Baptism
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What is Baptism?
What is Baptism?
Baptism symbolizes our repentance from sin and unity with Jesus by allowing us to outwardly identify with His life, death, burial, and resurrection.
Life:
Before Jesus started His ministry He was baptized in the Jordan River by John the Baptist.
And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”
As followers of Jesus we are commanded to do the same works that Jesus did, so by participating in water baptism we are doing just that, we are identifying with His life because it was something that He participated in, and told us to do:
Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.
By this verse we see that Jesus is openly telling all of us to be baptized.
Death:
Before we come to know Christ we are all sinners, and by default our souls and spirits have been corrupted. Since we are all made in the image and the likeness of God we are triune beings just like He is, only our trinity consists of our flesh, souls and spirits.
All humans are created by God with flesh(which is our bodies), soul (which is our mind, will, and emotions) and spirit(the part of us that was made to connect with our Father) Our souls and Spirits are the parts of us that will live forever with Jesus in Heaven or in Hell, depending on where we stand before God.
Since we have all sinned and the current state of our spirits is impossible to be in the condition for Heaven, Jesus made it possible for us to spiritually die to our sinful self and be reborn with His Spirit whom He gives us.
Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
When you are going down in the water during baptism you are symbolizing that just as Christ died, you too are dying to your old self, and are making a public declaration to yourself, God and the church that you are beginning your new life with Christ and leaving everything else in your old life behind.
Burial:
Just Christ’s body was buried for 3 days before He was resurrected, for the split moment that your body is submerged in the water, you too are identifying with this burial. A sure sign that you have died to the old you.
Resurrection:
After the 3 days that Jesus was in the tomb He was miraculously resurrected by the Holy Spirit, in reality He never died He was just transformed, instead of having a fleshly body He had a glorified body.
By being baptized you are identifying that just as Christ was resurrected and transformed, you too have been transformed and one day when Jesus comes back you and the rest of Jesus’s church will receive a glorified body like Christ.
It is the same way with the resurrection of the dead. Our earthly bodies are planted in the ground when we die, but they will be raised to live forever. Our bodies are buried in brokenness, but they will be raised in glory. They are buried in weakness, but they will be raised in strength. They are buried as natural human bodies, but they will be raised as spiritual bodies. For just as there are natural bodies, there are also spiritual bodies.
The Gospel:
Baptism is just a symbol of what Christ has already done in the life of a believer, it is an outward show and proclamation.
Before Jesus came to earth, God prophesied to the Israelites through the prophet Ezekiel saying:
I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.
This is exactly what Jesus came to do. Through His ultimate sacrifice the Father now cleanses all sinners with Jesus’s blood and what was considered unclean is now clean in the sight of God, but it is only for those that believe and repent in Jesus that are cleansed:
And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness,
If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love.
He gives everyone who will come to Him a fresh start by regenerating them by His Holy Spirit, and through the Holy Spirit we have the power to overcome sin and the chaos around us. That is why Jesus says:
Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
Jesus came to give us freedom over the sin in our lives, without Him we would be slaves to it our whole lives.
The Scriptures are crystal clear: everyone is a sinner, everyone has fallen short, and everyone has missed the mark for Heaven. But the Truth is that Jesus came to save everyone from missing the mark, the only requirements are to simply believe and turn to God. Give up your life of sin and follow Christ.
By doing these things you have the full assurance of salvation and the receiving of the Holy Spirit.