THE THIRD
BAPTISM
He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire.
Luke 3:16
God, in order to show his children precisely his will in the earth, admonished his earthly leadership to make those artifacts, that pertain to his temple, according to a delivered pattern.1 and 2 And as God instructed Moses and later David and Solomon, his dwelling place in the earth really had to meet exact specifications. Deviation was not an option! Short cuts were not allowed! The yea had to be yea and the nay had to be nay. There were no maybes. As God ministered by angels in the days of Moses to establish his will and fulfill his covenant by patterns given in the mount, a church was established in the wilderness.3 This people, though they had two baptisms (they were baptized unto Moses in the cloud and the sea4), and all that was being provided of God, still they stumbled and fell in the wilderness because of unbelief and rebellion. God rose up a new generation in the wilderness to go forth into the promised land. Joshua (Hebrew for ‘savior’) was to lead God’s people into the promised land. The Lord instructed Joshua, "Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you, as I said unto Moses."5 But before Joshua could begin his march into the land of milk and honey, God’s ‘cross over conditions’ had to be met. "And they commanded the people, saying, When ye see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, and the priests the Levites bearing it, then ye shall remove from your place, and go after it. Yet there shall be a space between you and it, about two thousand cubits by measure: come not near unto it, that ye may know the way by which ye must go: for ye have not passed this way heretofore."6 ‘Heretofore’ is from the Hebrew for ‘since yesterday and the third day’. Here we see the pattern of the third baptism, in this crossing of Jordan into the promised land. The ark has to proceed the children of Israel by 2000 measures. We see Jesus (Savior), the living ark, entering this throne realm 2000 measures (or years) before our generation. The ‘heretofore’ or previous two days (a day is as a thousand years7) represents 2000 years. The priesthood that carried the ark of the covenant, as soon as "they that bare the ark were come unto Jordan, and the feet of the priests that bare the ark were dipped in the brim of the water, (for Jordan overfloweth all his banks all the time of harvest,) That the waters which came down from above stood and rose up upon an heap very far from the city Adam, that is beside Zaretan: and those that came down toward the sea of the plain, even the salt sea, failed, and were cut off: and the people passed over right against Jericho. And the priests that bare the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firm on dry ground in the midst of Jordan, and all the Israelites passed over on dry ground, until all the people were passed cleaned over Jordan."8 Jesus, our savior, opened the veil of this third baptism 2000 years ago, looking unto the third (1000 year) day, when a spiritual army would be gathered along with his angels to walk in a dominion held by the enemy. This army would "bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron; To execute upon them the judgment written: this honour have all his saints. Praise ye the Lord."10 The spiritual catching up of these anointed sons, which was seen by a young Scottish lass by the name of Margaret MacDonald in a vision in the spring of 1830, got blown out of proportion by the Catholic Apostolic Church and started the current doctrine, called the "rapture".9
The first baptism unto Moses brought deliverance from Egypt. The blood was applied to the door posts and this walk through the Red Sea, in obedience to the word, brought salvation to a people.
The second baptism in the cloud brought leadership, a daily bread and a comfort from the sun, by providing rain and shade. It was a long walk in shoes that didn’t wear out. It brought forth a people out of a people.
The third baptism, foreshadowed by the crossing of Jordan, is a new walk in the land of the giants. Jesus, in speaking of this third baptism said, "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."11
From this time forward (henceforth), division will come in the land. The fire of God will not be understood by the carnal mind. Great fear will come upon the earth as this third anointing comes upon the children of the ark. As they walk, the enemy will be cast down before them. The many walls of Babylon will begin to fall. They have found the twelve stones of Joshua, set as a marker for this crossing. Their spiritual stones have upon them a name that only he who receives it can know.12 "For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall. And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the Lord of hosts."13
This walk by the body of Christ, in their new name, will be the sign of the prophet Jonah. They are proclaiming the vengeance of the Lord. Their enemy is not flesh and blood but spiritual wickedness in high places. They have seen with the eye of God, the strongholds of the spirit of error (delusion). Their "high calling" has been to reach a place of rest in Jesus. This anointing, like all real anointings, is a work of faith. But faith only works by love. Their goal is deliverance. The presence of the consuming fire is measured by their love of Jesus. They know Jesus as the name they received in the water, the name they received in the spirit, and the name they received in the fire. He is the doors of all that is given of God. His blood has proceeded them, creating a path that only the righteous can walk upon. Many have come through the first veil to the altar realm - the first baptism. They know Jesus as savior. They were willing to open this door when Jesus knocked. There was water to wash with at the laver. The experience of salvation revealed Jesus as the peace giver, the Passover lamb, and the door to eternal life. Many chose to camp here, but the blood continued through the second veil. Behind this veil is a place of testimony, of spiritual bread, the offering of prayers and praise. The candlestick with it’s seven branches (a type of the church) full of oil and kept burning by the priesthood is found here. This second realm experienced by the baptism of the Holy Ghost has been attained by many in our generation. Only those who reach this realm and are looking for more of their wonderful savior and baptizer, will see the third veil, that part of the sanctuary that only the high priest went into at the end of the year. The walk into this third baptism requires the pattern of God to be in perfect order. But Jesus has bid us come. Come unto me ye who are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. As only the high priest could walk behind this veil, Paul stated, "forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus."14
Those of us who have experienced the exposure of going behind the third veil have come forth with a fresh anointing from the presence of the Lord. Our baptizer has given us a new level of his nature that reveals his presence like nothing that eye has ever seen or ear heard. The natural mind has never known our God as a consuming fire, but this anointing will cleanse the church realms. First the ministry, since they are the first partakers, then the body camped around the candlestick, and then the fellowship of the throne realm. The ungodly and the man of sin will be touched by the hand of the church, stretched forth to save some, even though as by fire.
He who hath an ear to hear, let him hear.
REFERENCES
1 Exodus 25:40
2 Hebrews 8:5
3 Acts 7:38
4 I Corinthians 10:2
5 Joshua 1:3
6 Joshua 3:3-4
7 II Peter 3:8
8 Joshua 3:15-17
9 R.N Norton, 1861.
10 Psalm 149:8-9
11 Luke 12:49-53
12 Revelation 2:17
13 Malachi 4:1-3
14 Philippians 3:13-14