Water events... Have you ever noticed how many water events are recorded in the Scriptures? There are a number of them. Today we are given one of them - in fact, the greatest of them all - the Baptism of our Lord. What I’d like to do is compare this water event with others in the Scriptures and show how they find their fulfillment in the Baptism of Jesus, then also show how His Baptism benefits us through our own water event.
The first water event I’d like to look at (and really the first water event we are given in the Scriptures) is that of the creation account. In Genesis chapter one Moses writes that in the beginning the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters that covered the earth. On the third day of creation God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And it was so. The Apostle Peter, commenting on this much later in his second epistle, enlightens us further by telling us that “the earth was formed out of water and through water by the Word of God.” Taken together, these Scripture texts teach us that in the beginning God used His Spirit, water, and His Word to create something, namely, the earth, the dry land. Remarkably, we see similar things going on at our Lord’s Baptism: God’s Spirit is there, descending upon Jesus; God’s Word is there, as the Father speaks from heaven; and water is there. What conclusion can we draw from this? The water event of creation finds its fulfillment in the water event of Jesus’ Baptism. Just as God created through water in the beginning, so in our Lord’s Baptism there is a new creation going on, only this time it’s not earth that He brings forth from this water, but a new life, a life that Jesus, the Word of God in the flesh, gives to you who believe and are baptized into Him.
The second water event that we are given in the Scriptures is that of the Flood. Concerning this event Moses writes that God sent this Flood upon the earth to destroy the wicked, unbelieving world. Yet, righteous Noah and his family were saved through these waters, as they safely sailed above them in the ark, which God had told Noah to build, in which not only he and his family were saved, but also two of every kind of animals. In this flood event God used water both to judge and to save. Turning to Christ’s Baptism, there too God was using water to both judge and save. Already, John the Baptist had spoken of God’s judgment, when he said that Jesus would baptize with fire and that His winnowing fork was in His hand to clear His threshing floor and to gather the wheat into His barn, but to burn the chaff with unquenchable fire. This judgment is reserved for all those who reject God’s Son, just as they rejected Noah’s preaching. But by undergoing a baptismal flood Himself, Jesus took this judgment away from you onto Himself, in order to suffer God’s wrath in your place on the cross, so that instead of being destroyed like the unbelievers in Noah’s day, you might be saved through the flood of your own Baptism, as you sail safely above God’s wrath in the ark of His Church. Instead of being baptized with the fire of God’s wrath, you have been baptized with the Holy Spirit, who daily drowns your old sinful nature, while raising you up to newness of life in Jesus Christ.
A third and very significant water event for the Israelites was that of the crossing of the Red Sea. As the cross of Christ is for us, so the crossing of the Red Sea was for the Jews. It was their salvific event, the means by which God delivered them from their slavery in Egypt. Here, too, God worked both judgment and salvation: salvation for His people, but judgment upon their enemies. God saved His people through these waters when He parted the sea and sent them across on dry ground. But He judged the Egyptians when they tried it and drowned them as they pursued His people. Now, we who believe and are baptized into Christ are called God’s people, God’s Israel, today. But we have to remember that at one time we were not God’s people and were instead His enemies. Like the Egyptians we should have been drowned in the flood of God’s wrath. It’s what we deserve on account of our sin. But at His Baptism, Jesus stepped into those waters, so that they might have Him on the cross in our place. Your Baptism has now become the means whereby God saves you, just as He saved the Israelites, releasing you not only from your captivity to sin, death, and the devil, but also God’s judgment and wrath for Christ’s sake.
Another water event pops up in Scripture as the Israelites traveled through the wilderness on their way to the promised land. It is the event in which God provided water for His people from a rock. He did this twice during their sojourn. The first time He told Moses not only to speak to the rock but also to strike it with his staff. The second time He told Moses only to speak to the rock, not to strike it. But Moses disobeyed on that occasion and struck the rock a second time. Both times God faithfully caused the life-giving liquid to flow from the rock, but because Moses disobeyed and misrepresented God to the people, he would not be allowed to enter the promised land. Moses misrepresented God, because the rock was a symbol of Christ, and Christ was not to suffer twice but once for all as He was struck by God on the cross. There at Calvary, as the Apostle John records, water flowed from His side. His Baptism was God’s public declaration that His Son, Jesus, was the Rock of our Salvation, who would receive the blow from God that we deserved and from whom would flow the living waters of eternal life, so that all who drink of Him by faith might live. It is at your Baptism that that water of life is given you to drink, and you continue to drink from the side of Christ whenever you draw from the wells of His Word and Sacraments.
At the end of their 40 years’ worth of wandering in the wilderness on account of their unbelief, the people of Israel were finally about to enter into the promised land as they were led by Joshua. But in order to do so they had to cross the Jordan River. It was the border between the wilderness and their new homeland. How would they cross? God miraculously parted the waters just as He had done at the Red Sea, so that His people were able to safely cross over on dry ground. This water event also finds its fulfillment in Christ’s Baptism. It’s very significant that Jesus Himself was baptized in the Jordan River. The symbolism teaches us that Jesus is the way out of the wilderness of sin and this present evil age into the promised land of heaven and the kingdom of God. Jesus is the new Joshua, God our Savior, and His Baptism shows Him to be that for us. Through your Baptism He brings you into His kingdom of grace now, only to lead you into His kingdom of glory to come. And while you must still sojourn for a little while yet in this world, He sustains you as He continues to feed you on the manna of His body and give you to drink of the living water that flows from His side, so that you might not perish along the way.
The final water event I want us to look at today (but not the last recorded in Scripture) is that of the healing of Naaman. The Scripture tells us that he was commander of the army of the king of Syria, but he was a leper. He had a Jewish servant girl, who had been captured in a raid on Israel, who told him about the prophet Elisha. The girl assured her master that Elisha could cure his leprosy. So Naaman went to see him. When he arrived he expected Elisha to come out and greet him, call upon the Lord, wave his hand over the infection, and cure his leprosy. Instead, however, Elisha sent his servant to tell Naaman to go wash himself in the Jordan River seven times, and his flesh would be restored and he would be clean. At first, Naaman took offense at this. How could bathing in such dirty water do such great things? Yet, with God’s promise attached to it, the water did exactly what Elisha said it would do, and Naaman was healed. Here again, the fact that Jesus was baptized in this same river is significant. He is the new Elisha - a name that means ‘God is my salvation’ - who by stepping into the water Himself consecrates the waters of your Baptism, so that with Him and His Word attached to them they cleanse you of the leprosy of sin. They cleanse you, because in His Baptism Jesus took the leprosy of your sin upon Himself. There He became the sinner of all sinners in your place, so that in your Baptism you might be forgiven your sins and cleansed of all unrighteousness. Like Naaman you now stand before God holy, righteous, and without blemish in Christ.
And so there are a number of water events recorded in the Scriptures, all of which find their fulfillment in the greatest of them all - the Baptism of our Lord. By looking at these various events, we learn not only what water does to Christ in His Baptism, but also what He does to water for our Baptism. Just as God brought forth the earth from the waters of creation, so by stepping into the waters Himself Jesus ushers in a new creation, sanctifying the waters of your Baptism, with the result that by the Spirit, the water, and the Word you are made new creatures in Him. Like the Flood in Noah’s day, God both judges and saves through the waters of Baptism, only the One He judges is His Son, so that you who believe and are baptized in Him might be saved. As at the Red Sea, where God’s enemies were destroyed, while His people were rescued, in His Baptism Jesus takes on your sin, becoming the sinner in your place, so that He might suffer the flood of God’s wrath for you on the cross, so that you might not. Like the rock in the wilderness which was struck in order to provide water for God’s people, our Lord’s Baptism presents Him as the Rock of our salvation, who was struck on the cross for you, so that in your Baptism you might drink from the living water that flows from His side. Just as Joshua led God’s people into the promised land through the waters of the Jordan River, so our new Joshua, Jesus Christ, is shown at His Baptism to be the One who leads you, His New Testament people, out of the wilderness of sin, death, and the devil into the promised land of the kingdom of God and the eternal life of heaven. And just as the waters of the Jordan River with the Word of God connected to them healed Naaman of his leprosy, so Jesus at His Baptism connects Himself and His promises to the waters of your Baptism, becoming infected with the leprosy of your sin Himself, so that you who are baptized into Him might be healed and cleansed of all unrighteousness.
May the meditation of our Lord’s Baptism, then, give you peace today, as the Father presents His beloved Son to you in that water event as your substitute, sacrifice, and Savior, who at the Jordan River was burdened with your sins, so that He might take them with Him to the cross in order to atone for them with His blood, so that you who believe in Him and are baptized in His Name may yourselves now be call beloved sons of God with whom He is well pleased. Amen.