Mat 3:11-12; Dyed in the Blood of Christ.Sunday December 17, 2023
baptizo, "to baptize," [transliteration] primarily a form of bapto, "to dip." Came to mean immersion or identification.
It was used among the Greeks to signify the dyeing of a garment, or the drawing of water by dipping a vessel into another, etc. Plutarchus uses it of the drawing of wine by dipping the cup into the bowl, and Plato, metaphorically, of being overwhelmed with questions.
John’s baptism was performed as an individual confessed their sins, and this in light of the fact that the kingdom of heaven was near. John’s baptism was from heaven (not from him).
Mat 21:25 "The baptism of John was from what source, from heaven or from men?"
The answer from the chief priests gives us the answer, from heaven.
Mat 21:25-27 And they began reasoning among themselves, saying, "If we say, 'From heaven,' He will say to us, 'Then why did you not believe him?' 26 "But if we say, 'From men,' we fear the people; for they all regard John as a prophet." 27 And answering Jesus, they said, "We do not know."
Pagan religions before Christ used ritual washings. Those were from men. John’s immersion in water as the people confessed sin, was from heaven.
The word baptism is used in reference to washing.
Luk 11:38 When the Pharisee saw it, he was surprised that He had not first ceremonially washed before the meal.
John’s baptism is not the same as ritual cleansing in the Mosaic Law. Ritual cleansing was not connected with confession. It was done by yourself to yourself.
John’s baptism was unique and from heaven. A symbol of a renewal of life fit for the kingdom of heaven.
It was connected with a renewal of life implied by repentance, meaning, a life that had turned from selfish pursuits to the love and worship of the Lord.
Mar 1:4 John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
This is the first of its kind.
John’s baptism reveals that the only way into the kingdom of heaven is by the forgiveness of sins.
Baptism means immersion or identification
Mat 3:11-12 As for me, I baptize you with water for repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, and I am not fit to remove His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 12 "His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clear His threshing floor; and He will gather His wheat into the barn, but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire."
Mat 26:27-28 “Drink from it, all of you; 28 for this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins.”
Luk 22:20 “This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood.”
There is a connection between the baptism of the Holy Spirit and the Lord’s Supper.
Eze 36:25-27 “Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. 26 Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.”
The prophecy of the new covenant shows us both aspects of baptism.
Forgiveness of sins – wash, immersion, into the grave. New spirit – emersion, resurrection, walking in newness of life.
Forgiveness without newness of life is like going into the water and not coming out. It is death.
Jam 2:26 For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.
Walking in newness of life is walking by means of the Holy Spirit. For this reason you were forgiven and given the Holy Spirit.
The baptism of the Spirit enters us into union with Christ, clothes us with Christ, places us in the body of Christ forever, and imputes to us the indwelling of God the Holy Spirit. All this and more are to the end that we live (walk) by the Spirit and no longer the flesh.
Rom 6:1-11 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace might increase? 2 May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? 4 Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, in order that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection, 6 knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, that our body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin; 7 for he who has died is freed from sin. 8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, 9 knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him. 10 For the death that He died, He died to sin, once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. 11 Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.
Christ went into the grave, and by baptism (identification, immersion) He took all believers with Him. He died for the sins of the world.
When He came out of the tomb, He brought us with Him (identification and immersion into His life).
Jesus was not baptized by John as a sinner, but as one who was identifying Himself with the sins of mankind.
Gal 3:26-27 For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. 27 For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.
God overruled by His grace what we could never do.
To what end? Much of the Bible contributes to the answer to this important and, I think, often overlooked question.
Joh 17:3 “And this is eternal life, that they may know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent.”
Joh 17:24 “Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me,”
Christ’s gift to us is immeasurable. It is forgiveness and newness of life. It will be a struggle, especially as you are trying to mature in understanding, which is a war with your pride, weakness, arrogance, and lust. It is no accident that Christ’s temptations come just after His baptism and reception of the Holy Spirit.
A seed dies and then rises to a plant (vine), Joh 12:24.
This is the same as baptism. He died, and He killed you with Himself. He rose and He took you with Him. He rose to become the splendid vine and you are a branch. What is your purpose? Shouldn’t it be the most exciting, and absorbing thing in your life? |