Holy Spirit on all flesh

Born again and baptism of the Spirit

 Born again and baptism of the Holy Spirit are two different experiences. We are ‘born again’ to receive salvation in Christ. It is a spiritual experience of total transformation like a rebirth by the Spirit.

1 Corinthians 12: 3 says: “no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit.” That means the born again experience and salvation is a work of the Holy Spirit that happens in a human being. That also means that all born again believers have the Spirit in a measure.

But the baptism of the Holy Spirit is a different experience. It happens to those who believe in Jesus Christ and are saved by faith. It refers primarily to the out pouring of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost on the apostles and many others who were gathered in the Upper Room. The Book of Acts goes on to narrate more incidents of the baptism of the Spirit on believers. So baptism of the Holy Spirit is what happened on the day of Pentecost, the early church and to the church today.

Judaic Messiah and Jesus Christ

(All Bible verses quoted in this study are taken from New King James Version, if not otherwise mentioned)

Judaism, Christianity and Islam are considered generally as Abrahamic religions. All these three religions believe in a Messiah or 'the anointed one' who is the saviour or liberator of humans. The concept of Messiah originated in Judaism with exclusive characteristics for him.

The word "Messiah" is an English rendering of the Hebrew word Mashiach. It is translated in Greek as Khristós (Χριστός) which in English is Christ. The word means “anointed”.

The Messiah concept is a fundamental part of Judaism. In Hebrew, the Messiah is also called as Melekh Mashiach which means 'the Anointed King'. The ‘anointing’ is a ritual in which someone or something is consecrated by pouring holy oil on him or it. In the Old Testament, kings, priests and prophets were anointed by the holy oil. The altar in the Temple, vessels, unleavened bread were anointed with oil. (Exodus 29:7, 1 Kings 1:39, Exodus 29:2)

In Judaism, the Messiah is someone who is chosen to rule.  He is a Jewish political and spiritual leader. He must be a king and or a High Priest anointed with holy oil. The Messiah will come to Earth to bring a time of perfect peace and prosperity. His reign is called the Messianic Age. Generally Jews believe in a single person as Messiah. But there are Jewish scholars who argue for the concept of a more than one person Messiah.