The text this morning is from:
But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I give Egypt as your ransom, Cush and Seba in exchange for you. Because you are precious in my eyes, and honored, and I love you, I give men in return for you, peoples in exchange for your life. Fear not, for I am with you; I will bring your offspring from the east, and from the west I will gather you. I will say to the north, Give up, and to the south, Do not withhold; bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the end of the earth, everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.”
Thus far the text.
My dear friends in Christ,
Today, the first Sunday after the Epiphany, we celebrate the Baptism of our Lord. This is appropriate. In fact, it is the most appropriate time to celebrate it. Epiphany, January 6th, is a day in which we celebrate that the Gentiles also are included in the salvation work of Jesus. Even Gentiles can be saved. That’s good news, since everyone here is a Gentile.
We celebrate it by looking at the texts when the wise men came from a far off place to worship at the feet of the child Jesus. Even those who are outside the communion of Israel knew and saw the King, and gave Him what He was due, worship, thanksgiving, and gifts of great measure, even gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh, that look forward to the King’s death, where the King would be rubbed and covered in such expensive aloes, befit for a King.
But, today, the thanksgiving to God for the inclusion of the Gentiles continues. For here, we see our Lord baptized by John the Baptizer, not, as were all others, for the forgiveness of His sins, for He was and is sinless. Jesus was baptized here as the start, as the seal of His public ministry. But even more than that, Jesus was baptized for you.
He was born for you. He lived for you. He died for you. He was resurrected for you. He ascended for you. All of these things are true. In the same way, He was baptized for you. Perhaps this is hard for us to understand; it’s been a debated point in theology for 2000 years, really. It is not that Jesus was baptized to fulfill a specific Old Testament law as He did so often. That’s got nothing to do with anything. The Old Testament didn’t demand He would be baptized, but it did prophesy that God would call us, both Jew and Gentile alike, by His name.
And as Jesus teaches us at His ascension, it is Baptism that would do this for us. That, being baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, we would have His name placed upon us, so that we would be called the children of God, the brothers and sisters of Christ.
In the Baptism of Jesus, Jesus institutes all waters, whether in the River Jordan, Lake Bemidji, your backyard pool, or out of the tap, for this means of grace, this way that God delivers His grace to you. And Isaiah tells us that this is for all the sons and daughters of God, for all the children of the earth, all those whom He has created. The Baptismal waters are for all people, and all are welcomed to them.
These waters are important, not because the method of Baptism matters (we know that it is the water and the Word that really matter), but it is by any waters with the Word that make us children of God. Just as our Lord was blessed by His Father and the Holy Spirit, and as He was declared publicly as God’s Son, so, too, are we, God’s children, visited by this very same Trinity, and declared to be His children.
It is as if a voice would come out of heaven as the water washes over your head, as the Holy Spirit creates the faith of Jesus Christ within you, and declares, “This is my beloved son, this is my beloved daughter, with whom I am well-pleased.”
But, how is this possible? How is it possible that by simple water and the Word of God that we sinners have been welcomed into the grace of God in Christ Jesus. Well, it’s no more possible than a people could walk through a sea on dry ground. It’s no more possible that a family, eight souls in all, could be rescued through a worldwide flood in an ark. It’s no more possible than a man diseased with leprosy could be commanded to wash and the skin disease could be washed away. It’s no more possible than the entire universe could come into existence by a single word.
Baptism is no more possible than any of those things, which is to say, because our Lord promises Baptism saves us, so it does. All that God has promised He will do. And so, if, in Isaiah, He promises that He created us, so He has. If He promises that He will save His beloved people through water and fire and famine and captivity, so He will. And if He promises He will call us by His name, so He will. And if He says that He loves you, so He does. And if He says He will be with us, we who have been called from afar, then He will be.
We were buried with Christ, into His death, by Baptism, that we might rise to the newness of life. In Baptism, we are given a new life, the life of a redeemed child of God, that we might be His forever, that we might be with Him forever. We have this newness of life, the life of Christ, so that by Baptism, our sin might be left behind and we may walk in the ways of God, according to His holy Law.
But, we are also called in Baptism to the forgiveness of sins, or maybe it is better to say that, by Baptism, the forgiveness of sins is given to us. In the waters of Baptism, we are buried into the death of Christ. And what is His death but the cross? By Baptism, the cross comes to us, the place where the forgiveness of sins was won, the place where the righteousness of God is taken away from Christ and given to you. By Baptism, you are brought to the place of the cross so that you might be washed in the blood Jesus, washed clean of your sins.
And then, if we are washed clean of our sins, if, like Christ, we are sinless in the eyes of God, we are given new life, we are given the resurrection. And you have that now, in your Baptisms. It’s not something we are just waiting for, though it is indeed coming, but we are given the resurrected life now, free to live under the grace of God, right now, a foretaste of that which is to come in the new creation.
Indeed, that’s what God is saying to us through His Word. In this life, as we walk as children of God, the Lord shall be with you, and because you are baptized, nothing can truly harm you, for none can steal the life of Christ that He has given to you. You have been ransomed from captivity, the captivity to sin, and you have been welcomed into the kingdom of God. You need fear nothing for God commands even the points on the compass to bring you to where He is.
All this is real. God speaks and it is. God declares Jesus His Son, He declares you His child. This is the same voice of God that, in the 29th Psalm, thunders over the waters, breaks cedars, makes nations skip, brings forth flashes of fire, shakes the wilderness, makes deer give birth, and strips forests. And to this, we cry out, “Glory!” The Lord blesses His people with peace, the peace of Christ which is found in your Baptisms.
You see, Baptism is everything for you. It forgives you, saves you, gives you new life, declares you to be a child of God, promises you the Resurrection, and brings you to that day, even though, through our sins, we shall approach that day of our death. Because you are baptized, the Holy Spirit is even with your body as it rests in the ground awaiting the great day of the Lord.
Is your heart in expectation for that day? Do you await the day of the Messiah’s coming? We should, obviously. We should be so looking forward to that day that it is foremost on our minds. We should awake each day and pray that this is that day when the Lord makes all things new. We should have this hope so much within us that we cannot wait for our Lord to come to us and make this earth our new home, that all will be made well in Him.
But, I know that’s hard. We get caught up in the trappings of this life, yet we still have that day of resurrection in us. Do you want to have that expectation within you? Do you want to be focused on the goodness of the Lord? Do you want to get all your priorities in order? Do you want to do the right thing and make sure you’re studying God’s Word rightly, studying it enough, studying it so that in it you may see Christ better? Then, remember your Baptism.
This is what God has done for you, just as all things are done for you. Yes, go and do all the right things. You should. You should pray. You should meditate on God’s Word. You should receive the Lord’s Supper as often as you can. You should hear the preaching of His Word with thanksgiving and interest and never, ever fall asleep while the pastor’s talking; I’m sorry, I meant rest your eyes. You should always do the right thing, and you should always focus on God’s Word and the great day of the Lord.
But, it’s hard. So, remember your Baptism. Remember that the Lord has saved you. Remember that He sent His Son to die for your sins. Remember that He died upon the cross, and only at the foot of that cross will you find anything good. Remember that the cross comes to you in your Baptism. Remember that God delivers that to you in the washing of the water and the Word. Remember that you are washed, you are whiter than snow, whiter than a bleached garment, that, in Christ, you shine before God and men, with the light of Christ, even in His transfiguration glory.
And remember, even as you feel the day of your death approaching, that the Lord is with you, He shall not forsake you, He has covered you, and He has made you His own. Remember that the same voice that created the world, the same voice that spoke to His people of old by the prophets, the same voice that was heard at Jesus’ Baptism, is the same voice that declares you to be His own, the same voice that makes promises to you that you shall rise out of your grave and find out that newness of life is yours forever.
Remember your Baptism, and remember that God has saved you by calling you His own in Christ Jesus. All that He has is yours, all that He did is yours. And so, Jesus was baptized for you, that you would be washed, still washed even today, in His blood forever. This is the great day of the Lord, for it is the day He has given you to remember His goodness and mercy to you. You are His in Christ, He has formed you, made you, called you, and with you, He is well pleased. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Now may the peace of God which passes all human understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord! Amen.
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