According to Mark Chapter 1, John the Baptist fulfilled the role of the "messenger," a person who, according to prophesy, would be sent before the Son of God (Jesus), to "prepare the way." "Preparing the way" means to make people ready to accept the Gospel that Jesus would preach, and to prepare people's hearts and minds to follow Christ without reserve. We can think of John the Baptist as the first person who proselytized or...
According to Mark Chapter 1, John the Baptist fulfilled the role of the "messenger," a person who, according to prophesy, would be sent before the Son of God (Jesus), to "prepare the way." "Preparing the way" means to make people ready to accept the Gospel that Jesus would preach, and to prepare people's hearts and minds to follow Christ without reserve. We can think of John the Baptist as the first person who proselytized or "converted" people into the Christian faith, although this conversion occurred prior to folks' interacting with Jesus himself.
John's baptism resulted in an individual being forgiven of all their sins. The limit of his baptism was that it did not invite the Holy Spirit to reside within that individual. John said that though he himself baptized with water, Jesus (the man who would come after him) would baptize believers in the Holy Spirit. Once the Holy Spirit was invited to inhabit a person's soul, that person would no longer be susceptible to sin. Thus, Jesus' baptism would not only forgive a person all their sins, but would also protect them from future sin and help keep their souls pure from that moment forward.
No comments:
Post a Comment