Baptism and the Three Covenants

Part
Two – Law vs. Tradition

Baptism – Webster’s Definition(s):

1.   a
Christian sacrament marked by ritual use of water and admitting the recipient to the Christian
community

a.    sacrament –
a Christian rite (such as baptism
or the Eucharist)
that is believed to have been ordained
by Christ and that is held to be a means
of divine grace or (indulgence) to
be a sign or symbol of a spiritual reality

2.   a
non-Christian rite using water for ritual
purification

a.    ritual
–

                                        
i.    according
to religious law

                                      
ii.    done
in according to social customs or normal protocol

3.   an
act, experience, or ordeal by which one is purified, sanctified, initiated, or
named

a.    purify –

                                       
i.    to clear from material defilement or imperfection

                                      
ii.    to free from guilt or moral or ceremonial blemish

                                    
iii.    to free from undesirable elements (Thetans
-scientology)

b.   sanctify –

                                       
i.    to set apart to a sacred purpose or to religious use

                                      
ii.    to free from sin

                                    
iii.    to impart or impute sacredness (Indulgences),
inviolability, or respect to

                                    
iv.    to make productive of holiness or piety (conventional
belief or standard – one accord)

 

Ephesians 4:4-6 (Christianity’s
Standard or Piety)

(4) There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were
called

     one hope where
you were called,

(5) one Lord, one faith, one baptism;

(6) one God and Father of all, who is over all and
through all

     and in all.

 

Deuteronomy 6:4-5 (Shema or Israel’s Piety)

(4) Hear of Israel the Lord our God is One

(5) Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine
hearts,

     With all thy
souls (life), and with all thy might.

 

History
of Baptism –

A.  
Exodus
19:10 & 15 –
And
the Lord said unto
Moses, Go unto the people, and sanctify them to day and to morrow, and let them
wash their clothes, …..

(15)
And
he (Moses) said unto the people, Be ready against the third day: come not at
your wives.

Note:  Here God is instructing Moses just how the
people should prepare themselves to come before the Lord, in their best state
of being, or existence.  This not only
includes the right state of mind, it also includes the appropriate state of
presentation, our absolute best.  For
this reason, we are taught the significance of preparation, such as the day of
preparation.  Exodus 16:22 – And
it came to pass, that on the sixth day they gathered twice as much
bread, two omers for one man: and all the rulers of the congregation
came and told Moses.  Preparation for how we come before the Lord,
and how to avoid doing work on His Sabbath.

 

God gives
instructions for Moses to sanctify the people, but which definition of
sanctification is being referred to here? 
Since Moses is not God, he cannot forgive sins, to believe so is to
commit blasphemy.  Since Moses is not God,
he cannot impute (to credit to a person) sacredness to one who is not sacred,
this too would be considered blasphemy. 
These two definitions are consistent with Roman Catholic Ideology, where
the Pope stands for God, and is capable of forgiving sins, and crediting
indulgences.  Therefore, the true
definition of sanctify must be either to set aside for a religious purpose, or
to make productive holiness or piety. 

 

          So we can see that God is commanding
the people, thru Moses, to clean

everything about themselves.  They are to wash their clothes, with
themselves in them, and not to defile themselves (make unclean) by engaging in
activities that would dirty themselves, such as sexual intercourse.  Leviticus 15:21 –
Thus
shall ye separate the children of Israel from their uncleanness; that they die not in
their uncleanness, when they defile my tabernacle that is among them. 

Jewish Tradition –

1.   State of
Purification

a.    Tumah – is the state of ritual
impurification (unclean).  A person or object that contracts tumah is said to be tamei or ritually impure,
and thereby unsuited for certain holy activities and utilizations until
undergoing predefined (laws or traditions) purification actions (activities and time)
that usually include the elapse of a specified time-period.

                                                
i.    Items were made
in a particular manner

                                              
ii.    Sacrifices were
made to anoint items in Tabernacle

                                             
iii.    Ritual Cleaning
of items before used

b.   Taharah – the state of
being ritually pure, after going thru the requisite rite of custom.

 

2.   ritual
purification had two parts.  The first to
attain purification so one can come before God, the second is a mechanism to
maintain the purification that one already has.

A.   Tevila – ritual
purification by complete immersion in a Mikah
Bath – is a bath used for the purpose of ritual immersion in Judaism
to achieve ritual
purity.

 

 

B.   Netilat yadayim
– the
washing of hands with a cup, or ordinance of hand washing.

a.    Types of hand
washing (Netilat Yadayim) as prescribed by Jewish Law(s).

                                                                
i.    Negel Vasser –
washing of hands 3 times from a vessel, when one awakes from sleep, to remove
the evil spirits from their hands.

                                                              
ii.    Washing of hands
before prayer

                                                             
iii.    Washing of hands
when one touches private parts, sweat from his body, or cutting finger nails

                                                             
iv.    Washing of hands
when one leaves the bathroom

                                                               
v.    Washing of hands
when on leaves a cemetery

                                                             
vi.    Washing of hands
before the breaking of bread

                                                            
vii.    Washing of hands
after eating a meal where the salt of Sodom was served

                                                          
viii.    Washing of
hands, practiced by priests, prior to going up to bless the people

                                                             
ix.    Washing of Hands
when, prior to eating, one dips a morsel of food within a liquid, which then
clings to that morsel, with the exception of fruits.

 

Time	Source	Reason
After sleep	Talmud	Spiritualism of immortal soul (Kabballah) Evil attaches to person or object
Before prayer	Torah	Come cleansed before God (command I-IV)
Privy parts	Torah	Cleanliness it affects others (command V-XII) and Levitical
Post Bathroom	Torah	Cleanliness and others (command V-XII) and Levitical
Leaving a Cemetery	Torah	Commands (I-XII) & Levitical
Breaking of Bread	Torah	Holy Bread (Commands I-IV)
After a meal	Talmud	Belief evil attaches to things or places (Salt of Sodom) Kabballah & superstitions

 

Prior to blessing	Torah	Commands I – XII
Prior to eating	Torah	Commands V-XII – Levitical Laws

 

Washing of hands in Jewish Tradition
comes from
A.      Two Sources – each source has a
different purpose and

understanding
for each practice

1.   Talmud – belief that one can acquire
Tulmah and become Tumei (unpure) by something outside themselves

a.    Doctrine of
Original Sin

2. 
Torah
– one must choose to become impure, or accidently

    
becomes impure, such as an illness

          B.      Three
Purposes

                   1.       Cleanliness for others

                   2.       Cleanliness before God

                   3.       Both

 

         C.       Difference
between Torah & Talmud

1.  
Torah

a.    Is the first
five books of the bible

b.   Torah is
supported by the Major and Minor Prophets

c.    Does not include
the New Testament in Jewish Circles

                                                                
i.    Rabbinical Curse
on translation of Daniel 9.

                                                              
ii.    Includes New
Testament in Christian Circles

d.   Writings end
after Revelation, about 100 AD

2.   Talmud –

a.    Is the first
five books of the bible

b.   Is supported by
the Major and Minor Prophets (Usually)

c.    Does not include
the New Testament in Jewish Circles

                                                                
i.    Includes New
Testament in Christian Circles

d.   Writings end
after 200 AD, 165 years after the fulfillment of the 70 weeks prophesy,
therefore, it
contains 165 years of uninspired writings. 

                                                                
i.    In Gnosticism we
call these the Apocryphal
Writings.  Revelation 2:15 – So hast thou also them that hold the
doctrine of the Nicolaitans (Gnostic beliefs), which thing I hate.

                                                              
ii.    In Judaism we
call them (Gnostic believers) Kabballah.

1.   Inspiration from
a spirit not of God, or a seducing spirit.

 

Christian Baptism – This differs
from Jewish baptism.  In Jewish baptism
one is baptized to attain ritual purity,
or to restore oneself to ritual purity (purity by
works).  Jewish baptism (Tavila) has two
components, one to make oneself ritualistically pure, Tevila, the other to
restore oneself to ritual purification by partaking in a particular ritual,
Netilat, the washing of hands.

 

Christian
baptism also has two components, as we learned last week.  The first component is the public declaration that
we are not enough, and we claim the righteousness of Christ, thru our faith in
Him (Justification
by faith).  This proclamation
is done by the total
immersion of the individual in water,
but it is not specific to a particular place such as the Mikah Bath. Total
immersion symbolizes the death of sinfilled self, and resurrection of the
restored individual, thru Christ’s righteousness.   The
second component of Christian Baptism is the baptism of the Spirit.  During this, one receives the Holy Spirit,
who Christ referred to as the “Living Water”. 
This true vicar of Christ makes the changes in our hearts and minds that
lead to our total
transformation, from being of this world, to having a kingdom not of
this world.

John 18:36 –
Jesus
answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world,
then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but
now is my kingdom not from hence.
 

For
this same reason, Pilot found Christ innocent of all charges.  He found no intention of sedition against
Rome, Christ was not a Zealot.  Since
Christ’s kingdom was not of this world, He could not be judged by the standards
of this world.  As Christ we too must
ascribe to another kingdom, one not of this world, otherwise we are subject to
the standards and punishments of this world, death.

 

A.  
John
3:5 –
Jesus answered, “Verily,
verily I say unto thee, unless a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he
cannot enter into the Kingdom of God.

 

Once again, we have established that
baptism has two components.  The first is
fulfilled by the total
immersion of the individual by water,
this is a public declaration of the individual’s intentions to accept Christ as
their sovereign and God.  The second is
fulfilled by complete
immersion of the individual by the
Spirit.  It must be a complete (all or
nothing) immersion, otherwise a person is trying to serve two masters, and
Christ Himself stated that this is not possible.  Mathew 6:24 –
No man can
serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else
he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

 

B.  
Mark
1:2-5 –

(2)
As
it is written in the prophets, Behold, I send my messenger before

    
thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee.

(3)
The
voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the

    
Lord, make his paths straight.

(4)
John
did baptize in the wilderness, and preach the baptism of

     repentance for the remission of sins.

(5)
And
there went out unto him all the land of Judaea, and they of

   
Jerusalem, and were all baptized of him in the river (water) of Jordan,

   
confessing their sins.

 

The confession of our sins, not to man
but to God, leads to our realization, that we can never be enough, repentance.  For this reason, we turn our ailing heart to
the Calvary.  We see the most precious of
gifts given to man by God the Father, His Son, the atoning sacrifice. 

 

Understanding
the three Covenants:

A.  
The
Three Covenants:

1.   Garden of Eden – I will be
their God, they shall be my people. 
There was no offering of the Covenant to Adam or Eve.  This covenant was established before creation
itself, between God and God. 

Genesis 3:15 – And I (God/Jesus) will put enmity (Mutual hatred) between
thee (Satan) and the woman (Church), and between thy seed (Satan’s followers) and
her seed (Christ); it (Christ) shall bruise thy head (at the cross), and thou (Satan)
shalt bruise his (Christ’s) heel (at the cross).

 

2.   Mount Sinai –

a.    Exodus 19:3 & 4 –

(5)
Now therefore, if
ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my

    covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above

    all people: for all the earth is mine:

(6)
And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests (direct access to God), and an
holy nation.  These are the words which
thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.

                   b. 

 

 

3.   New Covenant –

a.  
Jeramiah
31:31-34

(31)
Behold, the days com, saith the LORD, that I will make a

      new covenant with the house of Israel,
and the house of

     Judah:

(32)
Not according to the covenant that I made with their

      fathers in the day that I took
them by the hand to bring

      them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they

      brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the

      LORD.

(33)
But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the

       house of Israel; After those days, saith
the LORD, I will
put

       my law in their inward parts, and write
it in their hearts;

       and will be their God, and they shall be
my people. 

(34)
And they shall
teach no more every man his neighbor,
and

      every man his brother, saying, Know the
LORD:  for they

      shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest

      of them, saith the LORD:  for I will forgive their iniquity, and

      I will remember their sin no more.

 

In all three Covenants, there can only
be One
who has the requisite authority to offer the covenant.  God alone is the offeror of these covenants
since He is the owner of the Universe. 

 

We must also realize that the One who
accepts the Covenant must also have the requisite authority to accept it, since
an offer is only made to a specific entity, the Offeree.  This person must be willing to give up
something (and
therefore have something to give up), an object, time or a right, in
order to exchange for what the offeror is offering.  Since we are poor and pathetic, humans cannot
accept the offer from God. 

 

Since humans have nothing to offer, and
therefore lack
capacity to accept God’s offer, then
what we are capable of accepting must be a gift from God. 
A gift is not bound by law; therefore, it becomes the only thing that we
can accept from God.

 

Let us compare the Covenants to each
other:

In the Garden of Eden and in the New
Covenant, we find a contract that is devoid of human acceptance, or attempt for
human acceptance.  Here God is both the
offeror, and the only one with capacity to be the offeree.  The terms of the contracts are identical,
“God will be our God, and we shall be His people”.  Therefore, Covenant Garden of Eden and the
New Covenant are the same on their face (identical).

 

After the fall of man, we find that God
gave His children a promise of a gift.  Genesis 3:15 – And I will put enmity between thee and
the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and
thou shalt bruise his heel.

 

Additionally, in the New Covenant, we
see that Christ gives His Children a gift, the Comforter.  He states that we will not need to teach one
another of Him, for we will all know Him, through the Comforter (Holy Spirit).  This is the same as being a nation of priests,
every man will have access to God the Father, thru His Christ.  Here we find that the Covenant at Mount Sinai
and the New Covenant both agree in regards to the benefits found in the
covenants, access to God the Father, thru Christ the Son.

 

If these covenants agree in terms, mechanism
for fulfillment and the promise of benefits, then why is the New Covenant, a
better Covenant than the one at Mount Sinai? 
Why did the first Covenant in the Garden of Eden fail?  To understand this we need to know what is a
covenant, token and breach.

 

What
is a covenant?

Covenant – an agreement,
especially by lease, deed, or other legal contract.

 

What
is a contract?

Contract – a
written or spoken agreement, especially one concerning employment, sales, or
tenancy, that is intended
to be enforceable
by law.

          A Contract consists of

1.   Offer – only the
Offeror, one offering, can set the terms in the contract

2.   Acceptance – can
only accept, as the terms have been set up, cannot change any term or it is a
rejection of the offer (counter offer)

3.   Consideration –
bargain for exchange

4.   Lack of defenses

 

 

 

 

 

Tokens –

1.  
an
outward sign or expression (sign or symbol)

2.  
something
given or shown as a guarantee (as of authority, right, or identity)

 

Breach – failure by
one of the parties to fulfill their agreement, and it can be enforced by the
other party by law.

 

Why
did the first Covenant fail?

Genesis 3:6-7

⁶ And when the woman saw that the tree
was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be
desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave
also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.

⁷ And the eyes of them both were opened,
and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and
made themselves aprons.

 

Eve was tempted by her lusts, the lusts
of the eyes, the lusts of the flesh, and the pride of life in eating of the forbidden
tree.  Adam, succumbed to his lust, the
lust of the flesh, making Eve greater than God. 
This led to both attempting to cover their nakedness (righteousness by
works).  Although, neither Adam nor Eve
were privy to accepting the contract, and therefore not in breech, by their
actions, they rejected the gift.

 

Why did the Covenant at Mount Sinai fail?

Exodus
19:8 –
And all the people answered together, and said, All that the Lord hath
spoken we will do. And Moses returned the words of the people unto the Lord.

Exodus
20:19 & 20 –
And they said unto Moses,
Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we
die.

20And Moses said unto the people, Fear
not: for God is come to prove you, and that his fear may be before your faces,
that ye sin not.

 

As
we saw in the first and third Covenant, there is no role for man in fulfilling
the terms of the covenant, or accepting it. 
When the Children of Israel stated that “they will do”, they placed a
term that did not previously exist (added a term), therefore they gave a counter offer,
rejects the original offer.  Since “all
the world is mine” saith the Lord, then the people had nothing to bargain for
exchange, therefore they placed themselves in a position where they had no
right to be, in the place of God (Blasphemy). 
Additionally, when they refused Christ and stated that they would only
speak to Moses, they create an additional term, which again negates the offer
by creating a counter offer.  This has
the unintentional additional effect of creating the first Vicar between God and
man, Moses. 

 

The
New Covenant is perfect, for it is between God and God.  Man has no place in this contract, he only
receives the Gift and benefits of this contract.  Under law, a gift is not enforceable and is
therefore not a contract. 

 

Remember
that a token is an outward manifestation of
authority for the ones in the contract. 
It is not the contract, nor the terms in the contract.  Every contract, or covenant, will have its
unique Token(s) as a symbol for that particular contract, just as every company
has its unique emblem or logo.  When a
contract is fulfilled or breached, its existence ends, and the tokens for it
also end.  In the same aspect, when a
contract is created, it must have a different token(s), even if the terms are
similar, because each contract is offered only to a specific offeree. 

 

What
are the Token(s), outward manifestation of each Covenant?

 

Covenant	Offeror	Offeree	Terms	Beneficiary	Token
Garden of Eden	God	God	I will be your God and you shall be my people	Man’s Dominion & direct with God	Robe of Light Keeping God’s Law (Sabbath)
Mount Sinai	God	God Man intervened (counter-offer)	I will be your God and you shall be my people   Obey indeed and keep	Nation of priests – direct with God	Teviah Netilat Circumcision of Foreskin (ritual purification) They did God’s Law, Never Kept it
New Covenant	God	God	I will be your God and you shall be my people	Nation of Priests, Rule with Christ	Baptism Feet Washing Circumcision of the heart Robe of Christ Righteousness Keeping God’s Law (Sabbath)

 

So
what are the Commandments of God?   

It
is not a term listed in the Covenants “Garden of Eden”, or in the “New Covenant”.  It seems to be listed in the Covenant at
Mount Sinai, or is it?  The fact that the
words used, “obey indeed” and “keep” should be clue to that this is not the
case.  The bible is very clear, Romans 3:23 – For all have sinned, and come short of
the glory of God; if every man
has sinned, then there can be no perfect obedience found in man, and therefore
man is not capable of keeping God’s Commandments of himself.  This is why Christ is so special.   As the only Man who lived a sinless life,
Christ becomes the only one who could be a propitiation for our sins.  What God was offering at Mount Sinai is the
exact same Covenant that He offered at Eden, and is offering to you and me
today.  Christ will place His laws in our
hearts and minds, and His Gift, the Living Water, or Holy Spirit will keep them
in us, through us, and for us.  Just as
God is the only One who has capacity to offer and accept the covenant, He is
the only One capable of keeping His Commandments for us. 

Our attempts
to keep God’s Commandment is not our mechanism for salvation, it is a means of
showing the world that we are God’s Children, and of showing God our love. 

 

So why must I be baptized to be saved?

As
we read above in John 3:5, we must be baptized of both water and the Spirit in
order to be saved.  We can see the
significance of being baptized by the Spirit, since He is the One who keeps the
commandments for us, but the significance of baptism by water is equally
important.  It is the declaration to the
world who our God and King is.  It is
what makes us, along with the Holy Spirit being in us, a peculiar people.

 

What was
the Levitical system (Genesis 3:15)?

Since
we have seen that all the Covenants are identical, that keeping the
commandments was not a term in the Covenant at Mount Sinai, and that the
Children of Israel rejected the gift by adding terms to the covenant, then
there must be some other significance to the Levitical System.  The Levitical system is a promise
of a future gift from God.  The Levitical
System is an expansion of the promise found in Genesis 3:15. Every letter in
the Levitical System testifies of the consistency, love and forgiveness of
Christ.  It is a reminder that one day
the Messiah would come, and He did.  Now
we have another promise:

Acts 1:11 – Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why
stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you
into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.

 

This promise creates a duty for us to
share, just as the woman at the well did. 

Mathew 28:19-20 –
¹⁹ Go ye therefore, and teach all
nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the
Holy Ghost:

²⁰ Teaching them to observe all things
whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the
end of the world. Amen.

 

Let
each of us, take up our cross and follow Jesus. 
Let us take the three angels message to the world, and be the heralds
for our soon coming Christ.  Selah.