‘At Cornelius’ household, the sovereignty of God intervened in a special way. “While Peter was yet speaking, the Holy Ghost fell on them.” Acts 10:44. This is always God’s privilege. How foolish and futile is the attempt to put God into a strait jacket or to arrange His ways of working in set sequence. Peter had told the Pentecostal audience, “Repent and be baptized, . . . and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.” Acts 2:38, 39. But at Cornelius’ home, his converts believed, received the Holy Ghost, and then were baptized. Acts 10:44-48. Why not? Just so it is all done in obedience to God, and to the best of one’s ability, and according to the light one has. Who wouldn’t welcome other sovereign interventions in the pouring out of the Holy Ghost as it happened at Cornelius’ household? Could we not even consider that this visitation was God’s ideal, His perfect pattern: believe Christ, receive the Holy Spirit in immediate succession?’
Source: Ralph M. Riggs; The Spirit Himself (1949); The Baptism in the Holy Spirit, How to Receive It; p. 111.
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