Question: Will you please tell us why in Genesis 7:2, Noah was to take seven of the clean beasts, and two of the not clean beasts into the ark with him? M. J. J.
Answer: Two were to keep seed alive on the face of the earth. But God hack in view that man should worship Him, and this could only be carried out by the animals that are typical of Christ. Noah would know which kind, by the number of animals that came to him. In 8:20 we find him building an altar, and offering of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, burnt offerings unto the Lord. And the Lord smelled a sweet savor, and on the ground of this, though man’s heart is always evil, He promised blessing to the earth. Adam and Eve were clothed with skins by the Lord God. Abel offered the firstlings of his flock with the fat thereof. These are all typical of Christ, the one great sacrifice for sin, who has manifested the righteousness and grace of God.
Long afterward (Lev. 11), the difference between the clean and the unclean is unfolded for Israel’s guidance, as to what they should eat, and for our instruction. The clean animals chew the cud, and divide the hoof teaching us to meditate on the Word, and to walk it out practically. The fins and scales of the clean fish speak to us of separation from the elements around, and of the power of the Spirit to live above the world’s ways. The clean birds teach us that we are children of the day, and that we are to love one another (Gal. 5:14, 15). The clean creeping things, with legs above their feet, teach us of the faith that rises over every difficulty to walk with God (Psa. 18:29).
The Christian is free to eat what flesh he pleases, if the blood of it shed, and he gives thanks to God for it. (Gen. 9:3, 4; Acts 15:20, 29; Rom. 14:14; 1 Tim. 4:3-5). “It is sanctified by the Word of God, and by prayer.”
Question: I have been troubled about my baptism. When I was a baby I was sprinkled by a priest. Is this acceptable in God’s sight? G. L.
Answer: There are two aspects of what in Scripture is called the church. The one is the body of Christ, which is formed by the Holy Ghost, and all that are saved are in it; they have that Holy Spirit dwelling in them, which unites to Christ the Head, and to each other. (1 Cor. 12:12, 13; Eph. 4:4). No unconverted are in that.
The other aspect is the House of God on earth, which is profession. We speak of it as Christendom. All that are baptized to the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, are in it. Men build it in that way (1 Cor. 3:10-17; Gal. 3:27; Eph. 4:5). All that are baptized are in it, it includes all profession. God recognizes it in Rev. 2 and 3, which includes Roman Catholic seen in Thyatira, and Protestant as seen in Sardis, which has a name to live but is dead.
When the priest, a professed servant of God, repeated the words over you, “to the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost,” you were brought by his act into this profession, and you cannot get out of it, to be brought in again. We do not get the words “sprinkling” or “immersion” in Scripture in connection with baptism. When I baptize any one, I like to dip them in water as it is more after the figure of burial used in Romans 6, and Colossians 2, but I would not rebaptize any one if I knew it, because the name, and not the amount of water, is the thing of importance.
Before baptism, you were a “Gentile,” after it, you are “church of God” (1 Cor. 10:32: Gal. 3:28). When you left the Romish Church, you did not leave the church of God, but only the sect. It would not be obedience to the word to be baptized over again. It does not say in any place in Scripture, that it must be “after you believe.”