“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:” –
Matthew 3:11
One of mankind’s greatest strengths is their ability to
adapt. We can assess, learn, and adjust
faster than any species on this planet.
However, this survival advantage can also become a spiritual disadvantage
when we adjust to that which needs to be eradicated. When we willing choose to adapt to that which
God has offered grace for. God has made a way, if we will choose to walk in it.
John the Baptist was
ordained from his mother’s womb that he should be the forerunner of Jesus. He was to precede the coming of Jesus, as was
the work that he preached. We find him
beginning his ministry on the Jordan bank, baptizing the people with water unto
repentance. The masses within the Jewish
nation coming to John on the Jordan bank, confessing their sins and looking for
cleansing. The water they were immersed
in was an outward sign of an inward work, a sign that the Jews would
understand; for they have seen water cleanse before. Thousands of years before John, we find Moses
standing affront the whole of the Jewish people. The Red sea before him and the armies of
Egypt at his back. Pharaoh and all his
mighty men, charging hard after them to bring them back to Egypt. The Jews had temporally escaped the
enslavement of the Egyptians only to find themselves in a position where there
seemed to be no way out; until God said “stand
still, and see the salvation of the Lord.”
At that point, it is probably the last thing they wanted to do. I would have rather tried to make the swim
than stand still, but they did as God said and God parted the sea waters and
they crossed on dry land. The armies of Egypt
fell in behind them, but God allowed the waters to crumble and drowned the
Egyptians in the sea. The scripture
tells us that the bodies of the Egyptians washed up on the far bank where the
Israelites stood. The bodies washed up
at their feet. They saw these men, who
had beat them, persecuted them, and enslaved them for their entire lives; they
saw the corps of these men laying at their feet. The perpetrators of their bondage forever
gone, washed away by water. The
Israelites were baptized in the sea. It
was their rite of passage, their cleansing ritual, an awesome display of God’s
power; and a fundamental lesson to all Christians. God can carry you out of bondage and wash
away the sin in your life. It is no
accident that John indeed baptized with water unto repentance. The Israelites of old spent hundreds of years
in cruel bondage, the people coming to John and confessing their sins were in
cruel bondage, and there are men and women today who spend their days enslaved
by sin; and the first step to freedom is repentance. Repentance is an absolute turning away from
your old life and setting your face towards a new land. Your transgressions, your iniquities, and the
sins that you were so committed to and enslaved under; wash away by God’s mercy
and love. They are drowned in the sea,
and you can see their bodies at your feet.
John indeed baptized with water unto repentance. He was the forerunner of Christ; preparing
the way for the coming of the Lord. When
you confess your sins and turn away from it, you are baptized in the sea like
the Israelites were (whether you get wet or not). The same mercy, love, and power that brought
the Israelites out of bondage will bring you out. It is in the heart of man where the work is done
and the baptism is unto repentance. God
has made a way to redemption; will you walk it? 