A.B. Simpson on Baptism in the Holy Spirit

What we contend for is that the baptism of the Holy Spirit is a distinct experience, and must be received by a definite faith, and this involves the crisis: a full surrender and an explicit preparation of the promise of God by faith.

Every Christian may have the enduement of power without respect of persons in the measure in which he will profit thereby and use this great gift to the best account. But this very word “profit” implies certain conditions. The gift is for those that will make good use of it. It is, therefore, implied that before receiving it there shall be evidences of very deep sincerity and consecration, and every readiness to use it according to the work and for the glory of God. Even the apostles were required to tarry until they be endued with power from on high. This is not a gift that could be lightly assumed, but a profound experience calling for the most earnest and protracted preparation.

Jesus was born of the Spirit, as we read in Luke i.35: “The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.” But He was not baptized with the Spirit until His thirtieth year. Then when He made a complete surrender of His life to the Father and assumed the cross and the work of redemption in His baptism at the hands of John, the heavens were opened and the Holy Ghost ascended upon Him and abode. From that time there was a new personality added to the Son of man, and all His words and works were spoken and performed in dependence upon the power of the Holy Ghost.

Now, the Lord was our forerunner. “As He is so are we also in this world.” Like Him we are born of the Spirit and like Him we too must be baptized with the Spirit. There comes a time when a new personality is added to ours and we go forth to life’s conflicts and duties no longer alone, but in union with Him who has come to be our very life and all-sufficiency. It is the same as the bride who has hitherto walked alone through life, but there comes a day when another life is united to hers, and two go forth to life’s toils and trials, and yet not two, but one, and henceforth he is her strength, He is her support, He is her guide, and she goes forth leaning upon her beloved. That is exactly what comes to pass we when receive the Holy Ghost and the Lord to dwell within.

The experience of the disciples before and after Pentecost is equally clear and convincing on this point. Up to that time, they were undoubtedly saved men and women, but after Pentecost there came to them an entirely new experience involving not only power for service but power for holiness and righteousness in their own lives. The men were as changed as their ministry. “With great power gave the apostles witness to the resurrection of Jesus Christ and great grace was upon them all.”

The promise of Ezekiel respecting the coming of the Holy Ghost clearly distinguishes it from conversion. First we have the promise of conversion. (Ezek. xxxvi. 25, 26) “Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness and from all your idols will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take the stony heart out of your flesh and I will give you an heart of flesh.” All this very clearly refers to the forgiveness of sins, justification by faith and regeneration by the power of the Holy Spirit. This is the new heart received in conversion. But now there comes another promise transcendently greater and not to be confused with all this: “And I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments and do them.” This is the baptism of the Holy Ghost. This is not our Spirit, but His Spirit. We have received our new spirit, but now in this His Spirit comes to dwell, the divine and infinite Spirit of God. The effect of this is to cause us to walk in His statutes and to keep His judgments and do them. It does not say to encourage us, to instruct us, but to “cause” us. Therefore if this is not its effect, the Holy Ghost somehow has failed. How is it therefore if all Christians have received the Holy Ghost to dwell in them that the Holy Ghost has not caused them to be obedient? He does not say He will try to cause them, but He will cause them, and this is the great first cause, and above all, our second cause. Would we not naturally conclude that the people that are not walking in His statues and keeping His judgments and doing them, have not received this causing power?

The types which we find in ancient Israel foreshadow this deeper life and second blessing. When Israel went out of Egypt, they typified our conversion, but when they entered the land of promise and crossed the Jordan, they set forth our coming in the “rest which remaineth for the people of God.” There was surely a very great difference between these two experiences, and it was marked in the most significant manner and a great heap of stones set up so that there never could be any mistake about it in the minds of their children. Even in the earlier chapters of their wilderness life, we have a fine illustration of this deeper life. The Holy Spirit was set forth by the pillar of cloud and fire that went before them. This was their experience during the first year after leaving Egypt, but on the first day of the second year, something very different came to pass. The tabernacle was finished and dedicated and solemnly handed over to God, and then that mystic cloud came down and no longer led them from the sky or the mount, but took up its abode in the very bosom of the tabernacle as the Shekinah Presence of God, the Holy of Holies, and henceforth we read that God spoke to them, not from the mount, but from between the cherubim. 

In conclusion, the truth that we have been endeavoring to demonstrate is intensely practical. So long as people think they have it all, there is little incentive to rouse themselves and claim their full inheritance, but when God’s people see that like Israel of old, they are still toiling in the wilderness under His displeasure, that they are neglecting a great salvation, that they are out of fellowship with Christ and grieving the Holy Ghost, motive is supplied of overwhelming power and they are led to heart searching, humiliation and unceasing prayer, and a new impulse comes into their lives like a great tidal wave over the ocean of love, and an experience comes to the soul as much higher than conversion as conversion was better than the old life of flesh and sin.

This is the deepest need of the Church today. One such consecrated, Spirit-filled life means a score of souls for God. “Let us therefore fear lest the promise being left us of entering into His rest any of you should seem to come short of it.”

Excerpts from A.B. Simpson, Living Truths 5 (Dec. 1905), pp. 705-715.