Some of us may have the vaguest recollection of our baptism while others may still be wet behind the ears from the event. Some of us may have carried out the command without understanding but in sheer obedience to our Lord while some of us entered the baptismal waters with our heads filled with explanatory verses. As believers we all should’ve gone through it and it bears remembering.

Why? Because it was the means by which the Holy Spirit could regenerate us? Because it welcomed us into a community of like-minded people? Vehemently no. We should remember our baptism because this small picture helps us come to terms with the grandeur of God’s plans while simultaneously painting a picture of both historical and spiritual truth.

Paul states that we, who have been baptized into Christ, have been baptized into His death. Dwell on who this Christ is. The Messiah. The one spoken about throughout the Scriptures and sang about in the Psalms. That One who was the seed of the woman Gen 3:15, the promised seed of Abraham (Gal 3:16), the holder of the scepter from the tribe of Judah (Gen 49:10), the fulfilled promise to David (2 Sam 7:12-16), God’s Holy anointed—that One came and was rejected. That person, Yeshua the Messiah (Jesus the Christ), was judged by Mankind as unrighteous and worthy of the worst kind of death, was lifted up as a curse before the eyes of God (Gal 3:13) and belittled openly. Jesus Messiah who, as the Father of the Trinity (somehow) turns away from the second person of the trinity, would shout out the words of the Psalmist saying “My God, My God why have you forsaken me!”(Ps 22:1, Matt 27:46). This Jesus Christ who his kinsman scorned as He hung there naked and battered while they wagged their heads saying “He could save others—let us see if He saves Himself…then we’ll believe Him.”( Luke 23:35). This Jesus Christ who died and was buried is The One the believer identifies with.

The believer doesn’t profess faith with water but with the heart and mind. When the believer, broken hearted and his sin evident before him, realized his or her guilt before the eternal God and looked to the cross of Jesus Christ acknowledging Him as his only hope of salvation he was saved. That salvation is not possible if it were not through Christ. That the death Christ died on the cross, innocent and blameless, was on behalf of the guilty and vile sinner. The person believes and in so doing acknowledges his own guilt and the innocence of the Lord.

What does he do in baptism then? He identifies with him. The believer stands up before the witnesses and is immersed in the water as a picture of Christ’s death but simultaneously saying “I died in Christ”. Dipped in those waters the believer typifies to the world the fact that he has become united with Christ in death.

What does this mean to the world then? “I sat against Him in the council with you sinners. He, Jesus the Son of David and the Messiah according the Scriptures, is the only righteous man and we crucified Him. I stand with Him stating He is innocent and we…you…are not.”Psalms 1

If you go into a courtroom where the judge is handing down a judgment on the guilty party and you stand before the judge and say “I stand with him. You judge him guilty, but you are wrong—he is right. Do with me as you do with him since this court is faulty.” You should expect the full wrath of the Court.

Christ tells us as much. Persecutions will come he told his disciples. There would come a time where they will torture you thinking they do God a service…but they do these things to you because they have done as much to me (John 15:15-25).

That first century Jew who stood against his kinsman would fully expect the worse. Jews had been trained after many years not to bow the knee to an idol and here they were—bowing to a man and calling Him “God”. Paul bore the marks of his testimony as he was mocked and beaten, whipped and stoned and left for dead. Our baptism today, in a free country void of such heated persecution may give a warm glow of a memory—but realize what it meant to that first century Jew (1 Pet 3:15-21).

But it doesn’t end there. If we are baptized in the likeness of His death we are also lifted up out of the baptismal waters in the likeness of His resurrection. The believer now stands up to walk in newness of life.

Surely this means that the believer openly states that a life of sinning is not for him or her. That the believer in his entire self, the perceived good, the evil, the supposed neutral has all died in Christ and now the believer is free to live—not as himself but as Christ. Paul would state that He is crucified with Christ and yet he lives, but not he but Christ living within him and the life he lives in the flesh he lives by faith in the Son of God. That is also our banner cry when we are lifted out of the waters—but what are we also pictorially stating?

That Christ lives. That God the Judge has overturned the decision of the world and has lifted Christ up alive out of the grave. Peter would point out to the gathered Jews in Jerusalem on Pentecost that they have crucified that Messiah which was promised—but God would not allow His Anointed to see corruption and so He lives waiting for the day that His enemies are to be made His footstool. Many of those witnesses heard Peter’s words and, realizing their error, asked what they were to do to be saved (Acts 2).

I do wonder if our baptisms should be performed before the cold eyes of the outright unbeliever instead of the warm caresses of family and friends. Perhaps that initial act of obedience would further impress upon us the reality which we proclaim: not only did Christ die…but He lives and He himself is coming back to set the balance straight. You as a believer, baptized in those waters can stand and walk in newness of life because your sins have been judged on Christ.

If you were to go into the annals of my life seeking a way to condemn me you will find much but it would be useless. You would get to a page where it would read “account closed…Rey died”.

There is therefore now no condemnation for Rey, thank God, but there is a condemnation coming…and it will be fierce and righteous—clearing this world of its unjust rulings and setting the balance right. Oh listen to the jubilee of creation—the mountains shouting for joy and the rivers clapping their hands for there will be a judgment (Psalms 98)! That unrighteous decision will be brought to bear on humanity and Christ Himself will stand with power and authority to judge (John 5:19-47, Rom 8).

So remember your baptism believer, new or old, and consider the implications thereof.

-r-