The Seventh of the Seven Baptisms
By: Eldon McNabb

"I will purely purge away thy dross, and take away all thy tin. "And it shall come to pass, that he that is left in Zion, and he that remaineth in Jerusalem, shall be called holy, even every one that is written among the living in Jerusalem: When the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof by the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of burning." (Isa. 1:25 and Isa. 4:3,4)

The holy scriptures show that when Jesus Christ shall come to take unto Him His great power, and reign upon the earth, He will be greeted by a people who are pure, perfect, sinless. Those people will be "the Bride." (Rev. 19:6-8; Eph. 5:26,27) The other believers who are alive and remain at that time shall be bridesmaids or guests at the wedding. Matt. 22:1-10; Matt. 25:1-10; Rev. 19:9.

This perfection of "The Elect" is to be accomplished by a purifying process which he calls a "burning," and is accomplished by The Man of God whom God shall raise up for that time. (Num. 8:5-7; Mal. 3:1-4) Once The Man of God has risen in the hearts of the elect, and they have been baptized unto him, he can begin to perfect them with the Baptism of Burning

God showed this in a figure in Moses’ day, when He made the Levites His Elect, out of all Israel, and gave them as a gift to Aaron and his sons. Aaron purified those Elect Levites so they could do the service of The Sanctuary, then they were offered as an offering before the Lord. (Num. 8:6,7,13-21) Moses, also, was commanded to "sprinkle water of purifying upon them," then they were to wash their own clothes. (Num. 8:7; Num. chap. 19)

In Malachi God applied that election to the time when the Lord shall come suddenly to His temple (Church) at the end of the age. He said, "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 (let us not confuse ‘the Lord’ Who is coming with ‘the messenger’ who is to prepare for His coming), 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. Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the Lord, as in the days of old, and as in former years." (Mal. 3:1-4) Even as the tribe of Levi was God’s elect from among His people Israel in the Old Covenant, God is speaking here concerning His elect from among His people who are serving Him under the New Covenant. His is speaking of the time when the spiritual sanctuary, which Peter built with lively stones, shall be built again in these last days and shall be purified, and made white.

It was the apostle Peter who accomplished this purifying in the "days of old, in former years." In Christ's stead, he brought The Church to perfection during that first seven years after the ascension of our Lord. In reference to the work of perfecting the Church, Peter said, "the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?" (1 Pet. 4:17) It was in this setting which Ananias and Sapphira brought their unholy offering and laid it at the feet of that New Covenant altar of twelve apostles.

The Elect must be judged first, then the rest of the believers, and, after that, God will judge the world in righteousness. To accomplish that, God will raise up a man with "The testimony." That testimony is a volume of prophecy which shall be given to him for the elect to fulfill. (2 Chron. 23:11) That man will fulfill that volume of prophecy, and espouse a people to Christ. (2 Cor. 11:2)

It was the apostle Paul who was given the work of laying the foundation for the perfection of the Gentile Church. He said, "According to the grace given unto me, as a wise master builder, I have laid the foundation and another buildeth thereon." (1 Cor. 3:10) Many others have build upon the name of Jesus, in the past two thousand years, but only one man will fulfill the prophecy and finish the work for which Paul laid the foundation.

Sometimes Paul made statements which make it sound as if he will finish the Gentile House and present it to the Lord. However, he expected us to comprehend them in the light of 1 Cor. 3:10. With this view we can understand what Paul meant in 2 Cor. 11:2, Col. 1:23-29 and Rom. 15:15-18. He said, "I am jealous over you with a godly jealousy: for I ha ve espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ."

Again Paul said, "I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfill the word of God; even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations. But now is made manifest to His saints, to whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory." (that is, Christ formed in you, as he said in Gal. 4:19.) "Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man (Obviously not every person in the world, nor even every Christian.) perfect in Christ Jesus: Whereunto I also labour, striving according to His working, which worketh in me mightily." (Col. 1:26,28,29)

In Rom. 15:15-18, Paul said, Grace is given to me of God, "that I should be the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the gospel of God, that the offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Ghost. "to make the Gentiles obedient, by word and deed." Paul was making a direct allusion to the words of the Lord in Lev. 22:17-25 and Isa. 60:7. "For a vow "it shall be perfect to be accepted," even "from a stranger's hand." "They shall come up with acceptance on Mine altar, and I will glorify the house of My glory."

Even as Water Baptism is called the baptism of repentance, so also the Baptism of Burning is the baptism of perfection. (Matt. 3:11; Mark 1:4) Just as Water Baptism was committed to John to prepare the people for the advent of our Lord's first coming, so the Baptism of Burning shall be committed to The Man of God at the end, to prepare The Elect for the advent of His second coming. Of this messenger He said, "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, (The elect, who will do the work of this sanctuary) and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the LORD an offering in righteousness." (Mal. 3:2,3)

Thus shall the prophecy in Daniel 12:10 shall be fulfilled, "Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried." Then shall also come to pass Rev. 19:6-9. "Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints."

"Let us go on unto perfection. This will we do if God permit." Heb. 6:1,3.

AMEN