| Matt. 3:13-16 |
"Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the
Jordan to be baptized by him. And John tried to prevent Him, saying, 'I
have need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?' 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. Then Jesus, when He
had been baptized, 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. And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, 'This is My
beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.' " |
| Acts 8:26-40 |
"Now an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, saying,
'Arise and go toward the south along the road which goes down from Jerusalem to
Gaza.' This is desert. So he arose and went. And behold, a man of Ethiopia, a
eunuch of great authority under Candace the queen of the Ethiopians, who had
charge of all her treasury, and had come to Jerusalem to worship, was
returning. And sitting in his chariot, he was reading Isaiah the prophet. Then
the Spirit said to Philip, 'Go near and overtake this chariot.' So Philip ran
to him, and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah, and said 'Do you understand
what you are reading?' And he said, 'How can I, unless someone guides me?' And
he asked Philip to come up and sit with him. The place in the Scripture which
he read was this:
'He was led as a sheep to the slaughter;
And
like a lamb silent before its shearer,
So He opened not His mouth.
In
His humiliation His justice was
taken away.
And who will declare His
generation?
For His life is taken from the earth.' (Isa. 53:7-8)
So the
eunuch answered Philip and said, 'I ask you, of whom does the prophet say this,
of himself or of some other man?' Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning
at this Scripture, preached Jesus to him. Now as they went down the road, they
came to some water. And the eunuch said, 'See, here is water. What hinders me
from being baptized?' Then Philip said, 'If you believe with all your heart,
you may.' And he answered and said, 'I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of
God.' So he commanded the chariot to stand still. And both Philip and the
eunuch went down into the water, and he baptized him. Now when they came up out
of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away, so that the eunuch saw
him no more; and he went on his way rejoicing. But Philip was found at *Azotus
(Same as Heb. Ashdod). And passing through, he preached in all the
cities till he came to Caesarea."
 Note: It's interesting to see on a map of Israel, the
road that goes between Jerusalem and Gaza is about 20 miles from Ashdod. Not
only did the Spirit enable Philip to run as fast as the horse pulling the
chariot, as the eunuch did not command it to stand still until he saw the
water, but It also brought him over twenty miles in an instant. Outstanding!
See (The Holy Spirit's Duties)
|
| Col. 2:11-14 |
"In Him you were...buried with Him in baptism, in
which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who
raised Him from the dead. And you, being dead in your trespasses...He has
made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped
out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to
us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross."
Note: What about the
thief on the cross? You say. It is not necessary to be water baptized to be saved. It is an open confession of your choice to walk with Jesus Christ.
See (Where Is
Abraham's Bosom?) |
