When I think about the religion we embrace one of the points that eventually comes up is baptism. I am not sure that I have talked in-depth about that as the three oldest of you were not exposed to church until you were at least 5 – 6 years old. The remainder of you attended churches that baptized, but there was not a strong emphasis in this area. So I thought today I would talk a little bit about it and allow you to come to your own conclusions.
First of all, Baptism is NOT something new or exclusive to Christianity. A few examples are a ritual for the Egyptians in their Book of “Going forth by day” (Osiris Myth), the Babylonians in their Tablets of Maklu, for the Jews who still practice the Purification Ritual called the Tevilah as well as ancient Jewish sect, the Essenes who practiced Multiple immersions. ALL ancient religions recognized some form of spiritual cleansing, renewal or initiation that was accomplished through a washing/immersion in water.
Next the Bible refers to different types of Baptisms. In Hebrews 6:1 – 2 if you research the word Baptisms, you will see that it is a positional word, not just about being immersed in water. Then when you look at Matthew 3:11 – 12 John says: “I baptize you with water . . . but someone (Jesus) is coming . . . who will baptize with the Holy Spirit AND fire.”
You see Jesus did NOT baptize with water. (John 4:1 – 2) Paul only did this a couple times. (I Corinthians 1:14 – 15) Why? The first baptism was Jesus’ job with the Holy Spirit. If you read Mark 16:16 you will see this: “Anyone who believes and is baptized will be saved. But anyone who refuses to believe will be condemned. You see salvation is based on faith and requires a spiritual act to occur. Once that immersion into God’s spirit occurs then your act of obedience should occur – water immersion.
Water baptism is your way of sharing with others (physically) that something occurred inside of you when you believed that Jesus was who He said he was – The Son of God, who died for your sins, was buried and then rose from the dead so He could return to Heaven and intercede for you when you needed Him. So that explains why every person who believes in Jesus should have TWO baptisms as part of being obedient to God. But, what about that “Baptism of Fire?”
Let’s unfold that secret. Matthew 3:12 and 25:32 – 33 uses these verses to illustrate how Jesus’ baptism of fire is put in use. Two concepts – sheep and goats, wheat and chaff illustrate symbolically how people are going to be separated. Both concepts are closely related – wheat is nourishing and good, chaff does not have any nutritional value. Sheep and goat are similar but sheep follow their Shepard, goats roam the hills aimlessly. So the Baptism of fire is also Jesus’ job for the chaff and goats. We know from Revelation 20:10, 14 – 15 that these individuals are baptized into the lake of fire, or second death. People die here on earth (once) and will then be consumed in the baptism of fire (second) if they are not “Born from above” or with the spirit.
So with that short treatise on baptism, I know almost all of you have been baptized, but I wonder if you realize its importance, value and where/how your obedience impacts your future relationship with Christ. It’s good to know these things so someone else will not mislead you. Understand once the baptism of the spirit occurs and your obedience followed, NO ONE can snatch you out of God’s hand and you will never be baptized with fire. Good feeling, isn’t it?
Love Dad