What is baptism all about?
God likes a beginning. He started His book the Bible with those very words - In the beginning. Isn't it interesting that at the start of creation He divides the water and that’s what’s at the very heart of this consideration? There are several allusions in the Old Testament to forms of baptism. Take for instance the time when God's people the Israelites, had been held in captivity in Egypt for centuries. God sets out to give them freedom by choosing Moses as their leader, but as they set out for the Promised Land, it is God that leads, asking them to follow a pillar of cloud by day and fire by night. So they couldn't go wrong, they were guided by God Himself. Where did He lead them? To water. By dividing the water, God enabled them to complete their escape and on the other side, there was a new
beginning for them and it was ‘By faith they passed through the sea’. As the New Testament puts it:
beginning for them and it was ‘By faith they passed through the sea’. As the New Testament puts it:
1 Corinthians 10:2 All were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. |
So from the beginning of God's word, there is something very symbolic about passing through the water - it signified a new start, a new beginning. This idea is taken up by John the Baptist whose message was that all should be baptised to show that they had repented of their sins and turned to God. He clearly understood what was meant by baptism (by definition – immersion) because he invited men and women to come down into the River Jordan and be immersed for the forgiveness of their sins.
The Lord Jesus Christ sets out as being the Saviour of the world and has stood throughout the ages as being the perfect example of a life that pleases God. That's why, although unnecessary for Him to be baptised, He sets the perfect example to all followers by going into the River Jordan and being baptised by John.
The Apostle Paul in his encouraging letter to the Colossians wrote this:
Colossians 2:12 For you were buried with Christ when you were baptised and with Him you are raised to new life because you trusted the mighty power of God who raised Christ from the dead. |
It’s a wonderful promise of God through His word, that any faithful follower of the Lord Jesus Christ, man or woman, if they try and follow the life of the Lord Jesus, is rewarded with a new life, in other words, a new beginning. Even though the Son of God was cruelly crucified, the power of death could not hold Him, so He was raised to a newness of life. Before the Lord Jesus ascended to Heaven, He gave this commission to his disciples:
Matthew 28:19-20 Therefore go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you and be sure of this, I am with you always even to the end of the age. |
Surely, what He is saying to us, is that by submitting to total immersion, being baptized, we are acknowledging the Lord God as our Heavenly Father and the Lord Jesus Christ as his son. It's saying ‘I want a new beginning with all the wonderful promises that this entails, knowing that we sin and yes by God's grace, we are forgiven.
Baptism is a new beginning. |