The Word: Matthew 3: 4 – 6(KJV)
4 And the same John had his raiment of camel’s hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins; and his meat was locusts and wild honey. 5 Then went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judaea, and all the region round about Jordan, 6 And were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins.
Dig Deeper:
11 I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance. but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire:
Think about it
UNDERSTANDING JOHN’S WATER BAPTISM
Let’s take baptism deeper and further today:
Firstly, lets go over the few things we said about baptism:
1. Baptism comes from the Greek word: Baptizo. which simply means to Immerse. Another word for Immerse is also To Dip. So Baptism simply is to Immerse or Dip.
2. There is a reason for immersion and the reason is to:
– Soak, fill up, saturate, permeate, fill to overflowing, overload, drench, submerge, inundate, infuse, impregnate, penetrate, percolate.
Please take a few minutes to digest those words. So the only reason you want to intentionally immerse something is because you want it to soak and be completely saturated with that liquid.
Example:
Let’s take a few examples:
– When you marinate a piece of chicken with salt, pepper, oil etc, We leave it for a while so that the ingredients can properly enter into the chicken
– When we are tired and we just want to soak in the bath, it is because we want the warmth of the water to soak into our body so we can be refreshed from our tiredness.
– When a clothe is really stained and we leave it overnight in detergent solution, it is because we want the solution to really permeate the stains so that it comes off.
In other words God does nothing without a reason. The essence of baptism therefore is to soak, permeate, drench, fill up to overflow and completely saturate.
I think we get those 2 points now – The definition and the reason. So let’s go to bible history of baptism. There is what we call the law of 1st mention. It simply means the 1st time something is said or mentioned in the word.
History:
For most move of God, there will be the prophetic foretelling before it actually happens. In Joel 2: 28 – God promised he was going to pour out his Spirit in the last days. (Baptism can also be a type of outpouring. So when you drench someone and keeps pouring over them, the essence and effect will still be similar as if you submerged them.
In Joel 2: 28 – We have a clear cut promise of the baptism of the Holy Spirit. So it would seem Holy Spirit baptism is the quite important out of all the baptism. But we also have a prophetic word in Isaiah 40:1-3 promising someone that would come before Jesus to prepare the way, This person would call people to repentance. So the water baptism of John was a call and baptism to repentance. It was the preliminary, the starter course, the shadow of what is to come later. So clear the coming of John the baptist was prophesied, the Holy Spirit baptism was also prophesied. And in those 2 we have: water baptism unto repentance and Holy Ghost baptism.
Importance of John’s baptism:
John’s water baptism was symbolic of the need to hear the word of God, to repent and be forgiven. The washing of water represents the cleansing of our mind and conscience through the word of God. (Ephesians 5: 26). This is because faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word – Romans 10:17. With the heart man believes, with the mouth confession is made. So until the word of God comes, there is usually no repentance. John’s baptism stands for the place of the word in getting us born again
Jesus water baptism.
However after Jesus died and resurrected, he gave a clear instruction for anyone who believe to be baptised (Mark 16:15 -16, Matthew 28: 19 – 20). So Jesus gave a clear instruction for new believers to be baptised in the name of the father, the son and the Holy Spirit which is different to the water baptism of John. So we then have 3 types of baptism stated in the word:
– John’s water baptism
– Jesus’ water baptism
– Holy Spirit baptism
We ‘ll go deeper again tomorrow. But let’s take something from today; The water in John’s baptism represents the word. In order words, God wants us submerged in his word, he wants us drenched, soaked, overwhelmed in his word because without a continual drenching in his word, we cannot please him. His word is what continues to renew our minds daily
Nuggets:
God wants me soaked in his word
Our memory verse for Jebruary 2018
John 3: 3
3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
Let’s take a few moment to learn our memory verse for this month by heart. It can be memorised in 2 lines:
Line 1: Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee,
Line 2: Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
Once you say it a few times it will stick.
Prayer focus: Our prayers for the next level project:
Today we pray for journey mercies and protection…..
On Grace:
Masterlife Workbook: The Church is embarking on weeks of discipleship workbook study: Masterlife now on the 2nd workbook: The Disciple’s personality
