Another one of those thought that come to me as I lie in bed trying to go to sleep
2 Kings 5:1-14
1 Now Naaman, captain of the host of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master, and honourable, because by him the Lord had given deliverance unto Syria: he was also a mighty man in valour, but he was a leper.
2 And the Syrians had gone out by companies, and had brought away captive out of the land of Israel a little maid; and she waited on Naaman's wife.
3 And she said unto her mistress, Would God my lord were with the prophet that is in Samaria! for he would recover him of his leprosy.
4 And one went in, and told his lord, saying, Thus and thus said the maid that is of the land of Israel.
5 And the king of Syria said, Go to, go, and I will send a letter unto the king of Israel. And he departed, and took with him ten talents of silver, and six thousand pieces of gold, and ten changes of raiment.
6 And he brought the letter to the king of Israel, saying, Now when this letter is come unto thee, behold, I have therewith sent Naaman my servant to thee, that thou mayest recover him of his leprosy.
7 And it came to pass, when the king of Israel had read the letter, that he rent his clothes, and said, Am I God, to kill and to make alive, that this man doth send unto me to recover a man of his leprosy? wherefore consider, I pray you, and see how he seeketh a quarrel against me.
8 And it was so, when Elisha the man of God had heard that the king of Israel had rent his clothes, that he sent to the king, saying, Wherefore hast thou rent thy clothes? let him come now to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel.
9 So Naaman came with his horses and with his chariot, and stood at the door of the house of Elisha.
10 And Elisha sent a messenger unto him, saying, Go and wash in Jordan seven times, and thy flesh shall come again to thee, and thou shalt be clean.
11 But Naaman was wroth, and went away, and said, Behold, I thought, He will surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of the Lord his God, and strike his hand over the place, and recover the leper.
12 Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? may I not wash in them, and be clean? So he turned and went away in a rage.
13 And his servants came near, and spake unto him, and said, My father, if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldest thou not have done it? how much rather then, when he saith to thee, Wash, and be clean?
14 Then went he down, and dipped himself seven times in Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God: and his flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.
Here is a lesson for modern day times
We read of this leper who sent for a healing but was told he had to come before the prophet to be told what he must do. When he was told to dip seven times in the river Jordan he refused saying it should be of his thinking that surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of the Lord his God, and strike his hand over the place, and recover the leper or at least use Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, but no it had to be the way God said he would do it.
The leper had to obey the plan God said not to change it but submit not until he submitted to God"s way was he cleansed of his leprosy. It was not another way no matter what he thought was best but it only worked in the manner in which God said he would cleanse him. It was not the water that cleansed him but the obedience to God's word that cleansed him. Sometimes God uses material means to bring his blessing through in this case is was the river Jordan he chose to work his cleansing through.
Now lets fast forward to today. God says Repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and you shall receive the gift of the holy ghost. Now do we do as Naaman and say no that can't be right I am going to believe in all that Christ did and it does not include the baptism in his name that is a work of man not grace. There is no way God could use the water in baptism to wash away our sin.That is crazy baptismal regeneration that men teach and is not biblical. Even though Mark 16:16 says he that believes and is baptized shall be saved that is not what Jesus meant because there is no way baptism in the name of Christ can wash away sin I just do not see it so it cannot be. Even though Acts 2:38 says that baptism in the name of Jesus Christ is for the remission of sin and giving the spirit that can not be because God would not in my view use water to cleanse us from dead in sin to alive in Christ. Even though Romans 6 says that is exactly what God does it can't be talking about the baptism in Christ name because God would never use water as an instrument to bring about his will.
