18 - Baptism, What is Signifies. Who the Right Subjects

B.W. Newton The "Patmos" Series No. 18 Baptism: What It Signifies; Who the Right Subjects “If we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection.” Romans 6:5 “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved.” Mark 16:16 A passage in Acts 8:1-40 sufficiently shows for whom Baptism is intended. In itself it has no “quickening” power. In itself it bringeth not to God. It is for those who, by the Word of Truth, are brought to faith in Jesus. Was it not so with the Eunuch in the wilderness? Could any narrative be simpler? He was a seeking, inquiring soul, for he knew not the “way of peace.” He was reading the Scripture; reading it darkly; not understanding what he read. But a message of Truth was sent to him. Jesus was placed before him as the Lamb prophetically spoken of as “led to the slaughter,” and Philip explained to him why He was led to the slaughter that it was God’s method of putting away the guilt of sin for ever from the feeblest of those who looked in faith to Him—and the Eunuch believed; he cast his soul on God through Jesus; and he was received among those who are written among the “living” in the city of God. Instantly, in that moment God viewed him in all the value of what Jesus had done! It was simply the confession of faith. In other words, saying his soul relied on what God appointed as that which sinners should rely on.

It is one of the peculiar prerogatives of Christ to impart “Life,” for He is the Object in Whom “quickening” power is. Thus, the moment the sinner looks believingly to Jesus he has Life in his soul; the germ of that glorious Life that will by-and-bye be developed in Heaven! But great as that is, it is after all the lesser thing, for we are not only brought from death and corruption, but also into Glory! Salvation is not merely deliverance from wrath—it is that—but it is also deliverance to God into Glory and Heaven, where Christ’s proper place is! He is the Representative of His people. Adam was one representative in Paradise. The downward step, and by that brought us willfully into ruin! Christ—the last Adam—is the new Covenant Head of His believing people. He took the upward step from earth into the Paradise of God, and carried with Him all those of whom He is the Head! Now that associates us with Heaven. He has entered there for us. This is what the hand of God wrought by means of the death and resurrection of Jesus! Well, do you not suppose that He would desire us to be acquainted with these things? Do you suppose He would hide this great work, so that our souls should not know it? Would He not desire to make our souls know that which is in Christ for us? Did He, when taking the bread and wine, saying “This is My Body, which is broken for you” seek to conceal from His believing people what His atoning death for them was; or, did He thereby desire to express to them very plainly what the result of His Body being broken was, even the remission of sins; all guilt being put away? “The Lord’s supper” is intended to declare what that great blessing is, of “redemption through His blood.” Well, it is equally so in Baptism. That too, is something declaratory: a sign appointed by God showing forth what that great blessing is. Like the Lord’s Supper it is a sign; and moreover, a seal on God’s part confirming by a visible open token that which His grace has wrought. Therefore, that which He seals visibly to our eye as a sign of the stability and endurance of the blessing must be a very firm blessing indeed! That it is on God’s part of what it is on our part I will speak directly.

Well then, the sign to us is “water.” Now it is generally the habit of the heart to think simply of “water” as that which cleanses. We are so accustomed to the thought of defilement and evil, that through rapidity of heart and haste of spirit we think primarily of cleansing in Baptism. It is true a thought of cleansing is connected with it, but it goes far deeper than we generally think. Where is “water” first spoken of in the Bible? In Genesis 1:1-31! Had we gazed on that dark mass of waters where no light, no life was, how we should have shrunk from them and seen in them the power of death! And so there was until God’s power entered; wrought amidst those waters; and brought out of them a fairer creation than we now behold. It was like life brought out of death by the operation of the hand of God! A little further on we read of “waters” again—memorable “waters,” which we never ought to forget—“by which the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished.” What fearful waters! They steadily advanced as the messengers of God’s wrath even unto death, to those guilty sinners! They saw those waters rise, blotting out everything gradually, till at last they themselves sank under their destructive power!

And, again, when the proud “waters” overwhelmed all the haughty power of Pharaoh, it sank like lead in those waters of destructive wrath!

Then think of the type of Jonah, and how he speaks of the “waters” that encompassed him. “All thy billows and thy waves are gone over me.” To him they were the mighty power of death, but the mighty hand of God interfered when he felt himself in the presence of that which was death and destruction; and he was preserved!

Again, when the Lord speaks figuratively in the Psalms of what He Himself endured, how often He speaks of “waters!” “I sink in deep waters: the floods overflow me”—deeper waters than ever came on Jonah—even bitterness of wrath from the hand of God. So there the type is explained. There we see what it was for the True Ark to pass through the raging waters; and in that Ark, all who were connected with it—i.e. all the family of faith—were carried through within it! And so with the true family of God. Christ is the Ark: NOT the Church. Blasphemy is not too strong a word for that. It is ascribing to the creature a work and office that pertain to Christ alone! What can the Church preserve? It has collectively lost Truth, and cannot preserve anything. And the individual believer is he an Ark? What can he preserve? Can he preserve himself or anyone else? CHRIST is The Ark. He passed through the “waters.” He bore His believing people through the “waters,” and brought them into the New Creation, as Noah typically was brought into the new earth. So you see I think, that “water,” thus typically used, represents the power of wrath—overwhelming wrath—ending in death! And how plain is its application to Baptism! There the water is, and the Apostle says believers are buried typically with Christ in Baptism: God hereby showing, that He considers them to have passed through death—through the grave—when their great Representative lay in the grave. Then they were buried by the hand of God in Another. But they were not left there; they were raised, as the Apostle says, (Colossians 2:12), speaking of Baptism, “Wherein also ye are risen with Him through the faith of the operation of God who hath raised Him from the dead.”

Now in Baptism, God signifies to us that He has caused us to pass through death—through wrath—and has brought us into the life into which Jesus has risen! He expresses it in words indeed but also by this outward sign. Is it not true that God has wrought this for all His believing people? So they are immersed in Baptism; placed beneath the waters! It is God’s sign of what HE has done. Do not forget that. It is God’s operation. He caused us in our Representative to go through death, and He has also raised us up from those waters!

Correspondingly typical to that was the Ark that bore through those waters and that carried safely into another world those who were in it. This is what Christ has done for those who believe. So it is a most expressive sign. Of late years—because for many a century the thought of this having been lost—persons have been sprinkled) Yet, these who do that are obliged to confess that being immersed in the water is the only right type. Thus the Protestant Church of this country allows anyone to require immersion if he please. The force of Truth constrains to this. How could sprinkling ever express this truth? How could that ever direct the mind towards our union with Christ in death and resurrection w our being buried with Christ and raised with Him? Sprinkling could not and it would never have been thought of if the truth of this had not been lost. Thus then, it is a sign on God’s part; not a sacrament.

“Sacrament” persons say, is either an oath, an engagement, on our part, or a mystery. Now, the word in neither of these senses can be applied here, for is it a mystery? It is the explanation of a mystery; a setting forth by an outward sign something so plain and simple, that it is anything but a mystery. “We use great plainness of speech” says the Apostle; we withdraw the veil; we explain enigmas; not put enigmas before persons. There is no mystery connected with it; and as to its being an engagement ratified by an oath, I grieve to see Protestantism has often been much mistaken as to that. There is always a tendency in the heart to go back to Sinai; to enter into covenant with God. But what could we promise; promise that we could bear ourselves through wrath? If there is any sense in promising, we should have to promise that: the very thing that God alone could do and has done! There is nothing like “a seal” in Baptism unless it represent something past and accomplished that God has already effected for us in Christ.

Now, I suppose you would see the wickedness as well as the folly of connecting ourselves with the work of Christ, as represented in the Supper of our Lord. Surely our bodies could not be broken! Surely the bread that represents His Body and the wine that represents His Blood refer only to Christ, not to anything the Holy Ghost may work in us. Now, Protestants at any rate have been clear of this as regards the Lord’s Supper, but they have not been so clear of it as regards Baptism. But Baptism refers as much to the work of the Son exclusively as the Lord’s Supper does, for He has passed through wrath for us, and He alone.

Well, God having accomplished this, what are we to do. A person might say “we will hold it fast; we promise to walk as those who are raised from the dead.” But, can we undertake that? Is there ever a single day in which we could say we have walked worthy of this blessing? Ah! if so, one would never be able to detect anything of the dross of earth in our testimonies and ways. I could not say that of myself or of you: but God, Who substantiates His Covenant towards His people, knows us in “grace;” so there is no thought of an engagement by oath such as is connected with “sacrament.”

Well, if it be a sign and seal on God’s part, what is it on ours? On our part, says the Apostle very simply, it is “the answer of a good conscience to God.” God says “I seal this to you,” and we say “Amen, so let it be to us according to Thy Word, oh Lord.” That is all. It is our reply, our answer, our acceptance of that which is given us of God. That is all we creatures can do—God giving, we receiving—a blessed place, and the only suited place. Strange that we should be reluctant to take it; but, let us say “Thanks be to God for His unspeakable gift.”

Now, to return that answer, we must know what God has given. Surely, without understanding it, we can give no answer; therefore, if the heart cannot return it, it is no recipient of blessing. An unconscious babe cannot do so. How can it be possible that any should read those words “the answer of a good conscience to God,” and think of an unconscious babe being a right recipient.

Persons sometimes speak of the analogy of circumcision, and say “were not Abraham’s children circumcised?” Yes: and they had a good title to be, because the moment they were born they were Abraham’s children. They were proved to be that by the fact of their birth. Nothing more was needed to entitle them to be circumcised than the mere fact of being Abraham’s children; but, can we certify that any child born even to Christians is a child of Christ? You know we cannot. God has never said that any infant born to a real Christian, much less to a nominal Christian, is therefore spiritually born of Christ. So the parallel does not hold.

Again, suppose a revelation were made to us from Heaven, and it were said in the case of an infant, that it is quickened by the secret power of God’s Spirit; even then it would not be a right subject for Baptism till it could return “the answer of a good conscience to God.” I do not deny the truth that a child may be quickened; nay, I go farther, and say that every child that dies in unconscious infancy is, by the fact of its dying in unconscious infancy, proved to be quickened: and that can be certified by Scripture, for Scripture says that all who stand n the final judgment to be judged, are judged out of books according to their works (Revelation 20:12); and consequently, those who are removed from this state of being before they are able to do works which would be written in the books, will not stand there to be judged. It does not prove that they are not sinners, for there are two reasons why a babe is regarded as a sinner. First, because Adam’s sin is imputed to all his descendants. Secondly, because it has a depraved nature. So unless there were a Redeemer; unless God in the freedom of His grace could connect it with Christ’s righteousness and quicken it in and through Christ, no infant could be saved! But He does that, and the fact of its being taken away in unconscious infancy proves it.

Two things you see, are requisites for Baptism. The persons must themselves be “quickened,” and also be able to return the “answer of a good conscience to God.” So babes are not fit subjects; and no one thought they were, till the corruptions of Christianity were far advanced in the second and third century; and where this thought is mentioned, the writer who mentions it condemns it! But even if it were introduced earlier, it would be no proof. Could there be any proof of that which is not in Scripture?

What did the Apostle say of everything that would come after he died? “This know ye, that after my departure grievous wolves shall enter in, not sparing the flock; also of your own selves shall men arise speaking perverse things.” He told them distinctly that times of darkness, evil, and corruption were to begin, and so they did; a period when falsehood would prevail and not Truth; when the simplicity of the Gospel would be set aside and forgotten; when the doctrine of satisfaction for sins by the death of Christ would be lost, and the thought of union with Him in heavenly places gone altogether! What they knew they perverted! The world was arrayed in the garments of the Church of Christ, and they said “Christ hath sanctified water to the mystical washing away of sin; He hath appointed our hands to apply this water and we are able therefore instrumentally to justify!”

“Baptism,” says the Church of Rome, “is the instrumental cause of justification!” How impious! But is it less impious to say it washes away sin? Does it do so really or is it altogether a lie; a delusion of Satan? Yet, how many have been carried away by it with a lie in their right hand! So it is an awful thing to tamper with the truths of God. God never sanctioned water to the washing away of sin, and there is no power in it to regenerate. A person is regenerate first. All those thousands who were converted at Pentecost were regenerate before they were baptized, and the sign of Baptism was given because they were regenerate—God having carried them through death in their true Representative that being true of them the moment they believed! When all this has been effected—not before—He gives the sign as a seal of it. And then as to there being “sponsors.” Persons have sought to avoid the force of the words “the answer of a good conscience toward God,” by saying there are persons to answer for them! I spoke of blasphemy just now: I must say again, to use the word “sponsor” of anyone except Him to Whom it truly belongs—the great Surety—is a solemn thing. Could we be surety for ourselves; and could we be for another? We could as much think of redeeming our brother.

What does a “sponsor” engage to do? To resist and overcome the flesh and the pomps and vanities, of this wicked world! Can we really engage to do this for ourselves? You know we dare not: you know we should stand as hypocrites and liars in the presence of God; then, could we promise it for another? Alas! how those very persons who do promise it love the world, its pomps and vanities! The very temptation to make Baptism what it is. made, is a wish to sanction the pomps and vanities. of the world by connecting the Name of Christ with them; to put, by means of ritual ordinances, the protection of the Name of Christ on that which is altogether alienated and separated from Him!

I speak not this to puff up. It is not an hour for that: there are too many links in ourselves binding us to evil, for us to be censorious judges; but we may be lowly, humble judges of what is around, in order that we may win hearts and keep our own garments; and when we think of it in that way and. then see our own weakness, it will produce a feeling of solemn responsibility that will take from us self-complacency. A heart will never be self-complacent that duly feels the responsibility of Truth; which responsibility increases the greater the abounding evil; and we are told that darkness and evil will prevail in the latter days.

Now, may these things be a light to us, for we would not wish to conceal the heinousness of evil. There cannot be a greater evil than to deceive persons concerning their souls. To tell them they are regenerate when they are not. To tell a little child that it was made an inheritor of the kingdom of heaven and united to Christ and to God when it was baptized—that lie of Satan—and for this to go on in the midst of the light that shines around us year after year, is a sin so overwhelming, that nothing but the most wondrous grace of God prevents His sweeping all the systems that are connected with it with the besom of His wrath. Therefore, I do not wish but that you might judge it, yet that it might produce a humbled, chastened spirit and not pride of heart. And how plain a type this is of “regeneration” in its full and proper sense! For what is “regeneration “in its full and proper sense? It is this; the being altogether divested and separated from a certain being that we have here; leaving it behind and attaining a certain condition that is new. That is “regeneration.” and moreover, it applies to everything we are in the integrity of our nature body, soul, and spirit—so all we are naturally, ceases, and we are brought altogether into a new condition, quite as much in body as in soul. That is “regeneration” in its full sense—the sense it has in glory. When we think what our condition there will be, and the powers that we shall then possess; do we limit our thoughts to our souls merely, or do we include the whole totality of our being? We know that we shall be able to contrast what we shall be then with what we have been, and say “once we knew a condition very different from this—an earthly, groaning, unredeemed body; a soul that had in itself weakness; a sense of evil that was cast in the mould of the first Adam, earthly—but now, what powers it possesses: cast in the mould of what Christ is as the second Adam; even Him Who was the Fellow of the Lord God of hosts!” That will be our thought then! And when we think of the means by which we have been brought to it, shall we not ascribe it to Christ? Shall we not say “Christ, by being our Representative and taking us into union with Himself, has brought us through that deserved wrath; has become our Life, and changed us into His likeness!” That is the meaning of the words “begotten again” unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. He has re-begotten us; regenerated us Scripture says, by means of the resurrection of Christ! It is by union with Him that God brings into ‘this new condition of being above. Having life in Him is one step. Its being communicated is another step; but , that final change will take place when we are brought into fullness of glory above. These three thoughts are involved in considering “regeneration.” It must always be connected with Christ. And being put down under the water, there we in the judicial sentence of God leave our earthly, corrupt selves—all that is of the old man—and we are looked at as “raised” in Christ. So it is a. beautiful type, and clearly shows us how the thought of regeneration is properly connected with Baptism. Falsely, when Baptism is made to have regenerating power; but when taken only in connection with Christ, it is a beautiful type.

One thing more, Baptism was appointed after Christ was risen, and He said “Baptizing them into the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost.” Blessed words, indicating that a baptized believer is connected with that which pertains to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost: for the Name of the Father represents those powers, attributes, and wondrous operations which are connected with the Father and which are towards us; something that passeth knowledge—in height and depth unsearchable—yet all this made to be the servant of our need! And this we can equally say of the Son. “No man knoweth the Son but the Father.” The new Name the mystical Name of the glory of Christ as Head of the new Creation of God—we scarcely know anything of. It will be known when “we know as we are known;” but all the power, strength and glory connected with the Son, is in Covenant relation to us—for us, not against us—the servant of our blessing! And the like may be said of the Holy Ghost, Who is very and true God. He will be the power by-and-bye in which we shall live in glory. Truly the great Name of God is put on the redeemed; not on angels—they do not stand on this Covenant relation to God but the redeemed do—and that, as the result of what Christ has done! All this is signified to us in the rite of Baptism!!

Now, once more; to whom does it belong? To the feeblest who believe; to the poor Eunuch; the jailer at Philippi, etc. Great as this blessing is, Grace gives it. It does not stand above the level of the Cross. The Cross is for sinners: it is what the Brazen Serpent was to the dying Israelites when brought to them where they were perishing. God’s message to them was “look there and thou shalt live.” So now, look to Christ and blessing comes and those who look to Christ have a right to Baptism; to the Supper of the Lord; and therefore, to all the blessings that God covenants and pledges thereby! We do not raise ourselves to any fancied elevation, but God gives it. He makes it a gift, and He gives it freely in Christ. May we not be proud or careless and despise this gift but receive it with meekness, saying, “To whom else shall we go?”

“Lord we believe, help Thou our unbelief.”