John the Baptist’s baptism:(3 of 9)
Mark 1:4-5.
“John did baptize in the wilderness, and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. (5) And there went out unto him all the land of Judaea, and they of Jerusalem, and were all baptized of him in the river of Jordan, confessing their sins.”
John’s Disciples.
The link between remission and baptism was initiated under the closing era of the Law before the Kingdom age began. It had been pre-empted in the water of separation that cleansed ceremonial sin. (KJV & 23 other versions)
The rite of confession accompanied John’s water baptism, but affirmation and formal confession in old covenant repentance had no bearing on the kingdom gifts of repentance and the righteousness of faith.
Jesus’ Disciples.
The apostle trainees failed to experience repentance or the righteousness of faith until the resurrection. In spite of their forty months of avowed affirmations, Jesus knew that ten of them would either deny him or forsake him, and another would betray him as the child of perdition.
He knew that their own double- minded faith would fail. When however, they did discover their failure, and went into morbid remorse, they received the enlightening gifts of repentance and saving-faith from Christ on the first day of the resurrection.
Strangely, according to the three Synoptic Gospels, neither John the Baptist, nor the apostles were baptized by Jesus. While Christ submitted to John’s water rite himself, he never thereafter advocated, or used the water rite during the three and a half years before his death. The fourth gospel has one isolated, but confusing incident, however, where the Jews accused Jesus and his disciples of baptizing believers in water. Probably Andrew and John the apostle reverted to helping their old master, John the Baptist, for the short time Jesus was adjacent to his cousin the prophet on the banks of River Jordan.
http://bonitabiblemission.worthyofpraise.org/?p=29
