Popular Christian rapper Lecrae and a group of others in Christian Hip Hop music traveled to Israel this week and were baptized in the Jordan River, an experience the emcee called “incredible.”
Lecrae took to Instagram on Thursday with photos and a video of the spiritual event. He revealed that “walking in places God walked, hits different when you see it with your own eyes.”
“Today we got baptized in the Jordan River. The one John baptized Jesus in. I was joking before I got dipped and I said if a bird lands out here like the dove on Jesus, bruh….I’m gonna have a heart attack. Just take me to heaven cause God is speaking too loud!” Lecrae posted in a series of photos one of which captured a real dove hovering over the water.
Along with the photos, was a video of the ceremony where a minister is heard telling the Texas rapper he is baptizing him because of Lecrae’s confession of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.
“I love the Jordan because of all the symbolism it holds. It was the border of the promised land. It was the picture of safety and security. Getting baptized in it was an incredible experience for me,” Lecrae wrote in the caption.
Lecrae is known as a trailblazer in Christian hip-hop and paved a path for himself into the mainstream market. He has recently added “speaker” to his title and has been sharing messages in churches such as VOUS Church in Miami. Lecrae used some of what he’s been studying to teach his Instagram followers what he has learned about baptism.
“Baptism didn’t start with John the Baptist. The Jewish ritual immersion in water is called a mikvah, which is a Hebrew word meaning gathering of waters. Immersion in a mikvah also represents death and resurrection. When you come back out of the water, you come back to life as a new creation,” he explained.
The “Coming In Hot” artist then shared what his baptism meant to him.
“When I was immersed into Christ (not just water) I also become a new creation: ‘Therefore, if anyone is in Messiah, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.’ The more you learn the Jewish roots the more truth comes alive,” he concluded.
On his trip in Israel, Lecrae also visited the Mount of Beatitudes, where Jesus is believed to have delivered the Sermon on the Mount, and rode a camel through Jericho.