The Miracle of Baptism Into the Death of Jesus
August 4, 2013




2 Kings 5:1-14  Now Naaman, captain of the host of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master, and honourable, because by him the LORD had given deliverance unto Syria: he was also a mighty man in valour, but he was a leper. (2) And the Syrians had gone out by companies, and had brought away captive out of the land of Israel a little maid; and she waited on Naaman's wife. (3) And she said unto her mistress, Would God my lord were with the prophet that is in Samaria! for he would recover him of his leprosy. (4) And one went in, and told his lord, saying, Thus and thus said the maid that is of the land of Israel. (5) And the king of Syria said, Go to, go, and I will send a letter unto the king of Israel. And he departed, and took with him ten talents of silver, and six thousand pieces of gold, and ten changes of raiment. (6) And he brought the letter to the king of Israel, saying, Now when this letter is come unto thee, behold, I have therewith sent Naaman my servant to thee, that thou mayest recover him of his leprosy. (7) And it came to pass, when the king of Israel had read the letter, that he rent his clothes, and said, Am I God, to kill and to make alive, that this man doth send unto me to recover a man of his leprosy? wherefore consider, I pray you, and see how he seeketh a quarrel against me. (8) And it was so, when Elisha the man of God had heard that the king of Israel had rent his clothes, that he sent to the king, saying, Wherefore hast thou rent thy clothes? let him come now to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel. (9) So Naaman came with his horses and with his chariot, and stood at the door of the house of Elisha. (10) And Elisha sent a messenger unto him, saying, Go and wash in Jordan seven times, and thy flesh shall come again to thee, and thou shalt be clean. (11) But Naaman was wroth, and went away, and said, Behold, I thought, He will surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of the LORD his God, and strike his hand over the place, and recover the leper. (12) Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? may I not wash in them, and be clean? So he turned and went away in a rage. (13) And his servants came near, and spake unto him, and said, My father, if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldest thou not have done it? how much rather then, when he saith to thee, Wash, and be clean? (14) Then went he down, and dipped himself seven times in Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God: and his flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.



Leprosy was something that was cleansed in the Bible rather than healed.

It first appears as a sore, then the skin becomes numb and thick and then scaly.

It was a dread of the ancient world.

A perfect picture of sin.

Naaman was captain over the entire military of Syria.

A maiden had been seized from Israel by Syria to become his wife’s maidservant.
· God had this healing of Naaman planned from the start.
· This girl being from Israel would inform them of Elisha the prophet who could bring cleansing to Naaman.

Being a military hero who was renowned and famous, he expected Elisha to give him personal greeting and to do something grand and glorious.
· But since LEPROSY represents SIN, there is nothing glorious to be done with Naaman seeing he simply stood as a sinner no matter how important he thought he was.

Dipping seven times in Jordan not only cleansed Naaman’s leprosy, but reminds us of the CLEANSING OF THE LEPER we read about in Leviticus 14.

Leviticus 14:1-8   And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, (2) This shall be the law of the leper in the day of his cleansing: He shall be brought unto the
priest: (3) And the priest shall go forth out of the camp; and the priest shall look, and, behold, if the plague of leprosy be healed in the leper; (4) Then shall the priest command to take for him that is to be cleansed two birds alive and clean, and cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop: (5) And the priest
shall command that one of the birds be killed in an earthen vessel over running water: (6) As for the living bird, he shall take it, and the cedar wood, and
the scarlet, and the hyssop, and shall dip them and the living bird in the blood of the bird that was killed over the running water: (7) And he shall sprinkle
upon him that is to be cleansed from the leprosy seven times, and shall pronounce him clean, and shall let the living bird loose into the open field. (8) And he that is to be cleansed shall wash his clothes, and shave off all his hair, and wash himself in water, that he may be clean: and after that he shall come into the camp, and shall tarry abroad out of his tent seven days.

All of this was done AFTER THE LEPROSY WAS ACTUALLY GONE FROM THE PERSON WHO HAD IT.

He could not get involved with the community of Israel, even though he was healed, until he experienced this CLEANSING.
· He is pronounced clean after this ceremony.

The leper was to be sprinkled SEVEN TIMES with the water and blood from a slain bird.
· ALL OF THIS POINTS TO WATER BAPTISM FOR REMISSION OF SINS.

Acts 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.

Two birds, so long as they were clean ones, were brought to the priest.
· The priest took a basin of river or stream water, because that was the purest water to get.
· The living bird was killed over the bowl of water so that its blood dropped into the water.
· The living bird was taken with cedar, scarlet and hyssop and dipped into the water and blood from the slain bird.
· This handful of hyssop, cedar and scarlet was then soaked in the blood drenched water and used to sprinkle that blood and water on the leper SEVEN TIMES.
· Then the living bird was set free.

It sounds like a perfect shadow of this:

Rom 6:3    Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?

The dead bird's blood was placed in water, and the living bird was dipped into that water and set free.

CEDAR AND HYSSOP:

1 Kings 4:33   And he spake of trees, from the cedar tree that is in Lebanon even unto the hyssop that springeth out of the wall: he spake also of beasts,
and of fowl, and of creeping things, and of fishes.

Largest to smallest.

SCARLET stands for  blood.

SEVEN means perfect and we see a perfect cleansing BY THE BLOOD OF JESUS in water baptism.

Acts 22:16   And now why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord.

Col 2:11-12    In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the
circumcision of Christ:    Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him
from the dead.

Acts 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.

Matthew 26:28   For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.

1 John 1:7   But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us
from all sin.

Remission of sins is by the blood in Matthew 26 and baptism in Jesus’ name in Acts 2:38.
· Because water baptism is baptism into the DEATH OF JESUS, which is represented by the BLOOD HE SHED in his death.

We are immersed, or dipped, like Romans 6 says into the death of Jesus Christ when we are baptized.
· This shows that baptism is full immersion.
· Jesus died and was buried in a tomb IN OUR STEAD OR PLACE.
· This is indicated by taking the LIVING BIRD and dipping it into the water and the blood from the slain bird.
· When the bloodied water is sprinkled on the leper, this represents the death of the slain bird that was required due to sin was IDENTIFIED WITH THE
LEPER.
· In other words, the life of the bird was taken as though it were the life of the person who had leprosy.
· Lepers represent people who have SIN.

Jesus died because we had to die.

Hebrews 9:27-28   And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: (28) So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.

Can we all see the answer as to why verse 28 says that Jesus was once offered to die when we read verse 27?
· Jesus died once because it is appointed to us to die once.
· In other words, He died because our sins caused us to have to die.
· WE HAD A DEATH PENALTY DUE TO THE CRIME OF SIN.
· This means that HIS DEATH DEALS WITH OUR DEATH PENALTY.
· HE TOOK OUR DEATH PENALTY.

Blood and water cleansed the leper.
· They stand for the DEATH OF JESUS.

John 19:34-35   But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water. (35) And he that saw it bare record, and his record is true: and he knoweth that he saith true, that ye might believe.


BAPTISM IS FOR REMISSION OF SINS.
· People usually never heard of this purpose of baptism.


1 Corinthians 6:11   And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the
Spirit of our God.

WASHED IN THE NAME OF THE LORD is baptism in Jesus’ name.

The other bird was released once it was dipped into the blood and water and the blood and water were sprinkled on the leper.

This is ATONEMENT.
· We become “AT ONE” with the Lord in HIS DEATH, so we can say we paid for our sins by Jesus’ death.
· Jesus took our penalty, and so did we THROUGH HIM.

And we are returned to the COMMUNITY OF THE SAINTS.
· We return to the family of God from which sin took us.

Naaman was insulted by the command to dip 7 times in Jordan.
· Jesus was baptized in Jordan.
· It is associated with humbling and nothing grandiose.
· Naaman would have liked some fancy religious ritual that made him look good to confirm his importance as Syria’s military leader.
· But he had to realize LEPROSY IS SIN AND IT IS UNCLEAN and there is nothing really noble about us in the eyes of God as sinners.
· ONLY THE DEATH OF JESUS can deal with that.

Naaman came up out of the water with the flesh of a LITTLE CHILD.

2 Kings 5:14   Then went he down, and dipped himself seven times in Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God: and his flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.

BORN AGAIN!

BAPTISM IS BEING BORN OF THE WATER as part of NEW BIRTH.

Israel was a blessed land, and Naaman wanted to take two mule loads of Israelite  earth back to Syria with him in order to build an altar on it and sacrifice to God as though he were living in the land of Israel, himself.

2 Kings 5:15-17   And he returned to the man of God, he and all his company, and came, and stood before him: and he said, Behold, now I know that there is no God in all the earth, but in Israel: now therefore, I pray thee, take a blessing of thy servant. (16) But he said, As the LORD liveth, before whom I stand, I will receive none. And he urged him to take it; but he refused. (17) And Naaman said, Shall there not then, I pray thee, be given to thy servant two mules' burden of earth? for thy servant will henceforth offer neither burnt offering nor sacrifice unto other gods, but unto the LORD.

Naaman came out of the darkness of Syria into the light of Israel’s blessings from God.

Lepers were not HEALED but CLEANSED.
· There is a difference.
· He heard all about Elisha where he could be cleansed BY THE HEBREW MAID.

Naaman wanted to pay Elisha for the cleansing, but it cannot be bought.
· Only the DEATH OF JESUS can set us free from sin.
· Naaman had to come to Elisha rather than Elisha come to him.

We are set free from sin in repentance and baptism for remission of sins.

The enemy who bruised Jesus’ heel was CRUSHED IN HIS HEAD.
· Naaman took earth from Israel back to Syria.
· LIKE LAND FROM ANOTHER NATION IN SYRIA.
· EMBASSY.
· We are AMBASSADORS
· HEAVEN ON EARTH.
· Israel extended itself into Syria.

He formerly thought two rivers of Syria were better than all the rivers of Israel, and now he takes land from ISRAEL back to Syria.

He was a mighty captain used of God according to 2 Kin 5:1, who contracted leprosy and then was cleansed.
· Back in the saddle again.
· Return of mankind to POWER.

Baptisms were not planned and held off for later time.

People did it as soon as they heard the truth.

Acts 16:27-33    And the keeper of the prison awaking out of his sleep, and seeing the prison doors open, he drew out his sword, and would have killed
himself, supposing that the prisoners had been fled.    But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, Do thyself no harm: for we are all here.    Then he called
for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas,  And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.    And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in
his house.    And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes; and was baptized, he and all his, straightway.

Acts 8:34-38    And the eunuch answered Philip, and said, I pray thee, of whom speaketh the prophet this? of himself, or of some other man?    Then Philip
opened his mouth, and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus.    And as they went on their way, they came unto a certain water: and the eunuch said, See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized?    And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.    And he commanded the chariot to stand still: and they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized him.


Not an outward show of an inward work.

No crowds to prepare for.

It really remits sins.


SERMONS