Spirit Baptism & Waiting on God
- by David Berthiaume
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Waiting is not an activity that we in the western world like to do. Gas lines, waiting at the check-out stand in the grocery store, and even waiting for our computer to boot can be frustrating moments for us. We simply don’t like to wait. What we want, we want now.
I suppose that many of us, even as Christians, have a difficult time waiting on God to do something we want Him to do. Again, we don’t like waiting in prayer or waiting for God to change our difficult situation. Yet, the Bible makes it very clear that waiting on God is an essential part of the believer’s experience. Jeremiah, known as the “weeping” prophet because of the difficulties he faced in giving a very unpopular message from God to his people at a time of national crisis knew from experience the importance and necessity of waiting on God. Concerning the blessing of waiting on God he wrote:
“The LORD is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him. It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord.” Lamentations 3:25-26
Several Hebrew and Greek words are translated “wait” in the Bible. In the above verse the two Hebrew words are qawah in verse 25 and dumam in verse 26. The Hebrew word qawah means “to wait for, look for, hope for” and dumam means “to patiently, quietly wait in silence.” Using the original Hebrew words, I would paraphrase these two verses in the following way:
“The Lord will create joyfulness, pleasantness, and fruitfulness in those who wait upon Him with confident, enduring trust. He will grant these things to the one who inquires of Him and asks Him” (Lamentations 3:25).
“It is morally right that a man should have the hopeful expectation that God will answer his request, and then quietly wait for God’s assistance and deliverance in the matter” (Lamentations 3:26).
Every book I have written focuses on some aspect of the experience of those who will be ready for Christ’s second coming. This book is no different. Those ready to meet Jesus will know from experience the blessedness of waiting on their God for everything. They will have gone through the greatest crisis any generation of believers will have endured. They will have had to learn the lessons of waiting on God in order to make it through this difficult time called the tribulation or time of trouble.
Waiting on God refers to the times of need when the Christian looks to God in confident, quiet, expectant, hopeful, peaceful trust. Such waiting can only develop in each Christian’s life through experience. In this book we will look at the kind of experiences God will bring into our lives in order to teach us the lessons of waiting on Him.
Waiting on God involves much more than waiting for God to deliver in a crisis. It also includes waiting for everyday guidance from God in the affairs of life, and waiting for guidance in service for Him, a moment-by-moment waiting attitude of prayer, waiting for the full manifestation of Christ in our lives. In short, the biblical concept of waiting on God encompasses every aspect of the Christian’s life.
In this book I share many personal experiences of waiting on God. I always feel somewhat self conscious when I share things about myself. However, my purpose is to give God the glory. When Jesus delivered the demoniac as recorded in Mark chapter five, the delivered man wanted to stay with Jesus. Jesus said to him, “Go home to thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee, and hath had compassion on thee” (Mark 5:19). The personal stories I share in this book are just that—telling the wonderful things the Lord has done for me, and sharing the compassion He has shown me. I share the teachings of this book from experience, and tell you that without doubt, we serve a loving heavenly Father, who will be true to His word and bless those who wait on Him.
The parable of the ten virgins is a story about waiting on God. It clearly indicates there will be a waiting time for all who are ready to meet Jesus (Matthew 25). However, the five foolish virgins who waited for that event will not be ready. Their waiting was not the waiting to which the Bible refers. Biblical waiting leads us to intimately “know” our Lord. The foolish virgins did not have that kind of intimate knowing (Matthew 25:12).
The reason for this lack in the foolish virgins experience is that they did not have the extra oil, which refers to daily experiencing the baptism of the Holy Spirit that is necessary to fully developing the character of Christ within ourselves. Therefore, I will begin our study of waiting on God by focusing on what the Bible teaches on the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
A most important lesson in the Christian life is to learn to wait on God. In this book “waiting on God” means resting in entire dependence on Him for everything.
We can learn the importance of waiting on God by observing nature. All of nature by instinct waits on God. God provides for the animals, and they must wait on Him to provide.
“These [animals] wait all upon thee; that thou mayest give them their meat in due season. That thou givest them they gather: thou openest thine hand, they are filled with good” (Psalm 104:27-28).
It was God’s work to create, and it is God’s work to maintain His creation. The Bible tells us that God is “upholding all things by the word of his power” (Hebrews 1:3). God constantly maintains and provides for His creation. That is how He established all things, and that is how He wants us to view Him—as our maintainer and provider. This is how intimately God desires to be connected to His creation—to you and me.
Moreover, Jesus used nature as an illustration of our need to wait for God to provide and not to worry about our needs being met:
“Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body more than raiment? Behold the fouls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof” (Matthew 6:25-34).
Notice what we are to do: We are to seek an intimate relationship with God first by seeking His kingdom and righteousness, after which we have no need to worry about anything because He has promised to provide whatever is needed. We are to live one day at a time and “take no thought” or worry about tomorrow because God will provide for us today and tomorrow also. We are to “wait on God” resting in entire dependence on Him.
{Author’s note: The next four chapters will present biblical truths as to why God allows trials and difficulties to come into the Christian’s life, and why we must learn to wait on God at such times. This study begins by focusing on the role trials play in developing our relationship with God.}
Jesus said, “And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent” (John 17:3)
Our salvation is not a matter of what we know, but who we know. We, as Seventh-day Adventists, are in danger of depending on “what” we know in order to be ready for Christ’s second coming. We feel secure because we know about the Sabbath, tithe paying, health reform, death, the mark of the beast, the manner of Christ’s return, etc. Remember, it was tithe-paying, Sabbath-keeping, health reformers who crucified Jesus. What we know is important. However, without knowing Jesus, we will be deceived in the end and lost.
The Greek word translated “know” refers to intimate knowing—not simply an intellectual knowing. So I ask the question, “Is God really real to you, or is He just an intellectual concept?”
This personal illustration will clarify this point. When I was six months old, I was adopted by the Smith’s. However, they never told me I was adopted while I was growing up. I was 23 years old when I found out I was adopted and during the following years I learned more facts about my history. Subsequently, I have met my birth mother several times and my birth father once. I also have brothers and sisters I have met since then. I know the facts about my past, but in reality they are just facts. The adoption is not actually real in my mind. I have head knowledge of the adoption, but it is not felt in my heart. I know, and have met, all my birth family. Yet, they are more like casual acquaintances rather than intimate family. On the other hand, the Smith’s are not casual acquaintances because I intimately know them.
God can be like that to us. We can know things about God, but not really know Him. A head knowledge of God is not real heart knowing—intimate knowing. His desire is that we know Him intimately.
We don’t get to know God in this manner through doctrines or teachings about Him. Israel had the Old Testament Scriptures and the sanctuary service. Yet they didn’t know their own God when He came in the flesh in the person of Jesus Christ (John 8:58). Of their lack of knowing Him, Jesus said:
“Search the scriptures: for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. And ye will not come to me, that ye might have eternal life” (John 5:39-40).
We can know God is omnipotent (all powerful), omniscient (all knowing) and omnipresent (all present) without knowing Him. We can know things God has done such as create this world and the other Bible stories of God’s actions in the affairs of men and still not know Him. Such knowledge “about” God is not “knowing” God. We can be very active in serving God in ministry and even do marvelous things in the name of Jesus and not know Him:
“Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say unto me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name have done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity” (Matthew 7:21-23).
An active, apparent successful ministry in the name of Jesus is not evidence we actually know Him.
The foolish virgins were also caught up in a self deception. They believed in Jesus and that He was coming soon. They enjoyed fellowshipping with God’s people. They believed the doctrines and lived the lifestyle. Yet Jesus told them, “I don’t know you.” (Matthew 25:11-12). Ellen White described them as follows:
“The class represented by the foolish virgins are not hypocrites. They have a regard for the truth, they have advocated the truth, they are attracted to those who believe the truth; but they have not yielded themselves to the Holy Spirit's working….the class represented by the foolish virgins have been content with a superficial work. They do not know God….Their service degenerates into a form” (Christ Object Lessons, p. 411, emphasis added).
“The name ‘foolish virgins’ represents the character of those who have not the genuine heart-work wrought by the Spirit of God. The coming of Christ does not change the foolish virgins into wise ones. . . . The state of the church represented by the foolish virgins, is also spoken of as the Laodicean state” (Review and Herald, Aug. 19, 1890, emphasis added).
Note that the foolish virgins do not know God because they have not yielded their lives to the working of the Holy Spirit, which would have led them to know God intimately and become like Jesus in character. This is why the daily baptism of the Holy Spirit is essential for every believer who wants to intimately know God and be ready for Christ’s return.
At the time of the writing of this book, Dennis Smith is serving as pastor in the Southern New England Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. Dennis has served the church as an active layman, and in pastoral and departmental positions for over 35 years.
Dennis received a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering from Colorado State University. While at Colorado State, he became a Seventh-day Adventist Christian. After working in engineering for a short time, he felt the call to full time ministry. To fulfill that calling, Dennis attended Andrews University Theological Seminary and received a Masters of Divinity degree. Dennis has also done studies in the area of public health from Loma Linda University.
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