I
indeed have baptized you with
water: but he shall baptize you
with the Holy Ghost. - Mark 1:8
Baptism
by natural course renders the person or persons immersed in and thereby subject
to the nature of that which he or she is being baptized in. If you are
baptized in water, you take on the nature of water. If you are baptized in fire
you take on the nature of fire. The immersion inherently makes you apart of the
nature; you become it, it does not become you. This is the essences of
baptism.
The
Jews through the law would have understood water being a symbol for ritual
cleansing, and they would recognize the use of water in rite and
ceremony. When John came preaching repentance, baptizing in water. It
would not have been a great leap for them to recognize the significance of
this. Jon’s baptism of repentance was a turning away from your sin and water baptism
represented the cleanse of the old and the immersion into the new. The
religious leaders of that day had starved the people of access to Almighty God
and used their knowledge and position to exalt themselves. When John the
Baptist came preaching repentance from sin, the people were hungry to hear it;
and they did hear it. However, John was faithful to his calling and recognized
that he was the forerunner of Christ. He did not exalt himself but instead
confessed that “he must increase, and I
must decrease.” How much better off would we all be if we confessed the
same? The baptism that we were ultimately to be baptize with, the entire
message, the hallmark of God’s glorious plan of salvation to fallen man, was
and always will be the baptism of the Holy Ghost. This baptism was always meant
to be the primary baptism that we all were to be baptized with. It was coupled
with the use of water, but not subject to it. However, let us take instruction
from this rite. Consider the act of baptizing in water. First, the person to be
baptized must commit themselves to the waters keeping. Then they are destined to put on the very
nature of the water itself. The immersion is a nature change. This is the allegory
to everyone that would be, and should be baptized by the Holy Ghost. A
complete surrender to the call of Christ, total abandonment of yourself, and
full immersion into belief of Jesus Christ. By which you take on the very
nature of Christ through the Holy Spirit. As Paul says in Galatians 3:27 “for as many of you as have been baptized
into Christ have put on Christ.”
The
Bible tells us that there is one Lord, one Faith, and one Baptism. The
Lord is Jesus, the Faith is His faith, and the Baptism is His baptism.
The baptism of the Holy Ghost. The baptism that makes Holy. Have you received
this baptism?
