Baptism
There are many misconceptions about God, many people just thinking that He is just an old man on a cloud. People can see Him as a person to cry out to only when desperate, to use as a swear word when angry or upset, and as somebody to blame when things go wrong. Many have a much clearer picture of God. They see Him as somebody full of love, grace, and mercy. But so often many people forget that He is also a God who is fearful and a God who requires Holiness. I want to look at what He is really like, as He describes Himself, in His word.
Genesis 6:5
The LORD saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time.
6:The LORD was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain.
7:So the LORD said, "I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth - men and animals, and creatures that move along the ground, and birds of the air - for I am grieved that I have made them."
8:But Noah found favour in the eyes of the LORD.
Genesis 1 informs us that we are made in Gods image. We were made perfect. Yet a few hundred years later we had become selfish and evil. The truth is that we are no different than the people of Noah’s day. We are just as evil today as the people were then. What we often don’t realise is just how much it grieves Gods heart. God was so angry with their sin that He decided to destroy the entire inhabitants of the Earth. Don’t have any misconceptions about God. He is the same God today as He was then. He is a God who is Holy, powerful, and a God whom we should live in fear of.
Noah however gains favour with the lord and is told to build an ark. This is no easy task. The dimensions that the Lord assigns are quite extraordinary to leave in the hands of one man. The boat would have been over half the length of an Atlantic Cruise Liner. Even though there was no sign that the flood was coming, Noah still takes on this massive task, out of faith and obedience, and completes it. By faith he enters the ark upon the Lords command. When the rain came down and the flood waters came only he and his companions were saved. All other creatures, both man and beast were killed by the raging flood waters.
This account of Noah has served as a lesson in many different ways for Gods people. It speaks of both His punishment and His grace. In the new testament we find that this account is also a way of better understanding what Jesus came to do. Jesus Himself refers to the life of Noah and the story of the flood. One of the things that it represents, we find in the book of 1 Peter, is baptism.
1 Peter 3:18
For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit,
19:through whom also he went and preached to the spirits in prison
20:who disobeyed long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water,
21:and this water symbolises baptism that now saves you also - not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a good conscience towards God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ,
22:who has gone into heaven and is at God’s right hand - with angels, authorities and powers in submission to him.
Peter states that that the account of Noah is a symbol or a type of baptism, and so what does this story tell us about the importance and meaning of baptism? When we read this chapter in 1 Peter, it almost seems that he is saying that baptism saves us just as the waters saved Noah. I want to look carefully and see what did actually save Noah, what the waters represent and the cleansing process that took place. I want look at these and relate them to baptism.
What saved Noah?
When we read the passage from Peter you could be excused for thinking that he is saying that the waters, that killed the ungodly in Noah’s day, saved him. However when we study the events of Noah, it is not the waters that save him but the ark. In fact in Hebrews we read that it was Noah’s faith in God that caused him to build the ark that would save him.
Hebrews 11:7
By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.
The waters come upon all the land but it is only those that are safe inside the ark that survive. It is the ark that lifts them above the raging waters. In the same way it is not the waters of baptism that save us, it is Jesus. The baptismal waters don’t represent something that will save us, they represent death, caused by sin. Like in Noah’s day, it is the ark that will save us. The ark is having a relationship with Jesus Christ.
The verse in 1 Peter 3:21 doesn’t say, ’this water symbolises baptismal water that now saves you also’, it says ’this water symbolises baptism that now saves you also’. Baptism is the act of being safe in Jesus while being completely surrounded by the Lords punishment. Just as Noah was able to endure Gods punishment because he was safe in the ark, we are able to to endure the baptismal waters because are safe in Jesus.
What do the waters represent?
I have already half answered the second question of what the waters represent. They represent God punishment for sin which leads to death. In the letter to the Romans Paul tells us that it represents Christ’s death.
Romans 6:4
We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
Jesus undertook the punishment for sin, death. The people of Noah’s day died in the flood waters because of their own sin. Jesus died because of our sin, but because He himself was sinless, He also rose to life again, just as those who are baptised rise up again out of the water. When we are being baptised we are realising that we deserve to die because of our sins. However because our faith is in the ark, Christ Jesus, we also rise again with Him.
When missionaries first took the gospel to a certain island and explained the need for baptism, the locals all came down to the beach, the men in stripped pyjamas, and the women in night dresses. The missionaries didn’t understand why they had dressed like this until they took their first funeral in the country. The locals buried their dead in such attire. They had understood that in being baptised they were burying their old sinful live with Christ.
How do they cleanse?
The waters of the flood cleansed the earth of sin, but they did not cleanse the people, they destroyed them. Likewise the waters of baptism don’t cleanse us, they represent our destruction. Why then in the book of Acts does Ananias say to Paul that he should be baptised and have his sins washed away?
Acts 22:16
And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptised and wash your sins away, calling on his name.’
There is a cleansing process represented from baptism, but it doesn’t come from the water. 1 Peter 3:21 makes that very clear. In being baptised you are putting your faith in the sacrifice of Jesus, and that only He is able to save you. It is His sacrificial blood that cleanses us. We find throughout the bible, that only through sacrifice and spilt blood can a person be declared clean from sin. Noah enters the Ark because he is considered by God to be a righteous man before the flood came. We have to be cleansed by Jesus’ blood before we are baptised. It is only that way that we can enter the ark and endure the flood waters. This is why baptism has its cleansing power. It is an outward sign that we have been cleansed by the blood of Christ. It stands as a witness to all around of Gods sacrifice in your life.
Conclusion.
So we see that Noah was saved from the punishment that was being brought on the world by his faith in building the ark, just as in baptism we are saved from the punishment around us by our faith in Jesus. We can see that the waters represent the punishment that we are able to rise up from, just as Noah rose. We can see that Noah was able to enter the ark because God declared him righteous, in the same way we can enter the ark through the cleansing blood of Jesus.
Baptism therefore is about the past the present and the future. It is a demonstration that we have had our past sins removed by Jesus. It is a statement to say that we have our faith in Jesus now, and it is looking forward to the fact that we don’t have to fear the punishment of death, as although we will face it like everybody else, we can be assured that we will be saved out of it like Noah was saved.
What does being saved from death mean? We have to remember why we die. The reason death entered the world is because our hearts became evil. We decided to serve our own selfish motives rather than Gods. In death we will find punishment for that evil. It will not come in quite the same way as Noah though as God promised never to flood the earth again.
Genesis 9:11
I establish my covenant with you: Never again will all life be cut off by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth."
Instead of water, in the final punishment, we find fire. Although your body dies, your soul lives on, and it is our souls that shall suffer the punishment for sin.
Revelation 20:14
Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death.
15:If anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.
21:1:Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea.
2:I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.
3:And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.
4:He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."
Those who refuse to enter the ark, those who reject the salvation of Jesus, and those who aren’t cleansed by His blood, shall be thrown into the lake of fire as the punishment. Only those who have put their faith in the ark, that is Jesus Christ, who have laid down their lives in service of Him, shall be saved. They shall enter the new heaven and new earth. They shall enter a place where there is no crying, no pain and no mourning.
Those who have been baptised today have publicly declared that they have already put their faith in the ark. Baptism isn’t anything special in itself, it is simply a outward declaration of where you have already put your faith inwardly. I want to ask all those who have not put their faith in the ark, Christ Jesus, to enter in today. Jesus wants to save you from the coming punishment.
