“I didn’t know he was the one, but when God sent me to baptize with water, he told me, ‘The one on whom you see the Spirit descend and rest is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’”
John 1:33 (NLT)
John’s entire ministry was about preparing the way for Jesus. When the Pharisees questioned his authority, John made it clear that he wasn’t the Messiah, Elijah, or even the prophet Moses spoke of—he was simply the voice in the wilderness pointing people to the One who was coming. Though John baptized with water, he confessed that his work was only a shadow of the greater baptism Jesus would bring.
It’s possible that John baptized nearly a million people. Yet his own words reveal that the true power of transformation wasn’t in the water—it was in the Spirit. When John saw the Holy Spirit descend and rest upon Jesus, he knew this was the fulfillment of God’s promise. The same Spirit that rested on Jesus is now available to rest on us.
Water baptism symbolizes repentance and obedience, but Spirit baptism fills us with life and power. Jesus didn’t come just to cleanse us—He came to fill us. John’s ministry pointed to preparation; Jesus’ ministry delivers participation in the divine life. The water represents surrender, but the Spirit brings strength to live out what we’ve surrendered to.
If John—the greatest preacher of water baptism—called his own ministry small compared to Jesus’, then how can we treat Holy Spirit baptism like a side note? Water baptism is beautiful, but it cannot replace the power Jesus came to give. John prepared the way, but Jesus is the Way. To stop at the water is to miss the fire. The true Christian life begins when we are baptized with the Holy Spirit, because only then are we fully alive, fully free, and fully equipped for the work of the Kingdom.