TAKING CRUCIFIXION VAINLY

 KEY VERSES: ¹ As workers together with Him also plead with you not to receive the grace of God in vain… ² Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation. (2 Cor 6:1-2; NKJV)

  “As workers” means those who fulfill the Great Commission by telling the nations about Jesus. What is that commission? “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you… (Mat 26:19).

  “Go” to the world and persuade them to follow Jesus. For those who have endeavored to change the mind of resistant people, you know that persuasion is hard work. Just look at denominationalism and politics; people are so ingrained in their beliefs that they resist truth.

  Books have been written about persuasion. The entire field of philosophy is about persuasion, and likewise to have a “healthy” mind, psychologist try to persuade the irrational to be rational. Persuasion is hard work, and “almost persuaded,” as we saw with Herod Agrippa is not sufficient to become born again and a disciple of Jesus. Persuasion requires a change in mind and a turning from what one once believed. It is rejecting oneself, in essence; one’s own flesh and acceptance of the sacrfice of the Flesh of God.

  “To make disciples of all nations” then is the work “workers” must do to demonstrate their love to God. Not only is persuasion a turning away but also going in a different direction. Perhaps in today’s world, that would mean turning off the television and secular music and going out and telling others about Jesus! Why do I sit here and write about Jesus rather than watch the news as I am prone to want? That is my own “Great Commission” and it is hard work as most people will not even read, let alone be persuaded.

  The workers, then, after they are persuaded to be disciples, must persuade others, then, “baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you.” God does part of that work. He baptizes with the Holy Ghost just as when Peter was telling them about Jesus, “the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who heard the word” (Act 10:44).  Peter spoke, God persuaded, and when the people were persuaded, then God put the protection of the Holy Ghost upon them.

  What remains of the Great Commission… your commission? The baptism by you in the manner of John, but not walking off, but “teaching them to observe all things that that I (Jesus) have commanded you”. What are those “things?” The Greatest Commandment and the one like unto it (i.e., to love God and others as you love yourself). No one esteems themselves lightly. No one hates their own flesh. Everyone loves themselves and that is the intensity that disciples must love Jesus and their fellow man. With all their heart, mind, soul, and strength (Mark 12:30). Love is hard work, and why it is commanded (John 14:15).

  I am not yet to the key verse, but so far, I have provided the background for it. Let me continue: Why baptize with water in the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost? Because sinners have already baptized the Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost in blood! The washing with water is perhaps the way that Christians clean up the mess they made with the crucifixion of Jesus. Water, throughout the Bible, is for the cleansing away of sin. You explore that because it serves no other purpose. Jesus shed hos blood for all the sins of mankind ever, and when it flowed unto death, it was finished. Baptism with water is the way disciples revere Jesus for washing away their sins.

  What was the Purpose of Jesus? He overcame the world, not by water alone, but by blood and water (1 John 5:5-6). What happened on the Holy Cross? Jesus shed blood and water. Blood alone was insufficient and so was water.

  Pilate washed his hands of the whole matter, as a means of declaring his innocence (Mat 27:24). Was he innocent? No! He “baptized” himself (hands only and not sufficiently) with water alone, but then he did the “bloody deed” as Zipporah said when she “crucified” by circumcision their first-born son (Exod 4:25-26). Neither did that save the child. It took water and blood, and that necessitated Jesus doing both. Moses was the “water” as that is what his name means. He should have done the dirty deed, but Zipporah’s doing it made it meaningless. As such water baptism as saving is vanity, as circumcision of the foreskin is also vanity. The heart must be circumcised for the flesh to be saved (Rom 2:29).

  I am finally getting to the key verse… “not to receive the grace of God in vain.” Jesus is the grace of God. The merciful Father sent His only begotten Son as the final and only sacrifice. Jesus redeemed all mankind by dying on the Cross and propitiating Hs own blood for the sins of mankind, even for past sins, to wit: “(Jesus) Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past” (Rom 3:25; KJV). Faith in His blood, not our washing was what makes sinners righteous. Jesus crucifixion remitted (took away) all the sins ever. His shed blood was the gift of faith because it was His blood, the very blood of Yahweh, that saves!

  Who died on the Cross? God’s Flesh. Who lived through the ordeal but still suffered? The Father and the Holy Spirit of Jesus — the very Holy Ghost of Jesus (John 7:39; KJV). God’s Name, “Jesus,” was who died. The key verse, “not to receive the grace of God in vain,” speaks of that — the sacrificial death of His Name.

  Where has vanity been deemed important, so important that it was a warning written on stone for perpetuity, by the Word, Jesus, Himself? “Thou shalt not take the Name of the Lord thy God in vain” (Exod 20:7a; KJV). Not “say” or “speak” but not “take.” It has to do with an attitude not a spoken word. I capitalized “name” to make it plainer; “Thou shalt not take Jesus in vain.” What is it about Jesus? His Purpose to be the sacrifice to redeem us.

  Thinking of water baptism as efficacious is vanity. Not believing in the blood is vanity. Not believing that Jesus saves is vanity. Not believing that God Himself died on the Cross is vanity. What happens to those who take Jesus’s sacrfice of Himself in vain? The first part of the verse was the sin, and the last part the wage of sin; “for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain” (Exod 20:7b; KJV).

  The guilty shall be damned. To be saved requires that a sinner must cease taking the life and death of Jesus without purpose. They must quit thinking that only a good man or a phantasm died for them, but God Himself; the Creator died for the creature, and not the creature for himself!

  The last part of the key verses is, “Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” What was meant by “behold?” Examine the truth. “Now is the time.” For what? For salvation; to be persuaded not to take the sacrifice of Jesus in vain. That shoots down the doctrine of purgatory, does it not? It is now! Under threat of damnation forever, what would any thinking man do? Look at the gamble. Behold Jesus; I am fully persuaded that Jesus is Lord and that He died in my place.

  Never being persuaded is blasphemy against the Holy Ghost of Jesus (Mark 12:31). The Commandment was to not blaspheme against Yahweh. Just as Jesus is the Name of God, the Holy Ghost is the Spirit of God and the Ghost of Jesus. The Holy Ghost did not die but experienced death on the Cross, in that God’s Spirit is the Essence of the Soul of Jesus.

  By blaspheming the Holy Ghost, by rejecting the death of Jesus as redeeming, is blasphemy. What happened when God’s Flesh died? Gd gave up His Holy Ghost, and it was finished (John 19:30). The Holy Ghost remaining is the evidence that Jesus died. By denying the Ghost of Jesus, as the Purpose complete, that is violation of the Third Commandment.

  What did Jesus have in Mind when He wrote the Ten Commandments? They were all “prescriptions” for eternal health. Jesus wrote them?  “The Lord delivered unto me two tables of stone written with the finger of God (Jesus, “God With Us” as in Emanuel). Jesus wrote with that Command with His own Hand, and it remains “His Will be done.” The Ten Commandments are not only Ten Prescriptions but the Terms of the Father’s Will.  He wanted His Heir’s Name, called “Jesus,” to be revered just as His Existence, “Yahweh” was expected to be!

And now you know the connection between the Third Commandment and Paul’s plead to the Corinthians.

(picture credit: Goodsalt on Pinterest "Pilate Washing His Hands")