Baptism is beautiful—not as something to be exalted in and of itself (it’s meaningless in that sense), but as it is used by God to unite us with Christ.
1. Baptism is where a dead person comes alive. (Colossians 2:12-13).
. . . having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through your faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead. When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ.
We come alive in baptism because that’s where we meet Jesus—we are “buried with Him in baptism” and “raised with Him.” Baptism is not a take-it-or-leave-it ceremony—it is a living reality where we meet our Lord!
2. Baptism is where an old world becomes new. (1 Peter 3:20-21)
. . . in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water, and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Those is the ark went from an old world dominated by sin to a new world. It was the same world, but it had been washed clean. When we are immersed into Christ, our world undergoes the same change. We become a new creation, “the old has gone, the new is here!” (2 Corinthians 5:17).
3. Baptism is where an empty vessel is filled. (1 Corinthians 12:13)
For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.
Baptism is where we receive the gift of the Spirit (Acts 2:38). We are not left as orphans—the Father and Son come to make their home in us through the Spirit (John 14:18,23).
4. A lost life is repurposed. (Titus 3:3-6)
At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior.
Before we met Christ in the water, we were not just lost, we were l-o-s-t. But now we’ve been found and there’s no better feeling!
As you can clearly see from these passages, baptism is part of coming to God through Jesus. If you’d like to explore this subject further, here is a post you’ll be interested in.
A Taste of Grace with Bruce Green 