Three Baptisms

Announcer:

This is Today With Derek Prince. The internationally recognized Bible teacher and author presents to you Keys to Successful Living.

Derek Prince continues this week with his series on Laying the Foundation. His new theme on the doctrine of Christian baptism is entitled ‘Immersion in Water.’ Today Derek will outline three different kinds of baptism and then begin to focus on John’s baptism. Listen now as he begins this new topic and be sure to listen at the end of the broadcast for our address and this week’s special offer.

Derek Prince:

Now we’re continuing with the study of the six foundation doctrines that are listed in Hebrews 6:1–2. We have dealt with the first two, repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. And now we’re going to move on to the third one which is the ‘Doctrine of Baptisms.’ I’ll just read those words briefly to be sure that we’re founded on the actual Word of God. Hebrews 6:1–2:

“Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles [I prefer to say basic truths] of Christ, let us go on to perfection [completion, maturity], not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God.”

And then the third one which we’re going to deal with this morning, the doctrine of baptisms. For doctrine you could say teaching about. And notice that the word baptism is plural, baptisms. There’s more than one baptism. In actual fact, there are three different baptisms mentioned in the New Testament and we will in due course be studying each of them.

I need to say a little first of all, well let me just mention briefly the three particular baptisms. Number one, John’s baptism, the baptism of John the Baptist. Number two, Christian baptism which is not the same. And number three, the baptism in the Holy Spirit. Those are three distinct baptisms, all of which play an important part in the New Testament.

Now I need to say something about the meaning of the word baptize. It’s not really an English word, it’s a Greek word written in English letters. What they say technically, transliteration. The word baptize is taken directly from a Greek word, baptizo, and just not translated but written over in English letters. As to why that happened, there are various possibilities. It may just be church tradition or it could be that the translators of the King James didn’t want to offend the Anglican Church by coming out with the right meaning of the word. I don’t know and I’m not asserting any particular view. But, if you go back to Greek there is absolutely no question about the correct meaning of the word, it means to immerse, to immerse. And, you can immerse in two ways and both of them are relevant to the New Testament. You can immerse by putting something down into the water so that it is fully covered or you can immerse something by pouring water over it. But whichever way you do it, it’s total, it’s not partial.

Baptism really is a transition. Every kind of baptism spoken of in the New Testament really represents a transition. You move out of one thing into another, and the whole of you moves, not just part of you. For that reason I believe it’s important to emphasize that baptism is total immersion. It’s not just a little part of you that’s affected, it’s all of you that is affected by this process of baptism.

Now, the word is used with two or three different prepositions. And so we need to just explain that. It’s used with the preposition in and it’s used with the preposition into or sometimes just to. The preposition in refers to the element in which you are immersed. It may be water or it may be the Holy Spirit. The into describes the end product or result of being immersed. What do you pass into as a result of the transition of baptism? For instance, John the Baptist’s baptism was in water, into repentance or forgiveness of sins. So there’s an in and an into. The baptism in the Holy Spirit, which we will not be speaking about just yet, is in the Spirit and it’s into the body of Jesus Christ. We’ll come to that later. But when you’re considering baptism you need to ask these two questions: What is it in and what is it into?

Now let’s look at John’s baptism, the baptism of John the Baptist who got his name from the fact that he was the baptizer. This is referred to in Mark chapter 1:2–5.

“As it is written in the prophets, behold I send my messenger before your face who will prepare your way before you. The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.”

That was the ministry specifically of John the Baptist. He was to go before the Messiah and prepare His way. His message basically was very simple; it could be summed up in one word, repent. It says in the next verse:

“John came baptizing in the wilderness and preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins.”

But the word is into the remission of sins. So they were baptized with a baptism of repentance that led to the remission or forgiveness of their sins. Baptized in water into the forgiveness of sins. And the purpose of this was to prepare the way for the coming of Israel’s long-awaited Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth. I think it’s very significant that Jesus could not come, God would not release Him to come, until the hearts of God’s people had been prepared by repentance. I’m inclined to think that the same is true of the coming again of Jesus. The hearts of God’s people will have to be prepared by repentance. I think in some ways repentance is the most crucial single message that God’s people need today. That’s just a suggestion.

John’s ministry was also a very important dispensational link between two different periods of God’s dealings, or two different dispensations: the dispensation of the law and the prophets and the dispensation of grace and the gospel, which came with Jesus. So John is a crucial figure in the whole unfolding of God’s purpose. We know relatively little about him and I myself have been inclined I think to underestimate the importance of his ministry. His ministry was brief but it was crucial. It prepared the way for Jesus. His impact on his people was really tremendous. If you look in the next verse of Mark chapter 1:5 it says:

“All the land of Judea and those from Jerusalem went out to him and were all baptized to him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins.”

So he reached in a very brief period of time doubtless hundreds of thousands of people, the whole population of Jerusalem, Judea and so on.

I always reflected on the way God does things. He doesn’t hire a committee, rent a stadium, organize a choir and now say, ‘Well have a meeting.’ He does it in the most improbable way. So just one man in a garment of camel’s hair went out into the wilderness, just one man. All the people went out to him. You see that tends to be the way God does things. He does things in an unexpected way. And what brings people is not organization, although we thank God for organization, it’s not advertisement, it’s not publicity, it is the supernatural moving of God. And do you know what we need? We need the same today. Where the fire of God is burning, people will go. It doesn’t matter what kind of a place it is, it doesn’t matter what the personality of the preacher is, it doesn’t matter whether he’s educated or uneducated. As far as we know, John the Baptist had no seminary training but he was a man set on fire by God. Jesus said later to the people of His day, ‘He was a burning and a shining light, and you were willing to rejoice in his light.’ But unfortunately those people to whom Jesus was speaking never caught the fire. They went to the light, they received the benefit of the light but they never caught the fire. Jesus’ commendation of John is very powerful. He was a burning and a shining light. I believe it’s true scientifically that if you want to shine you have to burn. There is no light without heat. So let’s all take that to heart. If we’re going to shine for Jesus we have to burn. Let’s pray that we will be wherever God puts us a burning and a shining light.

As I’ve already said, John’s baptism was into the forgiveness of sins. He was a dispensational link between the law and the prophets and between the gospel. Jesus brings this out in Matthew 11:13. Speaking about John He says:

“For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John.”

John was the end of that dispensation, he was a transitional link to a new dispensation of the grace of the gospel. But that makes him an important man. In a sense he bisected the history of God’s people. He ended one period and initiated an other. I’ve often thought myself that I haven’t fully appreciated the significance of John the Baptist. Because, the Bible doesn’t say very much about him. But all that it says is extremely significant.

Announcer:

Join Derek Prince again tomorrow for his teaching on ‘Immersion In Water,’ as he shares with us the remaining two requirements of John’s baptism and its limitations.

This week’s message is available on audiocassette No. RC4164, and also on video. Our special offer this week is the deluxe hard cover edition of The Spirit-filled Believer’s Handbook, in which Derek presents a more in-depth study of the six basic doctrines of the Christian faith which he is covering in this series. To receive your copy of ‘Immersion in Water’ write today and include a contribution of $5.00 or more for audiocassette RC4164 or $14.95 for the video teaching. Include a gift of $15.00 or more for The Spirit-filled Believer’s Handbook.

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