In reading through the Old Testament, we do not find any record of baptisms but we do find anticipations of the ritual.
Ezekiel’s language
In his nighttime discussion with Nicodemus, Jesus said, “Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God” (John 3:5 NKJV). This was the Master’s way of explaining the necessity of a proper baptism to Nicodemus.
In this instruction, Jesus did not introduce a new concept. His points are based on the picture given to Ezekiel about the house of Israel: “Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them” (Ezk. 36:25-27).
“I will sprinkle…I will cleanse…I will give…I will take…I will…” From Jesus’ allusion to Ezekiel’s language, we learn that true baptism is something which is initiated by God. He calls us and we respond to Him.
Anticipated by the flood
But the symbolism of baptism precedes Ezekiel.
The apostle Peter writes about, “…the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls were saved through water. There is also an antitype which now saves us, namely baptism (not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God), through the resurrection of Jesus Christ” (I Pet. 3:20-21).
Baptism is likened to the ark of Noah. The ark was a God-provided means for living through the very waters which brought death to sin.
In our decision to be baptized, we acknowledge both our need to be saved by God and our determination to put our “old man and his sins” to death. This is only possible by associating, through baptism, with Christ’s death and resurrection, as Paul elaborates in Romans 6.
The principle in Genesis 1
But the symbolism of baptism precedes even Noah.
In the beginning, it is revealed that, “the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters” and that God created all things “very good.” The earth was thus baptized in the sense that it was completely submerged, or immersed in water. Dry land did not appear until the third day, when the first life-forms were created.
So the earth was “baptized” in the presence of the Spirit and what resulted was a “very good” creation, with all things new.
Can we see the lesson of this in our own baptism? When we are baptized, we are, in a sense, being “created” by our Father. It is as if we are being placed in the garden of Eden to see where our allegiance lies. Will we serve the Creator or the creature?
A beginning
Although baptism is a most remarkable event in the believer’s life, it is merely the beginning. We are told to take up our cross daily. Every morning we are to rise anew with the risen Christ as our Lord.
We are to learn the lesson of Paul: “That those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for him who died for them and rose again” (II Cor. 5:15). We are to say with him: “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Gal. 2:20). When we can truly say this of our lives, then we have learned the meaning of what Jesus said to Nicodemus on that evening in Jerusalem.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One