2025 Advent Midweek 1
In the past, our Advent and Lenten services have focused on particular books of the Bible. That was immensely enjoyable to me. I love digging deep into the Word of God, which is something we should all be doing. By the way, as you dig, make sure to take note of questions to bring to me and Pastor Meyers. We always love a good game of “stump the pastor” and we especially love helping you learn and understand the Word.
This Advent, we are instead focusing on the catechism, particularly on Baptism, Confession, and the Lord’s Supper. We are doing this, not because I think you don’t know what those things are, but because there is enough to learn about them that you could spend your whole life studying and never exhaust the topic. The catechism is a simple explanation of Biblical teaching, yet it’s depths can never be fully plumbed.
For this week, we will focus on Baptism. You’ve already heard what Baptism is according to the Small Catechism. It is not just a simple washing with water, but “water included in God’s command and combined with God’s word” in Matthew 28:19, “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”
We know that Baptism “works the forgiveness of sins, rescues from death and the devil, and gives eternal salvation to all who believe” the words and promises of God in Mark 16:16, “He who believes and is baptized will be saved.”
Baptism is a “washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit” (Titus 3:5-8). It is the beginning of a new life, a life of continual repentance, in which the Old Adam in you is daily drowned and dies with all sins and evil desires, so that a new man might daily arise to live before God in righteousness and purity. As St. Paul writes, in Baptism, you are buried with Jesus into His death so that you might be born again to new life.
This death and rebirth paradigm is no insignificant thing, nor is it simply a metaphor. There is something mysterious and awesome that happens in Baptism, it kills and brings new life.
The Word of God is quite clear; the wages of sin are death (Rom. 6:23). From the moment that sin entered the world, death became a reality. The very first sin resulted in a sacrificial death, when an animal died so that the nakedness of Adam and Eve’s sin might be covered. The sin of mankind ushered in the reign of death, and yet God preserved His people by providing them a way, not to avoid death, but to go through it.
When God saw the wickedness of mankind and determined to “destroy under heaven all flesh in which is the breath of life” (Gen 6:17), he preserved believing Noah and his family in the ark. Noah and his family passed through death in the flood and were reborn into a new creation when the water receded.
After the Israelites were freed from Egypt, they were brought to the point of death at the hands of the pursuing army, yet God provided a means of salvation. The children of Israel descended into the depths, but were preserved by God’s grace, passing through the waters, out of slavery and death and into new life.
These examples point toward the much greater exodus, the much greater ark that preserves God’s faithful. The theological term for these examples is a type, a pattern or “acted-out” prophesy, a shadow or pale imitation pointing toward the antitype, the fulfillment and true essence that was anticipated. Peter uses this language when he references Noah’s ark, declaring that “there is also an antitype (of the ark) which now saves us – baptism” (1 Peter 3:21).
Christians who have been baptized live inside this true essence of the ark. They have passed through death and into new life.
One of the Scripture verses used to explain Baptism is Titus 3:5, which says that Jesus “saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit.” The word often translated as “regeneration” is παλινγενεσιας, from παλιν (“again”) and γενεσις (“beginning” or “birth”), literally “born again.”
Baptism is not just symbolic, but is a very real death and rebirth, just not in a way that is easy to understand from an earthly perspective. That presents as a stumbling block for some, which is sad, because it should instead bring a great deal of comfort that God loves you so much that He built you this ark and placed you inside it to save you from death.
It is fascinating that we humans think so well of ourselves that we believe we can understand and comprehend absolutely everything. Physicists have grand theories for the structure of the universe, yet we can only use them to describe 5% of it. We use cool and mysterious terms like “dark matter” and “dark energy” because we have no clue what constitutes 95% of the universe. We use quantum mechanics to explain the motion of subatomic particles, but no one truly understands quantum mechanics. We can write down the math, sure, but interpreting it requires nonsensical statements. The most towering minds in physics said so.
So ask yourself, do you have to comprehend who God is, in order to believe in Him? Do you have to understand how He does things in order to believe that they happened?
Consider what Jesus said to Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews, “if I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?” (John 3:10). And the topic of that conversation… Baptism. Jesus said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit” (John 1:5-8).
Nicodemus couldn’t comprehend how a man can be born a second time. He did not understand what it means to be born of water and the Spirit. Jesus’ answer: you can’t understand, but you don’t have to, you only have to believe.
“But how can a handful of water heal the soul?” cry the mocking spirits, encouraging you to doubt the Word of God. To this, there is an easy answer. Certainly, simple water could never do this, but Baptism is no ordinary water. It is water combined with God’s Word and command, and sanctified thereby, so that it is divine. Could God have accomplished everything without Baptism, sure, but He chose, and not just chose, but commanded, that Baptism be used to bring about salvation.
Why? God knows. Yet this visible, tangible element, this unique event, gives faith something to cling to and take hold of, upon which to stand and rest. You are God’s. He put His name on your in your Baptism. He drowned the Old Adam in you and raised you to new life in Jesus. When sin and conscience oppress you, even if you feel weak in faith, fall back on this and say, “nevertheless I am baptized, and since I am baptized it is promised that I will be saved and have eternal life.”
At times, our sinful hearts attempt to convince us that it can’t be this easy. Baptism is too simple, too plain and ordinary. My great works and dedication, they seem much more appropriate for gaining a place heaven. “But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen” (1 Cor. 1:27-28).
This seemingly simple thing, this washing with water at the command and with the promise of God’s Word, achieves something all the good works in Creation could never accomplish.
Some would claim there is a contradiction here. “You say you are saved by grace through faith. Do you then claim that this work of Baptism brings salvation?” Yet this is a complete misunderstanding. Yes Baptism is a work, but it is not my work. I was not baptized in the name of Jake Bennett. I was baptized in the name of the triune God.
Baptism is God’s work, and indeed God’s works are saving and necessary for salvation. They do not exclude, but demand faith, for without faith they cannot be apprehended. Without faith, the great gifts God grants in Baptism cannot be received.
Modern Christianity overemphasizes the internal, believing that anything external to the heart is a work and therefore cannot save. Did Jesus die in your heart? Did He rise again only in your mind? Of course, the salvation accomplished for you is external to your heart, your heart is totally unable to save you. Your heart would convince you that you have to do more, that you are unworthy, that your faith is not strong enough. But the salvation that Jesus accomplished does not depend on your doing enough, it is objective and true.
In the same way, you can be certain that you are saved, because you are a baptized child of God. No matter what the world throws at you, no matter the taunts of the devil, you know this objective truth. Through faith, you take hold of and cling to this objective promise of God in your baptism.
And what is that promise of God? Victory over death and the devil, forgiveness of sins, the grace of God, the entire Christ, and the Holy Spirit with His gifts.
The other day, my son commented that his favorite hymn is “God’s own child, I gladly say it.” It’s certainly one of my favorites, too. I asked him how he knows that he is God’s own child. He thought for a minute and then I recited the first line of that hymn, “God’s own child, I gladly say it: I am baptized into Christ!” He smiled and asked, “does every hymn teach something?” Yes, I responded, that’s why we sing them!
So listen to what this great hymn teaches you. “Death, you cannot end my gladness: I am baptized into Christ! When I die, I leave all sadness to inherit paradise! Though I lie in dust and ashes faith’s assurance brightly flashes: Baptism has the strength divine to make life immortal mine.”
“There is nothing worth comparing to this lifelong comfort sure! Open-eyed my grave is staring: Even there I’ll sleep secure. Though my flesh awaits its raising, still my soul continues praising: I am baptized into Christ; I’m a child of paradise!”
Amen!