BAPTISM FORESHADOWED BY NOAH’S
SALVATION IN THE ARK. 1 Pet. 3: 19-21
By
ROBERT GOVETT
"He (Jesus) went and preached
to the spirits in prison, which sometime (once)
were disobedient, when once the long-suffering of God waited in the days of
Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, * that is, eight souls, were saved by water. The
like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us, (not
the putting away the filth of the flesh, but the answer to a good conscience
towards God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ."
[* More literally "Into which, few, that is, eight souls escaped through
water, antitypically whereto baptism doth now
save us also."]
-------
In order rightly to enter into the design of this passage,
it will be necessary first to set right a mistaken rendering of one of the
little words in it, which has effectually obscured the meaning. It should be, not "by water,"
but "through water." And this may be made clear even to an English
reader. The Greek preposition in
question generally signifies "through,"
and points out either (1) the means by which a thing is done, or
(2) the difficulties which prevent its accomplishment. So does the word "through" in English. We may say of a general - ‘He escaped through
the fleetness of his horse,’ which points out the means
of his escape; or we may say - ‘He charged, and escaped through
the ranks of the enemy; where the preposition marks not the means of his
escape, but the difficulties (2) which he was obliged to surmount
in order to effect it. An example of this meaning of the preposition
occurs, where the people of
So
it is in the case before us. The waters
are set forth to us, not as the means of Noah's escape,
but as the difficulty which he must pass through, in order
to salvation. The waters were not
friendly, but destructive. He escaped in
spite of them; not in consequence of them.* The
ark was the means of escape, the
defence against the angry billows. The
waters were the patriarch’s dread; the ark his refuge. "Noah went in, and his sons ...
into the ark, because of the waters of the flood:"
Gen. 7: 7.
[* Another difficult passage is much enlightened by
the same slight change of rendering - "If any
man’s work shall be burned, he shall
suffer loss; but he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire:"
1 Cor. 3: 15. It should be "so
as through fire;" and the comparison is to a person
escaping through a house on fire, who loses his goods,
though he retains his life. Every one
must see that fire is not the means of his escape, but the hindrance to
it. In like manner, Isa. 43: 2; Zech. 13: 9. See R.V.]
1.
This error being rectified let us now inquire into the text. It has then affirmed: that the salvation
of Noah and his house in the ark was intended to foreshadow the salvation of
the believer of the present day by baptism.
The
resemblances between our day and that of Noah may be classed under five heads: 1.
The position of God. 2. Of
the world. 3. The church. 4. The ark. 5. The waters.
1
The
Most High had looked upon the world and condemned it. A sentence of destruction had gone forth from
him against it. "I will destroy man whom I have created from off the face of
the earth:" Gen. 5: 7. Yet was a space of mercy granted, during
which, as now, the longsuffering of God waited. "His days, shall be an hundred and twenty years." And during that time a refuge was making
ready. "The
ark was preparing." So is it now. The world is condemned, yet God spares, and
in the meanwhile sends his messengers to preach the refuge provided. Thus during his day Noah also was "a preacher of righteousness;"* and his cry was then, as now, "Flee from the wrath to come."
[* As the righteous in Noah’s day,
escaped the flood; the righteous in our day will escape the Great
Tribulation. But what righteousness is
this? Multitudes believe it to be the imputed
righteousness of Christ; but this cannot be true since ALL of the regenerate already possess that righteousness. “Because of the
increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but
he who stands firm to the end will be saved,” (Matt. 24: 13).
Here is a future salvation for the few, after the love of ‘most’ has grown cold:
and the following verse (14) informs us of
the subject of the preaching: “This gospel of
the kingdom.” For the conditions on earth at that time, and the
escape, see Luke 21: 34-36: the scriptural
teaching is called selective rapture.]
2
The
world also holds the same position as of old.
"God
looked upon the earth, and behold it was
corrupt: for all flesh had corrupted its way upon the earth:" Gen. 6: 12. Even thus it is now. "The whole world lieth in wickedness."
1 John 5: 19. The men of Noah’s day were engrossed and wholly taken up with the cares and pleasures of this
life. "They did eat, they drank, they married
wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that
Noah entered into the ark." They
were warned, but they believed not. And
the result of that dispensation will be like the issue of the present. "Few, that is eight souls, were saved." "Many are called, but few chosen." "Strait is the
gate and narrow is the way which leadeth unto
life,* and few there be that find it:"
Matt. 7: 14.
[* The ‘life,’ in this
context, cannot be eternal life; it must therefore be life in the coming age.]
3
The position of the church is the same. It is in the midst of the ungodly,
vexed by their evil. But God’s eye is on
it in mercy and acceptance. To it
belongs the provided refuge. But it is
called, in consequence of its position, to surrender things present. Its salvation in the days of Noah was
through faith.* And
even thus are the people of God [eternally] saved now.
"By faith Noah,
being warned of God, prepared an ark to the saving of his house, by
which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that is by
faith:" Heb.
11: 7. "By grace are ye (now) saved
through faith."
The head of the church in that day answers to, and is a type of, the Head of
the church now. His name was Noah, which
signifies, "Rest." And the Lord Jesus is our "rest," as it is written, "Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy-laden and I
will give you rest." Noah was the only one seen by God
to be righteous. "Thee have I seen righteous before me in this
generation." Answerably to
which our Noah is the Just one,
"Jesus Christ the righteous."
[* Throughout this tract, the author sees Noah as a type of ‘Jesus Christ the
righteous’;
and all are eternally saved by grace through faith in Him. But there is also an inherited salvation yet
future (Heb. 2: 1, 2), for all who are eternally saved now, and faith
in the coming ‘age’ of righteousness is required to enter that
‘rest’: "Let us fear therefore, lest hapily, a promise being left of entering into his (Christ’s)
rest, any one of you ("holy brethren" 3:1) should seem to have
come short of it" (Heb. 4: 1).
This "sabbath rest" is not a gift
of God, but a reward for every regenerate believer to attain:
"Let us give diligence TO ENTER
INTO THAT REST" (Heb. 4: 11). “By faith Noah, when warned about things
not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith (in future events) he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that
comes by faith.” … “All these people (including
Noah) were still living by faith when they died. They DID NOT
RECEIVE the things promised.” Why?
Because the Millennial Kingdom of Christ is still future: and unless our
righteousness exceeds that of the Scribes and Pharisees, we will
not enter it. Matt; 5: 20.]
4
To
Noah was the charge given to build God’s instrument of salvation the
[*
It is worthy of observation, that the ark was to be "pitched within and without with pitch." But the
word signifies "atonement:" Ex. 20: 10, etc. Thus then, spiritually taken, the
atonement of Christ is the completion of His active righteousness.]
[* It is also true that regenerate
believers should work out their own salvation in fear and trembling, by obeying
the precepts of Christ. If Noah is a
type of Christ and the eternal salvation of all His redeemed people –
(as shown throughout this tract); then, Noah is also a type of regenerate
believers, seeking by ‘righteous acts’ to be a part
of the ‘Bride’ of Christ, (Rev. 19: 8).]
5
The
fifth head of resemblance is found in the waters. And by considering what they were in Noah’s
day, we shall obtain their present signification in baptism. The waters then were the element of judgment
and destruction. "Behold I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth,
to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life from under heaven; and all
that is in the earth shall die:" Gen.
6: 17. "The waters
shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh:" 9: 15.
"The flood came and destroyed them all:"
Luke 17: 27. "The
world that was then was, being over-flowed with water, perished:"
2 Peter 3: 6. The waters then in baptism represent DEATH. And this exhibits the difference of man’s way
of escape and God’s. When the flood
came, man’s way of escape lay in striving with all his
energies to escape from them.
But the effort was weak and ineffectual. Of all those that fled from, the waters, not one
survived. They were overtaken thereby
and perished. But God’s way of escape lay
through the water * - He did not set Noah on the pinnacle of
some great-mountain, and there feed him while the floods raged, and roared at
his feet. No. His way of salvation lay in bringing him quite through them.
And this makes Noah’s salvation so beautiful a type of [eternal] salvation now [and
also for
those who will inherit a future salvation after Death then.].* God’s
way of salvation is the bringing the believer, through the
waters of death unto resurrection-life. He does not spare his children from
death - does not set them on high beyond its reach, but brings them
through it, while the ungodly are retained by death in its most appalling form
- the second death, even as the ungodly of Noah’s day were buried beneath the
waters.
[*As the earth is above the waters,
and Hades – the place of all the dead, (John 3: 13)
– are beneath the waters, “in the heart of the earth”
(Matt. 40); the resurrection of the souls
of the righteous dead must pass through the waters to inherit the Millennial Kingdom
of Messiah: and, at that time, “The gates of Hades will not overcome” (Matt. 16: 18) the church. That is, those righteous members of it “who are considered worthy of taking part in that
age
and in the resurrection [out] from
the dead”, (Matt. 20: 35). It is a
select resurrection of those whom Christ will consider worthy.]
And
thus the waters may be regarded as a barrier between the two worlds. Before them
lay the Adam world, the abode of sin and corruption of violence
and death - the kingdom of the thorn and the thistle, of labour, and pain, of
sorrow, and the curse. Beyond
them lies the Noah world of sacrifice and acceptance, of righteousness and
rest, of the covenant with the beast of the field and with man - the
world of blessing and of the covenant, of the rainbow and the resurrection.
Between these rolls the flood. He that
would leave the Adam world of judgment, and escape to the Noah world of
blessing, must pass through the interveaning waters [of judgment]. And there is no passing from one to the other
save in the ark. He that would have
part in the new [millennial] world of blessing must thus die to the old world of
the curse. His passage through the
waters of baptism is provided by God, that he may be seen to die to the old
world, and to the flesh,* its inhabitant.
[* Those who are regenerate who live by the flesh, (their
sinful nature) will of the flesh reap corruption. That is, their bodies will lie in the grave for the duration of the Millennial
Kingdom of Christ. Gal. 6: 7, 8.]
The
world and the children are madly looking for the establishment of things as
they are. On this side of time lie the
good things of the worldly. They build
their hopes where judgment frowns, and where death cuts off life at seventy
years, and where the coming of Christ in vengeance is perpetually threatening. Their hopes are in earth where sin dwells,
and where the sentence of labour, and sorrow, and death are continually carried
into execution. But the [regenerate] believer,
warned of God, flings this hope of happiness.
He says in effect, "I see that there is
nothing satisfactory to be looked for here. Judgment is coming. Vengeance like the flood
is at hand. I cannot tarry in a sentenced world. My hope is in the ['first'] resurrection. My confidence is rested on this, that Christ
hath died and risen, and will in like manner rise His to life eternal. In God’s appointed way therefore I will
testify this."
He
goes down willingly therefore into the waters of baptism. They are still in God’s view, and therefore
in his also, the element of death. They
represent that raging, that unsparing flood, that
swept a world to destruction. They are
the waters of death still. And it were madness to go down into death except it were
commanded. But now that Christ has
commanded, it is faith to do so. The
believer trusts in God’s provided ark.
Noah
was required, as the [regenerate] believer now, to die to the old world. Whatever possessions he might have had there,
he must give up, when he believed the tidings of the destroying flood. He must have surrendered in faith all that he looked on with pleasure and affection, save
those that were with him in the ark. He
saw the world wicked and corrupt. He saw
it lying under the threats and wrath of God. He knew that all hope of happiness under the
wrath of God was vain. His entering the
ark then was his dying to the old world. And he trusted in God to provide him a new and
better world. In order to this he passed
through the destroying waters of the flood. And God failed him not, but brought him forth
into a cleansed earth, and gave him a promise and covenant that the
waters should never more become a flood to destroy all flesh.
So
it is now with the believer. He believes
the world and the flesh to be evil in God’s sight. He sees judgment ready to descend upon both. He will escape wrath therefore in God’s own
appointed way.* Through death he trusts to pass
the endless resurrection-life. This
therefore he testifies in the way of Christ’s appointment. He suffers an emblematic death and burial
beneath the flood. He, like Noah, "escapes through water." He is saved by an emblematic resurrection. And the lesson is set forth that there
is no hope of [any lasting] happiness in anything short of a death with Christ
and resurrection with Him.
[*
Thus does John the Baptist set forth the matter of those who came to his
baptism. He regarded it as a token of
faith in the coming [Millennial] kingdom and the coming [Great
Tribulation] wrath - as the result of the
warning to flee from the wrath to come.]
With
the unbeliever it is not so. He sees not
God; he cares not for God’s judgment concerning things present. Earthly employments and enjoyments engross
him wholly. The preaching of wrath to
come he disbelieves and disregards. Therefore
for such unbelievers there remains only the flood, when the time of the
long-suffering of the Most High is past. Their hopes are wholly here. Their happiness withers under the blighting
influence of the curse. And to them
death is the destruction, at once of their portion and of their hope. So in the flood the unbeliever and his
wealth were swept away together. The waters then are a test of the
unbeliever and of the unfaithful. Noah
underwent them voluntarily, and was saved through them. The faithless were unwillingly overtaken by
them and perished in them. Noah believed and was prepared. They were unbelieving, and surprised by
judgment unto death.
So
then we may say to ourselves, when we see any believer coming up out of the
waters of baptism, - ‘There is one of the escaped in the ark; there is one of
those saved through water; he has believed in the coming wrath, and has escaped
through it by virtue of the prepared ark.’ But how do you know that he has been in the
ark? Because he has
come up safely from the waters. All perished in the flood
that were not in the appointed refuge. "Noah
only remained alive and the souls that were with him in the ark." He then has died with Christ and is risen with him. The
ark has bourn for him the violence of the waters of death, and has brought him
triumphantly through. He is saved.
But
where is the ark? For
we can see nothing answering to it. True; the salvation of Noah was temporal
and earthly, and an earthly ark visible to the senses was provided. But our salvation is spiritual and eternal,
and the ark is therefore spiritual. The law was the letter, the Gospel is the
spirit. The law brought the earthly
people to the "mountain that might be touched"
- the visible, tangible
Our
ark is the perfect righteousness of the Righteous One. And as Noah’s righteousness was imputed to his
house and life, so is the righteousness of the Lord Jesus "unto all and upon all them that believe."
And as the ark, as soon as it was
completed, was shaken by the battering waters of the flood, so as soon as the
Lord Jesus had proclaimed his righteousness finished, it was tried by death. And as the ark went upon the face of the
waters and was lift up above them, so Jesus, though he was proved by death,
"could not be holden of
it." All other vessels were
wrecked in that tremendous tide; but the vessel of God could not be sunk.
The
escape of the ark was their escape who were within it.
So the resurrection of Jesus, as his
triumph over death, is the triumph of all who are in him. The ark was the covering, both from the waters
descending from above, and from those bursting up from below. So the righteousness of
Christ our stay and defense - our answer to every
challenge, whether from above or from beneath. As soon as the ark is escaped, a promise is
given from the Most High that no such flood shall ever again invade the earth. So to those that are risen
in Christ no wrath can ever come, nor death draw nigh. "Neither can they die any more, but are equal unto the angels,
and are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection."
We
have seen then, in several points, how baptism answers to the flood. The apostle adds further, that "baptism doth also now save us." But lest this should mislead any to think that
the receiving the rite or ceremony alone was what he intended, he carefully
distinguished between what is not, and what is, the
true and essential point of real baptism, which is inseparably connected with
salvation.
Baptism
is not "the putting
away the filth of the flesh." It is no visible, and earthly, and external
effect which the water would naturally produce. It is not intended to set forth that which
water can effect for the flesh - its cleansing. And
herein the Gospel takes a very different position from the Law. Both use water after a manner appointed by
God. But the meaning of the respective
cases is very different. Under the law
water was used for the cleansing of the flesh. "Every soul that eateth that which died of itself ... shall both wash his clothes and bathe himself in water, and
be unclean until the even; then shall he be clean:" Lev. 17: 15. "He that is
cleansed shall wash his clothes, and shave off all his hair, and wash (bathe)
himself in water, that he may be clean:" Lev.
14: 8.
This
was ordained, because the law assumed that man might keep the commandments of
God, and then the flesh could be clean. But
now the Gospel has come, and it takes for granted what has been abundantly
proved, that man is so fallen, as to be utterly unable to render the exact
obedience which the law of God requires. It assumes the flesh to be radically and
incurably unclean. It therefore ordains,
not an occasional cleansing of it, as though it were subject only to occasional
defilement, but a burial of it once for all, as utterly corrupt
and dead. This is exhibited in
baptism, which the Scriptures declare to be a burial: Rom.
6: 4 ; Col. 2: 12. The eye of sense could see the meaning of
baptism under the law. The eye of faith
alone can see it now.
But
having learned what baptism is not, the Apostle goes on to teach what it is. It
is "the answer of a
good conscience towards God." Baptism then considered in its essential part,
is a transaction with the conscience. The
law cleansed the flesh, but the conscience is left under defilement,
unsatisfied, and guilty. Its "gifts and sacrifices could not make them that did the
service perfect as pertaining to the conscience, which stood only in
meats and drinks, and divers washings:" Heb. 9: 9, 10. "The law ... can never with those sacrifices ... make the comers thereunto perfect. For then would they not have ceased to be
offered? Because that the worshippers
once purged, would have had no more conscience of sins. But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance
again made of sins every year:" Heb. 10: 1, 2. With the gospel it is the reverse. It buries the flesh as dead and corrupt:
its design being, "that the body of sin might be
destroyed," Rom. 6: 5, while it
makes the conscience clean. "For if the blood
of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer
sprinkling the unclean, sanctifying to the purifying of the flesh,
how much more shall the blood of Christ ... purge
your conscience?" Heb. 9: 13, 14.
The
believer, in coming to baptism, has a good conscience. He is justified by the blood of Christ. He is, by faith, united to him - one with him.
As Christ has died unto sin, so has he. As Christ has risen to life, so has he, in
Christ. As Christ has kept the law, so
has he, that is by faith, one with him. His sins then are put away, by the sacrifice
of Christ. His conscience is clear and
clean of stain, as though he had never sinned. He can come with boldness. The sprinkled blood has purged him from an evil
conscience. He comes to baptism, to
present himself as buried with Christ, in token that he is dead with Christ:
for who are buried but the dead? His
answer, therefore, is the answer of a good conscience. Do you inquire of him, why he, a sinner, a
sinner confessed, stands so boldly? His
reply is - ‘I have in Christ suffered death, the penalty of sin. "I have been crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live."
I have died unto sin, I am living by a new life,
not subject to the law of sin and death. I am in the ark of God, and the ark has borne
the waters’ heaviest surges, and is come off a conqueror.’ Thus, by the resurrection of Christ, has he
the answer of a good conscience.
The
expression, "the answer," doubtless
refers to the usual manner of performing the rite. Of those baptized, a profession of faith is
required in Jesus as the Redeemer. This
indeed, the hypocrite can give before man as well as the true Christian. But the real answer depends on the state of
the conscience. If the heart feels that
the tongue utters of faith in Jesus, then is the
baptism good, and this is its essence. Such
baptism saves. It is the belief of the
heart co-joined with confession of the lip. This is salvation. "The word of
faith which we preach is, that if thou shalt confess with
thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shall believe in thine heart that God has raised
him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For
with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession
is made unto salvation:"
But
let us next observe what light this view of baptism throws upon the questions -
Who are to be baptized? And - What is the manner of baptism?
1.
(1) With regard to the fit subjects of baptism, it shows that it cannot be
rightly administered to infants. For they cannot give "the answer of a good conscience." First, they have not as yet either conscience
or intellect: as it is written - "Before the child
shall know to refuse evil, and to chose the good:" &c. Isa. 7: 16. Secondly,
they have not a good conscience; for this comes by faith in Christ; and faith
is impossible without knowledge: as it is written - "How shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard!"
Rom. 10: 14. And lastly, "the
answer of a good conscience" they cannot have; for that supposes
years of discretion and the use of articulate speech. (2) Infant baptism also destroys the
established and necessary order of God’s salvation, as presented in the type
before us. God’s method of escape is,
first - "Believe;" then - "Be baptized." First enter the ark - then pass through
the flood. But the Baptism of
unbelieving infants supposes that YOU MAY FIRST ESCAPE THROUGH THE WATERS,
AND AFTERWARDS ENTER THE ARK. This
is its sad error with regard to the refuge provided. For if there
be escape except in the arc, then Christ died in vain.
Next
it is equally faulty with regard to the place of abode. Infant baptism supposes the child to
have passed through the flood into the new world of blessing, while its life,
as it grows up, most convincingly attests it to be living in the old world of
disobedience and the curse.
And
the doctrine of baptismal regeneration makes more fearful havoc still
with the type, and supposes that the waters of death and judgment impart new
life: and that the flood puts the unbeliever into the ark! But when once we return to the simple law of
Christ to baptize such only as believe, all the difficulties with which the
traditions of men have encompassed the truth, vanish
like a cloud.
2.
With regard to the manner of baptism. (1) The inspired comparison
shows it to be total immersion. The world and its inhabitants were totally
immersed and plunged beneath the waters. This the sacred
historian carefully informs us - "All the high
hills that were under the whole heaven were covered. Fifteen cubits upwards did the waters prevail;
and the mountains were covered. And all
flesh died that moved upon the earth, both of fowl and of cattle, and of beast,
and of every creeping thing that creapeth upon the
earth, and every man:" Gen. 7: 49, 21.
Nothing less, therefore, than total immersion, can represent the flood
in its mighty billows overwhelming the world, and the children of unbelief.
(2) The
water of baptism represents the believer descending into death; and nothing but
total immersion can represent the complete extinguishing of life.
(3)
Neither sprinkling nor pouring, spiritually, convey the idea of the terrible
and destroying waters of the deluge. Sprinkling, in Holy Writ, is in order to
cleanse. "Then I will sprinkle clean water upon
you, and ye shall be clean:" Ezek. 36:
25.* But baptism is to represent
death and burial. "Buried with him in
baptism:" Col. 2: 12.
Pouring water is an act of ministry and
mercy. "Here is Elisha,
the son of Shaphat, which poured water on the hands
of Elijah:" 2 Kings 3: 11; John 13: 5.
"I will
pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground: I will
pour my spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring:"
Isa. 40: 3. (4) But baptism
represents wrath, as displayed in the destroying, unsparing waters of the
flood, and escape through them. Now an escape supposes danger, and to escape
through the water supposes a person to be at some time in a place and depth
of water. The water was
God's appointed element for destroying the old and fleshly, the condemned and
unbelieving man. The ark was his
appointed means of escape for the new and spiritual man, who is justified by
faith. Now, as in the believer both the old and the new man are found, so is
the double result of the deluge presented before us. He is
immersed beneath the flood; in token of the old man’s being
destroyed: (as were the children of the world in Noah's day,) but he comes
up from the water and escapes through it, because
he is of the household of Noah, and has his place in the ark.
[*
This text is frequently quoted by those who use sprinkling instead of
immersion. If they would regard its
context, they would see how utterly inapplicable it is. It is spoken of the Jews restored to
their own land at the millennium - "Say
unto the house of
Herein
we may see the baneful effect of human traditions in obscuring, and making void
the meaning of God. Where there is no,
immersion beneath the water the image of the deluge is lost; and in sprinkling
and pouring, a new and false image is substituted, conveying a meaning at
variance with the tenor of the Gospel, and
representing the flesh as capable of being cleansed, instead of being, by God’s
ordinance, directed, to be destroyed.
Some
plead for sprinkling or pouring, on the ground of convenience. They should first make death
pleasant and convenient. They should first show that the unsparing,
overwhelming deluge was pleasant or convenient. Baptism is intended by God to figure the wrathful,
devouring, billows of the flood: and therefore every step by
which baptism is made to verge upwards ease and convenience,
is just so much taken from the meaning of God and his holy ordinance.
In
conclusion, therefore, I would say, Do you believe in
Christ? If not, flee at once from the
wrath to come into the provided ark. Die
to the world and to the flesh, that you may live to
God.
But,
if by God's grace you do already believe, I would add, there is yet a step to
be taken. Have you been immersed in the
name and into the death of Jesus? If you
have not, this is your duty. It
is not enough for Noah or his children to enter the ark. This is the first and great step. But he
must escape through the flood. Faith
is our fleeing into the refuge provided - the ark of God. But faith leads on to baptism: as surely as
the ark, and its inmates must, in order
to their escape, pass through the flood. First enter the ark. Then escape through the water; and you are
safe. "He that BELIEVETH and is BAPTIZED
SHALL BE SAVED."
No
rite administered to you, while an infant, or an unbeliever, is Christian
baptism. This the present type proves. Baptism, while an unbeliever, would answer to the
flood’s coming on you before you were in the ark. And this would be destruction, not
salvation. If, then, you
be a child of faith, one of the household of Noah, a disciple of Jesus, escape
in God’s appointed way not from the water, but through
it. Until you have passed through
the waters, you are living in the Adam world of disobedience, which is under the
curse. Flee through the flood, therefore, into the Noah world of blessing and
obedience. Be where the ark is. It has left the Adam world and passed through
the flood. Do you pass through it
likewise, and the blessing of the Lord Jesus be
upon your obedient subjection to his word!
-------