God’s coming Kingdom

The view of planet earth, seen from outer space, is very beautiful indeed. Confirmation of this has come from the astronauts who have gazed upon it. The earth is the fairest jewel in God’s creation and it is the chosen place in the whole universe where He has promised to reveal His Kingdom in all its glory. That is why it is so beautiful.

The earth, of all the planets in the solar system, is the one that is perfectly suited to all forms of life and the one that orbits at exactly the right distance from the sun to provide comfortable conditions for the human race.

The Bible — Sole Source of Information
The Bible alone can explain why this should be. The reason is that the Creator “formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited: I am the Lord, and there is none else” (Isaiah 45:1 8).

We think it is logical to assert that if there is a Great Designer, and if He created a race of beings to inhabit this planet and no other, then there must have been an ultimate objective in His mind. Happily, we have not been left to guess what that goal might be. From the day that God put a human being on this earth, His one supreme purpose was that His creation should willingly respond to His own perfection:

“For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea” (Habakkuk 2:14).

The final stage in fulfilling that intention is what the Bible describes as THE KINGDOM OF GOD ON EARTH.

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Why baptism really matters

No doubt many people today would say: “Why are you bothering with baptism? It’s only a ceremony, isn’t it? Having a few drops of holy water sprinkled on the head of an infant by a clergyman in church, or just having a bath? What real difference can it make? You’re wasting your time.”

What must we do to be saved?

The short answer is that the New Testament has a great deal to say about baptism, from the lips of Jesus himself as well as through his apostles. Now the plain fact is that the Bible is all we have. If we want to know who Jesus was, what he taught and what he commanded his followers to do, we must go to the Bible for the answers. To look elsewhere is to rely on the opinions of men, whether of individuals or of bodies of men in Synods or Councils. What the Bible has to say about baptism must be vital for us. If Christ and his chosen apostles have declared certain things about baptism, then we ought to want to know what they are.

The really important question must therefore surely be: What did Jesus command and teach and what did his apostles do as a result?

“Born of Water”
To Nicodemus, the Jewish leader who came to him by night, Jesus said: “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God”. When Nicodemus took these words literally, Jesus further explained: “Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God” (John 3:3,5). But why should he say, “Except a man be born of water … ” unless it was a clear reference to baptism? John the Baptist had been actively preaching repentance and baptizing many in the River Jordan. Jesus himself had been baptized by John saying, “Let it be so now; for thus it is fitting for us to fulfil all righteousness” (Matthew 3:15, R.S.V.). There can then be no doubt that when Jesus said, “Except a man be born of water …”, he was saying that to enter the Kingdom of God, a man or woman must be baptized.

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