Treasure in Earthen Vessels

Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea, ² all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, 1^st. Corinthians 10:1, 2

• Water baptism has a spiritual capacity for deliverance.

Although it seems that we have already seen all aspects of baptism, there is still a question to answer: does water baptism have any spiritual virtue?

There is a little-discussed teaching by the apostle Paul that answers the question we have asked, and helps us understand the spiritual virtue of water baptism for those who welcome faith in Jesus.

This is the reference that the apostle makes of the dry passage by the sea of the people of Israel, a week after having left Egypt.

Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea, ²all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, 1^st. Corinthians 10:1, 2

According to this Word, the apostle states that the dry passage through the Red Sea was not an emergent escape, a last resort to flee from the Egyptian army that persecuted them, but was a planned action Beforehand by God Himself, to lead the people to the experience of water baptism.

The account of the book of Exodus confirms it, and refers that Jehovah God explained to Moses what he had arranged to do, although in the eyes of all it seemed that it was a trap in which the people had fallen:

Now the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ² “Speak to the children of Israel, that they turn and camp before Pi Hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, opposite Baal Zephon; you shall camp before it by the sea. ³ For Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, ‘They are bewildered by the land; the wilderness has closed them in.’ ⁴ Then I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, so that he will pursue them; and I will gain honor over Pharaoh and over all his army, that the Egyptians may know that I am the Lord.” And they did so. Exodus 14:1-4

It is seen clearly in the text what the Lord God had provided in his will, as part of the prophetic school which introduced the people to teach them about of how TO walk with God.

To this action of the Will of God is to which the apostle refers with the term of, these things were in figure of us.[1] The term translated in figure is the Greek term τυποι, that means not necessarily Something “symbolic”, as has often been interpreted, but rather to a teaching established by analogy, thereby also showing the spiritual value assigned to the experience of water baptism.

The apostle Peter also uses the same expression τυποι, and refers to it as a model to imitate.

Nor as being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock; 1^st. Peter 5:3

Why baptize them in the sea? And by analogy, why do we need to submit to water baptism to enter the Kingdom of Heaven?

What did it mean to leave Egypt? Jehovah God explained to Moses that He had come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians,[2] because of their anguish:

And the Lord said: “I have surely seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows. Exodus 3:7

Jehovah God commits Moses to remove his people, and deliver them from the affliction of Egypt:

and I have said I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, to a land flowing with milk and honey.”’ Exodus 3:17

Ten plagues are sent on Pharaoh and the Egyptians to break the yoke that Egypt had set upon the children of Israel. The tenth plague discovers that it is a judgment of God over the spiritual powers of Egypt, which in reality are the cause of the affliction of his people:

‘For I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the Lord. Exodus 12:12

When he instituted the solemn feast of Pesach, he explained to the people that all they have suffered is because they are delivered from the death of Egypt:

that you shall say, ‘It is the Passover sacrifice of the Lord, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt when He struck the Egyptians and delivered our households.’” So the people bowed their heads and worshiped. Exodus 12:27

But the people, though free, had not yet come out of Egypt. The presence of the great army of Pharaoh who had apparently besieged them brought to light what was in the heart of the people:

Then they said to Moses, “Because there were no graves in Egypt, have you taken us away to die in the wilderness? Why have you so dealt with us, to bring us up out of Egypt? ¹² Is this not the word that we told you in Egypt, saying, ‘Let us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than that we should die in the wilderness.” Exodus 14:11-12

It is there that the Will of Jehovah God is discovered, and why He brought them before the sea: to deliver them from those who had inculcated such fear. Note the release agenda:

• Vrs.10 And when Pharaoh drew near, the children of Israel lifted their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians marched after them. So they were very afraid, and the children of Israel cried out to the Lord.
• Vrs.24 Now it came to pass, in the morning watch, that the Lord looked down upon the army of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and cloud, and He troubled the army of the Egyptians.
• Vrs.27 And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and when the morning appeared, the sea returned to its full depth, while the Egyptians were fleeing into it. So the Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea.
• Vrs.28 Then the waters returned and covered the chariots, the horsemen, and all the army of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them. Not so much as one of them remained.
• Vrs.30 So the Lord saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore.
• What meant water baptism for the people of Israel? It signified the total liberation of his enemies:

Thus Israel saw the great work which the Lord had done in Egypt; so the people feared the Lord, and believed the Lord and His servant Moses. Exodus 14:31

Based on this fact it was established for posterity that everything must be passed through water, that which will not bear the fire:

everything that can endure fire, you shall put through the fire, and it shall be clean; and it shall be purified with the water of purification. But all that cannot endure fire you shall put through water. Numbers 31:23

If the baptism at sea meant for the people the liberation of all who persecuted them, and the apostle Paul established the analogy of the facts because it says:

…and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come. 1^st. Corinthians 10:11

Then, water baptism has a spiritual virtue of being resource to release from the death for those who welcoming the faith in Jesus.

This is proven by the very testimony of the apostle Peter. The apostle recognizes the spiritual virtue of water baptism:

who formerly were disobedient, when once the Divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water. ²¹ There is also an antitype which now saves us—baptism (not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God), through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 1^st. Peter 3:20, 21

This means that no one who has recognized Jesus as Lord, and has been baptized in water, would need to submit to liberation, it would have received deliverance through water baptism. The teaching presented by the apostle Paul confirms this.

But not to all the above is true. The ministers of liberation know that we have often seen cases of liberation in people of faith who despite not having incurred sin are reacting to a liberation ministry. The question is, why?

The answer is simple. Because in many cases we have not properly baptized people. The conclusive case of the case of the disciples of Ephesus confirms this:

And it happened, while Apollos was at Corinth, that Paul, having passed through the upper regions, came to Ephesus. And finding some disciples ² he said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” So they said to him, “We have not so much as heard whether there is a Holy Spirit.” ³ And he said to them, “Into what then were you baptized?” So they said, “Into John’s baptism.” ⁴ Then Paul said, “John indeed baptized with a baptism of repentance, saying to the people that they should believe on Him who would come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus.” ⁵ When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Acts 19:1-5

Although they had been baptized in water, in the manner of John’s baptism, they had not transcended spiritually, and Paul immediately recognized what the problem was: they had not been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.

The same is happening in our day. A baptism in water not based on the instructions of the Word, is a baptism without spiritual transcendence, a religious baptism but without spiritual virtue to make us walk in newness of life. The deliverance that is available to the children of faith, inasmuch as it is the bread of the children, is not executed, and we have many children mending crumbs, subject to the demons of the pagan gods that operate in their Environments.

There is no demand for a good conscience, and therefore, the old man remains as valid as the moment before the confession of faith. The gods to which they were served for many years are still in force, demanding the worship that previously surrendered to them. Reason why there are so many and many falls, and little perseverance of those who approach our churches.

The teaching brought by the Spirit establishes the virtue of baptism in water, in the name of the Lord Jesus:

Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? ⁴ Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. ⁵ For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, ⁶ knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. ⁷ For he who has died has been freed from sin. ⁸ Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, ⁹ knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. . Romans 6:3-9

What should we do? To follow the religious doctrines in which we were taught, or to turn to God Almighty, giver of every good gift, and live by His Word?

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[1] 1ra. Corinthians 10:6

[2] Exodus 3:8