Lesson 3245

 (Lesson 3254)(11-30-20) Mark 1:6-8

    “And John was clothed with camel's hair, and with a girdle of a skin about his loins; and he did eat locusts and wild honey; And preached, saying, There cometh one mightier than I after me, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to stoop down and unloose. I indeed have baptized you with water: but he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost.”

    Today’s quote relates the description of John the Baptist as he began to present himself to his fellow Jews and as he began to administer water bapisms as they were required under the laws of the Jews, and to preach the coming of the Messiah. 

    We should note that Mark’s account of those events bears the almost exact same phrasing that John the Baptist was recorded to have used in Matthew’s account, as that statement concerned the intent of the water baptisms he performed. 

    In Mark’s account the author cites John the Baptist as saying, “I indeed have baptized you with water: but he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost.”

    Mark’s account reconfirms that water baptism IS NOT the baptism through which eternal life is obtained, but rather is ONLY a ritual, physical cleansing in preparation for repentance. The baptism that rejuvinates the spirit of a lost man/woman is that baptism with the Holy Ghost that was, and is still, administered by Jesus Christ Himself.~