BAPTIZING "I AM THAT I AM"

BAPTIZING “I AM THAT I AM”

Monday, August 14, 2017

Exodus 3:13-15 And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them? And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you. And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations.

John 1:1-3 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.

Matthew 3:1 In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea, And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. … Then went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judaea, and all the region round about Jordan, And were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins. …   Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him. But John forbad him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me? And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Then he suffered him. And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. [Please read all in context.]

Hebrews 4:15  For we have not an high priest [Jesus] which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.

  Reading chapter 3 of Matthew may be puzzling when considering question why did Jesus insist on being publicly baptized? John’s baptism was to publically declare repentance! Jesus, God Incarnate, the great “I AM THAT I AM”, repented? (Note Hebrews chapter 4.)

  It certainly was puzzling to me until Proverbs 27:17 mentor Bud Bond had me acquire Strong’s Hebrew and Greek Dictionaries . . . and said “Use it!”(First copy was a heavy hardback book. I now frequently access the free downloads in PC and cell phone.)

  Looking up Jesus’ reason of “righteousness” in Greek I see the meaning includes “of character”.

  We are publically baptized to declare our redemption and new character gained through repentance before God.

  Jesus our Redeemer was baptized declaring His existent eternal character as God.

EBB4

PS. Matthew 3 record is one of the accounts evidencing The Trinity.