If a pastor has a successful, growing congregation would you assume that he is in God’s favor because of the numbers? What about a businessman who lands a lucrative contract, is he being rewarded for his godliness. In both cases, the assumptions may be correct, but there might be other factors at work not at all related to one’s personal righteousness, but more related to The Name.
Moses stressed three times:
“it is not because of your righteousness that the LORD your God is giving you this good land to possess, for you are a stubborn people” (Deuteronomy 9:6).
Moses recounts how he had pleaded for their forgiveness when they were stubborn. He retells the story of how God, in His mercy, relented and did not punish them as their deeds deserved. If not for Moses’ intercession and atonement on their behalf, Israel would not have survived the journey from Egypt. There could be no talk of their merit and righteousness. Their observance of the Torah was not sufficient to merit the conquest of the land in that their grumbling invoked Yah’s anger.
If the children of Israel did not deserve to take possession of the land, why did God give it to them? Moses gave two reasons: The sin of the Canaanites and the covenant promises to the patriarchs.
It is not for your righteousness or for the uprightness of your heart that you are going to possess their land, but it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the LORD your God is driving them out before you, in order to confirm the oath which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. (Deuteronomy 9:5)
Fast speed forward. Is it possible to be righteous before God? I believe we can do so, if and when we put on the covering of Yeshua our Messiah. And for many, this is why we choose to be baptized “in Him.” In doing so, we allow Yeshua (like unto Moses) to be our intercession and atonement.
The Hebrew term for baptism is “mikveh,” which refers to a ritual immersion in water for purification purposes. It was used by the Hebrews to cleanse themselves of ritual impurities before approaching God or entering the temple.
People have asked me, why was Yeshua baptized? I believe the answer is obvious. His ministry of entering the temple workings of YHWH was about to begin. His flesh suit was made of this earth. It needed a washing. After His resurrection, Yeshua conquered the flesh suit (death) and now He reigns, sitting at the right hand of the Father.
Should we then be baptized if there is no physical temple here on earth. Yes! Yeshua cleanses us from impurities if we choose to bathe in His water of life. He covers us so that we can enter before the Father.
Consider Matthew 16 and Romans 8 to find support for this belief.
13 Now when Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He was asking His disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” 14 And they said, “Some say John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah, or one of the other prophets.” 15 He *said to them, “But who do you yourselves say that I am?” 16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” 17 And Jesus said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar Jonah, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. 18 And I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.” 20 Then He gave the disciples strict orders that they were to tell no one that He was the Christ.” Matt. 16
What is “this rock?” When we know that there is a rock of salvation. We know that Israel drank from the rock in the wilderness. We know that there is a “cornerstone” upon which the Kingdom is built. Isaiah 51 opens with the statement:
“Listen to Me, you who pursue righteousness, Who seek the Lord:
Look to the rock from which you were cut, And to the quarry from which you were dug.”
There is only one rock from which the church can be built. That rock is Yeshua, the only son of Yah. It is He who gives the keys of the Kingdom.
When you look over the below verses in Romans 8, consider how we are to be “in” Yeshua:
1 Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
34. . . Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us.
In Acts 8, we read of a visiting pilgrim from Ethiopia, who came to believe in Yeshua as he read Isaiah on the way home:
“As they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, “Look, here is water. What can stand in the way of my being baptized?” (verse 36).
Consider this action from the viewpoint that the temple’s curtain separating the holy from the most holy has already been torn in Jerusalem at the time of Yeshua’s crucifixion and death. The Holy Spirit has also come upon the disciples causing people to be baptized “in” Yeshua’s Name.
One last comment:
“For the promise to Abraham or to his descendants that he would be heir of the world was not through the Law, but through the righteousness of faith.” (Romans 4:13)
Yah’s promise to Abraham was first given due to Abraham’s faith walk, not on how well he kept the law. In short, Abraham was covered by “Yah’s promise” to rescue his generations. Consequently, you may want to ask, “what is the promise and do I want to be in that promise or outside of the promise?
Looking forward to our baptism in Messiah.
Be blessed this Sabbath,
Rollyn