The cup and the baptism

“And He saith unto them, Ye shall drink indeed of My cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with: but to sit on My right hand, and on My left, is not Mine to give, but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of My Father.” (Matt. 20:23).

 

“Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane, and saith unto the disciples, Sit ye here, while I go and pray yonder.

And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and very heavy.

Then saith He unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with Me.

And He went a little further, and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, O My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from Me: nevertheless not as I will, but as Thou wilt.

And He cometh unto the disciples, and findeth them asleep, and saith unto Peter, What, could ye not watch with Me one hour?

Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.

He went away again the second time, and prayed, saying, O My Father, if this cup may not pass away from Me, except I drink it, Thy will be done.

And he came and found them asleep again: for their eyes were heavy.

And he left them, and went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words.” (Matt. 26:36-44).

 

“And there appeared an angel unto Him from heaven, strengthening Him. And being in an agony He prayed more earnestly: and His sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.” (Luke 22:43,44).

 

“And He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; for this is My blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father’s kingdom.” (Matt. 26:27-29).

 

Jesus’ baptism by fire caused our baptism by water.

 

“From Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood,” (Rev. 1:5).

 

“But ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.” (1Cor. 6:11).

 

“Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.” (Heb. 10:22).

 

But, later there is more to the baptism.

 

“These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” (Rev. 7:14).

 

The tribulation becomes part of the washing. This is our baptism by fire.
 

“Behold, I will send My messenger, and he shall prepare the way before Me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to His temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, He shall come, saith the LORD of hosts. But who may abide the day of His coming? and who shall stand when He appeareth? for He is like a refiner’s fire, and like fullers’ soap: and He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and He shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the LORD an offering in righteousness.” (Mal. 3:1-3).

 

“I am come to send fire on the earth; and what will I, if it be already kindled?

But I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how am I straitened till it be accomplished!

Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division:

For from henceforth there shall be five in one house divided, three against two, and two against three. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against the father; the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother; the mother in law against her daughter in law, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.” (Luke 12:49-53).

 

Two responses when the Son of God exalts His Father’s will—those against Him and those for Him.

 

“Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Me.” (John 12:31,32).

 

Jesus will save His people. But, Satan never lets the King deliver his captives without putting up a fight, a huge fight. The devil will never suffer the humiliation of losing a battle or losing his hostages. He will never surrender; he will never concede a battle. He must go down fighting. That is what he has always done and it is all that he will ever do. He will never surrender. During the mayhem, his hostages are put to the worst as they become pawns in the war between the superpowers of Christ and Satan and their own desires.

 

“And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death. Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.” (Rev. 12:10-12).

 

Nevertheless the day of reckoning will come. It will require preparation on the part of those who seek deliverance from the adversary, and it will develop them further as the day of reckoning passes over them.

 

“Howl ye; for the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.

Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man’s heart shall melt:

And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth: they shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall be as flames.

Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and He shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.

For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine.

And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.

I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir.” (Isa. 13:6-12).

 

While Jesus is preparing His saints, Satan will be preparing the wicked also.

 

“And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit. And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power. And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads.” (Rev. 9:2-4).

 

The fifth and sixth trumpets explain a lot about the 3rd angel’s message, which develops all who give glory to God by keeping all “the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.” (Rev. 14:12). While those two trumpets are silent concerning the phrase “mark of the Beast”, they do allude to the mark by eliminating all who do not receive the seal of God in their forehead. By the process of elimination the locusts pick out all who receive the mark. And the baptism by fire comes to them.

 

“And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months: and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man.” (Rev. 9:5).

 

“And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand,

The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of His indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:

And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.” (Rev. 14:9-11).

 

The torment of the scorpion stings fills their hearts with fire and smoke and brimstone, and later kills their heart and soul and conscience and spirituality. “…having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth [smoke], and brimstone: …and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone.” (Rev. 9:17).

 

All of these locusts’ burning souls are the fruits of Satan’s hellish influence. And he drives them to corrupt everyone on earth, “the earth…the sea…the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.” (Rev. 7:3).

 

“And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit.” (Rev. 9:2).

 

“He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.” (John 3:36).

 

“This is He that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood.” (1Jn. 5:6).

 

Water and blood were the two baptisms of Christ. The blood symbolized the death of the body, even though what killed Jesus was the wrath of God—the baptism of fire. He was already deceased after 9 hours of crucifixion, rather than after several days, which the others would have experienced if the high Sabbath hadn’t fallen on their execution day. But, while Jesus hung on the cross 9 hours “the wrath of God abideth on him.” The damnation that we all should have to face fell on Jesus, “as it is written, The reproaches of them that reproached Thee fell on Me.” (Rom. 15:3).

 

Jesus’ baptism of blood was also a baptism of fire. The fire of damnation came upon Him to the 10 billionth degree, as He tasted the second death for every man. Christ’s baptism by fire and blood caused our baptism of brokenness and tears, “the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost” (Tit. 3:5), washing “His feet with tears.” (Luke 7:38).

 

This was our second birth and our first baptism. “Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” (John 3:5).

 

But, if we keep growing in grace and in a knowledge of God and His Son, then there will inevitably come our own baptism by fire. We will not suffer damnation, such as Jesus did, but it will take all the eternal Spirit we’ve appropriated to remain faithful during that fiery baptism. Persecution, calumny, libel, being ostracized, verbal, emotional, and physical abuse, harassment, all these Jesus suffered in His baptism by fire.

 

But it is in our own baptism by fire that we draw closest to our Saviour.

 

“And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with Him an hundred forty and four thousand, having His Father’s name written in their foreheads…. And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders: and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth. These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb.” (Rev. 14:1,3,4).

 

They are sealed after following the Lamb wherever He went—even through their own Gethsemane. All of their baptisms by fire will prepare for the final cleansing in preparation for His return in glory and great heat. In that day of wrathful visitation, He will make them more precious than fine gold.

 

“Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and He shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.

For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine.

And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.

I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir.

Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the LORD of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger.” (Isa. 13:9-13).

 

“The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His power; when He shall come to be glorified in His saints, and to be admired in all them that believe.” (2Thess. 1:7-10).

 

“But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.” (2Pet. 3:10).

 

“And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood;

And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind.

And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.

And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains;

And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb:

For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?” (Rev. 6:12-17).

 

“The Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.” (1Thess. 4:16,17).

 

“I will…receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.” (John 14:3).