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Water Baptism The Circumcision of Christ As You Have Never Been Taught —Disarming the Unseen Opposition
Genesis 17:6-10: “I [God] will make you
[Abraham] extremely fruitful. Your descendants will become many nations, and
kings will be among them! I will confirm my covenant with you and your
descendants after you, from generation to generation. This is the everlasting
covenant: I will always be your God and the God of your descendants after
you. And I will give the entire land of Canaan, where you now live as a
foreigner, to you and your descendants. It will be their possession forever,
and I will be their God. Then God said to Abraham, ‘Your responsibility is to
obey the terms of the covenant. You and all your descendants have this
continual responsibility. This is the covenant that you and your descendants
must keep: Each male among you must be
circumcised.” Abraham’s natural generations must continue
forever, else there could not be an everlasting covenant with them. What
circumcision represented in the Old Testament, water
baptism has become in the New Testament. When the mark of circumcision is
upon you in both the Old and New Testaments, it is forever on you: Colossians
2:11-15 graciously explains to you and me: “When you came to Christ, you were
circumcised, but not by a physical procedure. Christ performed a spiritual circumcision—the cutting away of your old
self. For you
were buried with Christ when you
were baptized. And
with Him you were raised to new life because you trusted the mighty power of
God, who raised Christ from the dead. You were dead because of your sins and
because your old self was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with
Christ, for He forgave all our sins. He canceled the record of the charges
against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross. In this way, He disarmed the [unseen] spiritual rulers
and authorities. He shamed them publicly by His victory over them on the
cross!” Galatians
3:26-29 graciously confirms this for both sons and daughters, “For you are
all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus. And all who have been united with Christ in baptism have put on
Christ, like putting on new clothes. There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave
or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus. And now that you belong to Christ, you are the true
children of Abraham. You are his heirs, and God’s promise to Abraham belongs
to you!” First
Peter 3:20-21 graciously validates, “Noah’s terrible flood water is a picture of
baptism, which now saves you, not by removing dirt from your body, but as a
response to God from a clean conscience. It is effective because of the resurrection of
Jesus Christ.” “Anyone
who believes and is baptized will be saved. But anyone who refuses to believe
will be condemned (Mark 16:16).” Romans
6 confirms this good news as well: “Have you forgotten that when we were joined with Christ Jesus in baptism, we
joined him in His death? For
we died and were buried with
Christ by baptism. And
just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives. …So use your
whole body as an instrument to do what is right for the glory of God…” (Rom.
6:4-14) And
recorded at Matthew 3:15: “Then Jesus came from Galilee to John [the Baptist]
at the Jordan to be water baptized by him. And John tried to prevent Him
[Jesus], saying, "I 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.” Notice Jesus
did not state it was only for Him, it is for us. For
the early church baptism was a line of distinction. Open the book of Acts and
every time the Spirit fell and people believed,
water baptism came next. Acts 2, 10, and 19 the apostles call for the new
believers to be baptized; circumcised. Baptism
has become of little importance to so very many who are to be Abraham’s
covenant-heirs (circumcised, baptized followers of Jesus) and fallen far from
the truth of God’s Kingdom. When the mark of the flesh in circumcision was
upon you in the Old Testament, it was forever on you. And as it is written
(above), we are no longer circumcised by the hand of a human, in the flesh,
but rather the hand of God circumcises our heart through baptism, male or
female. When the mark of the heart in circumcision is upon you in the New
Testament, it is forever on you. You are under new ownership—Jesus the
Christ. He voluntarily paid the price in full! “In this way, He disarmed the [unseen] spiritual rulers
and authorities. He shamed them publicly by His victory over them on the
cross!” Baptism—Victorious Battle Agent We
Must Use
Quoting
Wayne C. Anderson: “Let’s go back in time and hear a portion of the
famous story of David and Goliath. David, the brave heart! David, the giant
slayer! Take your place in the long lineage of the covenant shepherd King
David. You may call your giant sickness. Call it
disease. Call it poverty. How does David face the terrible circumstance of
the giant? He says, ‘Who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should
taunt the armies of the living God?’ (1 Samuel 17:26) “Okay,
if circumcision is replaced with baptism, then what would we say in the face
of our “giant?” How about something like: “Who is this un-baptized
circumstance that it should taunt the child of the living God?” “Think
for a moment about this; when we face our enemy, how often do we ever say
anything about our baptism or who we are? We rarely make any separation of
who we are in Him in any way. If we would do as David did and declare our
covenant in the face of our enemy, then we would most probably have the same
results and see the giants fall! “Suppose
we look at that same era; the time of the giant slayers—the Philistine
destroyers—the conquerors! Let us also consider Jonathan and his armorbearer.
There is only one set of armor between the two of them, and there are only
two sets of armor in all the army of Israel. King Saul has one, and Saul’s
son, Jonathan, the other. Jonathan is away from the rest of the Israeli army,
and he is alone with only his armorbearer. There is a whole garrison of the
Philistines over on the other side of a chasm. He gets a Holy inspiration,
and he says to his armorbearer; “Let us go unto the garrison of these
uncircumcised, for perhaps the Lord will be with us.” (1 Samuel 14:6) “I
have read the writings of some Bible scholars who have said that there may
have been nearly a million Philistines against Israel at that time. No one
knows how large this garrison was, but it could have been as much as
a-million-to-one-odds against Jonathan and his armorbearer. We at least, know that they were against a multitude. We also
know of the miracle that the Lord made manifest in their midst! “A
multitude of mean, nasty and desperate Philistine warriors are just on the
other side of that jagged canyon. But wait. Jonathan seems to have had a
deepened thought. We can almost see His shoulders raising and a look of
victory upon his face. He quickly glances to his armorbearer and announces,
“Let’s go to the garrison of these un-baptized, for perhaps the Lord will be
with us!” “Jonathan
decided who he was. He remembered what his lineage was. He wasn’t just the kid of the king of a small insignificant group of people.
His people were the children of the living God, and it was the living God Who
said so. A stand must be taken! A declaration must be made! A plumb line must
be drawn! ‘We are the Lord’s!’ They are not! We must win no matter what the
odds! ‘We are the Lord’s!’ “Jonathan
and his armorbearer went to that garrison and declared who they were by
announcing who those Philistines were NOT! The Lord was with Jonathan and his
armorbearer! “’Let
us go to the uncircumcised for perhaps the Lord will be with us!’ The Lord
was with them. The Lord is with ‘the circumcised!’ That means that the Lord
is with ‘the baptized!’ He is not with ‘the uncircumcised.’ He is not with
‘the un-baptized.’ What
can we say then? When we pray in battle with the forces of evil, we need to
have this victory in mind. Whether on our own behalf, we depress that we are
baptized into Christ Jesus, or, on behalf of another believer, we announce
that they are baptized and have that meaningful covenant with Christ. Remember who you are in Jesus. “We
must remember. Remember who we are. Remember who the enemy is not. Remember
our great covenant with the greatest of Kings! Baptism! That’s it! It is
finished! He is risen! He has conquered death, and we have been not only
crucified with Him, but we have been raised with Him in His power and
victory! “David
declared it! Jonathan announced it! It is time we started doing the same! The
works of fear and doubt are enemies of the cross. Sickness, disease, and
poverty are giants of a strange land that should be unknown to the child of
God. The true and living God has given us power over the circumstances of
life and the diabolical acts of an evil generation. “Let a
new look come upon your face, and new thoughts come into your mind. “I am of
the baptized! That settles it! I am the Lord’s, and He is with me!” “Let
us annunciate our baptism. Let us have power over circumstances in life
because of baptism. God’s people who are baptized are marked in their flesh
with an indelible mark that does not have to submit to circumstances placed
upon them by evil forces. David and the armies of Israel did not submit to
Goliath. Why should we? Jonathan and his armorbearer did not submit to the
garrison of those uncircumcised Philistines. Why should we? “All
of this is the power in our Baptism!” Submersion
If you
were sprinkled, or if you were baptized before you were conscious of what sin
really is (a result of continuing to choose something else besides God to
fill a void in your heart) then be urged to be water baptized by submersion
at your earliest convenience. The New Testament original
Greek word Baptizo is derived
from bapto: to overwhelm; make wholly wet;
immerse; submerge; sink; plunge; to dip under; and to baptize. It appears 80
times in the New Testament. The original Greek word Baptisma; immersion, submersion is used 22
times and always translated "baptism." If you
were baptized after you were conscious of what sin really is, please do not
experience this as being required to be re-water-baptized. “Have you received the
Holy Spirit since you believed?” –Acts 19:2 If you want
God’s promised power to fulfill your calling, understand the baptism with the
Holy Spirit HERE |
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