7. “But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? 8. Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. 9. And do not think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. 10. The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.
11. “I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me comes one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 12. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”
Almost every word in the New Testament is translated but there's one word that is not, it is the word baptizmo. The word can be translated. It means immerse or dip.
John was known as the baptizer because His disciples are asked to repent from sin and be baptized to show that they want a new beginning in their relationship with faith with God. For a person to repent from his sins requires understanding and a personal belief. One cannot repent of anyone else's sin. It is an outward act of inward turning around to follow Jesus. It is like signing on the dotted line. A baby cannot repent. A young child does not understand these concepts and an infant cannot respond to the call to believe. Only someone old enough to understand and receive the message as their own should be baptized. There really is no clear teaching in the Bible as to the age.
When people heard John preach with power and authority, they were convicted by the way they lived and the shallowness of their faith. They realized their need to come back to God and submitted themselves to act of baptism to show they wanted a new start.
Many people want God's blessing without obedience. When people understand who a holy God is and who Jesus is, they are humbled and pleading “Lord save us save me.” “Lord, I am a sinful man depart from me.” “Lord, I have unclean lips and I dwell in the land of people with unclean lips.” “Oh God have mercy on my soul.”
God's holiness is so vastly different from our understanding. To the Jew, even to mention His name, was a reverend and serious matter. His name was so holy they decided to use the vowels of one name and the consonants of another and came up with Jehovah lest they might mispronounce His holy name and be judged for it.
Baptism is an act, indicating our cleansing by the Lord and becoming new people of God
Prayer: Lord, we recognize our need for repentance. We embrace baptism as a way of indicating that we have died with Christ and that now it is He who lives within us.
