HOLY SPIRIT TEACHINGS
Water Baptism
John Baptizes Jesus
13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him. 14 And John tried to prevent Him, saying, “I need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?”
15 But Jesus answered and said to him, “Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he allowed Him.
16 When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. 17 And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
The above verses of Scripture describe a crucial spiritual incident which prophetically was being acted out by Jesus and John, IN ORDER to demonstrate the ways into righteousness. Jesus told us to seek first the kingdom and its righteousness and all things would follow or be added unto you (Matthew 6:33). In this verse Jesus was sharing the order of salvation for mankind, so that they may be with God. First, you must seek the kingdom and then HIS (God’s) righteousness must follow. What is the kingdom?
The kingdom of God is a way of life, and that way of Life is Christ’s Life in us; His Seed growing, that God has planted by His Spirit, no different then what He did with His own Son when He planted the divine Seed in Mary. The whole walk of Mary in her obedience to God was a demonstration of how God’s Life (Christ) would come into the world and overcome death (the flesh or sinful nature) of mankind in all God’s people. He was going to do this spiritually because God is Spirit. God would plant the Seed of His Son in His people from the beginning and then take them through a walk (Life) of obedience by His Spirit which entailed trials and tests along the way which would help to maintain their stance as His true sons which He created and formed by His Power. Eventually, as the Seed matured in them (like a child growing in the womb), when the time was ready it (the Light) would be brought forth or manifested into the world for all to see (Zechariah 4:10; Matthew 13:31-32).. It would be revealed in the appointed time (1 Corinthians 4:5; Job 12:22; Matthew 10:26; Ecclesiastes 3:1-2).
Jesus Uses a Story About Seed
26 Then Jesus said, “The kingdom of God is like someone who plants seed in the ground (the ground would be His people, representing the earthly or carnal nature; that ‘someone’ is God He’s speaking about).27 Night and day, whether the person is asleep or awake, the seed still grows, but the person does not know how it grows(refer to John 3:7-8; Psalm 121:4; as the ‘ground’ grows into a new person in Christ they may not understand the growth fully, but still continue to grow because God does it). 28 By itself the earth produces grain (Luke 8:15; 1 Corinthians 3:6-7). First the plant grows, then the head, and then all the grain in the head (our salvation process). 29 When the grain is ready, the farmer cuts it (the farmer being God, 1 Corinthians 15:20-28; 2 Corinthians 5:16-19; Ephesians 1:3-14), because this is the harvest time.”
Throughout these trials and tests He would use both good (seeds that He initiated through others/vessels), by His Spirit AND allowed by His Power (or Spirit), the bad seed to also come forth so that He could prove His Truth or the faith of Himself as I AM. The whole walk (or Life) is to bring you to I AM. This is the kingdom. God knew who were His from the beginning and THIS WAS OF HIS DOING, in other words this IS IAM’s doing (2 Timothy 2:19). The kingdom of God reveals the sovereignty of God, His total utter control over all things.
In Scripture it is said that the kingdom is within you (Luke 17:21; Romans 10:8). Meaning it’s already within you because God has placed it in you—to the ones that are Christ’s which God gave Him (John 17:6-10). God the Father chose those that were going to be Christ’s from the beginning (Ephesians 1:1-14; Romans 8:28-30; John 15:16). It was foreordained as His plan, as only God knows the beginning and the end (Isaiah 46:10). After all He is the Alpha and the Omega—the great IAM. He created a kingdom in the earth, in His people and He grew it by His Spirit’s leading, this would be the righteousness spoken of to seek in Matthew 6:33. As you must understand, you must have the Seed planted in you in order to understand His true righteousness and how to follow His will or be led by the Spirit alone. If you do not have the Seed, you will not be able to follow because God has control over all this, He has done this, and no man (meaning no one of the earthly form without the Seed) will understand TO follow Him. He has ordained this for His own glory. If you have the Seed then at some point God will press upon you by His Spirit, to follow His lead. As you continue to walk in this leading by His Spirit then He will cleanse you of the earth and its earthly ways of wisdom and understanding (Leviticus 16:30—the earthly is the sinful way of life; John 3:5; John 17:17; 1 Corinthians 6:11).
Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
The Spirit is planted by God in the man and then the man MUST be cleansed by the Spirit. This cleansing would be the water Jesus was speaking of. As the Holy Spirit speaks, we listen, we obey, and we continue to walk away from the sinful nature in obedience (repent); and become cleansed by Him as He speaks Life into and over us. No man being led of himself without the Holy Spirit’s leading, can speak Life into you or over you, ONLY the Holy Spirit of God (John 6:63; John 5:21; 2 Corinthians 3:6; 1Corinthians 3:11). This is what Christ was speaking of to Nicodemus in John 3.
There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 2 This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.”
3 Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
4 Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?”
5 Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
This brings us back to the very first Scripture that was emphasized, Matthew 3:15.
15 But Jesus answered and said to him, “Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he allowed Him.
If Jesus said that we MUST be born of Spirit and what’s of flesh cannot birth things of the Spirit then that would make water baptism not essential to one’s salvation UNLESS the Holy Spirit has led you to get water baptized. The water itself is of the flesh and it’s not the water actually that cleanses you and makes you right with God. What Jesus meant was obedience in being led by the Word spoken to you, by His Spirit is what cleanses you into walking a true Life in righteousness unto God. If the Holy Spirit is leading you to be water baptized then really what God is saying to you is, “I need you to begin obeying My Holy Spirit and get cleansed of your earthly ways.”
The reason why Jesus said to John that he must baptize Him in the water was to say that we must be cleansed through our obedience to God (consecrated). This is the righteousness spoken of to seek along with the kingdom. The complete obedience brings us into the will of God, for what He’s planned for our lives in Him, or in His Life (Christ). The cleansing was an essential part to fulfilling all righteousness. It is a part of the Way into consecration and sanctification (by the blood). It was a part of the order into Salvation unto the Lord God. The cleansing walk in obedience brings us into a place of holiness in the Lord. He makes us holy by His spoken words over us and expressing through us, His Life within us—Immanuel, God with us. As we hold His Seed (Christ) in us (like a child in us), He (God), holds us within Himself (as with child, Matthew 1:18; John 17:23; John 14:20; John 15:4).
It is important to understand that it is not the actual event of water baptism which ‘saves’ you, as many may believe. It’s the Holy Spirit of God through His Son that saves us. This is what Christ was demonstrating in the water baptism and sharing with John. This gives a whole new understanding of the following Scripture:
For You formed my inward parts; You knitted me together in my mother’s womb
Besides the literal meaning of the above Scripture, there is deeper revelation to this. From building upon what is shown throughout this teaching thus far, God used the concept of a child being matured in a mother’s womb to coincide with the process of being born-again in the Spirit of God, and brought to union with God in His covenant. HE would plant the Seed within us. HE would develop it and grow it within the water of His Living Word through obedience unto the Spirit of God (as the amniotic sac performs for the unborn child). This was not a Life brought through just reading Scriptures, but through a living, speaking God, given by His Holy Spirit’s leading, His voice breathing Life over and in you (John 5:30-41). And HE would bring it forth in the appointed time to reveal His Son or His sons (Romans 8:1-17). Through this revealing, God will show everyone who are His because it would be apparent to all that they have been IN HIM (as they’ve been growing and developing in the Holy Spirit within Himself, as like the amniotic sac). He would form their ‘inward parts’ or all that they would need within themselves (of the kingdom) that would allow them to break forth in Life (as a child birthing forth from the woman; 2 Corinthians 9:8; 2 Corinthians 8:7; Ephesians 3:20; Philippians 4:19; 2 Timothy 2:21). This Life would be of heaven, not of the earth, a new life (John 8:23; John 17:16; 2 Corinthians 5:17; Isaiah 43:19).
In conclusion of all this, the Lord was always speaking and will always speak of things from a spiritual context. If the Lord leads His people to be actually water baptized, then they must do it, but the act itself is not always necessary. The act was more so a prophetic demonstration of what was to come in the spirit realm within His people. What was necessary was that His people had to be cleansed by His Holy Spirit through obedience. God may require other things of us to do by His Spirit’s leading that would lead us into the same concept of understanding within Him (the born again concept), in His timing, as God can reveal Himself through anything that is good in Him (in His order of things or the way He originally created things to be) because He is a God in all—in some way or another HE is able (if you’re His) to bring you back to Himself. This is the trust one must come into with Him and also the understanding of His faithfulness, as He leads us through the trials of Life which tests our faith and glorifies Him alone.
*Something to think about: Does it surprise you why the life of a child is such an important concept and not to be aborted? It was and is the way the enemy of God tries to demonstrate his attack on the fulfillment of Christ (the true Life) being manifested in the earth, glorified, and shown to truly overcome death.