Laying the Foundation

by James Lee Beall

F. Becoming a partaker of Christ’s divine nature.

Regeneration and justification are two different things.

Justification is God’s legal declaration of our

right standing; regeneration is God’s work within us to make us truly ri...

Both are essential to ...

5. How Does Water Baptism Differ From Other Washings Kn...

Water baptism is a foundational experience in which God performs an operation upon our hearts. I...

Water is only a means for our...

The Lord himself meets us when we obey in faith expecting to have His work of circumcising the hear...

All other washings in Scripture were ...

A. Jewish ablutions (washings) were self-administered; baptism requires someone to minister to us in the authority of His Name.

B. Proselyte baptism was an immersion of one’s self after instruction to declare death to the old life and entrance into a new life as a Jew.

C. The Essene community practiced many ceremonial washings.

Throughout Scripture the hand is considered deeply significant.

It is the extension of the person himself. It is his power to labor with skill and his ability to fight against enemies.

It is in his hands that man carries gifts to bestow upon others or he bri...

Without hands, a man is pretty helpless. His hands are his strength and power to do.

Thy right hand, O LORD, is become glorious in power: thy right hand, O LORD, hath dashed in pieces the enemy (Exodus 15:6).

More important than all, the hand is the vehicle of blessing. We lift our hands in worship and praise to bless God.

2. How Were the Hands Used in Worship and in Blessing Others?

In the Old Testament they thought of the hands as an extension of the person himself.

To give someone your hand meant to give yourself in commitment. To lay your

hands upon something was to transfer what you were to the thing on whic...

A. Lifting up the hand in praise and worship means surrender to another.

B. The priests communicated God’s favor to the people through an uplifted, open hand.

C. Lifting up hands in response to God’s words meant commitment.

D. The Hebrew word for “to consecrate” means “to fill the hands.”

E. The hands were a means of transferring personal guilt to a sacrificial victim.

F. A superior would impart blessing to another by laying hands upon him and praying or prophesying.

His hands became the channel for the flow of benefits into the person he was blessing.

3. Was Blessing Through Laying on of Hands a Formality or a Reality?

of hands was not merely ceremonial; as ordained of God it became the channel for impartation of life and blessing.

A. Israel (Jacob) guided his hands specifically to bless Joseph’s children.

The right hand always contained the gre...

B. Jacob himself had schemed to obtain both the birthright and the blessing.

Jacob had finally learned after a lifetime of scheming and running that God is perfectly able to reverse custom to get His will done.

He knew by experience the reality of a blessing communicated through the laying on of hands.

(Read the entire chapter, Genesis 27). (1) The blessing for each child was specific. (2)

Once the blessing was given to Jacob, it could no...

(3) Esau could only receive a minor blessing, since Jacob had...

C. Laying on of hands to transmit blessing required faith in God.

Empty hands communicate nothing but good will.

Spiritual blessing is not within us to give; God has to give His own blessing through our hands.

4. Was Laying on of Hands Related to Positions of Authority?

Yes. Only those with authority could pass it on to others.

5. Why Is the Right Hand So Important?

the right hand was considered the hand of strength, of honor, and of personal favor.

The right hand was considered more valuable in battle. For this reason, if one person was protecting another ...

Similarly, God stands at our right hand ...

The right hand was the one used in entering covenant, declaring fellowship, o...