Baptism
The Washing Away of Our Sins

Jesus Is Anointed

    Jesus now has been washed, but He cannot yet offer the sacrifice. One other action must take place. In the Old Testament, the priests were anointed with oil after they had washed. Thus, they were be consecrated to serve as priests (Exodus 30:22-31). The oil was symbolical of the Holy Spirit coming upon the priest to qualify him for the sacred task he must perform.
    But Jesus was God. And as God, He was completely identified with the Holy Spirit. Colossians 2:9 declares, "For in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily." Why, then, must He be anointed with the Holy Spirit?
    Let us remember that He had become sin for us. He had completely identified Himself with sinful humanity. He must follow the path of the Old Testament priest. Because He was the eternal high priest, the anointing was not to be with the oil which was just a symbol of the anointing of the Holy Spirit. He was anointed with the Holy Spirit Himself in the presence of the onlookers. The heavens opened as He went up from the water. We read in Matthew 3:16:

    He anointed for His task. Peter said in Acts 10:38, "How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power." He was washed and He was anointed. He was ready to offer the sacrifice for sins.
    Thus far, we have discovered that washing with water was one means of becoming ceremonially cleansed of sin in accordance with Old Testament law. We have determined, too, that baptism means washing or cleansing. The baptism of John the Baptist was very similar to, but of far greater intensity than, the Old Testament ceremonial washings and was used by God to ceremonially prepare Jesus for His work as our eternal high priest.

Jesus Is Cleansed of Our Sins

    To continue our study of the meaning of New Testament baptism, we must look again to Jesus. He had become, as we have seen, sin for us (II Corinthians 5:21). It was as if He has taken on the sins and was guilty of the sins of every sinner who ever lived who was to believe on Him. He had to deal with an enormous, a staggering load of sin. To satisfy God's infinitely perfect holiness and justice, He had to pay the penalty that was equal to or equivalent to eternal death for every sinner whom He had come to save.

    How was Christ to be cleansed from this load of sin? One basic requirement was that there must be the shedding of blood for without the shedding of blood there could be no remission of sins. His blood, therefore, must be shed. That is, He must give His life in the ultimate sense of suffering the punishment deserved by all those He had come to save. That punishment had to be equal to eternal damnation on behalf of each and every believer. His death was required and as we learned earlier, it was the second death, eternal damnation, that was required.
    He had to suffer the torments of hell on an equivalent basis to that required by all those H had elected to salvation spending eternity in hell. He had to offer Himself as the one upon whom God's wrath was to be poured.
    Hell is called a furnace of fire. Jesus says in Matthew 13:42: "And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth." Thus, the Old Testament shadows of the atonement, which were the shedding of blood and an offering by fire, were completely fulfilled by Christ as He shed His blood and gave Himself as a burnt offering to be punished by the fires of hell. It is not surprising, then, that Jesus says in Luke 13:49-50:

    The fire that was to be kindled was that which He would endure in offering Himself as the sacrificial Lamb. Because He had taken our sins upon Himself, He had to be cleansed. Therefore, He rightly calls the sacrifice for sin a baptism, that is, a cleansing or purification.
    Remember that the Bible teaches that the sins of the elect were placed on Him. Isaiah 53:5-6 declares:

    Thus, Christ, upon taking on a human nature, was laden with a tremendous load of sin even though He Himself remained sinless. II Corinthians 5:21 teaches:

How was Jesus to be Cleansed?

    How was Jesus to have these sins removed? These sins had to be washed away. But how? Could God by His own define decree just remove all of the sins and guilt from Him? The answer is an emphatic No! Such an action would be a terrible violation of the

perfect justice of God. The only way the sins could be removed was by Jesus bearing the full and total wrath of God which was demanded by law of God as payment for the sins. Only if the penalty demanded by God's law was fully paid could Jesus again enter into God's holy heaven.
    Jesus speaks of this in Luke 12:49-50. Verse 49 declares that Jesus came to send fire upon the earth. The word "fire" in the Bible invariably points to God's judgment on sin. Christ had to experience God's judgment in order to be set free of the huge load of sin that had been laid upon Him. In this verse, He declares that the act of experiencing God's judgment should soon begin. Therefore, as we have just learned, He emphasizes in verse 50 that He has a baptism (remember the word "baptism" always signifies washing), to be baptized with (washed with) and that He is straitened (pressed or pressured) till it is accomplished.
    Let it be emphasized, the only way that Jesus could have all of the sins washed away which were laid on Him was by enduring

God's wrath demanded by God's law as payment for those sins. This is the washing (the baptism) that He desires. Only if those sins are washed away could He return to heaven.
    Now we can understand what Jesus is saying to James and John in Mark 10:38-39:

    Jesus is saying to these two disciples, who represent all believers, that they are to drink of the cup that Jesus drank and that they would be baptized with the baptism with which He was baptized.
    How are we to understand this? We know that the cup that Jesus must drink was the full wrath of God poured out upon Jesus as payment for all the sins laden upon Him. But do the believers experience the wrath of God? It would appear that this is the case for Jesus says, "Ye shall indeed drink of the cup that I drink of."
    The answer to these questions can be understood when we realize that Jesus suffered the wrath of God as our substitute, as our stand-in. When God poured out His righteous wrath on Jesus, it was as though He were pouring out His wrath upon every individual whose sins were placed upon Jesus. Thus, when Jesus had fully suffered the wrath of God, it means that those whose sins were laid on Him had also fully suffered the wrath of God for their sins.
    When Jesus paid for those sins, those sins were washed away from Jesus, Himself. They were also washed away from those He came to save because it was their sins from which Jesus was cleansed. That is why the Bible can say, "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit" (Romans 8:1).

    Now, we can understand the phrase in Mark 10:39, "and with the baptism that I am baptized withal shall ye be baptized." With the washing away of the sins that had been laid upon Jesus, we have been washed of our sins. This is so because Jesus fully paid for those sins. We who believe on Him have had our sins washed (baptized) away.

We Are Baptized Into His Death

    Now we can understand Romans 6:3-6:

    The baptism referred to in these versus does not refer to water baptism as is commonly believed. This baptism refers to the washing Jesus experienced as He endured the penalty of God's wrath of our sins.
    We were baptized (washed) into Jesus Christ. This is into His death because the sins that were laid upon Him included my sins. He was cleansed or washed of them by enduring the second death, eternal damnation. Thus, since these were my sins it was I who was baptized (washed) or cleansed of those sins.

Burial: Proof that Death Has Occurred

    Verse 4 declares, "we are buried with him by baptism into death." What is the significance of the word "burial"? Let us examine this question.
    When Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden, they were told that in the day that they ate of the forbidden fruit, they would surely die (Genesis 2:17). The day they ate of the fruit, they did not die physically because after that Adam had several children and died at the age of 930 years.
    However, in the day after they ate the forbidden fruit, they did die spiritually. At that moment, they became subject to the curse of God. Because they became cursed by God, they became subject to physical death. In fact, the whole creation was placed under the curse of God so that physical death is experienced by animals as well as man.

    Because man was created in the image of God and, therefore, is accountable to God for his actions, the curse brought God's wrath upon mankind. The curse and wrath of God included the provision that if, after being justly tried and found guilty, he would be punished by being forever damned in hell, which is called the second death in Revelation 20:14, and is the penalty that mankind faces because of his sins.
    Thus, we know that physical death is not payment for sin. Rather, physical death is the evidence or proof that man had come under the curse of God. The curse of God includes the fact that mankind is under the wrath of God. Because man came under the curse of God, his physical body suffers some decay while he still lives and becomes totally corrupted when he dies. The corruption

is so obnoxious that his dead body must be buried or otherwise destroyed. Therefore, the burial is the evidence that the individual has died, which in turn is the evidence or proof that he was under the curse of God and must be tried at a future date, before the judgment throne of God, when the sentence of eternal damnation will officially be placed on him.

Physical Death is Not Payment for Sin

    Is it true that man's physical death and burial are not part of the payment for sin? The Bible says in Hebrews 9:27:

    The appointment to die cannot have physical death in view. The death that mankind is appointed to experience is the death experienced by Adam when he sinned. In I Corinthians 15:22, we read, "For as in Adam all die." As we have learned, Adam experienced spiritual death when he came under the curse of God.

    The fact that physical death cannot be in view in Hebrews 9:27, and that it cannot part of the payment for sin, can be seen for at least three very important reasons.
    The first reason is the fact that billions of people will never experience physical death. When Christ comes on the last day, and every eye shall see Him, the billions of people who will be living at that moment will be brought before the Judgment Throne of God to answer for their sins. They will not have experienced physical death and yet their punishment will be full payment for their sins; they will spend eternity in hell.

    The second reason we know that physical death is not part of our payment for sins can be seen when we examine the salvation of an individual. God insists that all of the work of redemption was performed by Christ. We read in II Corinthians 5:21:

    The Bible declares in Ephesians 2:8-10:

    Based on these versus as well as many others, we know that when we become saved, the penalty that God's righteous law demands has been fully paid. There is nothing we can do to assist in making the payment.
    If physical death were part of the payment for sin, then believers could not die physically. God's perfect justice would be grossly violated if those whose sins had been covered by Christ must still endure even the smallest part of that payment for sin.
    What happens to the believer after he is saved? For 13,000 years, believers have died physically. Since the payment for their sins was fully paid before they died, it should be obvious that their physical death had nothing to do with the payment for their sin. Rather, their physical death is the evidence or proof that they had been under the curse of God, and, therefore, had been under his wrath.
    In fact, while judicially payment for their sins is 100% complete, the application to their lives is only partial. They were given eternal life in their brand new resurrected souls. They must continue to live out their life in a body that still bears the evidence of the curse of God. This is proven because they die physically, and their decaying bodies must be buried.
    When we consider the atonement, we see a third reason why physical death cannot be a part of the payment for sin. We will

discover that the payment for sin was fully paid before Jesus died physically. This is a very important truth, and, therefore, we should examine it very carefully.

Jesus' Physical Death: Not a Payment for Sin

    A great many Bible students may be startled and even offended at the idea that the physical death of Jesus was not a part of the payment for sin. However, when we look carefully at the cross, we will see conclusively that it was not His physical death that paid for our sins. Instead, the payment was made because he endured a death infinitely greater than physical death: the second death, eternal damnation.
    To understand the truth of this matter, we must look most carefully at the cross. A supremely important cry came from Jesus shortly before He died physically. The words He cried were, "It is finished" (John 19:30).

    What was finished? He was still physically alive. He still retained most of His blood. The answer is that the penalty placed upon Him because of our sins, which He bore, had been fully paid. He had finished making payment for sin. As we learned earlier, His physical death could not have been part of the payment. If His physical death had been part of the payment, then those whom He came to save could not experience physical death.
    How then are we to understand all of the events that followed His cry, "It is finished"?
    Prior to Jesus' cry, "It is finished," Christ had been suffering intensely as God poured His wrath upon Him. In the Garden of Gethsemane before any man had laid a hand on Him, in His agony,

sweat poured from His body like great drops of blood (Luke 22:44). We read in Matthew 26:38, that He cried, "My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death." Matthew 26:39 tells us:

    Jesus was drinking the bitter cup of the eternal wrath of God that we, those whom He came to save, should have drunk.
    His suffering reached a climax when He cried from the cross, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" (Matthew 27:46). All of these verses tell us that Jesus was experiencing the full wrath of God that would have been experienced by those He came to save.
    When Jesus cried, "It is finished," God's justice had been satisfied. There was no more penalty to be paid.
    How, then, are we to look at His physical death and His burial? We read in Matthew 12:40, "so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." Is the phrase, "the heart of the earth," like the phrase "the lower parts of the earth" in Ephesians 4:9, a synonym for hell? Is it true that the three days and three nights include the whole period of time from Thursday evening Garden of Gethsemane until Sunday morning when Jesus arose?
    These are true statements. Yet when Jesus said, "It is finished," it was late on Friday afternoon, less than twenty-four hours after He had begun His suffering for our sins. How can these apparently contradictory facts be harmonized?

Two Parts of the Atonement

    They can be harmonized if we understand that there were two parts included in the atonement. The first part was the actual suffering of the torments of hell when Christ experienced the awful wrath of God. This part began in the Garden of Gethsemane and ended when Christ cried, "It is finished." The second part was the

time during which Christ gave evidence of proof that He had indeed fully paid the penalty for our sins. This part began at the time He cried, "It is finished," and ended with His resurrection.
    These two parts were an integral part of the atonement and therefore, identify with the three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
    Let us carefully examine all that occurred immediately following His cry, "It is finished." We will be given a number of proofs that the payment for sin had been fully paid at the moment he cried, "It is finished."
    The first proof that the payment for sin had been fully paid at the moment He cried, "It is finished," is that immediately after this, in His spirit, He left His body, that is, He physically died. We read in Luke 24:46:

    As we ponder this information, we must keep in mind that Jesus came as the Son of God and took on a human nature so that as the Son of God and Son of Man, He would bear our sins. When God was punishing Him for our sins, He had to be punished as the God-man. In His perfect divinity as well as in His human nature, He was punished for our sins.
    When He declared, "Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit" (Luke 23:46), He was no longer a complete personality hanging on the cross. Earlier, He had promised the thief next to Him, which we read in Luke 23:43, "And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto three, To day shalt tough be with me in paradise." Therefore, when the thief died, his body had gone to heaven because that is paradise. That is the experience of every true believer; at the moment of death, our soul leaves our body and goes to reign with Christ in heaven.
    Therefore, it should be obvious that when Jesus commended His spirit into the hands of His Father, He no longer was a complete personality while His body still hung on the cross. Some part of His

personality had left His body and went to heaven. Significantly, we read the word "body" in Matthew 27:58-59, Mark 15:43 and 45, Luke 23:52 and 55, Luke 24:3, and John 19:38 and 40. God is surely underscoring the importance of the word "body." John 19:38 is typical of these verses:

    In His spirit, He went to heaven. His body was placed in the tomb. Thus, from that moment, He was no longer a complete personality. Therefore, He could not have been making payment for sin.
    Instead, His physical death was evidence or proof that He had been under the curse of God, as Galatians 3:13 declares, "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree." We learned earlier that the physical death of Adam was the proof that he and all mankind had come under the curse of God.
    Furthermore, when Jesus commended His spirit into the hands of His Father, it was a fulfillment of the prophecy of Psalm 16, which is quoted in Acts 2:27, where we read:

    Until Jesus cried, "It is finished," as a whole personality, He was in hell. That is, He was being punished as God's wrath came upon Him. When He cried, "It is finished," He had received the full penalty of God's wrath. As the Son of God and as the Son of Man, He had suffered the totality of God's awful wrath which should have been poured out upon those whom Jesus came to save.

    Thus, He was no longer under the wrath of God, and in His Spirit, He left His body on the cross and went to heaven. This proved that He had finished His work of paying for the sins of the elect. Acts 2:31 uses language that speaks of this truth:

    Effectively, God is declaring that the proof that Christ could be resurrected in that He, in His Spirit or soul, had gone to be with the Father.

Blood and Water Flow from Jesus' Body

    The second evidence or proof that the penalty for sin had been fully paid is seen in the action of the soldier when he thrust his spear into the side of Jesus' dead body. John 13:34 declares:

    In this action, God demonstrates that the payment for sin had been fully paid. The spear in the hands of the soldier represents the law of God that judicially found Jesus guilty. All of the sins that were laid on Him were violations of the law of God. When Jesus comes at the end of the world to bring judgment upon the wicked, we read in Revelation 19:15 that, "out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations." According to Ephesians 6:17, that Sword is the Word of God.
    So, too, Jesus was smitten for our sins. The Word of God established His guilt.
    Wonderfully, because He was pierced for our sins, blood and water flowed from Him. The blood showed that He had indeed given His life for our sins. The water represented the Gospel. Jesus says in John 7:37-38:

    The Gospel flows from the atonement, from the fact that Christ had fully paid for the sins of all whom He had come to save.

    Thus, in the event of the thrust spear is a second dramatic proof that the payment for sin had been fully paid.
    The third evidence or proof that the penalty had been fully paid when He cried, "It is finished," is seen in His burial. After his death, man is buried, which is evidence or proof that physical death has occurred; and Christ, in His body, was buried as proof that He had physically died and which, in turn, was proof that He had been under the curse of God and, therefore, the wrath of God.

Jesus' Body Did Not Corrupt

    The fourth evidence or proof that the penalty had been fully paid when He cried, "It is finished," is seen in the fact that His body did not corrupt. As we learned earlier, the bodies of believers are completely subject to corruption because the final impact of the atonement is not applied to our personalities until we receive our glorified spiritual bodies, which will happen in the resurrection on the last day.
    But, Christ's body did not see corruption. We read in Acts 13:35:

    Before he cried, "It is finished," Jesus was under the curse of God; He was being punished for our sins, which had been laid upon

Him. Once the payment had been fully made, there was no more curse, no more wrath of God, no more payment to be made. The evidence of this is seen in the fact that His body did not corrupt.
    Moreover, the fact that His body did not decay in the tomb proved that no more work had to be done in His mission to save us. In the Garden of Gethsemane, sweat was pouring from His body. Sweat is produced by work being done. In the atonement, Christ was doing all the work that was required to save us. In the tomb, His body rested. No work was being done because the atonement had all been completed when Jesus said, "It is finished."
    The fifth and final proof or evidence that the payment had been fully paid is seen in the resurrection of Christ. His resurrection proved beyond a shadow of doubt that the payment for sin had been fully paid.
    It is wonderful to not that God says in Acts 1:3:

    Even as God gave many proofs that Jesus had risen, so, too, He gave many proofs before the resurrection that the penalty for sin had been fully paid. These proofs are so important that God speaks of Jesus' experience from the Garden of Gethsemane until the resurrection as His being in the heart of the earth.

    Returning to Romans 6:4, we read, "we are buried with him by baptism into death." Even as the burial of Christ following His physical death was the evidence that He had been under the wrath of God, so, too, we have been baptized (washed) of our sins and

were identified with Him in His burial as evidence that we had been under the wrath of God.
    Likewise, we read in Romans 6:5:

    That is, our sins were completely washed away by Christ as He experienced the second death, the eternal wrath of God. That He had fully paid for these sins is evidenced by Christ's resurrection. Therefore, we who have become saved experience the resurrection from spiritual death into eternal life as evidence that all of our sins have been paid for.
    Even so, the fact that we, at the time of salvation, were given brand new resurrected souls in which we have eternal life, is proof that we have had our sins completely washed away. Later in our study, we will further develop this point.
    Thus, we can understand Colossians 2:11-12:

    When Jesus was baptized (washed) of our sins, our sins were washed away. There is so because those sins which He has washed were my sins and the sins of which He was washed were my sins and the sins of all who believe on Him. And so, even as He was buried and rose again as evidence that He had endured the second death, so we are buried with Him and are risen with Him. Or, to say it in a slightly different way, our sins were cut off (circumcised) when Christ had the sins cut off by paying for them. We identify His washing (baptism) when He experienced the second death which was proven by His physical death and by His burial.
    We can now understand Romans 6:6, where we read, "our old man is crucified with him." Our old man includes both our body and

our soul. Judicially, in our whole personality, our sins have been washed away. Thus, we stand guiltless before God because we have been robed with Christ's righteousness. This is so even though we are still troubled by sin because in this life, we have not yet received our resurrected bodies.
    How then are we to understand I Corinthians 15:29, where we read:

    The baptism spoken of in this verse is the washing Jesus experienced as He paid for our sins, but the baptism or washing is on behalf of our whole personality, not just on behalf of our souls, which are eternally renewed at the moment of salvation. That washing (baptism) is also on behalf of our spiritually dead bodies. The proof that our dead bodies are included in this washing is seen in the fact that on the last day, they will be resurrected as glorified bodies, which I Corinthians 15 emphasizes so well.

We Must Be Baptized

    Now we can understand why Jesus states in Mark 16:16:

    Obviously, baptism is a condition which must be met in order that we might be saved. Of course, this cannot be speaking of water baptism for no amount of physical water will wash away our sins. It has to refer to the washing (baptism) that Jesus experienced when He paid for our sins. If a person's sins had not been laid upon the Lord Jesus, so that Jesus endured the wrath of God for that person's and his sins were washed away, that person could not become saved. But all who do become saved are saved because their sins were laid upon Jesus. By enduring the wrath of God as payment for those sins, Jesus had the sins washed away. Thus, the condition of

baptism (washing) has been met for that individual, and when the Holy Spirit applies God's salvation to the life of that individual, he is saved. The evidence of salvation is the presence of faith in the believer's life. This faith is a result of God having saved us.

    Likewise, the baptism spoken of in Acts 2:38 is exactly the same as that of March 16:16. Acts 2:38 reads:

    Again, we must understand that water baptism is not in view. It can only be the baptism (the washing) which we experience as Jesus had our sins, which had been placed on Him, washed away. Only when God applies this washing to our lives are we saved.
    The command to repent and to be baptized is equivalent to the command Paul gave to the Philippian jailer when he was told he must believe.
    Those who were spoken to in Acts 2:38 as well as the jailer were spiritually dead. To be washed of their sins or to come into a condition of believing on Christ was something of which they were totally incapable. Likewise, there was the command to repent. It is true that an unsaved person can turn away from this or that sin, but the repentance that is a result of salvation is that we must be altogether turned to go in the opposite direction from which we had been going. A spiritually dead person cannot do this.
    To believe, to be baptized (washed of all sins), to repent, therefore, are all things that must be performed by God. He must wash away our sins; He must give us a new resurrected soul so that our life will be turned around from serving self to serving God; He

must give us faith so that henceforth we will altogether believe God, that is, as it were, we hand our whole life on God, trusting that all that the Bible declares is true and authoritative.
    In like manner, we can now understand the command given to Saul of Tarsus after he had been blind for three days, following his encounter with Jesus. We read that Ananias said to Paul in Acts 22:16:

    Some might conclude that this verse is a proof text that water baptism is a condition for salvation. But as we have already learned, that is not possible. In fact, water is not mentioned in this verse nor in its context any more than water is mentioned in Acts 2:38. The fact is that devout Ananias by God's authority commanded Paul to rise (to become spiritually resurrected) and to be baptized (to have his sins washed away). Saul, of course, could not do these things. Only God can, and so we can understand and this is the moment of salvation for him. But it was not because he had made any contribution to his salvation. God must perform all of the work of raising him up and washing away his sins.
    The proof that this was the moment when God saved Him is seen in the language of Acts 9:18:

    The scales that fell from his eyes remind us of the language of II Corinthians 3:14-16:

    In other words, the falling of the scales from the eyes of Paul means his spiritual eyes have become opened. He has become saved. His sins have been washed away.

The Israelites Were Baptized into Moses

    Another reference to baptism is found in I Corinthians 10:1-5. There we read of the Israelites being baptized into Moses by the cloud and the sea. I Corinthians 10:1-5:

    This passage indicates that in a physical way all of the Israelites were under the same cloud with Moses and, therefore, were facing God as the judge even as Moses did. The cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night that stayed with Israel throughout their forty years in the wilderness was a constant reminder that they had to answer to God for their sins. The overshadowing presence of God as the judge was revealed by the presence of the cloud. In this passage, Moses is a picture of Christ Who because of our sins was under the judgment of God. Israel, who represents all believers in this passage, is in principle also under the judgment of god because we are identified with Christ as He bore the wrath of God for our sins. Therefore, we are washed (baptized) in Christ even as Israel was identified with Moses in the cloud.
    Likewise, all of the Israelites passed through the Red Sea with Moses. The Red Sea was a picture of hell. Moses, in this account, is also a picture of Christ. Moses passed through the Red Sea and so did Israel with Moses. That is, Christ endured the wrath of God for our sins (went through the Red Sea), and, therefore, we who are saved (typified by Israel), have also been washed or cleansed in

Christ (Moses) because in Him we, too, have passed through the Red Sea (hell).
    Thus, both Moses (Christ) and the Israelites (those who are saved) have gone through hell and come out of hell (Christ rose again) because Christ fully paid the penalty demanded by God for our sins.
    The Egyptians who typified the unsaved were drowned in the Red Sea, thus typifying the second death, eternal damnation. But Israel was baptized (washed) into Moses in the cloud and in the sea (I Corinthians 10:2). They were not destroyed by God the judge nor by the Red Sea as were the Egyptians because Christ was with them and actually bearing the wrath of God.

    Even so, when we have been cleansed of our sins, we become identified with Christ as He faced God as judge and as He successfully came out from eternal damnation because He had paid the full penalty demanded by God's law in payment for our sins. Therefore, as the Israelites were baptized into Moses, the believer who has been cleansed of his sin is baptized into Christ.
    The third picture set forth in these verses is that of Christ as the rock fro which flowed the water of the Gospel. Israel again is used as a portrait of all who became saved because they receive eternal life from Christ. They drank of the water of the Gospel and, therefore, will never thirst again (John 4:14).
    The closing statement of this passage emphasizes that even though Israel was a portrait of all believers, they themselves remained under the wrath of God because they never became saved.

Summary of What We Have Learned

    Let us summarize what we have learned. Thus far, we have discovered the following truths:

· The word baptism is used to connote "cleansing" or "washing" in the New Testament. The word baptism is used also to address the Old Testament washings which were done to obtain spiritual cleansing. Baptism never signifies dipping or immersion.

· In the Old Testament, as part of the ceremonial law, three methods were employed to indicate spiritual cleansing.

    · The shedding of blood.

    · An offering by fire.
        · Burnt offering.
        · Touching coals on altar.
        · Incense burned on coals from altar.

    · Washing or bathing.

· None of these acts in themselves could provide spiritual cleansing. They receive their value as shadows pointing to the cleansing which would be provided by Jesus' death and resurrection.

· Jesus came on the scene to provide the eternal cleansing foreshadowed in the Old Testament law. He came with two roles to fulfill:

· Although He Himself was without sin, He so identified Himself with sinful man that it was as if He, too, needed cleansing. He became sin for us. Therefore, He became the Lamb that was to be killed and offered as a burnt offering to expiate the sins of the world.

· He came as the high priest who was to offer the Lamb.

· Because Christ's priesthood was foreshadowed by the Aaronic priesthood, He had to be ceremonially cleansed and anointed before He could carry out His duties as high priest.

· Because Christ was not of the tribe of Levi, the cleansing and anointing could not be accomplished in the temple. Rather, it took place when He was baptized in the River Jordan by John the Baptist.

· His anointing was followed by the Holy Spirit descending upon Him.

· John's baptism, as well as the baptism offered by the disciples of his time before the time of the cross, was of the same nature as the Old Testament ceremonial washings although they were far more vibrant in meaning inasmuch as the cross had come so close. All of the Old Testament washings, together with the baptisms performed by John the Baptist and by the apostles, were shadows pointing to the cleansing which would be provided by Christ on the cross.

· When Jesus went to the cross, He was cleansed or purged of all the sins He had taken upon Himself. Thus, He provided eternal cleansing for all who have placed their trust in Him as their sinbearer. Moreover, He fulfilled all of the Old Testament shadows which were pointing to the cleansing action of the cross.

· The term "the shedding of blood" is a figure of speech used to emphasize the enduring of the second death, eternal damnation.

· Those who become saved are baptized (washed) into Christ's death. That is, when Christ paid for their sins by enduring hell on their behalf, it was as if these individuals were enduring hell.

· The physical death of Jesus, the sword thrust in His side, His burial, and His resurrection are evidences or proofs that He had indeed fully paid for our sins.

· All of the references which we have thus far studied in which the Greek word baptizo or baptismos are translated "baptism" or "baptize" have in view spiritual baptism, the washing performed by God in saving us.

    There is another aspect of baptism we must examine. That is, the subject of "baptism in the Holy Spirit." Among the last words Jesus spoke before He went back to heaven are found in Acts 1:5, where He declares:

    We will carefully examine the significance of this phrase in the next chapter.