There are many less obvious reasons in the Bible where water is not for healing, but for preparation. That corresponds with the baptism of John which was for “repentance for remission of sins.”[i] Repentance does the cleansing, not the water. “Godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation” [ii] Thus, it is not the water, but the tears that work for salvation. The water, therefore, is not the work for salvation. “But,” you say, “that is John’s Baptism. How about the baptism of salvation?”
There are two baptisms, not three: the baptism of John and
the Baptism of the Holy Ghost. The former is baptism by deep flowing water and
the latter by the “Living Water” flowing from the “belly” of Jesus. [iii]
The Baptism of the Holy Ghost is the same method as always for breathing life into inert beings, to wit:
There went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground. And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. (Gen 2:6-7)
Adam was not alive before, but God breathed Living Water from
His belly… specifically from His side. Then Adam shared Living Water from his
belly and gave life to Eve. [iv] Eve
was not from Adam’s “rib” but specifically from his side, or belly
(Strong’s Dictionary).
In Adam’s case there was a “mist” from the ground, but that
was not living water. It was still water which enabled formation but Living
Water that provided life.
When Jesus died, Longinus pierced his side, and out of the belly of Jesus flowed Living Water and Blood. God again breathed life unto all who would “inhale” it, and immediately the centurion, Longinus, did just that. Most certainly the two elements flowed down the tree of death (the spear) and provided life to Longinus.
God had breathed Living Waters (the blood and water from the
side of Jesus) onto Longinus, and he testified, “Truly this man was the Son of
God” [v] because
the soldier apparently saw the Holy Ghost leave Jesus and enter himself. To
this day, that soldier is called, Saint Longinus. Longinus was baptized right
there from water from the belly of Jesus. There is no record that he was
baptized by any other water.
The point here is that it is not water that saves, neither upward
flowing mist from God nor turbulent water from God. Moving water drowned
mankind with Noah and with Moses, and both were saved by dry land from the breath
of God. Likewise, when Joshua entered the Promise Land, not through water, but
dry land, the twelve priests stood still and entered Paradise with dry feet, to
wit:
It came to pass, when the priests that bare the ark of the covenant of the Lord were come up out of the midst of Jordan, and the soles of the priests' feet were lifted up unto the dry land, that the waters of Jordan returned unto their place, and flowed over all his banks, as they did before. (Josh 4:18)
Their “baptisms” were merely standing still on dry land! God
had transported them to their “haven,” not with water, but them standing still
for Him to do the work.
“Salvation” is the “healing of the nations.” [vi] It is not merely healing of the souls but of
the flesh as well. Resurrection is entirely healing the being to its original
design intent — to the very image of the Holy Trinity [vii] —
in Mind, Body, and Spirit (The Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost).
But those were Old Testament situations. Is there any
concealed evidence in the New Testament? There are many, but one sticks out — the
paralyzed man at Bethseda Pool who lied helpless on one of the porches:
Now there is at Jerusalem by the sheep market a pool, which is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda, having five porches. In these lay a great multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered, waiting for the moving of the water. For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water: whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had. And a certain man was there, which had an infirmity thirty and eight years. When Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, he saith unto him, “Wilt thou be made whole?” The impotent man answered him, “Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool: but while I am coming, another steppeth down before me.” Jesus saith unto him, “Rise, take up thy bed, and walk.” And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and walked: and on the same day was the sabbath. (John 5:1-9)
Note first that this took place on the Sabbath. As God, the Sabbath
was for Jesus to rest. Jesus had not broken the Sabbath but was accused of it
because the Jews did not believe that He IS God. Likewise, the paralyzed man
did not break the Sabbath merely because he was paralyzed. His paralyses, it is
learned from another case, was not because he sinned, but because God had a
purpose for him. Just what was that purpose or purposes? (1) That Jesus could
heal, (2) He demonstrated that He IS God, (3) that the Sabbath is for Him, and
(4) that turbulent water, even from an angel, is not soterial (saving).
The water made turbulent would only heal the first who
stepped in. Healing was not always there but just during certain seasons when
the angel made the water to move fast. Any later “baptisms” would not heal
anything because it was for the first to step in only.
Healing is for any who would see Jesus. [viii]
It was for those who would see the very Face of God and trust that He IS God!
The paralyzed man saw Jesus, and although it is not mentioned here, virtue
certainly flowed from Jesus as it did with the woman with the blood issue. [ix]
Jesus did not touch the man, but virtue still flowed from Him to the man. Jesus
had no need for a medium of transference because His Will Be Done and it is
done!
Jesus did the “work” on the Sabbath and was even accused of
that trespass. The man laid still on a dry porch and was healed. Water did not
touch him; he merely saw Jesus and the Living Water flowed from the “belly” of
Jesus to the body of the man, just as when God breathed life unto Adam.
After he was healed, the man walked and never went into the
pool. There is no evidence that he was ever baptized. Indeed, he had no further
use for the water because it was stirred only for the sick. The man was no
longer paralyzed, and his heart was healed. He merely saw Jesus and trusted Him
as God who could heal.
Not to fully recount another episode in the adventures of
Jesus, but much the same happened at the Pool of Siloam. There a man was healed
by the spit of Jesus, using the medium of mud. He was made whole by Earth and
Living Water from Jesus. God breathed healing unto the man via spittle.
However, it was not the spit that made the man well, but the Living Water from
God’s Breath, or to be precise, the Holy Ghost of Jesus as once Jesus would
die, it was no longer just the Holy Spirit, but the very “Ghost” of the Savior.
[x]
This commentary is not to diminish the baptism of John
because that too is scripture. It is to exalt the Baptism of the Holy Ghost of
Jesus. It is giving credit to the Holy Ghost and removing credit from the
water. Many have made gods of water. It is not idols that are soterial, but
Jesus. The Holy Ghost of Jesus is the true baptism that makes whole. There is
no other baptism that provides life. Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life,
to wit: “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father,
but by Me” (John 14:6). Even turbulent water is not the Way to the Tree of Life
(Jesus).
(picture credit: CBN; "Pool of Siloam")
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