Pt. 4: Foreshadowing
While baptism in the OT is not called baptism and while it does not have the same symbolism and meaning as it does in the NT, it is nevertheless foreshadowed there. Sometimes it is mentioned as a part of a ceremony in the Law of Moses, other times foreshadowed by an event, and still other times seen in the future in prophecies. While these verses do not, strictly speaking, prove baptismal regeneration they do set the tone for the teachings of the NT that very well may.
LAW OF MOSES
Taken from Genesis 15 and Exodus 12
“[And God said to Abraham:]’. . . This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your descendants after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised. You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you. He that is eight days old among you shall be circumcised; every male throughout your generations, whether born in your house, or bought with your money from any foreigner who is not of your offspring, both he that is born in your house and he that is bought with your money, shall be circumcised. So shall my covenant be in your flesh an everlasting covenant…’” “And when a stranger shall sojourn with you and would keep the passover to the Lord, let all his males be circumcised, then he may come near and keep it; he shall be as a native of the land. But no uncircumcised person shall eat of it.”
This verse, of course, does not mention baptism. But it does talk about circumcision. Circumcision is “the sign of the Old Covenant.” The NT speaks of a sign of the New Covenant and it is compared to circumcision (so it might be important to think about both sides of the comparison). What is this sign of the New Covenant? Baptism.
A further note: remember how I said in the early Church the catechumens could not eat of the Lord’s Supper or “Eucharist” because they were not baptized yet? That idea, while not drawn only from this passage, could be foreshadowed here as no one was allowed to eat of the Passover unless they had received the sign of the Old Covenant. An interesting parallel.
Numbers 8:5-7
“The Lord said to Moses: “Take the Levites from among the other Israelites and make them ceremonially clean. To purify them, do this: Sprinkle the water of cleansing on them; then have them shave their whole bodies and wash their clothes, and so purify themselves.”
It should be noted that this, again, does not prove baptismal regeneration. But we do see this institution of a ritual washing and it is mandated by God. There were other ritual washings including priests washing hands (Ex 30:17-21), purification (Lev 11:24-40), cleansing after contact with a corpse (Nb 19:11-22), leprosy (Lev 13-14) and after sexual situations (Lev 12, 15). This idea of washing would be very familiar to a Jew who would have first heard the teachings on Christian baptism from Jesus and the apostles in the Jewish community.
NARRATIVE FORESHADOWING
Taken from 2 Kings 5
“Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Syria . . . was a mighty man of valor, but he was a leper. Now the Syrians on one of their raids had carried off a little maid from the land of Israel, and she waited on Naaman’s wife. She said to her mistress, ‘Would that my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy.’. . . So Naaman came with his horses and chariots, and halted at the door of Elisha’s house. And Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, ‘Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored, and you shall be clean.’ “But Naaman was angry, and went away, saying, ‘Behold, I thought that he would surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of the Lord his God, and wave his hand over the place, and cure the leper… But his servants came near and said to him, ‘My father, if the prophet had commanded you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much rather, then, when he says to you, ‘Wash, and be clean’? So he went down and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God; and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.”
Obviously this verse does not correspond exactly with NT teachings on baptism. We are not dunked seven times! But it is interesting that this is the same river Jesus was baptized in and the same river John the Baptist seemed to baptize in (at least some of the time). This event would be fresh on the minds of those who came to be baptized here in New Testament times.
Also this baptism has a real effect… it actually does something. And note the neat imagery here of his skin being restored like that of a little child. Very similar to the idea of our sins being crimson becoming white as snow. However, as previously stated, this is just imagery and not a full-blown connection of baptism. But it may be a picture or foreshadowing of baptism and it seems that it is taken as such in early Christian teaching.
PROPHECY
Ezekiel 36:25-27
“I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.”
This is a prophecy and most all Christians agree that this prophecy is looking forward to the New Covenant we have in Christ. It seems that there is an obvious reference to baptism here. Sprinkling (while not the only mode of baptism mentioned… dunking is also mentioned) is symbolic of the OT rituals (see the above passage in Numbers and also the animal sacrifices where blood was sprinkled in various ways). We see that this “sprinkling” is connected with a cleansing from impurities (similar to the NT phrases about washing away sin), receiving a new heart (similar to the NT phrases about new life), and we receive not just a new spirit within us but the very Spirit of God (similar to the NT idea about receiving the Holy Spirit at baptism). This prophecy is most interesting.
Zecheriah 13:1
“On that day there shall be a fountain opened for the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to cleanse them from sin and uncleanness.”
While this prophecy is not as detailed as the one from Ezekiel we see again this idea of a washing (represented by the fountain) and its connection to cleansing from sin. In other words this is a repeated theme in prophecy.
Taken from Genesis 15 and Exodus 12
“[And God said to Abraham:]’. . . This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your descendants after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised. You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you. He that is eight days old among you shall be circumcised; every male throughout your generations, whether born in your house, or bought with your money from any foreigner who is not of your offspring, both he that is born in your house and he that is bought with your money, shall be circumcised. So shall my covenant be in your flesh an everlasting covenant…’” “And when a stranger shall sojourn with you and would keep the passover to the Lord, let all his males be circumcised, then he may come near and keep it; he shall be as a native of the land. But no uncircumcised person shall eat of it.”
This verse, of course, does not mention baptism. But it does talk about circumcision. Circumcision is “the sign of the Old Covenant.” The NT speaks of a sign of the New Covenant and it is compared to circumcision (so it might be important to think about both sides of the comparison). What is this sign of the New Covenant? Baptism.
A further note: remember how I said in the early Church the catechumens could not eat of the Lord’s Supper or “Eucharist” because they were not baptized yet? That idea, while not drawn only from this passage, could be foreshadowed here as no one was allowed to eat of the Passover unless they had received the sign of the Old Covenant. An interesting parallel.
Numbers 8:5-7
“The Lord said to Moses: “Take the Levites from among the other Israelites and make them ceremonially clean. To purify them, do this: Sprinkle the water of cleansing on them; then have them shave their whole bodies and wash their clothes, and so purify themselves.”
It should be noted that this, again, does not prove baptismal regeneration. But we do see this institution of a ritual washing and it is mandated by God. There were other ritual washings including priests washing hands (Ex 30:17-21), purification (Lev 11:24-40), cleansing after contact with a corpse (Nb 19:11-22), leprosy (Lev 13-14) and after sexual situations (Lev 12, 15). This idea of washing would be very familiar to a Jew who would have first heard the teachings on Christian baptism from Jesus and the apostles in the Jewish community.
NARRATIVE FORESHADOWING
Taken from 2 Kings 5
“Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Syria . . . was a mighty man of valor, but he was a leper. Now the Syrians on one of their raids had carried off a little maid from the land of Israel, and she waited on Naaman’s wife. She said to her mistress, ‘Would that my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy.’. . . So Naaman came with his horses and chariots, and halted at the door of Elisha’s house. And Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, ‘Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored, and you shall be clean.’ “But Naaman was angry, and went away, saying, ‘Behold, I thought that he would surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of the Lord his God, and wave his hand over the place, and cure the leper… But his servants came near and said to him, ‘My father, if the prophet had commanded you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much rather, then, when he says to you, ‘Wash, and be clean’? So he went down and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God; and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.”
Obviously this verse does not correspond exactly with NT teachings on baptism. We are not dunked seven times! But it is interesting that this is the same river Jesus was baptized in and the same river John the Baptist seemed to baptize in (at least some of the time). This event would be fresh on the minds of those who came to be baptized here in New Testament times.
Also this baptism has a real effect… it actually does something. And note the neat imagery here of his skin being restored like that of a little child. Very similar to the idea of our sins being crimson becoming white as snow. However, as previously stated, this is just imagery and not a full-blown connection of baptism. But it may be a picture or foreshadowing of baptism and it seems that it is taken as such in early Christian teaching.
PROPHECY
Ezekiel 36:25-27
“I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.”
This is a prophecy and most all Christians agree that this prophecy is looking forward to the New Covenant we have in Christ. It seems that there is an obvious reference to baptism here. Sprinkling (while not the only mode of baptism mentioned… dunking is also mentioned) is symbolic of the OT rituals (see the above passage in Numbers and also the animal sacrifices where blood was sprinkled in various ways). We see that this “sprinkling” is connected with a cleansing from impurities (similar to the NT phrases about washing away sin), receiving a new heart (similar to the NT phrases about new life), and we receive not just a new spirit within us but the very Spirit of God (similar to the NT idea about receiving the Holy Spirit at baptism). This prophecy is most interesting.
Zecheriah 13:1
“On that day there shall be a fountain opened for the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to cleanse them from sin and uncleanness.”
While this prophecy is not as detailed as the one from Ezekiel we see again this idea of a washing (represented by the fountain) and its connection to cleansing from sin. In other words this is a repeated theme in prophecy.
We cover Naaman in Sunday School. A theme in our class is that God often works his miracles through his physical creation. Therefore what we might think of as a symbol is not a symbol, it's an actual conduit of God's power. So in Naaman's case, Elisha, God's authorized agent and also a sinner, instructs Naaman to literally immerse 7 times in the Jordan. He literally does so, and is literally healed.
ReplyDeleteNow we have Jesus speaking in miraculous terms about water. There's no way that Jesus would just be talking symbolically, when every Jew would know about the literal, true water miracles in the OT. It'd be as though regular old sinners can mediate water miracles, but God Incarnate can only use water as a symbol?