think it is? My answer is "Yes! He both judges and purifies." From this passage and its parallels, I believe John the Baptist probably intended for us to hear both points. We will be judged based on what we decide about Jesus. When we choose to believe Jesus and trust in him, the Holy Spirit will also cleanse us. Jesus calls us to purity, but more than that, he cleanses and purifies us through and through as he pours out his Spirit upon us. (Cf. Titus 3:3-7.)
Prayer
O precious Father, please forgive me of all that I have done wrong, and cleanse me thoroughly by the sanctifying power of your Holy Spirit. In addition, dear Father, I trust in the Spirit's power to help me triumph over the temptation to sin. Thank you for not only cleansing me, but also sustaining me by the power of your Spirit. In the name of Jesus Christ I pray. Amen.
Related Scriptures
But then the kindness and love of God our Savior was made known. He saved us because of his mercy (love), not because of any good things we did. He saved us through the washing that made us new people. He saved us by making us new through the Holy Spirit. God poured out (gave) to us that Holy Spirit fully through Jesus Christ our Savior.
— Titus 3:4-6
Surely you know that the people that do wrong will not get God's kingdom. Don't be fooled. These people will not get God's kingdom: people that sin sexually, people that worship idols, people that do the sin of adultery, men that let other men use them for sex or that have sex with other men, people that steal, people that are greedy, people that get drunk, people that say bad things to other people, and people that cheat. In the past, some of you were like that. But you were washed clean, you were made holy, and you were made right with God in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
— 1 Corinthians 6:9-11
Some of us are Jews and some of us are Greeks (non-Jews); some of us are slaves and some of us are free. But we were all baptized into one body through one Spirit. And we were all given the one Spirit.
— 1 Corinthians 12:13
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