BAPTIZED INTO CHRIST
Galatians 3:27 says, "For as many as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ." This is a wonderful verse. It does not say, "baptized in Christ," but, "baptized into Christ." There is a great difference! We have not been baptized in Christ, but into Christ. As many as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. If you were baptized into Christ, you surely have put on Christ.
The same concept is expressed in Romans 6:3: "Or are you ignorant that as many as have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death?" We have been baptized into Christ Jesus, and now we have Christ Jesus covering us. We have put on Christ. Is this a form or a ritual conducted according to a vain word? Absolutely not! This is a reality accomplished by the faithful Word of the Lord.
However, we still have a problem. You have been baptized into Christ, and now you have Christ upon you, but when were you baptized into Christ? At what time and in what place were you placed into Christ? Actually, it is very difficult to say. One thing is clear: we have the full assurance that we have been baptized into Christ. We may not know when it happened or where it happened, but we do know that it has happened. After we believed in the Lord Jesus, we were baptized into Christ. We simply do not know when or where, but we can testify that we have been baptized into Christ.
Some may reply that they are clear about the exact time and place they were baptized into Christ. While they were praying, something suddenly happened to them and they were baptized. Although I do not criticize this kind of realization, I beg you never to make your experience a standard for others. If you read the New Testament, you will find many different occasions of the baptism of the Spirit, with no two occasions being exactly the same. Every occasion was unique. Many of us have the assurance that we have been put into the Triune God. Many times I have experienced that I am really in the Triune God. This is not simply knowledge; it is real and I have experienced it.
In 1935, before I ever spoke in tongues, I had an experience of being in the Triune God. While I was ministering on a Lord’s Day afternoon, something similar to a cloud descended upon me and overshadowed me. I felt it and could almost see it with my eyes. Suddenly my speaking changed. It was not changed into tongues-speaking, for I continued to speak Chinese, but the whole congregation knew that something had happened. I have no words to describe that occurrence. There was no speaking in tongues and nothing miraculous happened, yet all the people had the deep conviction that the Lord was there. That was a genuine experience of being in the Triune God.
I had another such experience in the early days of January, 1943. During the meeting I was standing on the platform. A song had been called and the whole congregation, numbering more than five hundred people, was singing. Suddenly, the entire congregation began to sob. No one cried or wept loudly, but everyone sobbed with tears. My own tears came, and I simply could not sing. Everyone in the congregation experienced this. While we were singing, we were sobbing. With both the young and the old, the sobbing was mingled with singing. We did not know how to describe this. Some testified that they simply came into the meeting place and were caught by the Lord. There was no need for them to listen to a message.
Moreover, I can never forget another Lord’s Day afternoon meeting in 1943. After we had sung a hymn and before I gave the message, I began to pray. That prayer lasted more than half an hour. I prayed with just one word—Shake! Shake! Shake! I spoke in regular Chinese, not in tongues, but all the words came forth like the waters of Niagara Falls. "Shake our families! Shake our homes! Shake our country!" I was standing as I prayed, but I did not ask the people to stand. However, after a time all the people stood up and one of the brothers came from his seat and held up my arms because I had raised them up as I prayed. This was a real experience of being in the Triune God.
(The Kingdom, Chapter 20, by Witness Lee)
