Baptism: Special Delivery - Monday Morning Devotions - Week 2
Join Pastor Ricky Jacob as he discusses baptism in this 7-week devotion series.
Need to start at the beginning? Read Week 1 here
What is Baptism? Baptism is not just plain water, but it is the water included in God’s command and combined with God’s Word. . .
Dr. Martin Luther explained Holy Baptism with these words:
Who, then, would despise the fact that God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are present [in Holy Baptism]? Who would call such water simple water only? Do we not see what sort of spice God casts into this water? If you cast sugar into water, it is no longer water but delicious claret or something else. Why, then, do we want to separate the Word from the water so entirely in this case and say that the water is simple water only, just as if God's Word, nay, God Himself, were not present with and in this water? Not so; for God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are indeed in and with this water, as they were there on the banks of the Jordan when Christ stood in the water, the Holy Spirit hovered over it, and God the Father spoke. This is why Baptism is a water that takes away sin, death, and every evil and helps us to enter heaven and eternal life. Such a delicious sugar water, aromatic, and specific it has become because God Himself has entered it. [WLS ~ 134]
Sweet Water ~ Jonathan Boehne
Luther talks of casting sugar into water to make delicious drinks. Many dollars are spent today on our sugary sodas, juices, coffees, and teas. If you take away the sugar and call them diet, they're just not the same. When it comes to Baptism, the minute you take away the Word of God, you make it nothing, [without] the Word of God with that water in the baptismal font, then all we have is a silly meaningless ritual.
How sweet the water of Baptism becomes when the Word of God is added! Sweeter than honey and sugar (Psalm 119:103)! This "Word-water" of Baptism becomes living water that has the power to drive away our bitter sin and death and open the doors of sweet paradise. Even more than that, God Himself comes to us in that "Word-water" and makes His home with us through the work of the Holy Spirit. Be assured that there is nothing silly or meaningless whenever God's Word is present.
We pray: Lord, the waters of Baptism are sweet with Your life-giving Word to wash away our sin and give us new life. Keep all sin and bitterness from us and lead us to Your sweet Word of forgiveness. Through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.