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There's Water In God's Saving Plan

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Categories: Church of Christ Bulletin Articles

In Genesis Chapters 7 and 8, God chose water as the means of destroying mankind with the exception of Noah and his family (Genesis 8:15-18 NKJV; 1 Peter 3:20 NKJV) Thus water became a “dividing line” between the filthy and the cleansed.

When God delivered the children of Israel from Egyptian bondage, he led them to the Red Sea. This was not the regular route out of Egypt. Not far to the north was a dry-land route, but God led them to the sea and made for them a path between walls of water. They were immersed in cloud and sea (1 Corinthians 10:1-2 NKJV). When Pharaoh’s army sought to follow them, the divided sea returned to normal, destroying the enemy (Exodus 14:15-31 – NKJV).  Thus the water became a dividing line between bondage and freedom.

When Naaman, captain of the Syrian army, came to God’s prophet to be healed of his leprosy, he was told to “wash in the Jordan, seven times. (2 Kings 5:10 NKJV). Naaman said, “I thought” the prophet would do it differently. He reasoned that the rivers of his homeland were far better than the Jordan. However, when Naaman finally submitted to God’s command by dipping seven times in the Jordan river, he was immediately healed of his leprosy (2 Kings 5:9-14 KJV). There was nothing magical about the water, but through God’s healing power, the water became the dividing line between sickness and health.

When Jesus healed the man born blind (John 9:1-11 NKJV), He used water as the dividing line between blindness and sight. He anointed the man’s eyes with clay, then said, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (John 9:7 NKJV). The man was blind until he obeyed what the Lord told him to do.

With divine power, God cleansed the world, freed Israel, healed the leper, and gave sight to the blind. In all these manifestations of power, God used the element water. He asked the subjects to use the water as He directed and He withheld their blessing until their faith was actively demonstrated.

Looking at the above examples, it is difficult to understand why people who claim to have faith in God, will question His command to be baptized in water “for the remission of sins.” (Acts 10:47-48 NKJV; Acts 2:38 NKJV).

Thus in the New Testament, it is not a strange thing that God would choose water as the dividing line between the old life of sin, and the new Christian life (Romans 6:1-18 NKJV). The puzzling question is, how an individual could “reject the counsel of God for themselves, not having been baptized by him” (Luke 7:30 NKJV).

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