The gospel of the water and the Spirit is the truth of salvation which Jesus Christ fulfilled for us through His baptism and bloodshed on the Cross. This gospel is not a Christian doctrine but the very way to see and enter the kingdom of God. When Nicodemus the ruler of the Jews and a Pharisee came to Jesus by night, he wanted to find out from Him how one can truly be born again to enter the kingdom of God. Jesus told him “Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.” (John 3:5)
So being born again of water and the Spirit is the only God-given condition to enter His kingdom. In the gospel of the water and the Spirit, the ‘water’ refers to Jesus’s baptism by John the Baptist at the Jordan River and the Spirit means that Jesus Christ is God Himself in the Spirit. God the Son momentarily left His throne of glory and came to this world in the form of human flesh and was baptized by John the Baptist to receive all the sins of mankind once and for all. In Bible “water” means baptism of Jesus Christ, 1 Peter 3:20–21 says “who formerly were disobedient, when once the Divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water. There is also an antitype which now saves us — baptism (not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God), through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,”
The antitype of water that saved eight families of Noah in the Old Testament is the baptism of Jesus Christ in the New Testament. 1 Peter 3:21 we just read says that baptism saves us. This baptism mentioned here is the baptism of Jesus Christ by John the Baptist in the Jordan River. Furthermore, Bible said Jesus came with His water and blood “This is He who came by water and blood — Jesus Christ; not only by water, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who bears witness, because the Spirit is truth. For there are three that bear witness in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one. And there are three that bear witness on earth: the Spirit, the water, and the blood; and these three agree as one.” Water means His baptism and blood means His death on the Cross.

The gospel of the water and the Spirit is the very gospel that the Apostles and the early church Christians believed in and preached. This explains why the apostles together with the Early Church Christians commemorated January 6th as the day of Jesus’s baptism. At that time there was no such thing as Christmas, they only celebrated the January 6th day Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist. Why did they pay such an important attention to the baptism of Jesus Christ? It is because the baptism of Jesus Christ is an indispensable element of our salvation. The baptism of Jesus is a significant part of the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Without the baptism of Jesus Christ, there wouldn’t have been a need for Him to die on the Cross. Jesus is God who has never committed any sins whatsoever, He could not have been hung on the Cross if He had not taken all sins beforehand because it is written in the Bible that the curse is on anyone who hangs on the tree. He died on the Cross because He has already accepted all the sins of the world through His baptism by John the Baptist. He shed His blood because the wages of sin is death. He must die and pay the price for our sins because He bore the sins on His body first and foremost by receiving baptism from John the Baptist. Therefore, the next day after Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist, John saw Jesus as He passed by and shouted “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). John referred to Jesus Christ as the Lamb of God, moreover, he also said He has taken away the sin of the world. John the Baptist bore this witness the very next day after baptizing Jesus Christ. Jesus is the sacrificial Lamb in the New Testament. For us to understand why John the Baptist referred to Jesus as the Lamb, we might as well visit the Old Testament.

In the Old Testament God first gave Israelites His Law. The Law consists of 613 articles which are condensed into the Ten Commandments. These 613 articles are the do’s and don’ts of the Lord’s commandments. You should do this and should not do that. God told us not to commit adultery, He said we should honour our parents, etc. But human beings are too weak to obey the divine Law. God is righteous and holy, so when He said we should not bear false witness, we should not commit murder, He said such things because He Himself is holy and can do such things. But human beings cannot obey such holy law in its entirety, it is beyond our capabilities to obey God’s law perfectly for we are weak. In the history of the law from Moses himself through whom the law was given, to David the faithful servant of God to apostles of the early church and today’s Christians, there has never been anyone who was able to obey the Law in its entirety. If people say they have kept the law without fail, they are only hypocrites. If one tries to live trying to keep the law, he will only end up being a hypocrite. Such people will end up with wounds of sin in their hearts and eventually abandon their faith and go deep into Jericho (the world). They will be like the man who fell among thieves who was wounded and stripped of his clothing, it would be fortunate if such people could meet Jesus the good Samaritan on their way to Jericho.

The people of Israel misunderstood the Law, so when Moses read the Law to them, they all vowed to keep the Law but it wasn’t long before they began breaking the very Law that they all promised to keep. Apostle Paul said “I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain.” (Galatians 2:21), furthermore in verse 21 of Galatians chapter 3 it is written “Is the law then against the promises of God? Certainly not! For if there had been a law given which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law.”
It means no Law could give us life, if the God-given law could give us life, righteousness could have been attainable through the Law, and if righteousness comes from the Law then Christ died in vain.

We must realize that we human beings are so weak to keep the Law of God perfectly. We are such people who commit numerous sins in just a day. We are such that when circumstances allow we commit hideous sins. God who created us knew everything about our weaknesses. He knew we could not obey the law even before He gave us the law. Why then did He give us the law? Romans 3:20 says “Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.” The purpose of the law is to give us the knowledge of sin. It means that through the law we are able to get to know our original selves. The law serves as a mirror to enable us to see our sinful nature. Without the law, we couldn’t have realized that we are adulterers, murderers, and covetous. Therefore Apostle Paul lamented “What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, “You shall not covet.” (Romans 7:7)
Through the law, we are able to realize we are such sinful beings who need the salvation of God.

When God called Moses to Mount Sinai, He did not give him only the law there. He gave him the law as well as the sacrificial system at the same time. This means God knew from the beginning that they would not be able to keep the Law, so He had a reason for giving them the Law. If God had given the Israelites only the law, there wouldn’t have been a way for them to escape the judgment of God that comes with the breaking of the law. God gave them a sacrificial system so that anyone who breaks any of His commandments could be remitted of his sins. God commanded Moses to build the Tabernacle according to the pattern He showed to him at Mt. Sinai, “And see to it that you make them according to the pattern which was shown you on the mountain.” (Exodus 25:40). So Moses built the tabernacle according to the pattern God showed him at Mt. Sinai. The Tabernacle is a place where the people of Israel atoned for their sins. The Tabernacle is a detailed structure that foretells the salvation of the gospel of the water and the Spirit, there are many things to say concerning this Tabernacle. From its gate, utensils, etc. all speak about the gospel of the water and the Spirit. For instance, the gate of the tabernacle court is made of blue, purple, and scarlet yarn and fine woven linen. The blue yarn signifies the baptism of Jesus Christ, the purple yarn shows that Jesus Christ is King of kings and God Himself, the scarlet yarn signifies His bloodshed on the Cross, and the fine woven linen, on the other hand, signifies the interconnectivity between the Old Testament and the New Testament, it means that both Old Testament and New Testament are closely related. They both speak about the gospel of the water and the Spirit.

The Tabernacle is the place where Israelites offer their sins offering to God. God commanded them to bring clean animals when they commit sin and break His commandments. The clean animals include lamb, goat, ram, etc. “Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them:‘When any one of you brings an offering to the LORD, you shall bring your offering of the livestock — of the herd and of the flock. ‘If his offering is a burnt sacrifice of the herd, let him offer a male without blemish; he shall offer it of his own free will at the door of the tabernacle of meeting before the LORD. Then he shall put his hand on the head of the burnt offering, and it will be accepted on his behalf to make atonement for him. He shall kill the bull before the LORD; and the priests, Aaron’s sons, shall bring the blood and sprinkle the blood all around on the altar that is by the door of the tabernacle of meeting.” (Leviticus 1–6)

Israelites must offer animals without blemish, it must be among the animals God has declared to be clean and they must offer it of their own volition. Before killing the animals and sprinkling the blood they must first lay their hands on the head of the animals to pass their sins on the head of animals. Leviticus 16:21–22 says “Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, confess over it all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions, concerning all their sins, putting them on the head of the goat, and shall send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a suitable man. The goat shall bear on itself all their iniquities to an uninhabited land; and he shall release the goat in the wilderness.”

This laying on of hands is a method through which the sins of Israelites were transferred to the head of the sacrificial animals. This is the law of God, God cannot accept any sin offering unless hands were first laid on it before it was killed. God instituted daily offerings for the individual of the Israelites and later gave them the yearly sacrifice for the entire Israelites to be carried out by the High Priest on the tenth of the seventh month. The High Priest represented the people of Israel and laid his hands on the head of the scapegoat and passed all the yearly sins of the Israelites on the goat. This is what is written in the Bible.

So when John the Baptist referred to Jesus as the Lamb of God, he meant he has passed the sins of the world onto Jesus when he baptized Him in the Jordan River. John the Baptist laid his hands on the head of Jesus and all the sins of the world were passed onto His head. That is the reason John could bear witness the next day after baptizing Jesus saying “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). Jesus was not baptized to set an example or show His humility but to fulfill all righteousness. All righteousness means that God who is just, demonstrated His justice by passing all our sins to Jesus Christ through the baptism He received from John the Baptist. It means that God has fulfilled the very righteousness that the law could not achieve by passing all our sins: past, present, and future sins to the body of Jesus Christ once and for all.
Before He was baptized He said to John the Baptist “But Jesus answered and said to him, “Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he allowed Him.” (Matthew 3:15). Here “for thus” means “in this way”, “the most appropriate way”, “there is no other way but this”. This means there is no other way Jesus could accept the sins of the world except through His baptism. After His baptism, He carried the sins to the Cross and was nailed to it to pay the price of those sins. He couldn’t have died without first taking upon Himself all our sins by His baptism. Such death would have been lawlessness, it wouldn’t have anything to do with our salvation. It will be akin to an Israelite in the Old Testament killing and sprinkling the blood of the sacrificial animal without first laying his hands on its head. God who is just cannot accept such an offering.

The gospel of the water and the Spirit is the only truth that saves human beings from all their sins once and for all. Many Christians have believed only in the blood of Jesus on the Cross, but they are actually practicing lawlessness before God. And they cannot receive the remission of sins in their heart. As such their sins always remain intact in their heart. For all our heart’s sins to be blotted out, we must believe in both the baptism of Jesus Christ and His blood on the Cross. He was baptized to receive our sins, was crucified on the Cross for the punishment of our sins, He rose again from the dead on the third day to give us eternal life. He is now sitting at the right hand of the throne of God the Father, He will also return to judge sinners who failed to believe in this gospel of the water and the Spirit and cast them to the eternal fire of hell. For the believers, He will welcome them in His kingdom to enjoy glory with Him forever.

Further readings:

1. HAVE YOU TRULY BEEN BORN AGAIN OF WATER AND THE WATER? By Paul C. Jong
2. The TABERNACLE: A Detailed Portrait of Jesus Christ ( I ) & ( II ). By Paul C. Jong

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