Almost two years ago I was confined to walking in chest level water for exercise. At the time I tried to learn as much as possible of the spiritual parallels for walking in the water.
This past Sunday evening, Ron and I were watching The Bible on the History Channel. In one scene, John the Baptist is preaching repentance and salvation, and also baptizing in the Jordan River. John’s cousin, Jesus, approaches him to be baptized (Matthew 3:12-17). The moment Jesus’ feet plodded through the water to fulfill all righteousness, it came to me:
Jesus walked through the waters of baptism before He walked on the water of ministry.
For those who are in Christ Jesus, our conversion precedes our submersion (baptism) and our submission to the will of God begins with believers baptism.
So often people will question whether or not they are ready for baptism. When the Lord calls us to come and die to our old life, our sin nature, repentance followed by confession of His Lordship (Romans 10:9-10) leads to new life. As a new creature, our response is a life centered around the life of Christ lived in us. Walking through the baptismal waters is our first act of obedience and preaching of the gospel with our lives.
No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. (John 6:44)
Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” (Matthew 17:24-25)
In baptism we follow our Savior. In so doing we preach the gospel and walk with Him.
And He walks with me, and He talks with me,
And He tells me I am His own;
And the joy we share as we tarry there,
None other has ever known.~In the Garden, C. Austin Miles, 1868-1946
The act of baptism does not save us but is an outward declaration of our faith in Jesus. It is a picture of our dying to self to rise in new life in Jesus Christ.
As Easter approaches let us test ourselves to see if we are in Christ Jesus. If Heaven is to be our eternal home then Christ must be the Lord of our lives.
