This question has been asked of a considerable number of Christadelphians recently. Before reading further, perhaps each reader will also want to stop and consider the question personally : Based on the experiences of your own life to date —At what times have you felt closest to God ?
The answers that I received cover a wide range of human experience. Here are a few typical replies : during the pangs of child birth, at the time of my baptism, just before my marriage ceremony, while in the hospital for an operation, on Sunday morning at Bible School, on the open water during a storm.
It is interesting to note, first of all, that all of the answers given concerned activities in which our human emotions played a big part. At the time, the brothers and sisters involved were upset, or worried, or elated, or spiritually uplifted. In each case their emotions were keyed up ; they were moved to turn to God with an overflowing feeling of thanksgiving, or pleading, or dedication.
But most important of all, the replies indicated another fact that we may tend to forget. Almost without fail, everyone included the time of their baptism as one of the events in their life when they felt closest to God. No other event was reported with nearly the frequency as was the experience of adult baptism into the saving name of Jesus.
This fact brings some very interesting thoughts to mind. First, to those readers who have not yet gone through the waters of baptism, the question arises, what is the emotional experience of adult baptism like ? If your baptism consisted of a sprinkling ceremony a few days after your birth, with perhaps a group confirmation at age 11 or 12, then you have missed one of the loftiest emotional experiences of your life. Adult baptism is more than a Divine legal ordinance. It is a tremendous emotional experience. It is that supreme moment when you submit your life, voluntarily, to God ; when, in complete humility, you ask God to wash away your sins ; when you resolve to serve God rather than man ; when you bury your old ways and habits and come forth as a new man or woman in Christ Jesus.
There is no other spiritual experience in life that can compare to adult baptism, After weeks or perhaps months of careful thought and meditation, a sinful human, of his own free will, steps forward and asks to have his sins forgiven. And he comes forth from the waters feeling closer to God than perhaps at any other time in his life.
Another large group of our readers have already experienced the spiritual joy of adult baptism. But over the years, as we get wrapped up in teaching and working in the ecclesia, we may tend to overemphasize the legal and doctrinal side of baptism and overlook the emotional side. In our teaching work we have probably restated the legal principle a hundred times over:
“Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.”
We have also emphasized many times the need for complete immersion, rather than sprinkling. citing the meaning of the word and the example of Christ and the apostles.
But we may have overlooked the fact that the legal act of baptism was just the result of perhaps the loftiest spiritual experience that a man or woman can have. The physical act of baptism was first preceded by a change of heart. For a considerable period of time we wrestled in our minds with the decision that lay ahead. We prayed for guidance and strength. After much soul searching, a conviction came over us that God’s will and not our own was supreme. We thought of the love that Jesus had shown first in giving his life ; of the weakness of our own character, and the need we had for a Savior. We repented of our past deficiencies, in our mind we turned away from our old ways. As our belief and trust in God grew within us, our spiritual joy also increased. Finally, with assurance in our heart, we asked for baptism ; then willingly and joyfully made a confession of our faith in Jesus’ saving name.
To those readers who have not yet experienced the spiritual joy of voluntary baptism, we repeat the invitation of Peter:
“Repent and be baptized everyone of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins.”
To those readers whose baptism is but a recollection from the distant past, we wish to remind that baptism is primarily an emotional experience. For many of us, it was that time, in all our life’s experience, when we felt closest to God ; when He, through His Spirit, drew us close to Him
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One