So, AFTER being baptized in water and the Holy Spirit, Jesus was then led of the Spirit into the wilderness (40 days in the desert for Jesus, being like the 40 years of desert wilderness endured by the Israelites) in order to personally defeat/overcome Satan, the tempter. Remember the way back to the Garden of Eden is guarded by cherubim with FLAMING swords. Seems we have to go through the FIRE to get there. A baptism of fire as it were. The word of God says to believers who already know the Lord and have been baptized with water and the Holy Spirit, that it is through much tribulation we enter the kingdom of heaven. We must allow the jealous wrath of God to burn up our chaff - old man, flesh nature - but fear not because He protects His children through it with the intention of bringing us forth as gold and silver that has been refined in the fire. If Jesus the Lamb of God, our forerunner and captain of our salvation was PERFECTED through sufferings, how much more do we need to be? Perfected, as in being resurrected to partake of resurrection life - being made "spiritual". And I think after the wilderness, going to the cross was like the crossing of the Jordan for Jesus, the final severing and death to the flesh nature...apprehending what the wilderness battle had won, so to speak.
Isa 43:1-2
But now thus saith the LORD that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine.
When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.
(The Jordan river crossing to enter the land of Promise is here being likened to walking through the fire.)
You know, it occurs that the Father did not force Jesus to go to the cross and be crucified......likewise He will not force us. No that was voluntary, Jesus wrestled with His flesh until He got to the point of obeying the Father's will against even His own instinctive will to live...."nevertheless not my will but thine be done." That willingness I believe comes to us from the Lord too, since He has conquered the flesh for us....we have our part, but He has done the heavy lifting. Jesus has made the way for us and we have only to seek Him for what we need, and yield. Fear not. Yes, remember the Ark has gone ahead of us and is standing in that Jordan holding back the flood so we can safely get across. Praise the Lord for His wonderful word and all that He has done for us!
A couple of comments in your post..
Lizbeth, you cited Acts 14:22 in your post and introduced a new novel meaning into it, out of its original context. It has nothing to do with
directly crucifying the flesh, the old man or the carnal self at all.
Why the obsession with this type of crucifixion when physical age and missional spiritual work over time will 'kill it off' or disable it completely over time, as designed? And if of course, we also heed what Paul really said in verse 22.
Paul was preaching in a hostile environment and in fact stoned and left for dead. He returns to the same place and kept on preaching. His faith and mission was his life, and nothing would deter him in completing it. All believers should be as Paul as a great example of loving his God. In the process, he was so determined with enduring in faith to continue on in the works set before him for Christ and the Father, along with the many mental and physical persecutions from the world that hung around his neck and 'weighed' him down. He thus became more humble, meek, more susceptible and attracted to walking in his 'inner' life than his 'outer' life. Yes, he was helping crucify his outer man a little at a time.
Verse 22 is his summary statement to other disciples that they as they continued to preach they would certainly face trials and persecutions, even to death in the pursuit and completion of their goal for the Kingdom. And that continued faith and preaching .within a hostile environment would always result, in the end, in being in the Kingdom of God as their final place of rest and their prizegiven.
Today, less than 1 percent of believers would be or are confronted with physical death in displaying their strong beliefs of Christ to the world as in Paul's day and even many hundreds of years after him.
Today, most of our persecutions for the cause of the gospel and Christ is more sedated and mental, although they are real as Paul would also attest to it if he were alive today.
Persecutions and trials with a spouse, family, friends acquaintances, secular work even our physical health. Even within ourselves and the past baggage we might be carrying and should be shedding. Being in Christ is a struggle with all these elements, although we keep on keeping on in Christ. We know we are members of the Kingdom already and we await its full maturity in time and its new living.
Being a believer today since the first believer, and that would be Yahshua in his Father, is not meant to be a bed of roses and if our entire spirit is actually living in the Kingdom today. The world and self are enemies indeed although we cannot do our own works for salvation, to try and quicken and crucify the outer man before its time. That would be quite ironic indeed as we would be using the outer man to try and control it. Impossible and a futile idea. And actually we do not crucify the outer man, as if it is no more or does not exist. Whilst we are in these flesh clothes it will always be present. What happens when we focus more and more of the treasures of the Kingdom and on Christ, the real reason for our faith, we continue to disable the effects of the outer man by our focused 'inner' spiritual lives, over time. We cannot accelerate this process at all just by us. We need the presence and action of the Spirit to keep molding us into the image of his Son. This does take perseverance indeed.
There is no butterfly yet that has flown away. It still is in the larva caterpillar state or pupa state until after death. Then it truly will be free from the 'outer' man.
(Act 14:19) But there came Jews from Antioch and Iconium, and having persuaded the crowds, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing that he was dead.
(Act 14:20) But as the disciples stood around him, he rose up and entered into the city, and the next day he went with Barnabas to Derbe.
(Act 14:21) And when they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch,
(Act 14:22) confirming the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that through many tribulations we must enter into the kingdom of God.
One last thing...
And this 'fire' you believe as 2nd Baptism does not really exist IMO. It can be a dangerous idea that can actually lead one away from Christ into self-works of goodness and self-righteousness, and falling into the clutches of the outer carnal man.
This fire is one to cleanse our spirits and hearts and for us to grow stronger in faith through discipline and chastisement, to disable the 'outer' man more and more over time. These are the persecutions and trials I just spoke about and drawn from Paul's message and warning. This SHOULD BE and is part of a normal process for any true maturing believer in Christ Yahshua. They are not to 'sit' idle and wait for the Kingdom to come to them, they are to work within it today via the will of the Father and the spirit of the Son ONLY. Their metal must be tested over time to reveal the condition of their heart that revealed true sonship in the Kingdom.
There is no self-works that causes a new level or awareness to or 'into' Christ or causes a 2nd baptismal revolution or a new spiritual afterburner explosion to occur within us at all. We are already in Christ and are producing fruit of the Spirit. Each believer grows differently at different speeds in their walk in the spirit of their heart in Christ already.
Blessings...APAK