There is a question most people usually ask, if baptism is a necessary prerequisite to enter into heaven, why did the Lord Jesus told the thief on the cross with "Today you will be with Him in paradise" when the man was never baptized?
In this teaching Brother Eli Soriano explains why it was possible for the thief on the cross to go to heaven without ever being baptized.
What we you choose for yourself of you are given a chance to between being nailed to the cross and being baptized? First of all, you must understand that thief was not the first person to have gone to heaven without being baptized. All the old testament saints never undergoes baptism, and they all have to the testimony of going to heaven.
Abraham, Abel, Seth, and all those who served God before Jesus came never baptize, but they are going to be in heaven when the time comes.This is because baptism only started with John the Baptist, and continue to be observed from then on by the church.
One of the commandment of the Lord Jesus Christ to the church, is that a person be baptized. Now , the question is why will that person nailed to the cross on the Lord's side go to heaven without being baptized. The reason for that salvation was because he was nailed to the cross with the Lord. The giver of the law was there with him. He was nailed together with the savior.
It was the savior who pronounced him a heaven's candidate, and no one can question that. However, you cannot use the situation of the theif on the cross for your situation. because you were not with with the lord on the cross. Moreover, ther are no rule without exception.. And thief was an exception.
At that time of the crucifixion, it was the last few hours of the lord Jesus time on earth, and the theif too wash going to die with Him. So, you cannot tell him to get down from the cross to be baptized. Nobody can bring him down to do it.
Nobody can bring him down from the cross to have him being baptized, and besides that, it was the lord and savior who said to him " Today you are going to be with me in paradise."
That was a powerful statement and pronouncement from the maker of heaven and earth. And you cannot use that to judge yourself because thae thief was promised by the Lord to be with him in paradise..
Now, if you are going to use the same situation for yourself, what will do? Will you choose to be nailed on the cross? Even if you choose to do so, it's useless because the Lord Jesus is not there to say you will be with him in paradise. That's what you must think about because the observance of baptism was commanded after that incedence.
After the resurrection, the Lord commanded the disciples to go into all the world and make disciples of all men, teaching and baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the suon and the holy ghost. Let's read the Bible.
**Matthew 28:19-20 (KJV)
Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.**
That is the commandment from the Lord Jesus Christ, and we must observe it as the requirement for salvation. It is a commandment of the Lord Jesus Christ given after he was resurrected. It was not obligatory at the time that the thief was nailed to the cross with Jesus Christ.
Baptism was one of the commandments the Lord Jesus Christ gave the disciples after he was resurrected. So, the thief on the cross couldn't be baptized because baptism was not yet given at the time.
