The Watery Tomb of Baptism, How You Come Out More Alive than Ever!
The first thing Jesus did in His earthly ministry was get baptized in water. And the last thing He said before He ascended into heaven after His resurrection from death was, “Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19 NLT). Baptism was important to Jesus—He began and ended with it. It was important, because it is powerful!
The children of Israel passed through the water, but the enemy pursuing them was swallowed up by it. Water baptism is a spiritual discipline. It’s an outward expression of an inward change. But it’s so much more than going through the motions. It’s the place where we bury our enemies. It’s the pool where we leave our past. It’s the washing away of our mistakes. It’s diving into the life God has planned for us! Baptism is the place of separation. Today when you and I are baptized in water, we are taking part in both the burial and resurrection of Christ.
Romans 6 explains this. When you go down into the water, you are baptized into His death. Your baptism is a funeral for your past. In God’s eyes, it’s a watery tomb, and the old you goes under with your shame, guilt, defeat, all your mistakes and the power of the enemy, but you come up with new life! You bury the old, and awaken the new!
Or have you forgotten that when we were joined with Christ Jesus in baptism, we joined him in his death? For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives (Romans 6:3-4).
Not only does baptism speak of your past and present; It speaks to your future resurrection and eternal life:
Since we have been united with him in his death, we will also be raised to life as he was. We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin. For when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin. And since we died with Christ, we know we will also live with him (Romans 6:5-8).
There are three powerful benefits of water baptism—three ways we come out more alive than ever—that we can draw on for the rest of our lives. It is not meant to be a one-time experience that fades into a pleasant memory. It is a profound decision that you make and continue to experience the blessing of, even until death. When Jesus was baptised, the heavens were parted, the Holy Spirit descended like a dove, and a voice from Heaven spoke. Below are the three benefits of water baptism.
The first of these is that baptism provides an occasion for God’s announcement to your soul. When that voice sounded from heaven, God gave His divine approval or seal of acceptance saying, “You are my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.” When we are baptised, God sees us in a pure state and proclaims He is well pleased. He sees beyond the mistakes and sins of our past and looks upon you and I as His sons and Daughters through Christ.
The second life-long benefit is that baptism provides a setting for spiritual breakthrough in your circumstances. When Jesus was baptised, the heavens opened—there was a tearing open into the invisible realm. When we are baptised in water, the spiritual realm is opened to us. We see things differently, we understand things differently, we recognize the attacks of the enemy, but we become more aware than ever of the truth that “those who are with us are more than those who are with them” (2 Kings 6:16 NIV).
Finally, the third benefit water baptism gives us is that baptism provides a way to ceaseless overflow of the holy spirit in your life. John chapter three says, “For he is sent by God. He speaks God’s words, for God gives him the Spirit without limit. (v 34). And later on in chapter 20, Jesus passes that same spirit onto His disciples saying , “As the Father has sent Me, so I am sending you.” And The Father had sent Him “without limit” to the holy spirit!
I want to encourage you after reading this to watch a few baptisms which come at the end of “It’s Your Funeral, Enjoy It!” There’s nothing quite so powerful as the personal testimony of other believers who have experienced the life-changing power of Jesus Christ. And if you’ve experienced God’s power, YOUR testimony is a part of your journey to overcome! Share it!
There's a story about a little boy who gave his heart to Jesus during children’s church. After he prayed with the little boy, the children’s pastor hugged him, and he said, “now listen, buddy, when you go upstairs to the big church, you go to the pastor, and you tell him ‘I have been saved and now I want to be baptized.’” And so the little boy went upstairs, and he went up to the pastor, and he said, “Pastor, I got saved this morning in children’s church, and now I want to be advertised.”
I like that. That’s exactly what these people are doing. They’re saying I have had something internal, but I’m going external with it now, and in case there’s any devil out there that wants to bring up my past, I want you to know I am a new creation. The old things have passed away, and behold, all things are new!
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