Have you been baptized? Were you an infant, child, or adult when you were baptized? How many baptisms have you had? Did you know there are more than one baptism a believer should go through? Until a few years ago I had no idea there was more than one baptism. In fact, although I had been a Christian for most of my life, I never knew the purpose of getting baptized. Honestly, I only got baptized because Jesus did it. I thought if getting baptized was good enough for Jesus, then it’s something I should do too. 

What Does It Mean

Do you know the word ‘baptize’ means to be fully immersed into water? I have recently come to understand why it’s so important to be fully immersed in water when we are baptized. We will discuss this a little later. For now, I just wanted to point out that baptism really means to be fully immersed in water. 

John The Baptist Baptizes People

In the New Testament we are first introduced to the idea of baptism when John the Baptist was in the Jordan River baptizing people. We read this account in all four gospels. We are going to look at this account through the eyes of Mark. 

‭‭Mark‬ ‭1‬:‭1‬-‭8‬ (‭ESV‬‬) says, “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. As it is written in Isaiah the prophet, “Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way, the voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight,’”

John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And all the country of Judea and all Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. Now John was clothed with camel’s hair and wore a leather belt around his waist and ate locusts and wild honey. And he preached, saying, “After me comes he who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.””

How many baptisms are listed here? There are 2 different baptisms listed in this passage. The first is John’s baptism of repentance. The second is when Jesus will baptize people with the Holy Spirit. While the first baptism was currently happening, the second one was yet to come in the timeline of this story. 

We Go Through How Many Baptisms

However, do you know how many baptisms a believer should go through? The answer is 3. While only one is the baptism we are accustomed to thinking about – water baptism – there are actually 3 different baptisms a person should go through. 

Robert Morris from Gateway Church in Dallas, Texas has a great teaching on the three different baptisms. 

In this sermon Robert Morris says:

1. The Holy Spirit baptizes us in Jesus.
2. The disciple baptizes us in water.
3. Jesus baptizes us in the Holy Spirit.

We are going to dig into each of these baptisms to discover what exactly each baptism is, and what the purpose is for three baptisms. 

The First Baptism

First, “The Holy Spirit baptized us in Jesus.” We call this salvation. We are baptized into the body of Christ at Salvation. It is the Holy Spirit who leads us into salvation. ‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭12‬:‭12-13a‬ ‭(ESV)‬‬ says, “For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body…” Furthermore, ‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭4‬:‭30‬ ‭(ESV)‬‬ tells us, “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.”

The Holy Spirit baptizes us into the body of Christ. He infuses newly saved people into the body of Christ to work as one with each other. He also seals us until “the day of redemption.” When Jesus and the Father look at us, they see the seal placed upon us by the Holy Spirit. 

We have been fully immersed into the body of Christ. Remember we become one with Christ when we are saved. That means there is no distance or separation between us and Jesus. We are 100% his, and as such we have been fully attached to Jesus. This is what it means to be baptized by the Holy Spirit into Jesus. 

We Are Immersed Into God’s Family

The Holy Spirit leads us to the saving knowledge of Jesus. We come into agreement with this knowledge and surrender our lives completely to Jesus. In return, we become fully immersed into the family of Jesus and become co-heirs with him. We see this concept in Romans 8:16-17 (ESV), “The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.”

What a sweet deal! We give Jesus ourselves, and in return he shares his inheritance with us. That is what it means to be a co-heir. The beauty of our inheritance given to us by this first baptism is that it is “imperishable, undefiled, and unfading.” 1 Peter 1:3-4 tells us, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you,” The gifts we receive from our Heavenly Father are perfect and indestructible. 

What Is This Inheritance

What is this perfect and indestructible inheritance? Colossians 1:12-14 (ESV) tells us exactly what that inheritance is, “giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” While the kingdom of this world is continually deteriorating, the kingdom of Jesus never tarnishes or wastes away. We, as his children, get to take part in this incredible kingdom. 

Have You Had The First Baptism 

Have you been baptized by the Holy Spirit into the body of Christ? I pray you have, but if you have yet to surrender your life to Jesus, I encourage you to do so now. Below is a prayer written by Dan Duval. He has been gifted with incredible insight into the realm of prayers. 

Here’s the thing: you need to have heart belief that Jesus is God and you want to give him your whole life. What is the difference between head and heart knowledge? I wrote about this a few years ago in a post called, Believe in Your Heart. 
To summarize it, you may intellectually know who Jesus is and what he did. You may know he was a good man who did miracles. Perhaps you know he died on the cross for your sins and was raised to life on the third day. You know this to be fact. However, it becomes heart knowledge when this knowledge changes the essence of who you are.

We see this in romantic relationships often. Have you ever just known something about someone, and it changes how you see them? This “knowing” changes how you see them and yourself. This is what it means to believe in your heart who Jesus is. This knowledge changes you. You desire to allow Jesus to take complete control of your life. You want to obey his word, no matter what the cost may be. Are you ready to give up being the boss of your life and be baptized by the Holy Spirit into the family of God? If so, pray this prayer.