Water Baptisms in the Bible

Transcript

GRM 960
5/28/2006
Water Baptisms in the Bible
Selected Verses
Gil Rugh


I want to turn your attention to the subject of baptism and a little bit of what the New Testament says about baptism, for a change of pace from our normal study of particular books of the Bible or sections of books, and look at a topic that we need to understand as believers. And there is disagreement among various people, various ideas on baptism. There are significant groups, numbers and different groups who believe that baptism is necessary for salvation and that it’s in baptism we are saved. Part of that would be those who believe it is necessary for infants to be baptized. Some of you come out of such a background and from time to time we hear from different ones of how distressed family members are when they learn that you’re not going to be having your newborn infant baptized. Because they believe that’s necessary for cleansing from original sin, and really the salvation of the infant.

Some teach that while baptism doesn’t save you in an of itself, it is a necessary ingredient in your salvation In other words baptism is one of those things required for salvation. It’s not the only thing, but it is one of the parts of salvation. Then there are those who would hold what we believe to be the biblical position, that baptism is simply a public testimony of your salvation that has been acquired by faith in Christ, and we’ll say more about that on another occasion. Interesting, whatever the position held, these people claim that they have support from the Bible on their view for baptism, and there are passages that do stretch us. And if we have time, not tonight but on another occasion, we’ll talk about some of those passages.

Turn to Matthew 15. We all have traditions. Indian Hills has its tradition, and over time things that we have done in the same way can tend to become fixed in our minds as requirements or more spiritual if we do things in a certain way. There is nothing wrong with tradition, there’s nothing wrong with following certain patterns over time. But we must be careful that we don’t come to identify our traditions as being biblical requirements. And this has happened with the Jews. The Jews had made their traditions so important, they began to supercede scripture and cancel out scripture. In Matthew 15:3 Jesus spoke to the religious leaders in Israel, Pharisees and scribes. And He said, why do you yourselves transgress the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition. In other words, your tradition has become more important to you than the Word of God, and you are willing to go against the Word of God to preserve your tradition. And He gives them an example. Down in verse 6 He says this example illustrates that by this you invalidated the Word of God for your tradition. And then what He says to them is very harsh. You hypocrites, rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you, this people honors Me with their lips but their heart is far away from Me. But in vain do they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.

And you see what happens. Over time the development of traditions that become more important to people than the actual Word of God, means that they are now teaching their traditions instead of the Word of God as He has given it. And their worship is empty and meaningless. They are hypocrites, they are not truly worshipping God, they are worshipping themselves. They are worshipping their word, their practices, they are not worshipping God. What a serious matter. I say this in this context because some of our practices such as baptism get so firmly ingrained in our thinking that it has to be so. And it’s hard to move away from ingrained practices. Some of you came from churches where they recited the Lord’s Prayer every week. I can’t tell you how many times over the years of my pastorate I’ve had people say, couldn’t we say the Lord’s Prayer? I don’t feel I’ve worshipped when I leave a service and we haven’t even recited the Lord’s Prayer. Well does the Bible say the Lord’s Prayer is to be recited as part of our worship? No, but it’s become ingrained in our mind, a habit that we identify in a certain way. That can become true of baptismal practices. So it’s important just to look into the scripture and find out what does the scripture say about baptism and be sure that our thinking is in line with what the scripture says.

John the Baptist will come on the scene after what is sometimes called the 400 silent years. And that simply identifies that approximate period of time from the last time God had sent a prophet to speak to Israel with a message from Him. And so for 400 years there was no prophetic ministry in Israel, and then John the Baptist comes on the scene and it is an awesome occasion. He is called John the Baptist because he is John the baptizer. Baptism was a strong component of his ministry. And yet there is no indication there are any people wondering, John, why are you baptizing? John, what does baptism mean? John comes on the scene, he’s identified as John the Baptist, he baptizes people in the Jordan River, as we will see, and yet nobody seems confused. What is baptism? Why would he be baptizing people?

And that would indicate that there were certain practices that had been going on that utilized baptism, that gave people a basic understanding of what baptism signified or meant, even though it was used in a variety of contexts. Some of these possible backgrounds would have been what we call Jewish proselyte baptism. And Jewish proselyte baptism would have been what was practiced when a non-Jew converted to Judaism. Around New Testament times when a Gentile converted to Judaism one of the things required, along with others, was baptism, not necessarily as we would think of it. For a full convert to Judaism there had to be circumcision for the male, then he underwent a ritual baptism, a ritual bath. He was ceremonially cleansed, placed in the water to signify that he was being cleansed from the defilements. And coming from a non-Jewish background he had done a lot of things that would have been defiling to a Jew. So this ritual bath symbolized a cleansing and then with that he offered a sacrifice. That ritual bath or baptism pictured their cleansing and was part of identifying them now with the nation Israel. We don’t know when that practice developed. Our references to proselyte baptism come from the last part of the first century. How long that had been in practice, we don’t know. But it seems by the time you come to Christ’s ministry and the ministry of John the Baptist, the Jews were familiar with such a practice from their own background.
There was also baptism in the mystery religions. Oriental beliefs had mixed together in the Greek and Roman religions, and they produced what is known as the mystery religions. These maintained a strong over a period of about 1000 years, beginning hundreds of years before New Testament times and continuing long after New Testament times. Our interest in these is one of the requirements for becoming a member of the mystery religions was to undergo a ritual baptism. This again symbolized and represented you were being identified with this particular mystery religion, this religious group. We don’t know a lot, again, of the details about when it began, but indication is that by New Testament times this was a recognized practice.

Just mention this, that baptism as a practice wouldn’t have been foreign, anymore than it is to us, even outside of what we would consider true biblical context. Baptism is rather widely practiced, and we have a general understanding of what is entailed. It seems to carry the idea of a purification or a cleansing. It was a ritual bath, if you will, a placing into the water and bringing up out, symbolizing you’ve been cleansed from your defilement. And now purified to be a part of this particular group. And so the two things, the cleansing and new identification, cleansed from your defilement and your old ways to become identified as a purified person with this new group. And so when you come to New Testament times, baptism would have been recognized in that context.

Baptism in scripture is mentioned numerous times, I think about 120 times the word baptism is used in the New Testament. Now what we want to note……. We think, well baptism, that’s water baptism and we often identify it in our tradition. I was baptized as an infant because that was part of the practice of the religious group that we were part of. Many of you were baptized as infants. And so often when we read baptism, we identify it in a certain way, coming out of what we are used to. But there are a variety of kinds of baptism in the New Testament, as you are aware. I’ve noted at least 5 different kinds of baptism. Water baptism is just one of those. We always think, baptism, that’s water baptism, that’s like we do on some Sunday nights, it’s always in the water. But that’s just one of the 5, may be the most prominent but it’s only one of the 5.

There is also the baptism of the Spirit in the New Testament. There is a baptism by fire in the New Testament. In fact, turn to Matthew 3. These first 3 are all mentioned in one verse. I didn’t have to do a lot of research to find those. Matthew 3:11, John the Baptist is speaking, as for me I baptize you with water for repentance. But He who is coming after me is mightier than I, I’m not fit to remove His sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit. There’s the second kind of baptism. John distinguishes it from water baptism. And fire. So baptism of fire. That may have to do with the judgment that he mentions in the very next verse, which will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.
There is a baptism of suffering that Jesus refers to in Mark 10:38-39, which is different from water baptism, different from the baptism that Christ had experienced earlier—a baptism of suffering. And then there is a figurative baptism referred to in I Corinthians 10:2 that we will get to in our study of I Corinthians. Talking about those who were baptized into Moses.

So just an example of different ways the word baptism is used and the different kinds of baptism that are mentioned in the New Testament, some more prominently than others. Some may be mentioned once, some may be mentioned other times. But we want to be careful, if we don’t distinguish them we don’t maintain the clarity that the Word of God would have us have. So I just want you to note that you have to look at the context to determine what kind of baptism we are talking about.

We’re going to talk about water baptism tonight, not all kinds of water baptism, but two kinds of water baptism. I think there are at least 3 kinds of water baptism dealt with in the New Testament—John’s baptism, the baptism practiced by John the Baptist (we’ll say more about that in a moment), the baptism of Jesus Christ that He personally underwent at the hands of John the Baptist. But it stands out as a unique and distinct baptism, separate from John’s baptism. And then there is Christian baptism. That is different from the baptism that John the Baptist practiced, and it is different than the baptism that Jesus Christ underwent. Both the baptism that John practiced and the baptism that Christ underwent were baptisms in water. So also is Christian baptism. But they are not all the same. And you hear some people say sometimes, we need to be baptized because Jesus was baptized. But that is not so. The baptism that Jesus underwent is not the same baptism that you and I undergo when we are baptized in water. And His baptism is not an example for us to follow, it is a distinct, unique baptism.

Okay, let’s talk about two of these. Let’s talk about the baptism by John first, since that’s what hits us first in the New Testament. Baptism was such a prominent role of John the Baptist’s ministry that he is called John the Baptist, John the baptizer. Has nothing to do with our Baptist denomination. Having Baptist denomination in my background, some Baptists think they can trace it that far back. But Christian baptism is not the same as the baptism practiced by John the Baptist. He had a unique ministry, a ministry different and distinct from anyone else. He was called to introduce the coming Messiah.

Look in Mark’s gospel, then we’ll come back to Matthew again. Mark 1:1, the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ the Son of God, as it is written in Isaiah the prophet. And now you have the quote from Isaiah. Behold I send my messenger ahead of you who will prepare your way, the voice of one crying in the wilderness. Make ready the way of the Lord, make His paths straight. So Isaiah 40 prophesied the coming of a messenger who would announce the impending arrival of the Messiah of Israel. He is making His paths straight, in the context of the arrival of a king. Those went out ahead of him, in those days you had to smooth the road. They didn’t have asphalt and concrete, but they went out to smooth the way. And it became a picture, then, of preparing the way for the coming of the king. And the Messiah is the king of Israel, the one anointed by God to be the king of Israel. So verse 4, John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And this was to prepare the people for the coming of the Messiah. And his message was, there is one coming after me so much greater than me. And I’m not even worthy to be a slave who would unlatch or latch the sandals of His feet. I baptize you with water, but His ministry will be much greater—He’ll baptize you with the Holy Spirit. You see John’s ministry was one that involved baptizing people in preparation for the coming of the Messiah. Now John’s baptism did not provide forgiveness of sins. The baptism didn’t cleanse people from their sins.

Come back to Matthew 3. And the same kind of context we just read in Mark 1, I wanted you to see it in a different gospel. The same reference introducing it in the first part of chapter 3, you have a description of John, his unique appearance. Interesting, he came in the wilderness, yet his message is so powerful. Remember John was indwelt by the Spirit of God from his mother’s womb. He comes with such a powerful message and he uses such a of God that supernaturally the nation is drawn to John. And there is recognition that once again after hundreds of years of silence God has sent a prophet with a unique message.

They’re being baptized, in verse 6, by him in the Jordan River as they confess their sins. So when they believe John’s message, acknowledging their sinful condition and believing the truth of what he preached, then they are baptized. But the baptism isn’t what cleansed them. We know that from what follows in the next verse. Verse 7, but when he saw many of the Pharisees and Saducees coming for baptism he said to them, you brood of vipers. Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? I mean instead of saying, wonderful, you need to be baptized, he’s saying, stop. You’re a bunch of poisonous snakes. Therefore bear fruit in keeping with repentance. Don’t think just because you’re a descendent of Abraham that you’re saved. God could raise up from these stone children to Abraham. For the Jews’ whole dependence was what? We belong to Abraham. When Jesus spoke to them of their dead spiritual condition in John 8, we have Abraham as our father. Their whole dependence was on their physical lineage, like people today. Nothing changes in that sense. Their parents were Roman Catholic, their parents were Lutheran, their parents were Methodists, their parents were.……… (fill in the blank), and they’re following in that line. And it’s part of our family heritage, and of course we’re saved. Our family helped found this church, my grandparents were involved in the beginning of this church. So? What does that have to do with salvation? We see how the Jews with hundreds of years of tradition had come to trust that.

So if baptism was necessary for their salvation, John should have encouraged these sinful, religious people to get baptized. But he stopped them. He said, no, first I have to see some evidence of true repentance in your life, bring forth fruit, verse 8, in keeping with repentance. I don’t see any evidence of repentance, evidence that you’ve really understood your sinful condition before God and repented of your sin and believed in Him as your only hope. So he wouldn’t baptize them. So clearly he didn’t see his baptism as cleansing people from their sin.

Also, John’s baptism will be superceded by Christian baptism. If John’s baptism cleansed people from their sin, there would be no purpose in people getting rebaptized. Turn over to Acts 19. Some time has gone by. Jesus has been crucified, raised, Paul is out preaching the gospel now. And in Acts 19, and this is just after he leaves Corinth, and having founded the church at Corinth which we’ve been studying about. And Acts 19, it happened that while Apollos was at Corinth Paul passed through the upper country and came to Ephesus and found some disciples. He said to them, did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed? They said to him, no, we’ve not even heard whether there is a Holy Spirit. What they’re saying here, we haven’t heard whether the Holy Spirit has been given. They know about the existence of the Holy Spirit because they are disciples of John. And remember what did John preach? I baptize you in water, there is one coming after me who will baptize you in the Holy Spirit. They had no question about the existence of the Holy Spirit. They don’t know whether the Holy Spirit has come in fulfillment of the promised Messianic ministry, the coming of the promised Messiah. Evidently they were disciples of John who had been part of his ministry but had left that area and were not familiar with the finished work of Christ on the cross with His death and resurrection. And they were dwelling now in Ephesus, outside of Israel, removed from that area.

Verse 3, into what, then, were you baptized? They said, into John’s baptism. Paul said John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in Him who was coming after him, that is Jesus. When they heard this, they were rebaptized, they were baptized in the name of Jesus. Some say, well if baptism were cleansing from sin, that should have taken care of it. Now they are rebaptized in the name of Jesus. That indicated it didn’t cleanse them from their sin.

What was John’s baptism about? Three things involved in John’s baptism. 1) Repentance. It was a testimony that a person had repented of their sin and were now casting themselves on God’s mercy. The message that John preached, repent of your sins, acknowledge you are a sinner, and you are on your way to judgment. Cast yourself on the mercy of God, believing that He provides and will provide the Savior. Remember salvation is always by grace through faith. They didn’t always know the revelation that would yet come, but they believed what God revealed up to that point. Like Abraham believed God and it was credited to him for his righteousness in Genesis 15:6. So it was baptism as a public indication, I have repented of my sin, I have acknowledged I am a sinner, acknowledged that I am one deserving of judgment and my only hope is I am trusting in the God of Israel and His promises for my salvation. That’s biblical repentance which would manifest itself in a changed life. That’s why John said, bring forth fruit, evidence in your repentance. There is to be some indication, one of which would be they are no longer trusting in themselves and their tradition.

2) His baptism symbolized and represented a cleansing. Because of God’s work in my life in salvation, I have experienced cleansing. And baptism symbolized that cleansing from sin they received when they repented. The Old Testament prepared the way for this. Just take one passage, Ezekiel 36. This would be in the context of the promises and provision of the new covenant that God would provide for Israel. All the blessings God promises to them. When God regathers Israel they will be established as His people once again. He Messiah will rule over them. Ezekiel 36:25, then I will sprinkle clean water on you, you will be clean. I will cleanse you from your filthiness, from your idols. Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you. Verse 27, I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes. You see that sprinkling clean water on them. Leviticus 14 talks about that symbolic cleansing with water. Never possible that external things could cleanse the heart from sin, but they could speak in a visible way of the necessity of a cleansed heart. They could represent in a physical way what had taken place spiritually. So John’s baptism symbolized the cleansing from defilement, defilement of sin that had been promised in connection with the Messiah’s ministry.

3) John’s baptism gave an identification. It indicated that a person was identified with the ministry and message of John, that we needed to prepare for the coming of the Messiah, we needed to repent of our sin and prepare our hearts for the coming of the Messiah who would come to establish a kingdom. But before He established a kingdom, in judgment He would root out all the sinners and unredeemed, so that only the redeemed would go into His kingdom. So this person was identifying himself with the message of John in preparing himself for the coming of the Messiah.

So the baptism of John was an event associated with the coming of the Messiah and people responding to the ministry of John the Baptist were saying I’m preparing myself for the coming of the Messiah of Israel. That’s why in Acts 19 they were rebaptized, because the Messiah has come. Now you need to be identified with the Messiah Himself, not the one who prepared the way for the Messiah, but now you identify with the Messiah Himself. So they could be rebaptized. No conflict there, because they had been identified with John and now they are identified with the One that John announced. Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

So John’s baptism was a unique ministry associated with his unique role. Baptism was involved, but that’s not Christian baptism. Nor is it the baptism of Jesus Christ. And this can get confusing because Jesus was baptized by whom? John the baptizer. But it couldn’t have been the same baptism that everybody else was experiencing. Why? Well what did John’s baptism do? It symbolized first repentance from sin. Wait a minute, Jesus had no sin to repent of. It portrayed in a symbolic way that cleansing from sin that we experience when we repented and placed our faith in the message of God’s provision. Well wait a minute, Christ had no sin to be cleansed from. So He didn’t need to be identified with John and his message in that sense. And two of the three in particular didn’t pertain to Christ at all. They relate to sin. But yet Jesus is baptized by John.

Let me review with you the way Jesus Christ identified with the believing element in Israel through His life up to His public ministry. When He was 8 days old He was circumcised, Luke 2:21. Then of course that in light of Leviticus 12:3, among other passages, requiring circumcision, at 8 days for a male child, male, Jewish child. When He was 40 days old He was presented to the Lord in the temple, Luke 2:22. This was a requirement of the Old Testament law. Sometimes I’m asked, why don’t we dedicate and present children? Because that was part of the Mosaic law, that was not given to the church. Well wasn’t Jesus presented when He was 40 days old in the temple? Yes, because the Mosaic law required it. We won’t go back there, but Numbers 8:17, Leviticus 12:2-6. What did this have to do with? Remember, and we went back and read the passage, when the angel passed over the Jewish homes before the exodus and he slew the firstborn among all the Egyptians. God said, now the firstborn belongs to Me, and you shall redeem them. So they are presented when they are 40 days old in the temple and a sacrifice is made. Christ’s parents made the sacrifice provided for those too poor to make the normal sacrifice. So that was part of Mosaic law, required of a male, Jewish child at 40 days. So we need to be careful we don’t blend things. I realize some churches say, well we’re just dedicating them, indicating the desire of the parents’ hearts. But we need to be careful we’re not confused on the biblical practice. That’s part of Mosaic law, has nothing to do with what the church is to be doing with its infants today, anymore than circumcision.

When He was 12 years old He was found in the temple at Passover. Significant time of carrying out a ministry there, a key time in a young man’s life. He is able to function more as an adult with responsibilities to the law. Today they would practice Bar Mitzvahs, and that becomes some of the law. Then we jump to 30 years of age when He is baptized by John. Luke 3:23 tells us right after His baptism at the beginning of His public ministry Jesus was about 30 years of age. And it’s interesting according to Numbers 4:30, a male child was not eligible for the priesthood until he was 30 years of age. And Jesus is going to be prophet, priest and king. And how old did He have to be to enter into a priestly ministry? Well to be a Levitical priest, that was a requirement for a Levitical priest. He’s a Melchizedekian priest, but He does meet the standard of what was required for a priest in Israel, even though His priesthood is of a different order. That may well be why we are told that He was about 30 years of age when He began His public ministry. And He is prophet, priest and king. And He is identified as all three by comparison in Matthew 12, but we won’t look at that now, either.

You come to Matthew 3:14, verse 13 says, Jesus arrived from Galilee at the Jordan, coming to John to be baptized by him. So note, John tried to prevent Him saying, I have need to be baptized by you, do you come to me? I need to be baptized by you, I’m the sinner, I need to be identified with you. You don’t need to be identified with me. The response of Christ, verse 15, Jesus answering said to him, permit it at this time, for in this way it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness. Jesus recognized that as He had identified with Israel and what was expected and required of the believing element in Israel, that also included a response to John’s ministry in identifying with John in his ministry. So Jesus does identify himself in a public way with John’s ministry, even though John recognizes the baptism of Christ is unique and totally different. I’m baptizing one that does not need to be baptized by me in that sense, does not need to acknowledge repentance, does not need to portray cleansing, One who is greater than me. And yet Jesus said we are fulfilling all righteousness and this demonstrated His identity with the message of John, identifying with John’s message when John is preaching His truth. People need to respond and believe it, and He’s identifying with the believing remnant in the nation.

So that’s the first thing that’s happening in Jesus’ baptism—He’s identifying with the believing remnant in Israel. Secondly, His baptism is His inauguration into His public ministry. We noted that the Bible speaks about Jesus being circumcised when He was 8 days old, being presented at the temple when He was 40 days old, ministering in the temple at Passover when He was 12 years old, and when He is 30 years old He begins His public ministry at His baptism. Those are the time markers. We have 30 years of Jesus’ life, the first 30 years and we only have 3 events after His birth—circumcision, presentation at the temple and ministry when He is 12 years old at Passover. Now He is 30 years old, He begins His public ministry and this is what the biblical accounts in the gospels are about—that 3-year public ministry of Christ.

And this is His inauguration into His Messianic office which is the beginning of His public ministry. Matthew 3:16, after being baptized, Jesus immediately came up from the water and behold the heavens were opened and He saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove, lighting on Him. So a visible representation of the coming of the Spirit of God upon Christ. This is His inauguration into His Messianic office. There is a voice from heaven, this is My Beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. Turn back to Isaiah 42, behold my servant whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom my soul delights. I have put My Spirit upon Him, He will bring forth justice to the nation and so on. That’s fulfillment of that. I have put My Spirit upon Him. Turn over to Luke 4:18, the Spirit of the Lord is upon Me because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed, and so on. Here He is quoting from Isaiah 61. Down in Luke 4:21, today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing. So the Spirit coming upon Him, and He says the Spirit is upon Me, and this is what my ministry is now—fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy concerning the coming of the Messiah.

So until that time Jesus was not functioning as the Messiah of Israel. Now He was the Messiah, but He had not formally entered in to His Messianic office, not formally been anointed by the Spirit to begin to function as the Messiah of Israel. So we have the fantasy tales of apocryphal books that Jesus made birds out of clay and then they came to life and flew away and so on. They are just stories made up, because the Spirit doesn’t come upon Christ for Him to begin to function as Messiah and demonstrate that He is the Messiah of Israel until events associated with the baptism at the hands of John. Then the Spirit comes upon Him in a visible way, a voice from heaven says My Beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. Really that takes Psalm 2:7, refers to Him as His Son, and Isaiah 42:1 with the placing of the Spirit upon Him, which we read. The confirmation that He is the Messiah, now He begins to function as Messiah, He begins His public ministry. He was led into the wilderness for 40 days, tempted by the devil and then He begins His preaching ministry, declaring that He is the Messiah and the kingdom is at hand.

So baptism of Christ served two purposes—it identified Him with the believing element in Israel, the ones responding to John the Baptist’s ministry. And of course it identified Him with John as His forerunner, as the One that John had been preparing the way for. And secondly, it was His inauguration into His Messianic office. Neither of these things has to do with us as believers, directly. They have to do with us because of who He is. But we’re not baptized because Jesus Christ was identified with John the Baptist and the believing remnant in Israel. We’re not baptized because Jesus was baptized, inaugurating Him into His Messianic ministry. We don’t have a Messianic ministry, we’re not messiahs. So in those senses, Jesus’ baptism is unique only to Him. And John’s baptism was unique to the ministry he had in preparing the way for the coming of Christ. And Christian baptism is unique. Now what unites all these is they involve baptism. There are certain elements, identification and cleansing, that are symbolized in baptism wherever it’s done. But even there, for Christ, the cleansing element is not there. But the identification is, and we will see that in Christian baptism.

So two different kinds of baptism—John’s baptism and the baptism of Christ, both of great importance. And important that we understand the distinctions that scripture makes, so that we don’t just run things together and then that leads to confusion because then pretty soon we’re thinking that those that John baptized were Christians, like we are Christians. And Jesus was being baptized so that all His followers would be baptized. And we fail to understand the uniqueness of these events, as John prepared the way for the coming of the Messiah. And Jesus enters into His ministry as the Messiah of Israel, and the true high priest who supercedes and replaces the Levitical priesthood, and the only One who could offer a sacrifice that once for all for all time will take care of sin, the One who is anointed by God. And that’s what the Messiah means, and we heard that He is the anointed One, the One anointed by the Spirit, and He’s the Messiah of Israel.

We want to look more in some of the other issues in baptism and kinds of baptism over the next couple of Sunday nights. And that will include Christian baptism and some of those matters relating to infant baptism, the baptism of households, and some passages that seem to indicate that salvation requires baptism. And we must repent and be baptized for the remission of our sin. But that will be for a future study.

Let’s pray together. Thank you Lord for your Word. Thank you, Lord, that we have the privilege of searching out these things, of being diligent students of your Word. And I pray that we will have an appreciation of the truth as you have given it, that it’s not enough just to have a general superficial awareness of what your Word teaches. But we want to be diligent to show ourselves approved to you as workmen who do not need to be ashamed, because we are handling accurately, correctly your Word. We are in awe that you have spoken, that we have been entrusted with your truth and we now have your Spirit to enlighten our hearts and minds, to be our teacher, and to enable us to understand the truth that you have given for our understanding. May these truths become part of our lives, part of our practice, that we might demonstrate that we are a redeemed people. Thank you for our day together, the richness of your truth as it has been taught in classes and in our services. Lord, we look forward to the week before us. May we faithfully represent you wherever you place us, wherever you send us. We pray in Christ’s name. Amen.