"REMEMBERING"

HOLY BAPTISM IS AN EXCITING EVENT! WE UNDERSTAND MORE ABOUT WHAT IT MEANS FOR US WHEN WE KNOW HOW OLD TESTAMENT ISRAEL 'REMEMBERED PAST EVENTS. THE PILGRIM FATHERS CAME TO AMERICA ON THE MAY FLOWER IN 1620. WERE YOU ON BOARD?  CAPTAIN JAMES COOK EXPLORED THE EST COAST OF AUSTRALIA IN 1770. WERE YOU ON THE ENDEAVOR WITH HIM ? OF COURSE NOT!
 THOSE EVENTS HAPPENED A LONG TIME AGO. THE PAST IS PAST, AND THAT'S IT.
WHEN WE REMEMBER THE PAST, WE MERELY CONJURE UP IN OUR MINDS MEMORIES OF EVENTS WHICH ARE OVER AND DONE WITH.
IF YOU WERE TO ASK A PIOUS JEW HOW MANY PEOPLE CAME OUT OF EGYPT IN THE EXODUS HE MIGHT SAY, " PERHAPS A BILLION OR SO." HIS ANSWER WOULD REFLECT THE JEWISH ATTITUDE THAT ALL JEWS WHO HAVE LIVED SINCE THE TIME OF THE EXODUS TOOK PART IN THAT EVENT, AND WERE PRESENT AT SINAI WHEN GOD MADE A COVENANT WITH ISRAEL. FOR NUMBERS GIVEN IN THE BIBLE, SEE EXODUS (12:37,38 AND DEUTERONOMY 7:7,8). ANCIENT HISTORY- OUR HISTORY.
 AN IMPORTANT CREED IS PRESERVED IN DEUTERONOMY 26:5-9. IN IT, THE ANCIENT ISRAELITE IS GIVEN INSTRUCTIONS ABOUT OFFERING FIRST FRUITS TO GOD, AND IS THEN INSTRUCTED TO CONFESS."
 "YOU SHALL MAKE RESPONSE BEFORE THE LORD YOUR GOD, ' A WANDERING  ARAMEAN (JACOB) WAS MY FATHER; AND HE WENT DOWN INTO EGYPT AND SOJOURNED THERE, FEW IN NUMBER; AND THERE HE BECAME A NATION., GREAT AND MIGHTY AND POPULOUS. AND THE EGYPTIANS TREATED US HARSLY, AND AFFLICTED US, AND LAID ON US HARSH BONDAGE  THEN WE CRIED TO THE LORD, THE GOD OF OUR FATHERS, AND THE LORD HEARD OUR VOICE, AND SAW OUR AFFLICTION, OUR TOIL, AND OUR OPPRESSION:  AND THE LORD BROUGHT US OUT OF EGYPT WITH A MIGHTY HAND AND AN OUTSTRETCHED ARM, WITH GREAT TERROR, WITH SIGNS AND WONDERS:  AND HE BROUGHT US INTO THIS PLACE AND GAVE US THIS LAND FLOWING WITH MILK AND HONEY.
THE WORDS EMPHASIZE THE CHANGE IN THE PERSON THAT TAKES PLACE.-FROM THIRD TO FIRST. THE "HE" AND "THEY" BECOME "US"AND "OUR."  THIS WAY OF "REMEMBERING"  IS WOVEN INTO THE LITURGY STILL USED TO CELEBRATE THE PASSOVER:
      IN EVERY GENERATION ONE MUST LOOK UPON HIMSELF AS IF HE PERSONALLY HAD COME FORTH FROM EGYPT, IN KEEPING WITH THE BIBLICAL COMMAND. 'AND THOU SHALL TELL THY SON IN THAT DAY, SAYING, " IT IS BECAUSE OF THAT WHICH THE LORD DID TO ME WHEN I WENT FORTH FROM EGYPT"  ' FOR IT WAS NOT ALONE OUR FATHER'S WHOM THE HOLY ONE, BLESSED BE HE, REDEEMED BUT ALSO US WHOM HE REDEEMED WITH THEM, AS IT IS SAID, AND US HE BROUGHT OUT THENCE, THAT HE MIGHT LEAD US TO, AND GIVE TO US, THE LAND WHICH HE SWORE TO OUR FATHER'S ( SEE DEUTERONOMY (6: 20-25).
THESE TWO QUOTATIONS INDICATE THAT WHEN A ISRAELITE "REMEMBERED," HE DID NOT DRAW A SHARP DIVIDING LINE BETWEEN PAST AND PRESENT. HE SHARED IN THE EVENTS OF THE PAST. HE CELEBRATING THEIR MEANING FOR HIS OWN LIFE. EVEN THOUGH HE LIVED HUNDREDS OR THOUSANDS OF YEARS AFTER THE EVENTS CONCERNED, HE REJOICED THAT GOD CHOSE HIM, RESCUED HIM IN THE EXODUS, AND MADE A COVENANT WITH HIM AT SINAI. WE MUST WEAR "JEWISH SHOES AS WE WALK THROUGH WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS ABOUT BAPTISM. THE OLD TESTAMENT  ISRAELITE "REMEMBERED" THE EVENTS OF THE EXODUS, WILDERNESS WANDERING AND ENTRY INTO THE PROMISED LAND. BUILD ON THIS UNDERSTANDING OF "REMEMBERING" TO EXPLAIN POINTS St PAUL MAKES IN ROMANS 5 AND 6. EDEN WAS CROWED! IN ROMANS 5 PAUL USES THE TERM "IN ADAM" NOTE WHAT HE SAYS:
" THEREFORE AS SIN CAME INTO THE WORLD THROUGH ONE MAN AND DEATH THROUGH SIN, AND SO DEATH SPREAD TO ALL MEN BECAUSE ALL MEN SINNED,... 5:12. "FOR IF MANY DIED THROUGH ONE MAN'S (ADAM'S) TRESPASS,..." 15b.
 " FOR THE JUDGMENT FOLLOWING ONE'S MAN TRESPASS,... BOUGHT CONDEMNATION 5:16B.
 "IF, BECAUSE OF TRESPASS, DEATH REINED THROUGH THAT ONE MAN,... "
5:17.
  " THEN AS ONE MAN'S TRESPASS LED TO CONDEMNATION FOR ALL MEN., SO ONE MAN'S ACT OF RIGHTEOUSNESS LEADS TO ACQUITTAL AND LIFE FOR ALL MEN, FOR AS BY ONE MAN'S DISOBEDIENCE MANY WERE MADE SINNERS, SO BY ONE MAN'S OBEDIENCE MANY WILL BE MADE RIGHTEOUS.(5:18,19).         
PAUL SAYS SIMILAR THINGS ELSEWHERE IN HIS LETTERS--- FOR EXAMPLE:
" FOR AS BY A MAN CAME DEATH, BY A MAN HAS ALSO COME THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. FOR AS IN ADAM ALL DIE, SO ALSO IN CHRIST SHALL ALL BE MADE ALIVE." 1 CORINTHIANS 15: 21,2.
THE ANCIENT ISRAELITE COULD SAY, " THE HISTORY OF THE FATHERS IS MY HISTORY. I WAS THERE!"
 PAUL SAYA, "ADAM'S HISTORY IS OUR HISTORY. WE SHARE IN ITS EVENTS AND CONSEQUENCE." THE HUMAN RACE TOOK PART IN THE FALL INTO SIN IN EDEN.
ADAM'S LOT IS OUR LOT. ALL HUMANITY SHARES ADAM'S SIN. HE BROUGHT ON ALL HUMANITY THE JUDGMENT AND DEATH HE BROUGHT ON HIMSELF. WHEN HE SINNED, ALL HUMANITY SINNED. WHEN HE MADE HIMSELF SUBJECT TO JUDGMENT, HE MADE ALL HUMANITY SUBJECT TO JUDGMENT. WHEN HE MADE DEATH PART OF LIFE'S LOT FOR HIMSELF, HE MADE IT PART OF LIFE'S LOT FOR ALL HUMANITY..
PAUL'S AWARENESS OF HIS SHARING IN ADAM'S PLIGHT, AND HIS INABILITY TO GET HIMSELF OUT OF THIS PREDICAMENT CAUSED HIM TO CALL OUT, " WRETCHED MAN THAT I AM!  WHO WILL DELIVER ME FROM THIS BODY OF DEATH?" ROMANS 7:24. HE HAS A MOST EXCITING ANSWER TO SHARE WITH US!  HE THANKS GOD THROUGH JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD.