Austin Bible Church
John the Baptist lived in the dispensation of the Age of Israel. John the Baptist preached Christ as we do today. When a person had already believed in Jesus Christ, he took him down to the water, usually the River Jordan. The believer was identified with the water, but the water represented a spiritual identification.
The water represented the Kingdom of God. By believing in Jesus Christ, they had entered the Kingdom of God and this was their public testimony to that fact. The Kingdom of God is a general term for regenerate people from the time of Adam to the end of the Millennium.
The believer was put under the water, representing his identification with the kingdom that John preached: A kingdom of believers made up of primarily Old Testament believers, although a few lived into the Church Age. Coming out of the water and being identified with the air is a picture of the fact that they possess eternal life.
John’s baptism was a sign of the interruption of the Age of Israel. In Acts 19:1-6, believers were asked if they had received the Baptism of the Holy Spirit when they believed, making them Church Age believers. John’s baptism confirmed that they were Jewish Age believers and therefore by identification of the “laying on of hands” they (Jewish Age believers now come over into the Church Age) were entered into union with Christ by receiving the Baptism of the Holy Spirit.
"It happened that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul passed through the upper country and came to Ephesus, and found some disciples. He said to them, "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?" And they said to him, "No, we have not even heard whether there is a Holy Spirit." And he said, "Into what then were you baptized?" And they said, "Into John's baptism." Paul said, "John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in Him who was coming after him, that is, in Jesus." When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began speaking with tongues and prophesying." (Acts 19:1-6, NASB)