How Christ Was Made Manifest to Israel
by Pastor J. C. O'Hair
“AND I KNEW HIM NOT; BUT THAT HE SHOULD BE MADE MANIFEST TO ISRAEL,
THEREFORE AM I COME BAPTIZING WITH WATER.” John 1:31.
“YE MEN OF ISRAEL, HEAR THESE WORDS; JESUS OF NAZARETH, A MAN APPROVED
OF GOD AMONG YOU BY MIRACLES AND WONDERS AND SIGNS, WHICH GOD DID BY HIM IN THE
MIDST OF YOU, AS YE YOURSELVES ALSO KNOW.” Acts 2:22
“BUT I HAVE GREATER WITNESS THAN THAT OF JOHN; FOR THE WORKS WHICH THE
FATHER HATH GIVEN ME TO FINISH, THE SAME WORKS THAT I DO, BEAR WITNESS OF ME,
THAT THE FATHER HATH SENT ME.” John 5:36
Certainly there is no reason why any student of the Word of God should
misunderstand the plain language recorded in John 1:31. Here the significance
of John’s water baptism is clearly and specifically stated; that “Christ might
be made manifest to Israel.” The Greek word here translated “manifest” is
translated , in John 7:4, “shew”: “shew thyself to the world.”
Now by way of comparison. “Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God.”
This word “approved” in the Greek is “apodeiknumi”, and literally means “to
show off or to put on exhibition”. Without the prefix “apo”, the Greek word is
translated “shew” 23 times in the New Testament Scriptures.. For example
Matthew 16:21, John 14:8, I Corinthians 12:31 and: James 2:18.
In Acts 2:22, we learn that God was placing His Son, Jesus of Nazareth,
on exhibition in the midst of Israel; that is, He was showing Him off; by
miracles and wonders and signs. According to John 5:36 quoted above, these
supernatural works of Christ were to bear witness that the Father had sent Him.
According to the plain statement of Jesus of Nazareth, He was sent only to the
lost sheep of the house of Israel. Matthew 15:24.
Therefore, whatever new meaning may have been given to miracles and
signs, as well as to water baptism, after the death and resurrection of Christ,
it is plainly taught in the Four Gospels that both miracles and water baptism
were to shew Christ to Israel.
In this connection we read in John 10:41, that John the Baptist did no
miracle. We also read in John 4:2 that Jesus of Nazareth did no baptizing. We
read in Luke 1:16 and 1:80 that John’s commission and message was to Israel. In
Acts 13:24 Paul confirmed this.
We may be sure, therefore, that the earthly ministry of Jesus of
Nazareth, like the testimony of John the Baptist, was specifically, if not
exclusively, for the children of Israel. And the diligent student of the Word
of God has observed that signs, wonders, miracles, supernatural demonstrations,
and manifestations are inseparably connected with water baptism.
We quote Luke 3:3:
“And he came into all the country about Jordan, preaching the baptism of
repentance for the remission of sins.” In this verse, as well as in Matthew
3:11 and Mark 1:4, we are taught something of the significance of John’s
baptism with respect to Israel, sin and repentance. It was baptism of
repentance for (unto) the remission of sin.
There is little or nothing said about water baptism, or signs, and
miracles in the closing year of the Lord’s earthly ministry. In fact, there is
no record of any Israelite having received water baptism after the statement of
Christ, recorded in Luke 12:50, which we quote. “I have a baptism to be
baptized with; and how am I straitened till it be accomplished” Perhaps the
explanation of the absence of both miracles and water baptism is Matthew 16:20,
which we quote “Then charged He His disciples that they should tell no man that
He was Jesus the Christ.” If twelve apostles were to no longer tell to Israel
that Jesus was the Messiah, there was no further need for signs or water
baptism until this order was rescinded and the Twelve again testified that
Jesus was the Messiah; for signs and water were to shew Christ to Israel. After
Christ’s prayer on the cross for Israel, God instructed the Twelve to again
shew Jesus, as Messiah, to Israel. Acts 2:36.
In Mark 16:16 to 18 we find the commission which the resurrected Christ
gave to the Eleven. Most assuredly we again have signs and water baptism
connected. We quote these verses: “He that believeth and is baptized shall be
saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. And these signs shall follow
them that believe; In My Name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with
new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing,
it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall
recover.” There are many baptisms in our day, but no signs except “counterfeit
signs”. On the day of Pentecost we learn by reading Acts 2:36 that the twelve
apostles were doing what they were forbidden to do in Matthew 16:20. They were
testifying that Jesus was the Messiah. As they were filled with the Holy Spirit
and fulfilling the will of God, the Lord must have rescinded the order of
Matthew 16:20. And therefore, immediately follows the same message of baptism
unto repentance for the remission of sins. We quote 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.” Now let us bear in mind that it was the supernatural
demonstration on the day of Pentecost, as well as the message, that caused the
Israelites to say, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” The Jews require a
sign I Corinthians 1:23. The Jews always had signs and baptisms. Hebrews 9:10.
We turn now from the second chapter of Acts to Acts 19:1 to 7. Here we
have the last Scriptural record of baptism of any of the Lord’s disciples.
After these disciples received water baptism they received the Holy Spirit, by
the imposition of hand’s, and immediately spake with tongues. In 19:12 we have
the record of mighty signs. Between Acts 19 and Acts 28 we have no record of
water baptism and the record of very few signs. However, by reading Acts 28:5
to 10, we learn that there is a record of miraculous healing after the last
record of water baptism. By reading Romans 6:3 and 4 we learn of the abiding
baptism, “not made with hands’’.
We also learn by comparing I Corinthians 12:8 to 11, wherein we find
listed sign-gifts to members of the Body of Christ, that more emphasis is
placed upon these gifts than upon water baptism, in the special ministry of
Paul the Apostle to the Gentiles. It is interesting to compare I Corinthians
1:14, “I thank God I baptized none of you, but” and I Corinthians 14:18, “I
thank my God, I speak with tongues more than ye all”. We would particularly
emphasize the words of Paul “I thank God”. Any honest student of the Word must
acknowledge that Paul was more thankful to God for speaking with tongues than
for baptizing with water. Most Christians make much of water today and wholly
ignore signs, (many ridicule tongues).
In
every Scriptural record of water baptism there is in the same chapter, if not
in the immediate context, a record of either a supernatural manifestation or
some other Jewish sign or program.
How strange, therefore, it seems that men of God, who claim to be
expositors of God’s truth, contend so earnestly for some kind of water baptism
and are wholly indifferent as to whether members of the Body of Christ exercise
any of the sign-gifts that are mentioned in the Bible after the last mention of
water baptism. I Corinthians was written after the last recorded baptism in
Acts 19:1 to 7. Signs were in the church as late as 58 A.D. What has become of
them? We have held on to the water and let go of the signs. But we can’t
explain why. Hold on to both or give up both.
Surely we should have more respect for the consistency and sincerity of
the Pentecostalists who are contending for the signs with the water, than for
the ability of our socalled leading Fundamentalist Bible teachers who have to
resort to church history rather than to the Word of God for the explanation of
the absence of signs and miracles in the spiritual program of the Body of
Christ in this age. Many of them tenaciously, and sometimes belligerently,
contend for water baptism, although there are more than a dozen different
interpretations among them as to the mode, formula, and signification of the
water ceremony. They think they are proving their practice by the Bible; but in
reality it is by tradition.
We give here every reference to water baptism in the New Testament
Scriptures. Search these Scriptures and find one where water baptism is a
witness to the world and then mark every one proving that water baptism is both
efficacious and meritorious: Matthew 3:7 to 16; Mark 1:4 to 9 ; Luke 3:3 to 21;
John 10:40; Mark 10:38 and 39; Mark 16:16; Matthew 28:19; Acts 1:5 – Acts 2:38
to 41 – Acts 8:12, 13, 16, 36, 38 – Acts 9:18 – Acts 10:47 and 48 – Acts 11:16
– Acts 16:15,33 – Acts 18:8 – Acts 19:3,4, and 5 – Acts 22:11; I Corinthians
1:17; Romans 6:3; I Corinthians 1:3, 14, 16 – I Corinthians 10:2 – I
Corinthians 12:13 – I Corinthians 15:29; Galatians 3:27; Hebrews 6:2 – Hebrews
9:10 (washings); I Peter 3:21; Colossians 2:12; Ephesians 4:5; Acts 18:25.
Refer to I Corinthians 10:2; “baptized unto Moses”, and I Peter 3:21, “Noah in
the ark”. We are sure that the Israelites crossing the Red Sea, and Noah with
his family, did not get wet. They were all saved from the water.
We are all sure that the baptism of Romans 6:4, Colossians 2:12 and
Ephesians 4:5, is the same baptism and if water, then we are saved by water. If
so, then Romans 3:26 and 3:28, Ephesians 2:8 and 9 and Titus 3:5 to 8 are not
true.
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Christ DIED, that’s HISTORY.
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