Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Posts Tagged ‘Baptism into Christ’

The Dimensional Word

Posted in The Living Word, tagged , , , on February 20, 2026| Leave a Comment »

[Printable version]

Scripture reading: Ephesians 3:14-21

All of the Word of God is dimensional and none of it is natural, although it has natural dimensions. For instance, let us take the word baptism. In the natural dimension, this means being immersed in water as a spiritual covenant between the believer and Jesus Christ. In the spiritual sense, it is the baptism of the Holy Spirit. In its fullness, it means the baptism into Christ. The scriptures for these three baptisms are Matthew 3:11 and I Corinthians 12:13.

I will give you another example of the dimensional Word. We can understand what peace is. One definition is the absence of war. This would be the basest plane of peace. On the other hand, we know peace to be calmness and tranquility, which is another dimension of peace. Yet, there is another and higher peace of love between persons and kindness and felicity. But the depth of peace is the peace of God which is on the fourth dimension and beyond the understanding of man.

From my experience, I remember the first day Jesus Christ came into my room and talked with me. My mind, my will, my desires, my emotions were all caught up into a heavenly tranquility, which stilled my whole body and being for the space of nine hours while He talked with me and I questioned Him concerning the Word. The Scripture describes it thus:

Philippians 4:7, And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Here we see an example of four dimensions of peace, and the fourth, which is the peace of God, passes all understanding.

We read of the dimensions in the word in Ephesians 3:17-19, That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; 19 And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God.

From the context we see that only those who are rooted and grounded in love are able to comprehend the four dimensions. The word comprehend in this context means to lay a hold of, to imbibe and appropriate unto oneself. Thus we see the meaning extended beyond the English meaning of comprehend, or not merely to understand. The mystery of spiritual comprehension is that one does not know that he does not know the things he cannot comprehend.

In the natural, a dimension is a measurable extent of any kind as length, breadth, depth, area, volume, etc. We could describe a spiritual dimension as a spiritual realm or frequency of spiritual activity. Just as different frequencies of electrical magnetism might be carrying radio waves and television pictures all through your house while you remain in perfect calm, hearing and seeing nothing, so it is that the spirit world is all around us without our knowledge.

The Word of God and the laws of God exist on all the frequencies at the same time. When, therefore, the Word goes forth from any dimension of God, it permeates all the dimensions, even to the highest heaven and sometimes to the lowest hell. When God speaks a word on the natural plane, we must understand that as we grow in the Spirit, the same word will have a deeper meaning, and yet a deeper meaning, and yet the fullness of the meaning still lies beyond us in the heavenly realms.

There are no barriers to the dimensional power of the Word of God and this power has nothing to do with human faith or belief. One cannot say, “I will believe so and so in order that I might achieve this result or that,” because faith is not under our control, but under the control of the Word of God.

Romans 10:17, So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

(Excerpt from The Omega Message, December 1993, pg. 3-4)

Thought for today: Even though we cannot always understand the depth of the Word of God, it is still there and available to all who dare to grow deeper in the Spirit.

Read Full Post »

His Writings on Your Heart

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , on August 28, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[Printable version]

Scripture reading: Hebrews 6:1-2

Let us look at the doctrine of baptisms today as described in Hebrews 6:2. For context, however, we are going to read from verse 1.

“Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God. 2 Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.”

How many baptisms have you had? Well, I know somebody who was baptized in water seven times. Every baptism there was held, he wanted to go to get a dip. That is not baptisms, that is still one baptism, and he had never had it the first time. Amen.

Let’s take the basic. Baptism is a covenant, and the Bible says Jesus Christ came by water and by blood (1 John 5:6). Baptism is a blood covenant. It is a covenant unto death. So, if you were baptized in water and you never made that covenant in your soul, you were not really baptized. Remember now, Jesus is coming nearer to you, to the church. Whether you want it to be or not, it is not going to stop Him. Jesus has been creeping towards the church for 2,000 years. Amen.

I think of a man who they dropped in a deep, dark hole. They dug a deep hole and called it a dungeon. They dropped him down into that hole and the man was in that dungeon for three years. The man still lived and still praised God! We think of Paul being in a dungeon. What do you think these dungeons were like? They put them down there, and there was no restroom. Can you imagine a restroom in a dungeon? The dungeon is the restroom. So, every prisoner they had there would defecate and do everything there in the dungeon. Then they would drop another prisoner down there. I think of the worms and everything. The men were in there, standing up. In some of the dungeons, they couldn’t sleep on the floor; they had to lean against the wall to sleep. For food they would let down a piece of bread and a little water. There was no way of getting a change of clothes. There was no way of getting a bath. There was no way of having any kind of life down there and yet men lived in that for years, survived and praised God. Have you ever thought of it?

One time, I went into a restroom in London and it was in a part of the house that was set off from where everybody else was. When I tried to leave, the door wouldn’t open. I was locked up in the restroom, and I felt so awful. I said, “My God, suppose it was a dungeon that I was in?” You know what I mean. You knock, knock, knock, and nobody hears.

God is calling us to a higher level. He said, “Let us put aside all these foundations.” It was Paul’s way of saying, “Well, you need to have these foundations, or else you can’t go on to higher things. BUT, let us put aside these foundations and let us go on to higher things.” Praise be to God.

So, we have baptism in water, baptism in the Holy Ghost, and baptism into Christ. Have you looked at your baptism, and have you seen the thing accomplished? Because if you are baptized in water and you are not baptized in the Holy Ghost, you were not really baptized in water. That sounds bad, doesn’t it? You can go down in water and you can be wet, and come up wet. Dry Christian goes down. Wet Christian comes up, but you are not yet baptized. WHY? Because if baptism in water is without a commitment, without a contract with God unto death, then you haven’t yet been baptized. That contract, that covenant is what makes the baptism a baptism. Hallelujah! The proof of that baptism is that you are baptized in the Holy Ghost. But guess what? Some people are baptized in the Holy Ghost but because they got the inward baptism of the Holy Ghost and they weren’t baptized in the water, they think God will let them off the hook. They say, “Okay, I’ve got it! If baptism in water leads me to baptism in the Holy Ghost, and I’ve got the baptism of the Holy Ghost, then I don’t need baptism in water any more.” No. No. God comes to you and He says, “Go get baptized in water.” WHY? You must make the covenant. You must learn your lesson. You must have His writing on the tables of your heart, written in blood before you can go any further. Amen.

(Excerpt from Keeping in Touch, December 2007, pg. 5-6)

Thought for today: We need to have the foundations, or else we cannot go on to higher things. BUT, let us put aside these foundations and let us go on to higher things.

Read Full Post »

Christ in the Soul

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , on August 15, 2025| 1 Comment »

[Printable version]

Scripture reading: Matthew 25:1-13

When we accepted Jesus Christ, we received life. The blood of Jesus Christ is the life of God which we received in our souls, which were dead in trespasses and sins. This life had to help us die to the alien life of sin which had occupied the soul. Then we had the self life, also, which had to die. So we see that when we accepted Christ as our Saviour, it was a matter of submitting to death in order to receive life. When that process is completed, then we begin to enter into Christ. Paul speaking to the Corinthian Christians in 1st Corinthians 12:13 declares,

“For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body.”

We are not baptized into the body of Christ until the body of sin and self is given a death blow. If sin is still reigning in our members, then it was not fully dealt with. The grain of corn cannot bring forth a new life until it has given up its own life. We must die to live, and that life does not begin until that death is complete. This is all done by faith. We cannot deal with this subject fully in this short article, because there would not be enough space.

The divine order of the entering into Christ is shown in the Tabernacle of Moses by the three veils. The first veil is called the Gate. The second is called the Door, and the third is called the Veil. The door is Christ, and the entering in is preceded by the washing at the Laver, which is death to self and a complete surrender to Christ. Self cannot be on the throne, and Christ be crowned as King at the same time. One King must depose the other, and even more than being deposed, ONE KING MUST SLAY THE OTHER, so that there is no further possibility of a coup to regain the throne.

THE ENTERING IN OF CHRIST INTO THE SOUL of man is a conscious act of man’s will, which is preceded by the three BAPTISMS of death.

There must be a death before there can be a resurrection. The three baptisms are:

1) Baptism in water, the baptizer being human
2) Baptism in the Holy Ghost, the baptizer being Jesus Christ
3) Baptism into Christ, the baptizer being the Holy Ghost

Christ enters into us, then we begin to enter into Christ. Just as the Holy Spirit enters into us, then we begin to live in the Spirit.

When Christ enters the soul as King, He begins His rule on earth within the individual. HE MUST REIGN TILL ALL ENEMIES ARE PUT UNDER HIS FEET, even death. We see, therefore, that He brings life and immortality to light by the gospel. 2 Timothy 1:10.

The beast nature of man, therefore. is being changed to the nature of the Christ.

From the illustration, we can see that the five wise virgins in Matthew 25 had oil in their lamps, which is the Holy Spirit which occupies our spirits, and not our souls. This stands to reason why, although we receive the Holy Spirit, we still have the power to reject His counsel and have our own way. It also is the reason why we still fall into sin, though having the Holy Spirit of God within us. The process of the Kingdom of God gently seeps into every area of our lives with our own free will consent, just as the leaven that leavens the whole three lumps of the woman’s meal in Matthew 13:33.

This, therefore, is the work of the overshadowing. The work is done in:

  1. The individual temples (individual lives)
  2. The elect church (called out of the called out)
  3. The time of the restitution of all things, the dispensation of the fullness of times, IN OUR TIME.

(Excerpt from The Pattern, 2nd edition, 1995, pg. 162-164)

Thought for today: One King must depose the other, and even more than being deposed, ONE KING MUST SLAY THE OTHER, so that there is no further possibility of a coup to regain the throne.

Read Full Post »

Water Baptism – A Covenant

Posted in The Covenant, tagged , , , , , , , on July 9, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[Printable version]

Scripture reading: Matthew 3:11 & 1 Corinthians 12:13

Water Baptism is an act of Covenant, just as a Marriage Ceremony. When we accepted Jesus Christ as our Saviour, there was no cost accrual to us. Our salvation was bought and paid for by The Blood of Jesus Christ. Now that we are Christians, God is asking us to reciprocate. If we want to be a part of the Body of Christ, our first act would be to make a covenant with the Body of Christ, or in other words, declare our loyalty and love by some act of our will. We, therefore, must renounce the former things, and declare our stand for Christ, thus becoming dead to sin and alive unto God.

  1. Natural – Matthew 3:11
    Baptism in water
    Baptizer is man
  2. Spirit – Matthew 3:11
    Baptism in Holy Ghost
    Baptizer is Jesus
  3. Fullness – 1st Corinthians 12:13
    Baptism into Christ
    Baptizer is Holy Ghost

As the chart shows, let us look at the three dimensions which God has ordained for us to operate.

(1) NATURAL – The First dimension is always the natural. Every principle of God is first given to us in the natural. If we allow our understanding to remain in the natural, then it has no real meaning, since the natural will pass away, and at best is temporary. THE NATURAL BAPTISM, THEN, IS IN WATER, AND PERFORMED BY A HUMAN PERSON.

(2) SPIRITUAL – The Second dimension is always spiritual. The spiritual, therefore, is the real purpose for the natural, and it is upon a higher plane. The spiritual baptism is called the Baptism of the Holy Ghost. This is the entering in of the Holy Spirit into the spirit of the individual. In this baptism, instead of being covered over with water, one is covered over with the Holy Spirit, inside and outside. The pattern, however, was laid by the water baptism. Just as the water covered the believer, so also the Holy Spirit covers him, and the Baptizer is Christ Himself.

(3) FULLNESS – The Third dimension is the absolute fulfillment of both natural and spiritual. If we then understand the water baptism, then we will easily understand what the fullness of baptism will be. In this baptism, we are immersed into Christ by the Holy Spirit. Hebrews 6:2 speaks of “baptisms,“ while Ephesians 4:5 tells us that there is only “one baptism.“ These are reconciled when we understand that in the one there are three. Matthew 3:11 tells us that John the Baptist baptized with water, but Jesus would baptize with the Holy Ghost and fire. That gives us the scripture for the first two. The third is found in 1st Corinthians 12:13, where it states that the Holy Spirit baptizes us into Christ.

An example would be in order at this point. There was a natural man named Israel, and he produced a people named Israel. If this was the end of the story, then it would be a sad one indeed, but the natural Israel produced a man named Jesus Christ, who became the Saviour and Lord of a spiritual nation, and then some of the promises which it was impossible for natural Israel to walk in, the spiritual Israel are walking in. However, this spiritual Israel is just as unsatisfactory before God as the natural Israel. God, therefore, must bring another Israel to be made out of both, which He calls Zion (The Body of Christ), which will be the perfection of Beauty.

(Excerpt from The Pattern, pg. 56-57)

Thought for today: We, therefore, must renounce the former things, and declare our stand for Christ, thus becoming dead to sin and alive unto God.

Read Full Post »

The Covenant of Baptism

Posted in The Covenant, tagged , , , , , on December 26, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[Printable version]

Scripture reading: John 3:3-8, Matthew 3:11

Have you ever thought of what baptism really is? Baptism is a covenant that the believer makes with God. It is permanent. It is a death, a burial, and a resurrection. The thing that dies is not the thing that rises. The thing that rises is a Christ thing. The man’s heart, his mind, his soul, and his behavior must change radically. It is not “Oh, I got changed yesterday.” No sir, it is a continuous change, a gradual change. The ugly caterpillar goes into a chrysalis and changes, changes, changes, until he undergoes his metamorphosis and becomes a beautiful butterfly. Until that day, the change is yet continuing, or should continue.

However, this change is arrested, retarded, or stopped by some of the church doctrines that we have. The believer is no longer functioning under God, for he has not made CHRIST HIS LORD. Jesus is my Saviour, oh yes. I did not have to do anything. All I needed to be saved by Jesus was to be a sinner which I did not do; I was born that way. Born a sinner, Jesus saves you, and now you must turn around and make a covenant with Him that you will follow Him all the way. That is baptism. Outside of this, there is no baptism. You could be wet with water until you continuously drip. You will not be baptized unless that consciousness has come to you.

Some of you have been baptized and feel if you go down in the name of Jesus (someone said “Jesus” over you) and come up again, you are made perfect. You are mistaken. Those of you who believe that you are baptized to become a member of a church and get the right hand of fellowship when you are baptized, YOU ARE NOT BAPTIZED. You must make the covenant with God and then go down in the water. That is baptism and you must know what you are doing. Baptism has the following three steps: Water, Holy Spirit, and Christ. Man baptizes you in water, Jesus baptizes you in the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit baptizes you into Christ. That brings you into the holy place.

There is the outer court, the holy place, and then you are still going on further. You are going into the holy of holies where the overshadowing of God will deliver you from all harm. Psalm 91:1 says, “He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.” You will go into the ark of the covenant, where you become a permanent part of God.

(Excerpt from The Book of Revelation, Volume 2, pg. 4-5)

Thought for today: Baptism is a covenant that requires continual change until our metamorphosis is complete and we are fully changed into the image and likeness of God.

Read Full Post »

Older Posts »