When I walked the isle and prayed the prayer at 18 years old, there was no teaching of the immediate need to be baptized. So I just didn’t do it. There was no mention of it that I can remember. Of course, the church believed in it, but they didn’t really teach about it. I would say the biggest reason I didn’t necessarily want to get baptized was my pride. I didn’t want to go up in front of everyone and get dunked in water. And the longer I put it off, the less I felt that it was really necessary. I didn’t feel this way because I studied the scripture and made a decision based on sound biblical principals. I just wanted to do what I wanted to do. But isn’t that what we do as christians? We don’t consult the word of God, we just do what we think is right. After all, we prayed a prayer and got our ticket to heaven. That’s all that really matters, right? Don’t get me started on that again. Anyway, I carried on this way from the age of 18 until the age of about 30 when Laura and I were helping start a church. It was the first time we had done this and I was being considered for the office of Deacon. Well then, someone certainly couldn’t be a deacon without being baptized, could they? So, I decided it was time. Not because I felt it was spiritually necessary...but because it was church tradition that deacons had to be baptized. Let me say this now. That is the wrong reason to be baptized.
Here’s how my first baptism went down. It’s a Sunday morning in this large church and as usual the place was packed. Now I’d seen several baptisms done there before, so I knew the drill. You see, this was a presbyterian church, so people brought their new born babies to be sprinkled by the pastor as a form of baptism. The parents would bring the baby up to the stage and hand it over to the pastor and he would hold the child as he carefully put a little water on the baby’s head. Now, I’m out in the hallway with the pastor just before we are to go out for the baptism. There were a couple of parents with their babies there also. The pastor gives some last minute instruction as to what he will do as the parent hands him their baby. After he is finished, I walked over to him and said, “I just want to be sure you don’t drop me when you are holding me.” He laughed out loud. He wasn’t know for his humor, but when we went out for the baptism, he told the congregation that story and the place cracked up. So baptism number one was only out of religious duty...again, that was the wrong reason. After that, I still continued living the christian life, as I defined it. That meant serving in church the way I wanted to serve, when it was convenient for me. As long as it made me happy. There was no sacrifice, no suffering for Christ. I was an American Christian and that means my happiness is all that mattered. That was until January of 2016 when I was 48 years old. It was then that Laura and I started on this journey into the Kingdom of God. I was on fire for the King and couldn’t stop talking about God to anyone who would listen. As I was praying and truly seeking what God wanted for us, I started asking if there was anything that I needed to let go of.
Things that would hinder my relationship with God. Immediately, I knew there was a couple of things I had to deal with. The first was some bitterness I had been holding against some former employees because of a bad business deal. The second was the pride of not wanting to be truly baptized...the way it is described in scripture. Not a sprinkling for a couple seconds, but a full immersion into water. I determined to take care of both of those things ASAP. Now as soon as I decided to get baptized, the enemy sent me the thought, “what will people think?” You see for the last 20 years I’d been leading worship. Would I lose the respect of the people I’d been leading? Would they think I was a fraud? As soon as those thoughts came I dismissed them and said I don’t care what any man thinks, I only care about what God thinks. Laura and I were baptized on February 14, 2016. And then came the attacks of the enemy. But we had been given the power of the Holy Spirit, so despite everything he threw at us, we were able to keep praising and keep seeking with everything in us. The power we needed followed our obedience in baptism. Immersion is the only way you see baptism shown in the New Testament. You won’t find infant sprinkling anywhere. You have to do some theological gymnastics with a few verses to justify it. Why did Jesus think it was so important to be baptized, the way it’s described in scripture...fully immersed in water, in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit? Because baptism is spiritual warfare. What does that mean? Let’s dig in further and take a look under the hood to see what is happening behind the scenes in the spiritual realm when we are baptized into the name of Jesus and His righteousness.
Colossians 2:12 “12 having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. This verse says we are buried with Him in baptism and raised with Him through faith. Faith in what? God’s power to raise the dead. So our baptism is a symbol of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. We are aligning ourself with what Jesus did. But chances are, if you’ve spent any time in church, you already knew that. Let’s continue reading at verse 15. Verse 15 does not have anything to do with us. It’s about the spiritual warfare going on in the unseen realm. Colossians 2:15 “15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.” He disarmed spiritual rulers and authorities. And just who are these spiritual rulers and authorities? They are the angels who did not obey God and were placed in chains of gloomy darkness. I’ll say it again...Baptism is spiritual warfare. The Apostle Peter lays out this idea. 1 Peter 3:18-20 “18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, 19 in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, 20 because they formerly did not obey, when God's patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water. Pay special attention to the next line...Here comes the part the spicy part.
1 Peter 3:21-22 “21 Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 22 who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him.” Jude also gives us an important clue about this situation. Jude 1:6 “6 The angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their proper dwelling—these he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day.” Apparently, some angels committed an egregious crime. Jude does not give us the details, but the angels’ sin was related to how they “did not keep their own position but deserted their proper dwelling.” Revelation and 2 Peter also speak of this group of disobedient angels that are currently bound. The spirits in prison are disobedient angels, the sin they committed is the one we see in Genesis 6:1–4, which records the “sons of God” mating with the “daughters of men” and producing a race of giants, the Nephilim. The “sons of God” are angels, and the sin of Genesis 6 involved angels leaving the place where they belonged in an act of disobedience before the Flood. According to 1 Peter 3:19, Jesus “made proclamation” to these spirits in prison. The Greek word translated “proclaimed” or “preached” means “to publicly declare” or “to herald.” Peter says that Jesus went to Hades and proclaimed His victory to the fallen angels imprisoned there. They had lost, and He had won. Look at this verse again with that in mind.
Colossians 2:15 “15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.” Baptism is serious spiritual warfare because it is a sign; it's as though when you go down below the water and come out, you are mimicking this journey of Jesus. Because the idea is Jesus goes down there, he preaches to the spirits in prison, announcing His victory and now every time someone is baptized in the name of Jesus, they are symbolically going down again and announcing to the imprisoned angels that Jesus won the victory and they are on His side. But we have to ask the question, why was it so bad that angels mated with human women? Why do they need to be reminded of the victory of Jesus over them every time someone is baptized? It’s because their disobedience involved more than just taking human wives. Here is where we go down the rabbit hole. Who are these rebellious angels? They are the rebellious Watchers from the book of 1 Enoch. (Loyal Watchers are also mentioned in Daniel 4.) Now you may say, I don’t remember the book of Enoch in the Old Testament. And that’s because it’s not there. So what is the book of 1 Enoch? It is a second temple Jewish book that the New Testament writers would have been very familiar with. It’s a historical book that can help us read our bible in context. You may have heard of the Dead Sea Scrolls. They were ancient documents found in a cave that have fragments of the Old Testament copied on them. The Dead Sea Scrolls have been used to show how how far back we can trace the original writings
from the Old Testament. Do you know what else was found there? That’s right...The Book of Enoch. Now let me be be very clear. I’m not saying the book of Enoch is inspired scripture. It’s just a historical book that can help us understand biblical context. Have you ever read a book by a famous pastor or christian author that helped you understand a passage of scripture? Of course, you have. That’s why the book of Enoch is important. Most of the Bible verses we’ve looked at so far are referencing passages from the book of Enoch. It’s the story of the Watchers, which would have been very familiar to the early Christians. Enoch the man and the book is mentioned or quoted by Jude, Peter and even Jesus in the New Testament. Their assumption was that their audience would be very familiar with the story. So what is that story? The first book of Enoch tells us the back story of Genesis 6. It’s about a group of angels called The Watchers, who came down to earth (abandoned the proper dwelling and authority). They took and had children with human women who grew to be giants called the Nephilim. Let me read a couple of passages from the book of Enoch that explain this. “And it came to pass when the children of men had multiplied that in those days were born unto 2 them beautiful and comely daughters. And the angels, the children of the heaven, saw and lusted after them, and said to one another: 'Come, let us choose us wives from among the children of men 3 and beget us children.' And Semjaza, who was their leader, said unto them: 'I fear ye will not 4 indeed agree to do this deed, and I alone shall have to pay the penalty of a great sin.' And they all answered him and said: 'Let us all swear an oath, and all bind ourselves by mutual imprecations 5 not to abandon this plan but to do this
thing.' Then sware they all together and bound themselves 6 by mutual imprecations upon it. And they were in all two hundred; who descended in the days of Jared on the summit of Mount Hermon, and they called it Mount Hermon, because they had sworn 7 and bound themselves by mutual imprecations upon it.” Earlier in the book these angels are referred to as The Watchers. It seems clear that these are the ones that Genesis 6 is referring to. They swear to each other that they will carry out this great sin. And then they take it farther. “And all the others together with them took unto themselves wives, and each chose for himself one, and they began to go in unto them and to defile themselves with them, and they taught them charms 2 and enchantments, and the cutting of roots, and made them acquainted with plants. And they 3 became pregnant, and they bare great giants, whose height was three thousand ells: Who consumed 4 all the acquisitions of men. And when men could no longer sustain them, the giants turned against 5 them and devoured mankind. And they began to sin against birds, and beasts, and reptiles, and 6 fish, and to devour one another's flesh, and drink the blood. Then the earth laid accusation against the lawless ones.” The giant offspring of the Watchers , called the Nephilim have now gone completely off the rails. Let’s keep reading. “And Azazel taught men to make swords, and knives, and shields, and breastplates, and made known to them the metals of the earth and the art of working them, and bracelets, and ornaments, and the use of antimony, and the beautifying of the eyelids, and all kinds of costly stones, and all 2 colouring tinctures.”
This Watcher named Azazel shows up in the Bible in Levitiucs 16, as God gives instructions concerning the Day of Attonement for Israel. More on that at a later date. He taught men about war and women about makeup and jewelry, used to seduce the men. Here’s what happened. “And there arose much godlessness, and they committed fornication, and they 3 were led astray, and became corrupt in all their ways.” This was the great sin of the Watchers. They led man astray into complete chaos and wickedness. This is what led to the great flood of Noah’s time. Genesis 6:5 “5 The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6 And the Lord regretted (means to suffer grief) that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. 7 So the Lord said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them. 8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.” The sins that the Watchers taught mankind, grieved God’s heart so much that He decided to start over with man and put the watchers in prison. These Watchers are the angels who are currently in prison, held there in chains of gloomy darkness. But there’s more to the story. Remember Enoch was so close to God that he didn’t die. The bible says that God took him. So Enoch has access to God in the unseen spiritual realm. God tells him what will happen to the Watchers. So Enoch tells them.
“And Enoch went and said: 'Azazel, thou shalt have no peace: a severe sentence has gone forth 2 against thee to put thee in bonds: And thou shalt not have toleration nor request granted to thee, because of the unrighteousness which thou hast taught, and because of all the works of godlessness 3 and unrighteousness and sin which thou hast shown to men.' Then I went and spoke to them all 4 together, and they were all afraid, and fear and trembling seized them. And they besought me to draw up a petition for them that they might find forgiveness, and to read their petition in the presence 5 of the Lord of heaven.” Enoch tells the Watchers that they will be put into prison for what they have done, so they ask him to go to God on their behalf to ask for forgiveness. God says no, and Enoch delivers the bad news back to them. This is also what Jesus did, after He was crucified, but before He was resurrected. He went and proclaimed His victory over them. He reinforced the bad news of their punishment and that mankind now had a way out and did not have to share their fate. What Enoch told them, is what Jesus told them...And now you get to tell them. Your baptism is a symbolic journey down to their underworld prison to remind them once again that they will never get out...but you have. Their attempt to corrupt mankind and keep them on the side of evil and wickedness has failed. They tried to ruin mankind, God’s creation that He loved, but Jesus came to restore and redeem our relationship with God. That is the story of baptism. Are you ready to join Jesus in this spiritual battle?
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