"baptism" Tagged Sermons
1. The truth of the _______________ restated.
2. The identity of the “________________” in prison (vv. 19-20).
3. The connection of __________________ and salvation (vv. 20-21).
Reading the Old Testament in light of the New means learning to see Christ in Samuel himself, not merely finding proof texts. Hannah’s yearly sacrifice in verse 19 carries a significance easy to miss: an early picture of what baptism will mean for women in the new covenant. John’s own writing about Christ’s coming depends on this same way of reading backward.
Baptism’s passivity, which emphasizes God’s grace toward us, gets set against the active self-scrutiny called for at the Lord’s Table. Various views of the Supper get surveyed along the way, drawing on the striking imagery of Psalm 74:12-14.
The world’s view of baptism gets contrasted with the biblical one, unpacking the cleansing symbolism of the baptismal water and the meaning behind the questions asked at the font. The close connects earthly fathers to God the Father himself.
God himself is an oath-making God, which means our whole reality is oath-bound from the start, a pattern traced back to the striking covenant ritual of Genesis 15. This applies directly to the Presbyterian understanding of baptism and the oaths taken there.
Death itself makes plain the oath-bound character of all human life, rooted in the ramifications of God’s covenant with us. Baptism marks our entry into that oath, one which Christ himself ultimately keeps on our behalf.