We take great comfort in the fact that God is more determined than we are. We fall asleep praying like the disciples and Christ presses on through the night. In baptism, we have a sign from God, which is to say, God does the signing and sealing. We believe Him. We respond in faith, knowing that He will be faithful to His covenant promise. And what is that promise? He has told us through the prophet Isaiah, “As for me, this is my covenant with them, saith the Lord; My spirit that is upon thee, And my words which I have put in thy mouth, Shall not depart out of thy mouth, Nor out of the mouth of thy seed, Nor out of the mouth of thy seed’s seed, saith the Lord, From henceforth and for ever” (Isaiah 59:21).
The water of baptism does not itself wash away sin. We need something far more potent to cleanse us of our transgressions. The blood of Christ and that alone washes us white. And God has determined to signal such a cleansing to us. In the Old Testament, that sign was circumcision which Abraham received as a seal of the righteousness he had by faith. In the New Covenant, that sign is baptism, which likewise is a sign and seal of the forgiveness of sins which comes about through faith alone. We behold the sign of baptism and rejoice for it is a sign from God. And we put our hope in what the sign points to: the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. No sin can withstand its cleansing power.
