[AI translation] In today's sermon, I would like to briefly summarize the teaching of God's Word on the essence of baptism. We know very well the Word that has been spoken among us now, because we hear it again at every baptism. We know the practice of baptism, as we have seen it often in this church. We ourselves are baptized, even if we don't think about it. We are therefore personally, directly involved in this much-discussed rite, and yet - or perhaps because of this - the baptism of a newborn child is for us, more often than not, an empty appearance. Indeed, many people are only interested in the whole ceremony: Is it a boy or a girl? Otherwise, however, they are eager to get it over with as soon as possible and go home from the long service of baptism. So let us try to put this practice of our church life, which we call baptism in a rather misleading term, in the light of God's Word. What is baptism? What does it mean for us? And why do we also baptise our children and what does it mean for them? These are the questions to which we are looking for answers!The question of what baptism is was answered by the theologians of old in two short words. They said: baptism is a symbol and a seal. And today, we could not be more clear about the meaning of these words. Someone once asked at a Bible study meeting: 'Do you think there are pictures, illustrations in the Bible? Yes, they replied, there are illustrated Bibles, editions with illustrations. But that's not the point. It's about whether God has given pictures, illustrations, illustrations of what He has said? The answer to this interesting question is most definitely yes. God has given two pictures for His Word: baptism and the Lord's Supper. Both images, figures, are in fact living pictures. It's as if God is saying: now that you have heard my Word, you can for once portray it in a live image. How great it is! You can not only hear but also see what God wants to communicate to us. Yes, because the human heart has more than one gate, and if the Word enters through several gates at the same time: the gate of the ear, the gate of the eye, the gate of the mouth, it is certainly more likely to reach the heart!
But what do baptism and communion illustrate? Surely not everything God tells us in Scripture, but the most essential of those things, the most important event. And the most central event, the most central content, the most central message of the whole of Scripture, of the whole of the Old and New Testaments, is the crucifixion of Jesus Christ on Calvary. That the Lord's Supper is a representation of the crucifixion of Christ is both understood and seen. The bread is broken like the body of Christ on Calvary, the wine is poured out like the blood of Christ on the cross. So it is clear. But how does baptism represent this holy sacrifice? In that the water used in baptism is also the image of the blood of Christ, the holy blood that was shed there on Calvary.
I said before that the term baptism is misleading. It certainly originated in our language from the image that baptism evokes in man. That is, to give someone the cross of Christ as a sign. The original meaning of the word is quite different. Just as its original practice was quite different from today. That is why we do not see in baptism today the image of redemption through the death of Christ as a kind of embodiment. But the picture is immediately clearer if we know that in Jesus' day this rite was not performed by sprinkling with water, but by immersion in water. For example, John the Baptist was standing on the banks of the Jordan. After he had finished preaching, he went up to him, waist-deep in water, and the person to be baptised went into the water, and John pushed him under for a moment. It was as if he had been cast out of the land of the living and plunged into the river of death. But the next moment John's hand, which had held him under the water, lifted him up again, and the baptised man could now go back to the shore. This is how Jesus was baptised by John.
Two things are clearly depicted in this act: on the one hand, a full bath; on the other, a symbolic death and resurrection. So first a cleansing - from sin, of course, by the redeeming blood of Jesus! What we always proclaim, what the great gospel proclaims, is that for the death of Jesus, God grants full forgiveness of sins to those who accept it by faith! Who else could understand the great mystery of the forgiveness of sins, the great mystery of cleansing by the blood of Christ, if the Lord Himself had not given such a great illustration of it in baptism? See," he says, "forgiveness of sins is like a great washing, a bath, in which your soul is completely cleansed of the stains which sin has left upon it. All that the soul has defiled itself with is no more, just as the writing that has been wiped off the blackboard is no more! Such full remission of sins is obtained by the redemption death of Christ for all who accept it by faith.
Think of baptism by immersion, and at once how richly these old familiar words are saturated with meaning: "And such were some of you, but ye were washed, and sanctified, and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God." (1 Cor 6:11); "And if we walk in the light, as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin." (1 Jn 1:7); "Grace to you and peace...from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. To him who loved us and washed us from our sins in his blood," (Rev 1:5); "These are they who came out of the great tribulation, and washed their robes, and made their robes white in the blood of the Lamb." (Rev 7:14) The illustration of this is baptism. So the Lord wants you not only to hear this most important message, but to see it! He wants you to see this greatest of all graces! This greatest good news must reach your heart!
The other thing that is revealed in baptism by immersion is a symbolic death and resurrection. The old sinful man is immersed in the water, and a renewed, born again man comes out and goes ashore. Where is the old man? Buried by baptism into death! And into the death of Christ! By baptism, man is immersed, as it were, in the death of Christ! He is considered as if he had died, as if in Christ's death he had suffered the penalty for his sins, as if in Christ's death he - the person to be baptized - had satisfied the justice of God. He becomes a participant in the death of Christ. God sees him, as it were, into Christ's death on the cross - and all this so that he may also be partaker of Christ's resurrection. So that he may be raised to new life with Christ, so that the baptized man, the man immersed in Christ's death, may now see himself into, see himself into, and live himself into sanctified, redeemed life! He must be immersed in the death of Christ so that, in Christ and with Christ, he may be raised from the dead and live in eternal life here on earth and in heaven! The illustration of this death and resurrection with Christ is baptism.
Think of baptism by immersion and suddenly these words take on new meaning. (Col 2:12); "Do you not know that we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore we were buried with Him by baptism into death: that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if by the likeness of his death we have been made one with him, we shall certainly be also by the likeness of his resurrection. Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be made strong, that we should not afterward serve sin: For he that died is freed from sin. But if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him." (Rom 6:3-8) For this cause Christ died and rose again, that whoever believes in Him, whoever puts himself in His person, may have eternal life now! The revelation of this sublime mystery is baptism. It does not change the fact that today it is not by baptism. So this is what it means that baptism is a symbol.
But it is not only that, it is also a seal, as we said before. We know what a seal is, don't we? On a document, for example, it is an authentication, an assurance that the document is genuine. The Bible is also such a document, a letter. It was sent by God from heaven and addressed to believers on earth. There are expensive promises and offers in this letter in such a way that the recipients can rub their eyes and wonder: is it really addressed to us, is there not some mistake? Now, so that there can be no doubt, God has also given this letter a seal of authenticity, a seal of approval, so that we may not doubt its authenticity and truth. There are two seals on this letter: one for baptism and one for communion.
So the baptism as a seal means precisely that what it represents, what it illustrates, is true and is really for you. The possibility of forgiveness of sins through the blood of Christ and of eternal life in His resurrection is truly yours! Baptism as a picture says: it happened! Baptism as a seal says: it happened for you! That is why your name is mentioned at baptism, so that you can see that it is so personally about you! So it is not only proclaimed in baptism that just as water washes away the filth of the body, so the blood of Jesus cleanses and renews - but more! It is that the blood of Christ cleanses just as truly and surely as water cleanses the body! The Lord wants to strengthen your faith by baptism, as if to say: remember that you have been baptised! Remember your own baptism! Think of your betrothal by the blood of Christ, and believe with courage that yes, your sins are forgiven and the door of eternal life is open to you! You can accept it and live with it, because you have the seal, like the ring on the bride's finger. So it is not that you are baptized, now all is well, you are saved for sure! Oh, no! The fact of baptism is not a substitute for faith, it does not exempt you from the call - but it strengthens faith, it supports faith, it helps faith, as if Jesus were encouraging you through it to accept with courage the forgiveness of sins, eternal life, the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus, because it is for you that He has obtained through Him: it is yours! Really! Really! Truly!
And if you have accepted it for yourself, accept it boldly for your child! Don't you understand the meaning yet? True - but do you understand the meaning of sin and damnation? No, and yet you share it! If he came into the world pure, if he were free from the taint of sin, the sign and seal of washing with the blood of Christ could be postponed until adulthood - but what a great grace it is that believing parents can draw their children, soon after birth, by an outward, visible sign, into the same hope in which they themselves live. They can see their children as also sealed with the promise of cleansing from sin and eternal life through the redeeming blood of Christ!
By the way, I would like to say something more about the biblical basis of infant baptism, and the teaching of the Word. Now it is that you and I are baptized, immersed in the death and resurrection of Christ. Have you ever given thanks that you may bear this seal of His grace? Are you glad that He has betrothed you to Himself?
Let us now stand before our Lord in spirit and give Him our thanks and confession in the words of song:
Lord Jesus, Prince of salvation,
faithful helper of my life,
I come to you with thanksgiving,
I will sing of your holy name,
I hide your memory in my heart,
I sing of you all my life.
Engage me with the seal of your grace,
With the precious waters of baptism,
Under your banner you have inscribed my name,
Thou hast made me thy servant among thy people,
My strength has been helped by your soul,
Made me feel the goods of thy house.
(Canto 430, verses 1 and 3)
Amen
Date: 14 October 1951.