Do you have to be baptized to go to heaven?
I have had this question asked to me many times! I’m going to answer this question with as much caution as possible. My Baptist friends will think that I have jumped ship if they don’t listen to me carefully. My Church of Christ friends are going to shout and jump for victory, if they don’t listen carefully.
However, both will be enlightened if they open their hearts and minds to listen. I would like for them to, please, think and listen to what I say, very carefully. The verse that is used in most cases is Acts 2:38, “… repent and be baptized”.
No one can get into the Kingdom of Heaven unless they have been baptized. When the Israelites came out of Egypt, they could not have gotten into the promised land if they had not gone through the Red Sea.
Baptism is so very important! You can become a Christian without being baptized, but you can’t get into the Kingdom of Heaven without being baptized. Baptism does not save you, only the blood of Jesus washes away our sins. Baptism is a requirement for entrance into the Kingdom of Heaven.
The blood of Jesus makes us qualified for the Eternal Heaven. Baptism qualifies us for our entrance into the Kingdom of Heaven. Faithfulness to the Lord guarantees our position of being a joint heir with the King of kings in His Kingdom of Heaven.
We need to see the difference between the Heaven Eternal and the Kingdom of Heaven.
If you will go to the area where there is a big question mark in a box, click on that box and and you’ll read about the differences.
Baptism is an outward picture of an inward change! If a person does not get baptized, they will never go very far in their Christian walk. They have to obey God to qualify for a position in his coming Kingdom of Heaven. There will be many Christians who will be in that group in Matthew 7. They will say “Lord, Lord“…? The apostle said that no one can say “Lord but by the Holy Spirit”. They got saved, but were disobedient and unfaithful in preparing for their future position in His Kingdom.
As a college basketball coach, I watched the guys work out and do work on plays, work on moves and shots. I made decisions for the upcoming game, based on what I saw in their practicing. If a guy was always goofing off and playing video games, in his spare time, instead of shooting and dribbling, he wasn’t going to get much time in the game, if any! His desire, in his spare time, not practice time, showed his desire for improvement. And I Corinthians 4:2 says that it’s required for us to be faithful. We’re going to be judged on faithfulness and Christians should constantly be desirous to be more like Jesus. Being obedient is a great way to be like Him. Jesus said “… I do always those things that please Him”, (talking of His Heavenly Father) in John 8:29. If we do not get baptized, we will go to heaven eternal, but not have a position in the Kingdom of Heaven, because of unfaithfulness.
The book of Acts starts the re-offer of the Kingdom of Heaven to the Jewish people as a nation. They had already rejected the King of kings, they had crucified Him and now they continued looking for their Messiah. They needed to repent of rejecting Him, but their leaders led them in unbelief. Many individuals; however, repented and accepted the Lord Jesus as their Christ (Messiah).
Baptism was the way that God designed to show outwardly that they had inwardly believed that Jesus was the Messiah. Their turning to believe was repentance and that needed to be expressed outwardly. Being baptized in the name of Jesus Messiah, or Jesus Christ, was their testimony that they had believed in their heart.
Today, we are baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. It is an outward picture of an inward belief that Jesus is the Son of God, He gave His life on the cross, that He shed His blood to pay for our sins, and was buried and rose again the third day.
Now in the future, Israel will repent as a nation and accept the fact that Jesus is their Messiah. They will do this in a single day according to Old Testament prophecy. Jesus said, on the cross, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do”. They had been observing Passover annually, so their sins were covered.
The cities of refuge were established in the Old Testament in Numbers chapter 35. They were established to harbor a person who had ignorantly killed someone. They would flee to that city of refuge until their trial. If the verdict was guilty, they would be turned over to the person assigned to avenge the blood. Most of the time, that avenger would be a relative of the victim. If they were found to be guilty of involuntary manslaughter, they could stay in the protection of the city of refuge until the death of the high priest.
On the cross, Jesus said, “they know not what they do “, they did it ignorantly or involuntarily. At the end of the tribulation period, Elijah will announce His coming as the King of kings, the Lord of lords. He will announce His coming and Israel will fall on their faces in belief in one day. (See the story of Joseph revealing himself to his brothers in Genesis chapter 45. Also, see Isaiah 66)
Those who crucified the Lord were the religious leaders of the Jews. They had been observing Passover from a young age, so their sins were covered, not taken away, but covered. Jesus came to take them away!
Once a Jewish individual accepted the fact that Jesus was the Christ (the Messiah), he/she would be baptized as an outward sign of confessing and would no longer sacrifice an animal. Baptism was a ‘one time’ occasion, not yearly as the sacrifices on Passover.
Now, let’s go back to the city of refuge. Once the high priest died, his position was vacated and the ‘offender’ could leave the city of refuge and go back to his inheritance. The avenger of blood could not bother him without being criminally charged himself. When Jesus comes at the end of the tribulation, He is vacating the seat of intercession. He’ll then be activating His position as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
Israel, after the tribulation, repentance and accepting their Messiah, will go into the earthly kingdom which is their inheritance. And Christians will be in their assigned places (John 14:3) living for 1,000 years in the Kingdom of Heaven. The faithful and unfaithful alike, will be in their assigned places for that 1,000 years.
Many Christians will be found unfaithful at the Judgment Seat of Christ. Even their religious works will be found to have been done in the flesh, not according to the law of God. Matthew 7, says that those Christians are “workers of iniquity”. In other words, they are workers of lawlessness. And He said, “Depart from me”. He is in the ruling room in His kingdom, but the unfaithful are not going to be allowed in there. He says “I never knew you”, but He is omniscient (He is all knowing). He knows everything. He is in reality, saying “I never knew you concerning these works”. In other words, he does not recognize these works as legitimate works or as works done according to the law of God; that’s why they are called “lawlessness”. They will be sent to their place of weeping and wailing, outside of the ruling room, but still in the Kingdom of Heaven.
A few Christians will be found faithful at the Judgment Seat and be assigned positions of authority in His kingdom. These will help Jesus bring this earth back to the condition which it was in the garden of Eden. At that time, Jesus will present this earth back to His Heavenly Father Who is “all in all”.
The Christians who are found faithful are the ones who are sensitive to the Holy Spirit’s leadership during this lifetime. The ones who are not affected by what others say or do. “Many are called (many are saved), but few are chosen (to rule and reign with Him in the throne room). Many have applied the blood of the Lamb of God to their hearts door by faith (that’s salvation). But few have faithfully followed the Holy Spirit’s leadership in this life to qualify for a position of authority in His kingdom over the earth.
Saturate yourself in the word. In John 6:6 JESUS SAID “eat my flesh” and in John 1:14, THE BIBLE SAYS: “…and the Word became flesh”.
And that way we can know the Holy Spirit’s leading! “…and the Word became flesh”. And we need to take the word, saturate ourselves with the word so that we can be faithfully doing the job of qualifying for the position that He has prepared or us. How sad it would be to have a position and then not be qualified to fulfill it.
If you’ll look at the articles in the box with the question mark in it, you can see many things for your spiritual growth. You need to grow spiritually so you can hear Him say, “Well Done” to you at the Judgement Seat.
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