Tuesday, March 25, 2008

ordinances

 
I think that the Israelites crossing the Red Sea out of Egypt and the Jordan River into Cannan are types of baptism.  Check out these verses:
4:23 For the Lord your God dried up the river right before your eyes, and he kept it dry until you were all across, just as he did at the Red Sea when he dried it up until we had all crossed over. 24 He did this so all the nations of the earth might know that the Lord's hand is powerful, and so you might fear the Lord your God forever."
5:1 When all the Amorite kings west of the Jordan and all the Canaanite kings who lived along the Mediterranean coast heard how the Lord had dried up the Jordan River so the people of Israel could cross, they lost heart and were paralyzed with fear because of them.
Hmmm.  Interesting.  Perhaps there is something to this baptism thing after all.  But, if that wasn't enough, verses 2-9 are on the topic of circumcision, which is another type of baptism:
5:2 At that time the Lord told Joshua, "Make flint knives and circumcise this second generation of Israelites." 3 So Joshua made flint knives and circumcised the entire male population of Israel at Gibeath-haaraloth. ... 8 After all the males had been circumcised, they rested in the camp until they were healed.
I find it extremely interesting that our study on ordinances is not limited to baptism, but here we find the Passover Celebration, which is intimately connected to the Lord's Supper:
5:10 While the Israelites were camped at Gilgal on the plains of Jericho, they celebrated Passover on the evening of the fourteenth day of the first month. 11 The very next day they began to eat unleavened bread and roasted grain harvested from the land. 12 No manna appeared on the day they first ate from the crops of the land, and it was never seen again. So from that time on the Israelites ate from the crops of Canaan.
I think there is an analogy here - we eat "manna" in the "wilderness" between the "miraculous salvation" and "baptism" coming out of "slavery in Egypt" and entrance into the "Promise Land".
 
Confession:  I have had several opportunities to share the Gospel with random people this past week, and I've chickened out.
Praise:  God is so gracious that this morning, as I was walking from the bus with an aquantaince that I've had spiritual conversations with, he brought up a spiritual conversation, and I CAPITALIZED on the opportunity!  I shared John 14:6 and Romans 10:9 briefly as we were parting ways, and he said, "I need to revisit that." 
 
Prayer
Heavenly Father, I praise you for your incredible Word that is full of Truth.  Lord, please help me more accurately understand the significance of the ordinances.  Jesus, I pray that you will reveal yourself to my friends that don't know you, and please give me opportunities to share with them your love.  I pray this in the name of Jesus Christ, the True Bread from Heaven.  Amen.

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