John answered them all, saying, “I baptize you with water, but He who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. —Luke 3:16
Many of the hymns we sing this morning take a cue from John the Baptist, referencing the gift of the Holy Spirit along with images of fire. In Come, Thou Fount Of Every Blessing, we ask for the Spirit’s help to praise with “flaming tongues” (a clear reference to the day of Pentecost). Psalm 29 describes the Lord’s voice as “flaming in fire,” while both To Our Redeemer’s Glorious Name and O Love That Will Not Let Me Go refer to God’s love as an “immortal flame” and “sunshine’s blaze.” In the closing hymn, Come Down, O Love Divine, we ask the Lord to bestow His “holy flame,” that our souls might be visited with “ardor glowing.” Like Apollos in Acts 19, we need the animating power of the Holy Spirit to put into practice the things we believe. I pray that this morning, the Lord would send His spirit until, to paraphrase Breathe On Me, Breath of God, our earthly selves glow with His divine fire.
