A deeper meaning to baptism. . .

Amen...

Everyone is born into slavery because of the curse of sin. We are born with a carnal nature and from time to time, this nature causes us to sin, that is, to do things that are foolish, wrong, and evil. God understand this, so the Holy Spirit is given as a gift to everyone at birth. The Holy Spirit does His best to lead us into a submissive relationship with God, but many times, we act like Pharaoh. We refuse to do what the Lord wants, even when the evidences of His will are crystal clear.

When a person becomes willing to do what the Lord wants, persecution always follows. The Israelites were severely punished for resting from their labors on Sabbath, but they continued to obey the Lord until deliverance came. When the moment of deliverance finally came, they walked out of Egypt. When Pharaoh attempted to recapture his slaves, they walked through the Red Sea. Because they followed the light and put their faith in the Lord, they remained free from slavery.

A person who has experienced deliverance wants to inform the world that he has been set free from the curse of sin, left "the land of Egypt," buried the old man at sea, and entered "the land of Canaan" by God's grace. No longer a slave to sin, he is a new creation. He has been set free through the power of Jesus. This is the idea behind the ordinance of baptism. Baptism is not a ritual that merits salvation. Baptism is an ordinance that indicates a transforming experience with Jesus has occurred and the new man wants to put the world on notice that he is not the same person any more.

Sometime after entering Canaan, the Jews adopted baptism as a ritual for citizenship. Whenever a Gentile wished to become a Jew, the Gentile had to undergo baptism. This ritual signified the death of the Gentile, his burial at sea, and the resurrection of that person as a Jew.

No born again person is perfect and it is impossible, as long as the carnal nature remains within us, to live without sinning. Of course, God knows this. A few hours before He went to the cross, Jesus initiated a special ordinance, that ordinance is foot washing.

As we travel the highway of life, the feet of born-again pilgrims become dirty with accumulated sins and a periodic "foot washing" is necessary to remove the sin. The foot washing ordinance is a miniature baptism. The lesson of this ordinance is that someone else (representing Jesus) does something for us (washes our feet) that we cannot do for ourselves (remove the guilf of our sins).

Great post MC!