WATER BAPTISM
The Word of God tells us clearly the following:
1. “He who believes (is redeemed) AND IS BAPTIZED shall be saved; but he that believes not (is not redeemed and thus not baptized) shall be DAMNED.” (Mk. 16:16)
2. “And JESUS, when HE WAS BAPTIZED, went up straightway out of the water:” (Mt. 3:16a// Mk. 1:9,10)
These two truths of the Word of God show us the very great importance of the water baptism and it is the following.
THE FIRST TRUTH from Mk. 16:16 is this:
THOSE, WHO BELIEVED IN THE LORD JESUS CHRIST, BUT WERE NOT BAPTIZED DURING THEIR EARHTLY LIFE OR IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE SCRIPTURE, MAY NOT ALL BE SAVED!
The above truth touches three kinds of people:
1) Children, who died before the age of their accountability or consciousness of sin, could not sin and thus had nothing to repent of. They did not need to be baptized since they were saved as they were when they died. They received the free gift of justification unto life without repentance provided by the Saviour. (Rom. 5:18) All those, who later in their age had become conscious of sin and started to commit sins, needed to repent and be baptized,
2) Men, who believed in their heart and had no real chance, no time to be baptized as was the case with the criminal crucified on the right hand side of Our Lord. (Lk. 23:39-43) Here belong also those men that shall “call on the Name of the Lord” (Acts 2:21// Rom. 10:13) in dangerous circumstances (Tribulation) where their lives might be at stake or they might call in the midst of sheer terror having no chances for baptism. They all will be subjected to the process of overcoming–perfecting their souls after their physical death. (see details on pages 206–208[8])
3) Believers, who do not believe in baptism, or do not care, or have other reasons to procrastinate or were not baptized by immersion (Mk. 1:9// Rom. 6:4// Col. 2:12// Jos. 3:17) or were not baptized in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit (Mt. 28:19) OR in the Name of Jesus Christ. (Acts 2:38) All these, when they die in this state of not being baptized at all or not being baptized according to the Scripture, may be given the same chance of overcoming–perfecting their soul after death as those in point 2) above. This applies especially to all those that were deceived or misled by others, or that were ignorant about this Commandment of the Scripture due to no fault of their own. They were not taught the Scripture or led into Its Truth by their leaders. All these may receive the light from the Lord concerning their old natural man and overcoming after their physical death IF they have not fallen away before they die physically. (Heb. 6:4-6) If they have fallen away before they die physically, then they have lost their Salvation before their physical death (see more later).
THE SECOND TRUTH is that even Jesus, the Son of God, had to be baptized! Why? Was He not born of the Holy Spirit? Was He not full of the Holy Spirit? What then was the purpose for His baptism? I see in my spirit three reasons for His baptism and they are the following:
1) He needed to be ANOINTED for His Mission of man’s Salvation by the Power of the Holy Spirit! Up to that point, strictly speaking, Jesus was not yet “The Christ” which means “THE ANOINTED ONE”. His Anointing after His water baptism was tested right away in the wilderness by Satan, who began by asking Him the stupid question: “If Thou be the Son of God…” (Mt. 4:3).
2) By His baptism He signified the necessity of His future death and resurrection, the dying of the OLD and sinful CREATION including man as a natural creature, and the beginning of a NEW CREATION including our New Man – new creature (2Cor. 5:17) with his New Life rising out of death.
3) He gave His answer to all the believers, who would follow Him according to the Scripture. (Mt. 16:24// Mk. 8:34// Lk. 9:23) Without baptism we cannot receive the (additional) gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38), which means, the anointing for our mission in earthly life which mission includes the Full Salvation of our redeemed soul. Though we may be born-again and the Holy Spirit dwelling in us (in our spirit), yet we need His anointing and power to ENABLE US to deny our self and take up our cross and follow Him.
We may now declare the truth that is vitally connected with THE MOST IMPORTANT ISSUE of our Christian life discussed in this book. That truth is the following:
IF WE ARE NOT BAPTIZED BY IMMERSION (MT. 3:16A), WE CANNOT RECEIVE THE POWER – THE ANOINTING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT – TO EVEN BEGIN THE VITAL PROCESS OF THE FULL SALVATION OF OUR REDEEMED SOUL. WE THUS CANNOT FOLLOW OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST BECAUSE WE HAVE NO POWER TO DENY OUR SELF AND TO TAKE UP OUR CROSS AND FOLLOW HIM (MT. 16:24), OBEY HIM (HEB. 5:9) AND TO WORK OUT OUR OWN SALVATION WITH FEAR AND TREMBLING! (Phil. 2:12)
The significance of our water baptism is that we are baptized into Jesus Christ, into His death, buried with Him into death, so that “…like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the Glory of the Father, EVEN SO WE also should walk in NEWNESS OF LIFE” (Rom. 6:3,4)
Again, if the above Word of God is for us only a “written line in a book” which we read, agree with and believe, there cannot be any walk in any New Life since THAT NEW LIFE IS MISSING IN OUR SOUL! To walk in the “newness of Life” means to live the Life, which is New in our SPIRIT and MUST also become the New Life of our SOUL, for our earthly walk. This may also be viewed as a “Resurrection of our soul”! (see more in Chapter 3)
The truthful conclusion to the significance of water baptism is that it is our public declaration of our faith to die to the old life of our natural soul and be resurrected to the New Life in our soul. This process takes our entire Christian earthly life. But it is definitely and absolutely IMPOSSIBLE FOR OUR OLD NATURAL SOUL TO LIVE THE LIFE OF GOD’S SPIRIT AND THUS TO “WALK IN NEWNESS OF THAT LIFE”.
THERE IS A WORLD OF DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A NATURAL SOUL AND A SPIRITUAL SOUL. WE DO NOT GAIN THE SPIRITUAL SOUL JUST BY BELIEVING IN THE LORD JESUS CHRIST OR BEING BAPTIZED IN WATER. WE ALL HAVE LIVED IN OUR NATURAL SOUL UNTIL OUR WATER BAPTISM. ONLY AFTER OUR BAPTISM, WE HAVE RECEIVED THE POWER FOR THE TRANSFORMATION OF OUR SOUL FROM THE NATURAL TO THE SPIRITUAL ONE.
YET MOST BELIEVERS CONTINUE LIVING IN THEIR NATURAL SOUL AFTER THEIR REDEMPTION AND BAPTISM! THAT IS WHY THEY ARE CALLED “SOULISH, CARNAL, NATURAL BELIEVERS” AND THEY ARE UNAWARE OF IT. THEY CONTINUE IN THEIR OLD HABITS, OLD LIFE WALKING ON THE OLD WAY –THE BROAD WAY– WHERE THEY CAN DO WHAT THEIR SOUL DESIRES, SO IT IS A “COMFORTABLE CHRISTIAN LIFE”. THEY DO NOT EVEN KNOW THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE NATURAL AND SPIRITUAL SOUL AND NOBODY TELLS THEM ANYTHING! WHY?
MANY OF THEIR MINISTERS THEMSELVES DO NOT SEE AND UNDERSTAND THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE SPIRITUAL AND THE NATURAL (SOULISH) LIFE THOUGH IT IS CLEARLY DECLARED IN THE FIRST LETTER OF PAUL TO THE CHURCH IN CORINTH. HENCE, THEY ARE UNABLE TO GUIDE THEIR CARNAL “SHEEP” IN THIS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT TRANSFORMATION PROCESS FROM THE NATURAL TO THE SPIRITUAL LIFE.
THE NATURAL SOUL LIVES THE NATURAL LIFE WHICH IS A CREATED LIFE AND WAS DEFILED, CORRUPTED IN ADAM. IT IS A SINFUL, THEREFORE, MORTAL LIFE AND IT MAY BECOME A VERY RELIGIOUS LIFE. BUT IF YOU WILL SAVE THIS NATURAL LIFE, YOU WILL LOSE IT! (Mt. 16:25// Mk. 8:35// Lk. 9:24; 17:33)
THE SPIRITUAL SOUL LIVES THE ETERNAL LIFE OF GOD WHICH IS AN UNCREATED LIFE, THE LIFE OF GOD HIMSELF. IT IS A SINLESS, THEREFORE, DEATHLESS LIFE WITHOUT END. IF YOU LOSE YOUR NATURAL LIFE FOR CHRIST’S SAKE, YOU SHALL FIND IT… THIS LIFE OF GOD!
These above facts and truths will become more and more clear when connected with the facts and truths in the following Chapter 3.
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To be continued next week in chapter 3 – part 1
brother Hanola
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