Tuesday, June 12,
2012, 9:00 a.m. – the Lord woke me with this song in mind:
I
Will Praise Him / Margaret J. Harris
When
I saw the cleansing fountain
Open
wide for all my sin,
I
obeyed the Spirit’s wooing,
When
He said, “Wilt thou be clean?”
Though
the way seems straight and narrow,
All
I claimed was swept away;
My
ambitions, plans and wishes,
At
my feet in ashes lay.
Then
God’s fire upon the altar
Of
my heart was set aflame;
I
shall never cease to praise Him
Glory,
glory to His Name!
Blessèd
be the Name of Jesus!
I’m
so glad He took me in;
He’s
forgiven my transgressions,
He
has cleansed my heart from sin.
I
will praise Him! I will praise Him!
Praise
the Lamb for sinners slain;
Give
Him glory, all ye people,
For
His blood can wash away each stain.
Speak, Lord, for your servant is
listening. I read John 1:29-34 (NIV
1984):
The
next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who
takes away the sin of the world! This is the one I meant when I said, ‘A man
who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’ I myself did not
know him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that he might be
revealed to Israel.”
Then
John gave this testimony: “I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and
remain on him. I would not have known him, except that the one who sent me to
baptize with water told me, ‘The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and
remain is he who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’ I have seen and I testify
that this is the Son of God.”
My
Understanding: John’s mission (assignment from God)
was to prepare the way for the Lord; to make a straight path for him. His
message was “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.” Jesus was the
embodiment of the kingdom of heaven, so John was saying that their promised
Messiah was near and his eternal kingdom was near, and that is why they needed
to repent (confess and turn away from their sins). His baptism was a baptism of
repentance in preparation for, to reveal, and to lead people to their Messiah,
Jesus Christ.
The
Lamb of God
One day, when John saw Jesus coming
toward him, he said: “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the
world.” John was saying that Jesus Christ was the sacrificial Lamb to atone for
our sins. Atone – “to make reparation (restitution; to return something to its rightful
owner; or restoration to good condition) for a sin, a wrong or a mistake”
(Encarta). In other words, Jesus Christ, God the Son (the Son of God), was the
perfect sacrifice for our sins made once for all when he died (was crucified)
on the cross. When he died, our sins died with him, and when he was buried, our
sins were buried with him, but when he rose from the dead, he left our sins
behind in the grave. He conquered death, hell, Satan and sin so that we could
go free of the penalty of sin (eternity in hell), free from the control of sin
over our daily lives, and free to have pure fellowship and daily communion with
our Lord, i.e. to put our relationship with God back to its original condition
before the fall of man.
Revealed
to Israel
John said that Jesus Christ was the one
he had referred to previously when he said, “A man who comes after me has
surpassed me because he was before me.” Jesus Christ said of himself: “Abraham
rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad.” And, “I tell
you the truth, before Abraham was born, I am!” (See John 8:54-59) Both John and
Jesus were declaring Jesus Christ to be eternal, and to be God, the Messiah of
the people, who was promised, and who had now come in fulfillment of the
promise, and in fulfillment of prophecy of scripture. He was the One who they
had been waiting for. John was also saying that his ministry was to prepare the
way for Jesus Christ, the promised Messiah.
John said that he did not know him, but
the reason he came baptizing with water was “that he might be revealed to
Israel.” The purpose of John’s ministry was not only to prepare the way for
Jesus, i.e. to prepare people’s hearts for Jesus Christ through his ministry of
repentance, but he was to reveal to Israel that Jesus Christ was indeed their long-awaited
Messiah. When John said he did not know him, he probably did not mean he did
not know him at all since they were cousins, but rather that he did not know
Jesus Christ was the Messiah, the Lamb of God sent to take away the sins of the
world, until God the Father revealed this to him from heaven. When Jesus was
baptized by John, heaven was opened, and John “saw the Spirit of God descending
like a dove and lighting on him.” Then a voice from heaven said, “This is my
Son, whom I love, with him I am well pleased” (Matt 3). This is when John knew
that Jesus Christ was the one for whom he was preparing the way.
Baptize
with Holy Spirit
John said he would not have known Jesus
was the Messiah except God the Father, the one who sent him to baptize with
water, told him, “The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is he
who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.”
The baptism of the Holy Spirit is a
much debated and often misunderstood doctrine within the Christian church, and
I am not here to debate it other than to share with my readers what I believe
Jesus Christ has revealed to me through his word, and through the witness of
His Holy Spirit concerning this subject.
“Baptism” means to immerse in or to
wash (purify) with water; and/or to bury. When a believer in Christ follows the
Lord in baptism (water baptism) he symbolically identifies himself with Christ
in his death, burial and resurrection and with his own decision by faith to die
to his old way of life and to be resurrected (reborn) to new life in Jesus
Christ, cleansed from sin and purified to righteousness in Christ. Christ Jesus
had no sin, so when he was baptized, his baptism looked ahead to what he was
about to suffer for our sins, and to his resurrection, yet when we are baptized
(with water) we are looking back to what Jesus did for us, and we are publicly
giving testimony to the heart transformation that has already taken place
within us by the power and working of the Holy Spirit of God. Yet, water
baptism is not what saves us, or else John’s followers would have been saved.
John said his baptism was a baptism
with water, but Jesus Christ would baptize with the Holy Spirit. Paul said in
Romans 6 that when we were baptized into Christ we were baptized into his death.
We died to sin at this baptism. And, we were raised to new life in Christ. This
is the working of the Holy Spirit in regeneration, i.e. in being born again
(spiritually). This is a spiritual baptism of the Holy Spirit of God, not a
physical baptism with water. This is the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Paul said
in 1 Corinthians 12 that we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body and
we were all given the one Spirit to drink. This takes place at our conversion,
not at our water baptism. This is the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Paul also said
in Galatians 3 that we are all “sons of God through faith in Jesus Christ, for
all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.” We
are baptized into Christ when we come to faith in Christ via repentance and a
choice to walk in obedience to Christ through faith and by God’s grace. This is
the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
Parallel
to Circumcision
There is a parallel application when we
study the subject of circumcision. Abraham was justified by his faith apart
from his circumcision (outward sign of inward faith). He was justified by faith
before he was circumcised, so his circumcision is not what saved him. As well,
this following passage parallels circumcision with baptism in this way:
Colossians 2 says this: “For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity
lives in bodily form, and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the
head over every power and authority. In him you were also circumcised, in the
putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of
men but with the circumcision done by Christ, having been buried with him in
baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised
him from the dead.
When
you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God
made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the
written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed
to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers
and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by
the cross.”
This “circumcision” is a spiritual
cutting away of the sinful flesh of man and this baptism is also a spiritual baptism
in the death of our old sinful nature and the resurrection to new life in
Christ in the Spirit, and it is the working of the Spirit in changing the
heart, and is not a physical circumcision or baptism. This is the baptism of
the Holy Spirit John spoke of. When Jesus Christ left this earth he told his
disciples he was sending the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit came at Pentecost,
the people who had only known water baptism were given the Holy Spirit, and
since that time when anyone comes to faith in Jesus Christ the Holy Spirit
indwells and empowers that individual and transforms the hearts of sinful man
into hearts given over to becoming followers of Jesus Christ through faith and
by God’s grace. Our part is to willingly cooperate with that work of the Spirit
in turning from our sins (repentance) and in choosing to turn to walk in faithful
obedience to Jesus Christ and to his commands.
The
Son of God
John said, “I have seen and I testify
that this is the Son of God.” Jesus Christ was born of the Spirit of God and of
the virgin Mary, i.e. he was conceived of the Spirit within Mary’s womb. He was
both human and divine, i.e. he was fully man and fully God. The angel of God
told Mary, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High
will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God”
(Luke 1:35).
I
Will Praise Him
In the song by that name, the writer
describes her salvation and her relationship with Jesus Christ. When Jesus
Christ was revealed to her via the witness of the Holy Spirit of God, and she
saw heaven opened to her because of Jesus Christ’s blood sacrifice for our
sins, she obeyed the Spirit’s pursuit and persuasion when the Spirit asked her,
“Will you be clean?” In other words, the Spirit of God was asking, “Will you
accept the sacrifice of the Lamb of God for your sins? Will you, by faith,
invite Jesus Christ into your life to be your Lord and Savior, to cleanse you
from your sins? Will you cooperate with (obey) God/Christ in agreeing to die to
your old life of sin and to turn to follow Christ Jesus in obedience to his
commands?”
The writer of this song knew the way
would be straight (without deviation and with single-minded devotion, direction
and purpose) and narrow (restricted to Christ’s commands for his followers to
die to sin and to live for God). Yet, she chose it anyway. She willingly laid
down all her own ambitions, plans and wishes for her own life, and she chose to
take up her cross daily and to follow Christ. When she made that decision to
make Jesus her Lord (master; boss) and Savior, his Spirit came with her like a
fire and her heart was set aflame for Jesus. I love that picture! She was so
thankful for his saving grace, that he took her in, that he forgave all her
sins, that she said she would never cease to praise him. I give that a hearty “Amen!”
“Praise the Lamb for sinners slain. Give him glory all ye people, for his blood
can wash away each stain.”
If you have not invited Jesus Christ
into your life to be your Lord and Savior, I pray you will do so today.
He Gives Purpose
/ An Original Work / June 9, 2012
“Listen to Me when I’m
calling to you.
Obey freely My word.
Follow Me in all of My
ways.
Do all that I say.
Hear Me gently whisper
to you
My will for your life
and future.
Give all of your life
and heart to
Follow Me always.”
Repent of your sins
and worship Jesus.
He’s your Lord and
Master.
He died for your sins
so you could
Live with Him today.
He has a plan for your
life and
He gives purpose and
direction.
He gives meaning to
your life,
So follow Him today.
“I love you so much I
gave My life for
You to walk in My
ways,
Living for Me each day
as you
Bow to Me and pray.
Witness for Me of your
love for Me and
Of My grace and mercy,
How I died to save you
of your
Sins now and always.”
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