Water Baptism represents death, burial and resurrection and if you die in the likeness of His death to sin once for all (Romans 6:3), you rise in the newness of life (Romans 6:4).
Even as Jesus was raised (Colossians 2:12) by the glory of the Father so shall you be raised in the newness of life.
The crossing of the Red Sea is a type and shadow of our water baptism.
wendell parr
Water baptism is a vital part of relationship with God. In the New Testament, every time someone is born again, the first thing they wanted to do is to be baptized in water. In the day we live, it becomes an event which we will get to it eventually. All of a sudden the urgency has been taken out of water baptism and I think that is because we haven’t been taught what water baptism is all about. And as with communion and with everything else that we receive from God, you get what you are believing for. And sad to say, so many people when they take communion, they are not believing for anything. And so many people when they are baptized in water, do not believe in anything and so they receive nothing. And the Bible tells us that faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. So we are taught from the Word of God what communion is all about and when we receive it, we have faith to obtain the benefits from it. These are the two ordinances that Jesus commissioned the Church to hold onto until He came back. And we talked about Paul saying that concerning our Fathers, how they were baptized in the cloud and in the sea and how he would not have the people ignorant, and yet we have identified that’s one of the areas most people are ignorant.
There are two instances in the New Testament where Old Testament events were likened to water baptism.
The first one was in 1 Corinthians where Paul was addressing the fathers about being baptized in the cloud and in the sea.
Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea, all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. – 1 Corinthians 10:1-4
And we want to go back a little to see what is significant here. We also talked about the Passover lamb where the blood was applied, and the instructions were, kill the lamb, take the blood and apply to the doorposts. That is a type and shadow and picture of people being redeemed, or under the New Covenant, of people being born again. That is a type and shadow teaching of the Passover Lamb, of the new birth experience, and the application of the blood by faith, and God pronouncing the Judgement would pass over when He saw the blood.
The next event was when the Israelites started the journey and came to the crossing of the Red Sea and God instructed Moses to stretch out his rod and part the water and the children of Israel went through on dry land and Pharaoh’s army was drowned in the sea. Paul likens the passing through the sea as water baptism. What happened in this event? What was the significant thing that took place? Once again as we go back to look at this, it was the shedding of the lamb’s blood that effected their freedom. The minute this happened, Pharoah said “Go. Leave.” This is leaving the world’s system. When we are born again, we changed kingdoms We were taken out from the kingdom of darkness and translated into the kingdom of His Dear Son, into the Kingdom of Light. When we were born again, we were taken out of the world’s system and are no longer subject to it. Jesus said, we are in the world but not of the world. The moment we are born again, we are set free from the world’s system. But just because we are born again, the world did not leave us alone. And so many people who are born again, and started their journey with the Lord, before long, the people are found partaking of the world’s system. We have a term we religiously coin as “backsliding”, meaning going back to the things of the world, being drawn back to the world. What Paul was trying to tell us about what happened at the Red Sea is that when Israel passed through, the world’s enemies and world’s attractions were literally cut off by the water. In other words, Pharaoh’s army, representing all of the powers of the world that were coming after, were literally cut off. After they got over the Red Sea, they gathered around the campfire and began to draw out their tambourines and began to dance and sing about the Lord has triumphed gloriously, the horse and the rider have been thrown into the sea. And they were rejoicing over that separation from.
The other illustration given in the New Testament is given by Peter when he talks about Noah and the eight that were saved and said they were saved by water and this is like our water baptism.
For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit, by whom also He went and preached to the spirits in prison, who formerly were disobedient, when once the Divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water. There is also an antitype which now saves us—baptism (not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God), through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers having been made subject to Him. – 1 Peter 3:18-22
When we look at Noah and his family, we know that the water didn’t save them. The Ark was what saved them. The Ark is a type and shadow of Jesus. What did the water do? As we liken it to water baptism, it cut them off from the world’s system and the drawing power of the world to call them to come back in. When we receive Jesus as our saviour, our sin nature died. We were set free from the world’s system because that is the draw that it had on us but what do you do now with something that is dead? You bury it. Scripture talks about being buried in baptism and being raised to walk in newness of life.
So if we understand what we are going through when we are being baptized in water, we’re believing by faith, that when we go into that baptismal water, that we’re burying our old sin nature, and we’re being cut off from all the attractions and snares and powers of the world and its influence on us, and when we come out, we are being resurrected to walk in this new life that we received when we accepted Jesus as our Lord and Saviour.
But not many people when they are baptized are believing for anything to happen and therefore when they come out, they just come out wet. But if we know that this is where the Scriptures say where we believe by faith that we are being cut off from the drawing power of the world, that our old sin nature is totally buried, and we are rising to walk in newness of life, if we are believing for that, then God can do a miraculous work in every individual’s life. Once people have understood that, and believed by faith to receive that effect that water baptism brings, very few if any, have turned back and gone back to the world, and practised that term called backsliding. Instead, they just go on strong for the Lord because they know they have been separated from the enemy and their old sin nature has been buried and been done away with it.
Dan Mohler shares in this 7 minute video about the transformation and conversion that comes with water baptism.
He talks about how water baptism symbolises new birth. When a baby is born, what breaks first? The baby is in the water and we know a baby’s coming when the water breaks. The birth of a baby is not without water and it bears witness on the Earth. The Red Sea crossing and Noah’s flood all symbolized passing through water.
While it is the blood of Jesus that saves us, the Scripture says there is now an antitype that saves us – water baptism. Water baptism is not the cleansing of our flesh, it is not taking a bath – water baptism is the answer of a clear conscience before God. (I Peter 3:18-22) In Romans 6:3, Paul states that we are “baptised unto death”, meaning that we are not only dead to our former ways, but they are buried. To return to them is as unthinkable for a Christian as for one to dig up a dead corpse.
In the days of Noah, the Earth was full of unrighteousness, men were evil and wicked in their hearts continually. God baptizes the Earth in water, he brings it out and there’s no more unrighteousness but every unrighteous man was dead. The only people that passed through the water were seemed and deemed righteous in sight of God were Noah and his family. God put a rainbow in the sky and God said I’m never again going to do a baptism this way; I’m not going to destroy life like this because this baptism cost men their lives but the new covenant, new believer birth and baptism through Jesus and his shed blood is going to give men their lives. All the unrighteousness will be removed but they’re going to live. Men will die in the likeness of his death and rise in the newness of life and be a new creation (II Corinthians 5:17).