Water Baptism Is The First Step Toward Insurrection = Identification With Christ Through Death, Burial, and Resurrection
IS IT REALLY NECESSARY?
As the title of this page communicates, baptism is
your identification with Jesus through your death, your burial, and your resurrection
into a new life.
Water baptism is significantly important for several reasons. It is the (1) first act of obedience to your new Lord, (2) it represents your death to your former life in the kingdom of darkness, (3) you come out of the water as a new creation in Christ — raised to newness of life. You have become a part of the “BODY OF JESUS CHRIST” on this earth.
WATER BAPTISM REPRESENTS OUR DEATH TO OUR OLD LIFE IN THE KINGDOM OF DARKNESS AND REBIRTH AS A NEW CREATION IN THE KINGDOM OF GOD.
Water baptism by immersion is required for true salvation.
Tilt ! Tilt ! I know this last statement upsets the traditionally and institutionally minded people because they don’t understand the difference between being “saved” and being “regenerated”. Please continue through this post to uncover the truth.
Much of the church world does not understand the difference between being “born again” (regeneration) and salvation (“sozo“)- THEY ARE NOT THE SAME THING.
MARK 16:16 —“He who has believed AND has been baptized shall
be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned.”
- BELIEVING
leads to being “born from above”
- birth
into the Father’s family
- “regeneration”
of our human spirit by the Holy Spirit
- citizenship
in heaven
- BAPTISM
leads to “salvation” [ which is not the
same as being “born again”]
- “sozo”
- deliverance
from the “world” by dying
- 1 John 2:15-17
— ”Do not love the world nor the things
in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes
and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.
The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of
God lives forever.”
- raised
to a new life as a “new creation”
- a
new “species” on this earth
- becoming
a part of the “body of Christ”
- “in
union with Jesus” on this earth
MATTHEW 28:19 — “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in
the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,…”
- “make
disciples” of Jesus by training them
- to
be a disciple of Jesus you must be baptized and understand what that actually
means
JOHN 3:5 — “Jesus answered, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of
water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.”
COLOSSIANS 2:11-12
— “and in Him you were also circumcised
with the circumcision made without hands, and the removal of the body of the
flesh by the circumcision of Christ; having been buried with Him in baptism, in
which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who
raised Him from the dead.”
ROMANS 6:4 — “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.”
- you
died and were buried under the water at baptism
- your
old life in the world ceased to exist
- you
were resurrected into a new life in Christ
- you
entered into a “newness of LIFE” in union with Jesus as a part of His body on
this earth — a new Species
- You
were making a statement that was “insurrection” — you were changing your allegiance from the
kingdom of darkness TO THE KINGDOM OF GOD
There are several issues that the Scriptures bring
up that we must address.
• In Mark 16 it says “shall be saved” — what does that mean?
• Also in Mark 16 it says “he who has believed” — what does that mean?
• In John 3 it says “unless one is born of water and the Spirit” — what does
that mean?
• In Colossians 2 it says “circumcision made without hands” — what does that
mean?
• In Romans 6 it says “buried with him in baptism into death” — what does that
mean?
All of these questions have to do with the significance of water baptism.
______________________________________________
Within the mainline institutional church there are
several ways that water baptism occurs. There are some denominations that
believe babies should be baptized. This type of baptism is performed simply by
sprinkling water on baby’s forehead or pouring some water over the baby’s
forehead. If you search the Scriptures you will find no justification for this
kind of baptism.
You will also find many denominations that believe
baptism in water must be done by immersion, or completely dunking under the
water. This method of water baptism is the only example of water baptism that
we find in the Scriptures. It was the example that was given to us when Jesus
was actually baptized in water by John the Baptist.
Some believe that baptism in water is not
essential and therefore it is your choice whether to be baptized or not. There
is only one Scripture in the entire Bible that is used to support this position.
That is the Scripture about the thief on the cross where Jesus told him, “Today you will be with Me in paradise.”
This was an extremely isolated event and it is not the norm that is taught in
Scripture, but I do believe that if you yield in your life to Jesus Christ on
your death bed and you had absolutely no way to be baptized when you died that
you would go to heaven. That would be an extremely rare situation.
Total submersion under the water is the only way
that water baptism can be compared to be being buried as is indicated by the
Scriptures.
WHY IS WATER BAPTISM BY SUBMERSION SO SIGNIFICANT?
In Mark 16 “he who has believed” and “shall be
saved” have to do with the persons response to the message that Jesus Christ is
Lord and that the kingdom of God is at hand.
When one believes that the kingdom of God is at
hand and yields his life to Jesus as Lord by rejecting his participation in the
kingdom of darkness he makes a quality decision to enter the kingdom of God and
to begin a new life of obedience to King Jesus. When this is done that person
believed that Jesus was raised from the dead and is now alive will receive
admission into the family of God and be given the Holy Spirit to live within
them. That person will be “born again” or “born from above” because before they
yielded to the Lordship of Jesus they were “dead” spiritually and did not have
the life of God until God gave them the Holy Spirit to live within them.
John 14:16 — “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may
be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot
receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He
abides with you and will be in you.”
Their being dead to God had been changed to life
in God’s family by the “regenerating” power of the Holy Spirit. This act of
regeneration is what we call being born again, but being born again does not
mean the same thing as being “saved”.
Being born again gives us new life, but it does
not give us the power or ability to turn our back on the kingdom of darkness.
That occurs when we “die” under the water and are raised up as a “new creation”
in Christ. We are “saved” when Jesus calls us to “come, die, and live”.
You are probably now wondering if I have been
given the life ( “zoe” ) of God by the
Holy Spirit when I was born again, then what is “salvation”? What am I saved
from? The answer: Saved from the consequences of your rebellion to God by
living in the kingdom of darkness ( THE WORLD WITH ITS SYSTEMS OF CONTROL) that
is ruled by Satan. Living in the world / kingdom of darkness is in essence a
life of total “self willfulness” just like the prince of darkness, Satan.
Satan, or the Devil, are the names most used when we refer to the fallen angel
that was named Lucifer.
Put all of the Scriptures together and you begin
to form a picture of something that is very significant. The basic significance
is that baptism by immersion under the water is a public outward demonstration
to the world and to spiritual forces that because of your decision to submit
your allegiance to Jesus as the Lord of your life that your life has been
changed and you have changed your allegiance from this moment forward. Your
allegiance is no longer to the world systems / kingdom of darkness and Satan’s
influence over your life. You have literally died to it and going under the
water symbolizes that death to and burial of the old life. You literally turn
your back on the “world systems” that are under Satan’s control and begin a
life of following King Jesus as one of His disciples and becoming a child in
the family of God.
In the first century when someone chose to follow
Jesus and were baptized in water they became an instant enemy to the State (
the Roman Empire ) and an enemy to Satan and his kingdom of darkness because
they were now giving their allegiance to a new nation, a new kingdom, under the
rule of a new King and Lord. That is the reason they had such persecution
and so many of these disciples were tortured and killed. When they were baptized
they instantly became part of the insurrection and revolution started by that
radical named Jesus.
Acts 17:6-7 — “These men who have upset the world have
come here also; and Jason has welcomed them, and they all act contrary to the
decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus.”
When you get baptized in water you too are
becoming a part of that insurrection against the kingdom of darkness ruled by
Satan because now there is another King you have submitted your allegiance to.
When you are raised up from under the water it
represents your birth into your “new life” as a disciple of King Jesus and
being in union with Him. You have become a brand new creation upon this earth.
You have cut your ties to the world with its systems of control over your life
and you have declared a new allegiance and a new citizenship that is in the
heavenly nation called the “EKKLESIA“. The Scripture says that you have
been raised up into a new life. This new life is a life of allegiance to King
Jesus because you are now “one with Him” and you now continue on with the same
purpose and ministry that He was doing during His earth life. You now live a
life of thanksgiving to Him for loving us enough to seek us out, tell us the
truth about the two kingdoms, and deliver us from our enslavement to the
kingdom of darkness and the consequences of our former allegiance to that
kingdom and its systems of control. Once you have experienced water baptism
after bowing to King Jesus, He enables you to become a part of the Church He is
building called the “ekklesia” and you become a new creation as a child of God
and are in union with Him as a new creation, or species, upon this earth.
The “ekklesia” is the “Church that Jesus is
building”. It is the “body of Christ” upon this earth. As like the
human body, it is broken down into small groups we call “cells”, or
“kingdom communities”, or “kingdom outposts”, or “covenant life
groups” where the building up of the body occurs.
Ephesians 4:11-16
— “And He gave some as apostles, and
some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers,
for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of
the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the
knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature
which belongs to the fullness of Christ. As a result, we are no longer to be
children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of
doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; but
speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is
the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together
by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each
individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in
love.”
The training for becoming a “disciple of Jesus” it
to take place within the cell, or one of these small group communities
mentioned above.
Matthew 16:18 (NLT) —
“Now I say to you that you are Peter, and
upon this rock I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not
conquer it.”
**NOTE: The “rock” Jesus was referring to
was not Peter. It was the revelation that Jesus is the Christ. The
Church was not built upon Peter; it is being built by Jesus upon the revelation
of who He is.
This whole process of: (1) being presented with
the “good news” ( the gospel of the kingdom that declares the kingdom of God is
at hand ), (2) you then acknowledged making Jesus Christ the Lord of your life,
and (3) then you being baptized in water was all done to demonstrate how much
God actually loves you by giving you His life and giving you the power to be
“saved” ( delivered from & empowered to overcome the world systems) from
slavery to the kingdom of darkness under Satan’s control which are also known
as the “world systems”.
I John 2:15-16 — “Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the
world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the
lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is
not from the Father, but is from the world.”
- In
this scripture “the world” is the Greek word referring to the systems of this
world under Satan’s control.
JOHN 3: 16 — “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten and so that
whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God did
not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world should
be saved through Him”.
- In
this scripture “the world” is the Greek word referring to the people in this
world.
The Scripture in Colossians 2 deals with a significant spiritual truth that is called the “circumcision of the heart”. That is a significant act when someone enters into a covenant relationship with another person. It is called the “mark of covenant”.
The Scripture tells us in 2 Corinthians 5:17 that we have actually become a “new creature” because we have been joined with Jesus by His Holy Spirit as one new body of Christ on this earth through being born again, being baptized, and entering into our blood covenant relationship with Jesus.
2 CORINTHIANS 5:17
— “Therefore if any man is in Christ, he
is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.”
According to Scripture as soon as someone makes a
commitment to submit their allegiance to the Lordship of Jesus and repent by
rejecting the kingdom of darkness in their life, they need to be baptized in
water as soon as possible – not a month away in a special ceremony at a church
meeting when it’s convenient.
Water baptism is actually your very first step of
obedience to your new Lord and Master. It is a declaration to the kingdom of
darkness and the kingdom of God and everyone on earth that you have made Jesus
your Lord, you are entering His kingdom, and you are cutting all ties with the
“world systems in the kingdom of darkness”. Your baptism can take place in the
church building’s baptismal tank, or in a river, or in a swimming pool, or in a
bath tub, or in a lake, or the ocean. It doesn’t matter as long as you
understand what you are really doing.
If we’re simply doing a “religious” thing then
don’t concern yourself with it because nothing has really changed. You are
still doing what you want to do rather than what He is saying for you to do.
Remember, in covenant, there is an exchanged life
— you exchanged the lordship of your life to Him and He became the Lord of your
life and He imparted to you His righteousness and His faith so you could reign
in life through Him — by your baptism you literally became “ONE WITH
HIM” as a “NEW CREATION” on this earth called the “BODY OF CHRIST”.
The reason so many Christians were put to death
and slaughtered by the Romans was because the act of water baptism was an act
of defiance and insurrection declaring the swearing of a new allegiance to a new Lord. When anyone said Jesus was their Lord that
was direct defiance to Caesar; for in
the Roman Empire only Caesar was called Lord.