Commenting on the evidence from Old Testament types for the salvific efficacy of water baptism, Christadelphian apologist and preacher Duncan Heaster wrote the following:
New Creations
“If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature . . . all things become new” (2 Cor. 5:17). As a new born baby sees a chair, a table, a brother or sister, for the very first time, so do we after baptism. It is so hard for us to appreciate the newness of everything to a baby or small child. “All things are become new” in our attitude of mind after baptism. Yet we live in newness of life (Rom. 6:4), as if this process of birth is ongoing throughout our spiritual lives. After baptism, therefore, we set out on a life in which we should be gazing, in wide eyed wonder, at new spiritual concepts and realities. How patient we should be with others who are in this position. “Old things are passed away” at baptism, just as the old world order will “pass away” at the Lord’s return (Rev. 21:5). The dramatic change that will come upon this planet in the Kingdom should therefore be paralleled in our new spiritual vistas after baptism, and throughout the process of being re-born. Nothing exists in the same light as it did before baptism. Yet we would all admit that this is not totally true of how we see or saw things after baptism. Yet we would all admit that this is not totally true of how we see or saw things after baptism. The reason is because at baptism, the life of newness just began; we were born, but we must grow not to maturity. The challenge goes out to us all our mortal lives to live more zealously and fundamentally allow God’s word to make us new.
Israel’s passing through the Red Sea was an undoubted type of baptism (1 Cor. 10:1). God bought them out of Egypt, through the Red Sea baptism, “and brought you unto myself” (Ex. 19:4). It was as if God was waiting for them there, in the wilderness: as He waits to receive every man or woman who passes through the waters of baptism. Time and again they were bidden look back to their exodus/Red Sea experience. In times of dire spiritual failure or sluggish indifference to their God, as well as their pinnacles of faith, the Spirit in the prophets directed their minds back to these things—either by explicit statement, or by indirect allusion. We too, as the baptized new Israel, ought to likewise look back to our baptism with an ever-increasing appreciation.
Old Testament Types
The New Testament principles outlined above are founded in several Old Testament types.
Israel crossing the Red Sea is one of the most well-known types of baptism (1 Cor. 10:1). They were being chased by the Egyptians, and were trapped against the sea. The only way of escape was for that water to open and allow them to go through it. If any Israelite had refused to go through, there would have been no salvation. Going further, it is evident that the people of Israel as a body were going through the death and resurrection experience of the Lord Jesus, through the process of the Passover and Exodus through the Red Sea:
|
Israel
|
Abib
|
Jesus
|
|
Ate Passover (Ex. 12:6)
|
14th
|
Died on the cross as Passover lambs slain
|
|
Left Egypt the next day (Num. 33:3)
|
15th
|
|
|
Journeyed three days (Ex. 8:27)
|
15th-17th
|
Jesus three days in the tomb
|
|
Came through the Red Sea
|
17th
|
Resurrected
|
As we come out in the baptismal water, we really are united with the resurrected Lord. His newness of life, His deliverance and successful exodus from the world—all this becomes ours. Israel were slaves in Egypt, and then after the Red Sea baptism became slaves of God. Ps. 68:18 pictures them as a train of captives being led out of Egypt, merging into the image of a train of a captivity led into a different captivity. Romans 6 powerfully brings home the point: we were slaves of sin, but now are become slaves of righteousness.
Noah entering the ark (representing Christ; 1 Pet. 3:21) is equally powerful; it was no use standing near the ark when the rain came. The only way of escape was through being inside the ark.
Col. 2:11 speaks of circumcision as another type of baptism. In that only the circumcised were in covenant with God. “The uncircumcised . . . that soul shall be cut off from his people” (Gen. 17:14). We either “cut off” the flesh, or God will cut us off.
Tit. 3:5-7 implies that the priests washing the laver also typified baptism: “They shall wash with water, that they die not” (Ex. 30:20). All God’s people are priests, in a sense (1 Pet. 2:5, 9); the washing of baptism is an absolute necessity before we can be God’s priestly people. (Duncan Heaster, Beyond Bible Basics: A Manual for Spiritual Growth [Surrey, UK: The Christadelphian Advancement Trust, 2000], 7-8)
