The BIG Picture (Q&A)

The following is a reaction to this post:  https://thebigpicturelink.blogspot.com/2024/02/why-were-baptisms-required-for-israel.html POST REACTION: I don’t think you can connect the ministry of John the Baptist to the Old Testament priesthood. Only the priests needed to be washed, not every Israelite. And John the Baptist’s imagery had nothing to do whatsoever with priestly cleansing. Just read the accounts in the four Gospels. It was a sign of repentance. And Israelites before John were not baptized. It was a ritual that started with him. And Christian baptism has a totally different symbolic meaning and was done for both Jews and Gentiles alike. In your article, your thoughts on priestly rituals are interesting, but there’s no biblical evidence that John’s baptism has anything whatsoever to do with that. ANSWER: One cannot just isolate John’s ministry as something that just appeared out of the blue. In the Bible EVERYTHING has meaning and purpose. The entire bible interprets itse...

Yes. That is correct for that time. Joh 3:5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. The advice Jesus gives Nicodemus does point to water baptism, and spirit baptism. There were conditions for salvation in the Kingdom gospel. In Acts, we see Peter preaching the same thing, Act 2:38 Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. So, for salvation in the Kingdom gospel, it required faith in Jesus as Messiah and also to be water baptized and filled with the Holy Spirit. These were requirements to enter into the Millennial Kingdom when Jesus would come again in the Second Coming. The reason for these requirements is because of their significance for Israel. In Deut. and Lev., priests were washed to cleans them of sins before the ministered to God on behalf of the people....