This coming Lord’s Day we have the privilege of witnessing the sign and seal of baptism administered to several covenant children: Georgia Raye Dahl, daughter of Steven and Erika Dahl; Alyssa Suzanne and Owen Lee Norwood, children of Drew and Kim Norwood; Yashaiah Eldrin Bhanat, son of Eldrin and Rinku Bhanat; and Daniel Trace, Hastings K, Elizabeth Bradstreet and Margaret Madeleine McMullin, children of Garrett and Cindy McMullin. Three of these families have just recently joined - God has been kind to bless our body with new life!
As you prepare for worship, meditate on the joyful meaning of baptism. The water of baptism symbolizes the blood of Jesus that cleanses us from all our sins (Hebrews 9:11-14), and the Spirit of Jesus that regenerates and renews us unto newness of life (Titus 3:5). Just as our hearts have been sprinkled clean from an evil conscience (Hebrews 10:22) and the Holy Spirit has been poured out upon us richly (Titus 3:6), so we sprinkle or pour the symbolic water upon the recipients of this sign of solemn admission into the visible church.
Of course, we do not believe that everyone who receives the sign of baptism has the things signified - in both the old and new covenant administrations of the one covenant of grace, many receive the outward seal (whether as a covenant child or an as a professing believer) without any inner reality in the heart. Not all Israel is Israel, as Paul puts it in Romans 9:6. But for God’s elect, the “remnant according to God’s gracious choice” (Romans 11:5), the outward sign assures them of the reality of the promises of God, and so increases and deepens faith. The Heidelberg Catechism #73 beautifully expresses this truth: “Why, then, does the Holy Spirit call baptism ‘the washing of regeneration’ [Titus 3:5] and ‘the washing away of sins’ [Acts 22:16]? God speaks in this way for a good reason. He wants to teach us that the blood and Spirit of Christ remove our sins just as water takes away dirt from the body; but more importantly, He wants to assure us by this divine pledge and sign that we are as truly washed from our sins spiritually, as our bodies are washed with water.”
And so when we are present at the baptism of others, or when we are tempted to doubt God’s love for us or to succumb to sin, we remember our baptism and all that it represents - we remember that God has branded up by putting His name upon us in our adoption as sons and daughters; that we have been united to Jesus in His death and resurrection to walk in newness of life; that we are a part of one body devoted to love and serve one another; that we have been separated from the world to live holy and godly lives.
May the Lord be pleased to work the graces of faith, hope, love, and purity into the hearts of all who are baptized in His time, in increasing measure.