"Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judaea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of Ituraea and of the region of Trachonitis, and Lysanias the tetrarch of Abilene, Annas and Caiaphas being the high priests, the word of God came unto John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness. And he came into all the country about Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins; As it is written in the book of the words of Esaias the prophet, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways shall be made smooth; And all flesh shall see the salvation of God."
Today's lesson concerns the mission that was tasked upon John the Baptist by God the Father, even before his divinely inspired birth.
As we see in verse three of today's quote, John, "came into all the country about Jordan, PREACHING the BAPTISM of repentance for the remission of sins".
Every sincere bible student should make note that, within the context of this passage, John did NOT come PERFORMING physical water baptisms, but rather, he came PREACHING "the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins".
John was sent to preach a specific message that God had taught him in the desert.
John's divine message was clearly intended for his Jewish brethren and it was an instruction for them to "repent for the remission of sin". His message was also instructed the Jewish people to; "Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight".
Therefore, it is clear that, taken in it's proper context, the word "baptism", as it is applied in today's quote, defines a specific message, or a lesson that was to be learned by John's Jewish brethren and has nothing to do with a ceremonial water "baptism" as the rite is practiced today.~
NOTE: In the upcoming days, when our lessons reach the water baptism of Jesus, I will explain in much further detail the difference between the "baptism of John", his message, and the actual water baptisms he performed which were required of all Jews, under the Law of Moses.
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