Typology of Baptism

In this final sermon today, we are going to be looking at some pictures in the Bible. I’m going to be talking about the typology of Baptism in the Bible. What is typology? A type in the Bible is something that God has imprinted with the image of something greater. For example King David was a type of Christ. He had the imprint of Christ on Him. Jesus is the greater King David, the greater Warrior King, who defeats His enemies and rules His people. The Bible is filled with typology. Now as we go through this, I may, by the technical definitions go back and forth between typology and symbolism, but the point for us is just that we’re looking at pictures today, and looking at what represents what. Symbolism of course is just something that represents something else. Among other things, baptism is symbolic in certain ways. It symbolizes, or represents certain things. Of course as we have discussed, baptism is not merely symbolic, but it is that too. And the Bible is filled with symbolism and it is filled with pictures and images. Typology and symbolism are vitally important to the Bible, that we will not be able to fully grasp the Bible if we do not understand its symbolism and typology. It is not something our modern minds are naturally good at doing, so we have to train ourselves not only to read the Bible, but we need to learn to look at the Bible as well.

While this type of reading and looking at the Bible is not easy for our modern minds it is how God made the world – full of images and symbols and types. At the bottom of it, the world is made up of words. All of creation is God speaking it into existence. Hebrews 1:3 tells us that Jesus Christ upholds the universe by the word of His power. Everything that we see out in the world is God’s speech. Whatever we see, it is there because God is speaking it into existence. Yet, when we look out at creation, we don’t see a bunch of words on paper. We see colors, we see trees, animals, people, flowers, water, lights in the sky, dirt on the ground, and on and on. All of those things are very real and yet are symbols. This earth is full of symbols of heaven. They represent God’s words. This is how God has created the world; and this is how the Bible works. So as we’re reading the Bible and we come across something that we are trying to understand, we should always ask, “Okay, now where have I read or seen this before in other parts of the Bible?” Because that will most often help you understand what you are seeing. For example in John 15 a while back, Jesus said, “I am the True Vine.” So we asked the question, where else do we see vines in the Bible? And we found that consistently Israel was called a vine, and many times, a fruitless or barren vine. And so we saw Jesus to be saying that He is the True Israelite, He is the fruitful Israel, the fruitful vine that fills the earth with fruit, unlike Israel, who failed to do so.

With that said, let us proceed to the images of baptism. I first want to talk about the significance of the use of water in baptism. When we taught on the Lord’s Supper a couple years ago, one of the things I taught on was the significance of leavened bread, and the significance of wine. So I want to do that now with the significance of water, in baptism. Then after that, we will look at what Baptism sets us apart to be and do, and we’ll see that from several typological places in Scripture.

Water: death/burial

So what’s the deal with the water? Why is it water that God has ordained for Baptism? What does the water itself teach us, or show us? The first thing is that the submersion into water is a picture of death. To show that I want to begin by looking at some passages that we have looked at during these last few weeks. Look at Colossians 2:11-12, “In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead.”

Now look at Romans 6:4-5, “We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his…”

Here we have the New Testament describing baptism as a burial, a burial into death. To hearken back to some of what I was saying at the beginning about symbolism and typology – even in didactic passages like these two that we have read, there is symbolism and imagery given to us – baptism as burial into death. Symbolism and typology are fundamental to the Biblical language and the worldview of the Bible. So water is significant because it represents death and burial (and we’ll talk more about what that death and burial is in a moment).

So how and why does water represent death and burial? God does not just arbitrarily make it so in the New Testament. The Bible has a coherent message, with typology and symbolism essential to it’s language and worldview, which must mean then, that we see water connected with death and burial elsewhere in the Bible. And we do. The New Testament refers to the Hebrews passing through the Red Sea, in the Exodus, as a baptism. But what happened after the Hebrews passed through the Red Sea? Those baptismal waters came down upon the Egyptians and the Red Sea became a grave yard. The Hebrews went through death, but came out alive on the other side. The Egyptians did not.

We also looked at 1 Peter 3 a few weeks ago, which talks about Noah and his family being saved through the flood in the ark, which was a type of baptism. There again, the waters that Noah and his family were saved through, were waters of death for those outside the ark. The flood waters again were a massive graveyard, representing and truly being death.

Throughout the Bible, the sea waters often symbolize death, or chaos. There are sinister creatures that live in the sea like leviathan and sea monsters, the Bible literally mentions sea monsters, Psalm 74:13 for example. Again we see the sea representing death in the story of Jonah, who wanted to be thrown in the water during the storm. Jonah fully intended to die there, as he would rather have died then gone to Ninevah – God had to providentially preserve him from death in the sea. We also see in Micah 7:19 that God casts all the sins of His people into the depths of the sea. In Revelation 20 we are told that the sea gives up it’s dead. And then we are told that in the New Heavens and New Earth the sea will be no more – think death, chaos, evil. We could go on and on, but you get the picture, that the waters of the sea, are quite often connected with death in the Bible. So we can begin to see the imagery for being buried in baptism. We are buried into death, but we are to be baptized with faith in Christ, knowing that we are safe there with Christ, just as Noah was in the Ark, and the Hebrews walking on dry ground, and even Jonah in the great fish.

The great thing about baptism is that it is not just about death. We are baptized into it, but we come back up out of it. Baptism is not just about death. It is about death and resurrection. It is about dying and rising. It is about our passing through death, and into life.

So what death and resurrections are pictured in baptism? I think there are three. The first and foremost is Christ’s own death and resurrection. If Christ did not die and rise, then we would never be baptized. The central point of our baptism is union with Christ, like we see in Romans chapter 6. We are partaking with Christ; we are identifying with Christ; He is identifying with us; we are receiving, by faith, His death and resurrection for us. We are partaking in a death and resurrection like His. He is putting the mark of His death and resurrection on us, and we are showing forth the death and resurrection of Christ.

We are also showing forth our own spiritual death and resurrection wherein the old man is put to death and the new has come, being raised to walk in newness of life. Baptism shows the death of our flesh, the putting away of sin, and the new life of putting on Christ and putting on righteousness – which is why we have the tradition of wearing white robes in baptism, by the way – having our sins washed white as snow, clothed in the white robes of Christ’s righteousness, as a bride washed and adorned for her husband, as resurrected saints, etc.

There is also a third death and resurrection in baptism. That is that in baptism, God is showing us the promise of our future resurrection. One day we will physically die, and precious in the eyes of the Lord is the death of the saints. But we die to await the resurrection day. And our baptism, which shows forth our union with Christ in His death and resurrection, we also will rise like Him to glorified bodies to live forever. Brandon talks about the past, present, and future elements of the Lord’s Supper. We have that also in baptism. We remember the death and resurrection of Christ for us, we presently fellowship with Christ, and we look forward to the promise of our own resurrection one day.

Water: washing/regeneration/Holy Spirit

Again, I want to ask, what is the significance of water? We have answered it thus far as being symbolic of death, but I believe there is more. It also shows forth the washing away of sins, regeneration, and the work of the Holy Spirit.

Consider Titus 3:4-6, “But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior…”

Here we have this water washing language describing regeneration, a newness of life. Also it is connected to the Holy Spirit, the language being that the Holy Spirit was poured out on us richly. In fact we find in the Bible, the work of the Holy Spirit being connected to the flowing of water. Look now to John 7:37-39, “On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.”

It is apparent that there is a picture of the working of the Spirit in the baptismal waters, as the Holy Spirit is actually working to sanctify us and give us grace in baptism, as I talked about a couple weeks ago.

So water shows the work of the Spirit, it also shows our washing away of sins, our cleansing. I’m not going to point to any at this moment, but  we will look at one later, but there were cleansing and washing rituals and rites in the Old Testament that they had to do for certain things. There were various washings required. We also have in 2 Kings 5 Namaan who was healed from leprosy following Elisha’s instruction to dip in the Jordan river 7 times. We also have Jesus, in John chapter 9, meeting the man born blind. Jesus spits in the dirt to make mud, rubs it on the man’s eyes, and then tells him to go wash in the pool of Siloam. The man does, and sees.

From all these things we see that the water in Baptism also shows us the washing away of our sins, the cleansing that we have, and the work of the Holy Spirit.

We have considered the significance of water in baptism. But now, thinking in terms of typology, I want us to consider who the baptized are when they are resurrected out of the baptismal waters of death.

Who are the Baptized: Rescued (Red Sea; blood then water)

First, the baptized are the rescued. 1 Corinthians 10 says, “our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea,” Then in Jude 1:5, it tells us that it was Jesus who saved a people out of Egypt. The exodus was then a salvation by Jesus that went through baptismal waters. Baptized people are people rescued by Jesus. And consider the pattern of their rescue out of Egypt. The last of the plagues on Egypt was the death angel taking the life of the firstborn of those who did not have their doorpost painted with lamb blood. This of course is a type of the blood of the lamb, Jesus Christ. When we are covered by the blood of the Lamb, the angel of death passes over us, and we are rescued from the slavery of sin and the grave. After this angel of death, the Hebrews were freed to leave, and the left, God making a way through the baptismal waters of the red sea. There was blood, then water. Likewise we are first covered in the blood of the lamb, and now appointed by God to pass through the baptismal waters and live. Hebrews 11 says it was by faith that the people passed through the Red Sea, but the Egyptians were swallowed up in it. Likewise, those who go into the baptismal waters without first being covered by the blood of Christ, go without permission by God and will be swallowed up by death, for they have not faith.

Who are the Baptized: Warriors (Jordan; Water then blood)

Then after this Israel doesn’t remain obedient to God and they wander in the wilderness for a time, but then after this time they are finally ready to begin to enter the promised land. Before Israel enters the promised land to begin driving out the Canaanites, they first have a baptism, so to speak. In Joshua chapter three, they are commanded to pass through the Jordan River, wherein God caused the River to stop flowing so that they could pass through on dry ground. Once they passed through the waters, they begin their conquest of the promised land, driving out the Canaanites, and offering up cities to God for destruction as they were commanded. So here we see that those who come up out of the baptismal waters by faith, are made to be warriors and conquerors. With the exodus there was the blood of the lamb then the passing through waters. In Jordan, there is the passing through waters, then bloodshed as they put the sword to the Canaanites. Blood then water, water then blood.

Typologically speaking, there are those who make a compelling case that you can point to general eras of the Hebrew people in the Old Testament as setting the pattern for the growth of the Church, which would put the church, where we are now, in the era of conquering the promised land. We no longer have a specific land location, other than the whole world. We are to go and preach the gospel unto every creature, and disciple all the nations. The whole earth is the Lord’s, and the whole earth is where the Lordship of Christ is to be brought to bear, and the whole earth is where the church belongs and is called to set up shop. We have a world to conquer. And we no longer conquer by the literal sword as Israel was to do, but we destroy cities and peoples, and pagan cultures, by the sword of the spirit, the sword that comes out of the mouth of the risen and conquering Christ, the Sword of the Spirit, the Word of God, the Gospel Word.

In Romans 8 it is asked, shall tribulation, distress, persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword, overcome us and separate us from the love God in Christ? No, for we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. This is who the Church is. This is who the people of God are: more than conquerors, warriors. But being a warrior comes after baptism. You have to pass through the waters first, you have to have death to rise again a warrior.

Who are the Baptized: Priests (Num. 19; kingdom of priests)

Not only this, but the baptized are also baptized to be priests. In 1 Peter 2:9 it says that the people of God “are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” And in Revelation 1:5, speaking to the churches it says, “To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.” This means that as Christians we all have access to God through Christ, and through Christ can enter into His presence, and offer up ourselves as living sacrifices, and we can offer up incense to God’s throne, which is our prayers. We are priests to the world, as the unbeliever, cannot do this and is not a priest to God. 

But what does this have to do with baptism? It has a lot to do with it because priests must be baptized. Now of course there was not baptism in the Old Covenant, but there were washings and types of baptism. Let me point you to one such example in Numbers 19:1-8, “Now the Lord spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, “This is the statute of the law that the Lord has commanded: Tell the people of Israel to bring you a red heifer without defect, in which there is no blemish, and on which a yoke has never come. And you shall give it to Eleazar the priest, and it shall be taken outside the camp and slaughtered before him. And Eleazar the priest shall take some of its blood with his finger, and sprinkle some of its blood toward the front of the tent of meeting seven times. And the heifer shall be burned in his sight. Its skin, its flesh, and its blood, with its dung, shall be burned. And the priest shall take cedarwood and hyssop and scarlet yarn, and throw them into the fire burning the heifer. Then the priest shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and afterward he may come into the camp. But the priest shall be unclean until evening. The one who burns the heifer shall wash his clothes in water and bathe his body in water and shall be unclean until evening.”

So the baptized are saved warrior priests who conquer the world with the gospel and offer up a sacrifice of praise to God Most High. But there is more. 

Who are the Baptized: Kings and Rulers over the World (Noah)

The Baptized are also Kings and Rulers over the world. A couple weeks ago we considered the typology of Noah’s baptism from 1 Peter 3. What happened after the flood? In Genesis 9 we read,  “God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. The fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth and upon every bird of the heavens, upon everything that creeps on the ground and all the fish of the sea. Into your hand they are delivered. Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything.”

Here, after Noah passes through the baptismal flood waters, God reestablishes His dominion mandate to Noah, starting over with Noah and his family, making them Rulers over the earth. He puts the fear of man in the animals, and he gives every moving thing and every plant for food to Noah. So Noah is given ruler and kingship over the earth, to fill it, multiply it, and subdue it, all of course in ethical obedience under God. In Christ, we are kings and rulers in this world, as Christ reigns now, so we also reign with Him. In Ephesians 2 it says that God raised up with Christ and seated us with Him in the Heavenly places. Baptism sets us apart as reigning with Christ on the earth.

So, the baptized people are rescued warrior priest kings. But there is one more.

Who are the Baptized: The Bride of Christ

Those who are washed by Christ are part of the bride of Christ. In Ephesians 5,  “Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.”

Now I know this passage is not talking about baptism proper. But we see that common language of sanctification, cleansing, washing of water, etc. And baptism is a piece of that sanctification and washing. Those who have true faith in baptism are being made spotless, cleansed, and washed by Christ, as a husband adorns his bride. This is what Christ does for us and to us.

Baptism thus makes us Resurrected Rescued Warrior Bride Priest Kings. This shows us there are so many great images and aspects to baptism and who we are in Christ. Each of these types shows us different elements of baptism and being a Christian. God has so desired to communicate with us in this way, by showing us images, types, and shadows.

As resurrected warrior bride priest kings, we have gone through death and resurrection in Christ and in baptism, and we are prepared and invited to sit at table and dine with the King of Kings in His hall of warriors, priests, kings, rulers, and His bride, the Church. This is what we do when we come to the Lord’s Table. We are there both at the same time as weak and needy sinners who have been washed by Christ and washed in baptism, clothed and cleaned to come and eat from Christ’s hand, for grace and sustenance; and we are also there as Christ’s warrior priest kings, His rulers in this world. The baptized are God’s inner counselors and ambassadors to this world, if you will, ministering the gospel and God’s Word.

In times long past, particularly in King Alfred’s 9th century, it used to be that Kings would have an inner circle of Warriors and Rulers that would come and dine with the King, as the King would throw feasts and lavish gifts upon these mighty men. These would be taken as pledges that these warrior rulers would be faithful to go out and fight for the king when enemies would attack.

We are both desperate and needy sinners who have been cleansed from our leprosy coming for sustenance and grace; and warrior bride priest kings, dining with the King.

You cannot help but talk about Baptism’s relationship to the Lord’s Supper, as they are the two New Covenant ordinances and go together. And thus, you also cannot help but talk about The Church when talking about baptism. Over these few weeks we have labored to show baptism as belonging to the Church, and not to the individual. We come to Christ individually and stand before the Church in baptism as individuals voluntarily submitting to Christ and His Church. But baptism is something about and for the whole Church. It is something that ministers to and unites the whole body. Baptism is about the whole body, and we come into the body one at a time. The last passage I want to read is Ephesians 4:1-7, “I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift.”

Baptism is about the whole body, and it is meant to be one of the essential elements of our unity. We have all been baptized with the same baptism into Christ, the same Trinitarian baptism has marked us all. Baptism is not meant to be a point of division and strive, but a point of fundamental unity together as a body. We have been called out by God to come and join ranks together, passing through the same death, burial, and resurrection as one another. If baptism is about unity and our common bond together, then it is not about the individual, for unity requires more than one, it is about the whole body.

Exhortation: 

So Church, I would implore you all to be eager to maintain the peace and be of one mind and spirit, remember our unity together in one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father who is over all. We are a unit of rescued warrior bride priest kings, with one mission. For this we must move together as conquerors, rulers, and faithful priests to God.

And if you are here today and you are not a part of this united people of God. You are invited in today. You can come into the ranks and inner circle of rescued warrior bride priest kings. But before you pass through those baptismal waters of death and resurrection, you must first pass through the blood. You must be covered in the blood of the Lamb, whose blood was shed for the forgiveness of sins. You must look to the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, and appropriate His blood to yourself by faith. If you seek to pass through the baptismal waters into the Church without being covered in the blood of Christ by faith, your fate will be that of the Egyptians who were not fit for baptism, they rejected the blood. They wanted to pass through the waters of death without being first covered in the blood that protects us from the waters of death. So they were drowned and swallowed up in a baptism of death. But if you enter into baptism, fit for death, which is to say by faith in Christ and covered in His blood, it will be as if you are passing through death on dry ground. It will be as if you are untouched by the waters of death. In Christ, you will be safe to pass through. Your sins cannot drown you, for they themselves will be buried and drowned. That is where God casts our sins – the depths of the sea. If we do not have a sacrifice for our sins, they will stick to us and we will be cast into the depths of the sea with them. But if we have a slain lamb for sin, our sins will be washed off and buried in the depths of the sea, but we will come back up out of the waters, washed and redeemed, ready to rule, reign, and conquer with Christ. Come to Jesus Christ today. You do not stand a chance against the waters of death without Him. The flood waters of death could come upon you in an instant. You could be taken by surprise. The angel of death could be at your doorstep. Now is the time to repent of your sin and trust in Christ for forgiveness and everlasting life.