Baptism in Water — Anton Bosch

So we deal with water baptism tonight. We've been dealing with the doctrine of baptisms, Hebrews 6 .2. The first baptism we dealt with last week was baptism into Christ, and tonight we deal with the second one, which is water baptism.

Let's turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 15, and if you know your Bible well, you'll know that this chapter doesn't teach anything about water baptism. But we're going to start here anyway. This is the chapter on the resurrection, and we'll read the first four verses.

1 Corinthians 15, verse 1,. Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, and in which you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain.

For I deliver to you first of all that which I also received, that Christ died for us for our sins according to the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures, and that he was seen by Cephas and then of the twelve.

After that he was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep. And so Paul is defining the gospel, and he says this is the gospel that he has preached to them.

Now when we ask people to define the gospel today, we get many definitions. One of the most popular definitions is that we have sinned, that we need a saviour, that Jesus died, and that we need to believe on the Lord Jesus.

Now you'll notice that in that three of the four points have to do with me, and only one has to do with the Lord Jesus. But Paul's definition of the gospel here is that Jesus died according to the scriptures, that he was buried, and that he rose again on the third day according to the scriptures.

And so the gospel according to Paul is a Christ-centered, or a Christocentric in the learned people's language, a Christocentric message. Whereas the gospel which many people preach today is a man-centered message.

Yes of course the gospel is for us to get saved. It has us as an object, but the central message of the gospel remains Jesus Christ. Now that is just by the way. Now you'll see here that he says that these are the three elements or aspects of the work of the Lord Jesus, his death, his burial, and his resurrection.

Now it's interesting that he uses his burial. One would say, well why does he refer to his burial? In fact I wondered about this for a long time, because you would say, well surely it was his death and his resurrection that was important.

Why does he focus on his burial as well? Well he focuses on his burial for two reasons. First of all because it relates to the work of the Lord Jesus, and that he died, and that he was buried, and that he was dead for three days.

And so it deals essentially with verifying the fact of the death of the Lord Jesus. So Jesus wasn't just in a swoon, or in a faint, or in a coma, and then somehow they kept him on life support systems, and then they raised him again on the third day.

Some people actually believe that Jesus was in a coma for those three days, he wasn't actually dead. And that's why I believe the scripture emphasizes the fact that he was buried. You don't bury anyone unless they are properly dead.

And you remember there was a whole series of things that happened before he was buried. The soldiers came to him to break the legs, because the next day was the Sabbath, and they came to the Lord Jesus and they discovered he was dead already.

And so they thrust a spear into his side and out came water and blood. And then Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus went and they took the body of the Lord Jesus, got permission from the Roman authorities, and they then buried the Lord Jesus.

Now again, they would not have buried him unless they were absolutely sure about his death. There was a whole embalming process and all of these things that had to happen, the preparation of his body.

And so they were working with his body, they knew he was dead, otherwise they would not have buried him. And so the burial of the Lord Jesus has to do with verifying the fact that he was not just dead for a little while, but he was properly dead and he was buried.

You remember, it's the same with Lazarus. He was in the tomb for, was it two days? And then they said, but you know, he smells already. In other words, he's properly dead. He's not just, you know, it's not like he's just fallen asleep a moment ago.

So that's the one reason why this is emphasised. But obviously, it also is emphasised because of its impact upon us. And the whole process of baptism and the whole picture of baptism revolves around this process.

The process of death and of burial in water baptism and then resurrection. There are two pictures, two things that baptism speaks about. The first is the death, burial and resurrection of the Lord Jesus.

And the second is there is a symbolism of washing. And we'll speak about both of those in a moment. But you can see the importance in the Gospel of the emphasis of the burial also of the Lord Jesus. Because this is the problem that many Christians have.

Paul deals with this in great detail in Romans. And he says that we need to be crucified with Christ. We need to be dead. But unfortunately, many of us drag the old man along with us and we resuscitate him from time to time.

And so it's important that as Christians, we actually bury the old life. It's no good just saying, well, I've died to my old life. But somehow I'm able to revive it every now and then. And I keep it sort of on ice somehow, you know, on life support just in the background.

So when I'm tired of the spiritual things, I revert back to it. And this is what we do. And you can see the importance of this concept of not just dying with Christ, but actually burying the old man, putting him away and saying that's the end of that life.

I'm not going back to that again. I'm not going to dig him up again. I'm not going to revive him again. That's finished. I'm now risen to walk in newness of life is the language that Paul uses in the book of Romans.

So you can see why this chapter now impacts then on baptism, water baptism. Water baptism is simply a picture of that spiritual reality that should have happened to us as born again believers in the sense that we have died with Christ.

And Paul goes into this in great detail in Romans 6, 7 and 8, that I have died with Christ. I'm no longer, and remember we spoke last week, I've now been placed into Christ. And so the life which I now live, he says, I'm lived by the faith of the Son of God.

And so it's a new life. And so spiritually I was dead, buried and I'm raised again. But what came out of the grave, out of the spiritual grave, was not the same old man. It should be a new man. And that's why he writes in Corinthians and he says that if anyone be in Christ, he is a new creature.

The old things are passed away. Behold, all things have become new. Now those are the spiritual realities. And we dealt last week with the spiritual aspects of the whole process of being placed into Christ.

And being made one with Him in His death and in His resurrection. But now water baptism is now simply an external expression of that spiritual reality which we spoke about last week. And which we've just touched on briefly.

Now you'll see, if we go through the Old Testament, and I'm just going to go through a few examples here. How central this is to the whole message of the Word. Not just in the New Testament, but also in the Old Testament.

This concept of death, burial and resurrection. And often times the issue of three days. And so you remember that Noah probably is one of the first pictures. Noah went into the ark. Everything else was wiped out.

The earth was covered in water. And then on God's time the whole thing was revived again. You can see the same picture of death, burial by water and resurrection. New life as Noah steps out of the ark.

And he begins a new generation of people. A new world, a new earth so to speak. The old earth having been washed and cleansed and buried in water. You can see exactly the same picture. Abraham and Isaac.

God says to Abraham, take your son Isaac and go and sacrifice him. And so for three days Abraham takes Isaac and they walk to Mount Moriah. And for three days in Abraham's heart Isaac was dead. As far as he was concerned he had already done the deed.

That was how committed he was. And then Isaac is laid on the altar remember. And then God calls out to him and there's a ram that takes the place of Isaac. A picture of Jesus taking our place. And Isaac is set free and Isaac comes back to life again.

In a picture, in a symbol. And so Isaac was dead, Isaac comes back to life again. Joseph in fact goes through this picture many times. You remember Joseph was taken by his brothers and they throw him into a pit.

And they forget about him. And then they bring him out and somehow he comes in type. He's brought back to life again. Then he's sold down to Egypt and they take him away. And they take his multicolored garment and they dip it in blood.

And they bring it to his father and Joseph is dead. And his father mourns for him for a long, long time. And then you remember many years later Joseph is restored to his father. And Joseph comes back from the dead again in type and in picture.

Also while Joseph was in prison you remember there was a butler with him. In fact there was a butler and a baker. But to the butler he says in three days. Now the butler was dead. The king had forgotten about him and thrown him in prison and thrown away the key.

And yet he said in three days you're going to be restored. And so the butler after three days comes back out of the prison, out of the dungeon. And he's restored to his position again. Again death out of life.

The same picture. Joseph takes his brothers and when they came down to Egypt. And at one point he takes them and he puts them in prison. And he leaves them there for three days. All part of the process of his dealing with them.

But again at the end as far as they were concerned this was it. They were dead. They were going to be left in that prison forever. And you remember they speak amongst themselves. And they say well we deserved this because this is what we did to our brother.

And yet after three days Joseph brings these brothers out of life again. Moses comes to Egypt and for three days in the ten miracles that he performs. One of the miracles is darkness. And for three days there's darkness over Egypt.

And then on the third day again light out of the dark. Death and life again. Queen Esther you remember she determines to go and see the king. And to go and plead the cause of the people of Israel. But this is a very dangerous exercise that she embarks on.

Because if the king would not extend mercy to her. She would be taken by the gods and she would be killed. And so she needed the king to extend his scepter and by that to extend mercy. And to spare her life.

And again she says well if I die I die. And so she is willing to die. She's willing to lay down her life. And she prepares herself for three days. And then she goes into the king's chamber. And the king extends his scepter.

And she's brought back to life again in that sense. Jonah of course is one of the clearest pictures in the Old Testament. And remember even Jesus referred to this. And he says no other sign will be given you but that of Jonah.

Who was three days in the heart of the fish. In the belly of the whale. And again the same picture. He was dead for all practical purposes. That man was a goner. And yet somehow God miraculously brings him out.

And the fish puts him out on dry land. And he's restored again to life. Jonah goes into Nineveh and he preaches. And his message is that God is going to destroy this place. This place is written off. God has cursed it.

And there's going to be nothing left of this place. And how long does he preach for? Three days. Death hangs over that city. And again God spares Nineveh. And extends life to them. And then finally you remember that the Lord Jesus.

When he was twelve years old. Goes to Jerusalem with his parents. And they return after the end of the feast. And after three days they realize that he was missing. Jesus was gone from them. He was lost from them for a period of three days.

And then they find him again in the temple. Discussing things with the rabbis. And again he is restored to them. And so you can see right through. And there are many many other examples. But right through the scripture you can see this pattern.

Again and again. Of death and life. Of someone being buried. Or lost. And then being restored again. Now this is the picture then obviously. The picture to which Jesus fulfilled. And all of these pictures in the Old Testament.

Don't speak of baptism. They essentially speak of Jesus. Because remember Jesus said you search the scriptures. Because in them you think you have eternal life. But it is they that speak of me. And so all of these scriptures in the Old Testament.

Essentially reveal Jesus. And essentially the work that he would do. As he would die and be buried. And rise again on the third day. Alright. So you can begin to understand. First of all now that this whole picture then.

Of death and of burial. Of watery grave. And resurrection from that. That the whole issue of immersion. Becomes a very important part of the symbolism. And a few drops. Wouldn't symbolize this process at all.

And we will deal with another aspect. And we are not going to spend the whole evening. Talking about the difference. Between water baptism. Or baptism by immersion. And sprinkling. But we just make one or two comments.

And we dealt with this to some extent last week. When we spoke about the meaning of the word. Immersion. Which is the proper word which should have actually been used. In the New Testament. But you can see that in no way.

Does a few drops on one's head. In any way symbolize death. And resurrection. In any way symbolize the principle of being buried. And then coming out of the water. Back to life again. It can only be symbolized.

In full immersion. Of the whole person being put under the water. Now. If we go to Matthew chapter 3. And. For all of the examples. I gave you before. I have scriptures. So I can give them to you afterwards.

But in Matthew chapter 3. We find the account of the baptism of the Lord Jesus. Now. Without going into too much detail. The principle. Or the concept of a water baptism. Was not new. When Jesus came.

Remember John was baptizing. And that was what he was known as. As John the Baptist. And this. There is a lot of discussion and debate. As to where did this tradition come from. But it seems that it finds its roots.

In the ritual washings. Which is part of the Hebrew culture. Part of the Hebrew. Of the Old Testament law. And you remember that. If a man had touched the dead body. He would have to be separated for a certain period of time.

And after that he would have to wash himself. And only then. Could he come to the temple. Or to the tabernacle. If you had a particular disease. You would have to wash. And then you would be restored again.

And with women. At a particular time of the month. Again at the end of that time. They would have to wash. And they would be. They would be able to enter into the tabernacle. And be able to enter into worship again.

And so there was that principle of ritual washing. In order to. Not wash away the filth of the flesh. But to symbolize. The fact that they are spiritually clean. And spiritually able now. To enter into the presence of God.

And enter into God's service. And it's this symbolism. The same picture which John the Baptist now uses. To baptize people. It's not the same baptism. As the baptism of the Lord Jesus. But it is a baptism.

It was a baptism in water. It was a baptism by immersion. But it was essentially a baptism to repentance. Not the same baptism. It was not symbolizing. The same principle of death. Burial and resurrection.

It was not fully. It was to a certain extent. Symbolizing the washing away of sin. Because it was a baptism of repentance. But again remember that the Old Testament. Under the Old Testament. System of sacrifice.

There could never be. Full cleansing. As there is under the blood of the Lord Jesus. And so. Here in Matthew chapter 3. Jesus now comes. And let's read from verse 13. Jesus came from Galilee to John. At the Jordan to be baptized by him.

And John tried to prevent him. Saying I need to be baptized by you. And are you coming to me? But Jesus answered and said to him. Permitted to be so now. For thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.

Then he allowed him. Then Jesus when he had been baptized. Came up immediately from the water. And behold the heavens were opened to him. And he saw the Spirit of God ascending like a dove. And alighting upon him.

And suddenly a voice came from heaven saying. This is my beloved son. In whom I am well pleased. And some of the other gospels say. Hear him. Now. A few important things that we need to notice here. Again you see that they go into the water.

It comes out of the water. So again it is not a matter of a few drops of water. In fact it says that. That John was baptizing at that particular place. Because there was water. Because there was much water.

And so it was clearly by immersion. There is no stretch of the imagination. That any time or at any stage. When water baptism is spoken of in the New Testament. Is it anything other than full immersion.

And so. So he. The Lord Jesus then comes out of the water. But it is interesting. The fact that Jesus is baptized. Now you remember that Jesus had never sinned. Even at this point. Even though he had only begun.

This was at the beginning of his ministry. He was perfect. The scripture is very clear. That he had no sin. Yes he took our guilt upon himself. But he had never sinned. And yet he is baptized. And we say well why should Jesus then be baptized.

Because he had no sin to be forgiven. And so it wasn't symbolizing sin that would be forgiven. But he says for himself. Or he says himself here. What his purpose is. He says thus it is fitting for us.

To fulfill all righteousness. And when John hears this. John says okay I will baptize you. Now without going into all the detail. Of the meaning of that concept. Or that phrase. To fulfill all righteousness.

Simply what Jesus is saying is. That this is necessary for me to do. I must be obedient in this aspect. I must be obedient. Because this is what the father wants me to do. Now this is the central. One of the central issues.

Of water baptism. And I suppose there are three essential or central issues. The first is that it symbolizes death, burial and resurrection. Secondly that it symbolizes the washing away of sins. And thirdly it is a picture of obedience.

These are the three essential issues. Or aspects, central aspects. Of water baptism. And it is amazing how many people have a problem with this. How many people. Believe on the Lord Jesus. Have been saved and be born again.

And yet they neglect to or they refuse. To be baptized. And they say but it is not important. But you know if Jesus needed to be baptized. Then it has to be important. If anyone had a good reason. To sidestep this.

Yes small aspect. It is a small aspect of our total relationship with God. And of the whole work of salvation. It is a small aspect. But if Jesus had. If anyone had the right to sidestep this issue. Jesus had the right.

And yet he didn't. And he says it is necessary for me to do this. And so he does it. And he does it in obedience. And you know the tremendous thing I see in here. Is that when he does this. There is a voice from heaven.

The voice of the father saying. This is my beloved son. In whom I am well pleased. Hear he him. According to Matthew. This is my beloved son. In whom I am well pleased. Now the thing that struck me. When I considered this.

A few years ago. Was the fact that at no stage. In the rest of the ministry of the Lord Jesus. We know that this reoccurred again. On the mount of transfiguration. On the mount of transfiguration. Again the same voice comes.

But at no other stage. In the life of the ministry of the Lord Jesus. Does this happen. When he raised the dead. Maybe this is the highest point. In the ministry of the Lord Jesus. When he raised the dead.

But there was no voice from heaven saying. This is my beloved son. In whom I am well pleased. When he fed the multitude. There was no voice from heaven. And yet when he does this little insignificant thing.

This thing which many people are prepared to write off. At this point. The father acknowledges him. And he says. This is my beloved son. In whom I am well pleased. Obviously this is a very important issue.

This was an important step for the Lord Jesus to have gone through. And the father puts his seal upon it. And acknowledges this. And acknowledges the obedience of his son. As he is. As he comes out of the water.

And obviously if the father's seal of blessing. Is upon the Lord Jesus. For that. I believe that as believers. As we are obedient to God. In this process. I believe we will know God's blessing in our lives.

Now just a little point here. I believe that there are many Christians. Whose grudge is stunted. Over the issue of baptism. Just a small thing. People say. But it is not an important issue. If it is in the word.

It is an important issue. It is an amazing test. Of our willingness to be obedient to God. In such a small thing. And if it is so small. Why don't we just do it. But obviously it is a major issue. And you will see some of the symbolism.

Which we will speak about. Just now when we speak about the Red Sea. Because of the implications. Of this process. People are not prepared to do it often times. And then what happens. Is that the rest of their growth is stunted.

Now this does not only apply to baptism. This applies to any area of disobedience. When God speaks to us. About something. Whatever that may be. Whether it be water baptism. Whether it be witnessing to someone.

Whether it be laying off something of the flesh. Whatever it is. And we are not obedient to Him in that. That is the end of our growth. At that point. Because God has now drawn a line. He says now do this.

And He does not take us to the next step. Unless we have dealt with that issue. Unless we have dealt with that step. And we can't just bypass. It is the same way in school. You have got to go from standard 1.

To standard 2. To standard 3. You can't go from 1 to 5. It doesn't work that way. And yet as Christians. We want to go from this step to that step. And just miss the whole lot in between. But God says no.

You have got to go step by step. And whichever route He takes us. He doesn't take us all the same way. Some of us He takes us through step 1, 2, 3, 4. Others He takes us through step 1, 5, 6, 7, 8. And so He deals with us.

Each one differently. But when He brings us to a particular point. We need to be obedient to Him. In that point. Because unless we get victory in that issue. Unless we grow in that issue. Unless we submit to Him in that issue.

He doesn't move on to the next point. And I have seen this many many times. And it is very visible in the issue of baptism. Simply because baptism is an external thing. It is something which you can see.

And you know this person. And often times when people have an issue with us. They will discuss it with you and they will say. Oh no I don't think it is important to be baptized. Or I was christened as a child.

I don't need to do that. And yet when you look at their lives you see that there has been a spiritual growth up to that point. And then somehow there is no growth. And I can show you many many people who for many years have never developed spiritually.

Because they have not been prepared to be obedient in this issue. And I have seen many people when they come to the point and they say well I am prepared to submit to God. Not only on this issue. Any area of obedience or disobedience.

How that from that point they begin to grow again. And how that they develop until they come to the next issue where they stick again. And they say no no I am not prepared to be obedient in this one. And again their growth is stunted until they are prepared to submit to God.

That is just a process that happens in our lives. And obviously it is one that baptism is as I say very visible because it is an external thing that we do. Now if we go to Matthew chapter 28. And Matthew 28 is well known because it contains the great commission.

The Lord Jesus says in verse 18 All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations. Baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you. And love them with you always even to the end of the age. And so there are a number of things that we need to do. This is the commission that he gives to his disciples and to the church.

The first is to make disciples. The second is to baptize them. The third is to teach them to observe all things. Those are the three things we need to do. And many people are quite happy to do the first one which is making disciples and they are happy to do the last one which is teaching but they are not happy to do the middle one.

And yet we need to do all three. And it is amazing that this little thing that seems to be so insignificant is part of this commission that he gives us. And of course he tells us how it is to be done.

He gives us the formula. He says we need to baptize in the name of the Father Son and the Holy Spirit. Alright now in Acts chapter 8 we have the story of the Ethiopian eunuch and I have not taken all the examples of baptism.

Otherwise we would be here all night. But I have taken a few key ones essentially because they contain truths that we need to examine in this whole issue. Acts chapter 8 and this man comes from Africa.

He had gone up to Jerusalem for the feast and he was now returning back to where he had come from. And you remember he reads from the scripture he has a scroll with him. It must have been a wealthy man who could afford the scroll and he reads from Isaiah 53 and Philip joins himself to this man as the Spirit directs him.

Verse 34 says and so the eunuch answered Philip and said I ask you of whom does the prophet say this? Of himself or of some other man. Then Philip opened his mouth and beginning at all the scripture preached Jesus to him.

Now notice that he preached Jesus from the Old Testament. At this point they didn't have New Testament at all. But he takes the Old Testament and he begins in Isaiah 53 and he preaches Jesus. Now as they went down the road they came to some water and the eunuch said see here is water what hinders me from being baptized.

Then Philip said if you believe with all your heart you may and he answered and said I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. And so he commanded the chariot to stand still. Both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and he baptized them.

And when they came up out of the water the Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away so that the eunuch saw him no more and he went on his way rejoicing. Now a few important things there. Again you'll see the emphasis on the fact that they went down into the water, came up out of the water.

If sprinkling was sufficient they would have had water on the chariot because they were going through a desert area they would have had water in jars or in pots and they could have used that to sprinkle.

But clearly they go down, come back up out of the water. But the other important thing I want to highlight from here is the requirement for baptism. The requirement for baptism. And many people say, no, no, you must attain a certain standard of holiness before you can be baptized.

You must be able to have gone through a foundational course of some sort and then we will baptize you. No, the only question that Philip asked this man is, do you believe? Do you believe? And this is why baptism is often referred to, water baptism is often referred to as believer's baptism.

Believer's baptism. Now that tells us two things. It tells us first of all, that it's very simple. That we don't have to have achieved any great heights of spirituality. But if we believe, we may be baptized.

But it also secondly tells us that babies cannot be baptized because they cannot believe. They do not believe. How does a two week old or a three week old baby believe? Cannot believe. And therefore doesn't qualify according to this.

But Philip very clearly says there's just one thing that's necessary and that is that you believe. Now obviously it's very important that a vocal confession is made and remember that Paul in Romans chapter 10 speaks about the fact that with the heart we believe, but with a mouth confession is made to righteousness.

And you'll see here that this man makes a vocal confession and his confession is in verse 37, the last part, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. He makes that confession and Philip is happy to baptize him and he baptizes him and the man goes down the road rejoicing.

Great rejoicing because he had been obedient. First of all he had believed on the Lord Jesus and secondly he had been baptized. Alright, now in 1 Peter chapter 3, I'm going to do two more scriptures and then we'll draw to a close.

1 Peter chapter 3 between Hebrews and Revelation. We'll read from verse 21 There is also an anti-type which now saves us, namely baptism. Not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience towards God through the resurrection of Jesus Christ who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers having been made subject to him.

Now there's quite a lot of complicated bits in there, but we simply want to focus on the fact that he says that baptism does not wash away the filth of the flesh. In other words, it's not a physical thing.

It's got nothing to do with my physical state, whether I'm clean and you know if I'm born again, whether I'm clean on the outside or not is really besides the point. But what he says it is the answer of a good conscience it's the answer of a good conscience towards God.

Now that is a very important part of baptism and so it is not just something we do in order to satisfy the church requirements because in some churches you cannot become a member unless you have been baptized it's not for that purpose it's not in order to be washed physically it's not in order to wash away my sins spiritually even, because baptism is not able to wash away my sins.

If I'm an unbeliever, if I've not come to Jesus and been washed in his blood, I can be baptized a hundred times, I will still be a filthy sinner there's only one thing that can wash away my sin and that is the blood of the Lord Jesus and what he is saying it is simply an answer simply a declaration of a good conscience towards God a good conscience first of all that my sins have been washed away and secondly that I'm walking in obedience those two very important issues and then the final scripture in 1 Corinthians chapter 10.

Now I believe that this is one of the important reasons or one of the main reasons why some people don't get baptized because of the symbolism that you find here now in 1 Corinthians 10 he compares the people of Israel against to us and he says that everything that happened to them was an example to us and he shows us how some of those things were pictures for us.

And let's read from verse 1. Moreover brethren I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud all passed through the sea referring to the Red Sea that was open for them. Verse 2 all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea all ate the same spiritual food and all drank the same spiritual drink for they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them and that rock was Christ.

Now you'll see that he speaks in verse 2 about being baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. So he's speaking about them being baptized twice. Once in the sea once in the cloud. We'll deal with the issue of the cloud next week when we speak about baptism in the Holy Spirit that's what the cloud symbolizes is the Holy Spirit.

But then they were baptized in the sea and so again the same picture as they go through the Red Sea if at any stage God was to allow the water to close over them as it did with the Egyptians they would be dead they would be drowned.

But God miraculously brings them through the Red Sea. They come out on the other side and they're still alive. The Egyptians try and do the same the water closes and they drown and they're dead. Now what was what was the issue.