BAPTISM - The Type of Crossing the Red Sea

University of Pittsburgh archive ^

[CondoleezzaProtege]

"For I do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, that all our
fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea,
And all were baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea,
And all ate the same spiritual food,
And all drank the same spiritual drink: for they drank of a
spiritual rock which followed them, and
the rock was Christ."

In I Cor. 10:1-4, Paul indicated clearly that the history of the children of Israel is a type, a foreshadowing, of the history of the New Testament believers in Christ.

The crossing of the Red Sea by the children of Israel is called baptism in I Cor. 10:2.

In order to fully understand the significance of baptism in the New Testament, it is necessary to see the Old Testament picture of the crossing of the Red Sea, and the events associated with it.

They were initially in Egypt, living under the tyranny of Pharoah (Exo. 1:8-14). This means that they were living in the world under the tyranny of Satan.

God sent Moses (i.e., Christ in typology) to the children of Israel to deliver them out of Egypt and its bondage (Exo. 3:10). Pharoah refused to let the children of Israel go out of Egypt (Exo. 5:2). Then God sent plagues upon the Egyptians (Exo. 7 to 10), which signify the different temporal judgments God has sent upon the unbelieving world

Exodus 12 is the story of the Passover and the last plague upon the Egyptians.

The lamb roasted with fire signifies Christ, who took the penalty of God's judgment of sin for us on the cross...

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TOPICS: History; Theology
KEYWORDS: baptism; bible; biblestudy; easter; exodus; jesus; moses; newtestament; oldtestament; passover; prophecy; redsea; sacraments; shadows

[CondoleezzaProtege]

[lastchance]

Thanks, very interesting.

[TexasKamaAina]

The passage from 1st Corinthians has always puzzled me. The whole point about passing through the Red Sea is that they did not get wet. How is this analogous to getting baptized?

[Responsibility2nd]

Interesting chart you have here. I’ve been doing some studying up on the idea that Jesus did not die on Friday. The Sign of Jonah (Matthew 6:14) excludes that notion.

Understanding the Jewish calendar; the Day of Preparation (Wednesday), Passover AKA High Sabbath (Thursday) Friday and Saturday (Sabbath) Sunday (3rd day and 3rd night) means that Jesus died on Thursday. Not Friday.

[fidelis]

The whole point about passing through the Red Sea is that they did not get wet.

I think getting wet was the least of their worries. The larger point is that they passed through the waters to escape death at the hands of Pharoah's army. Paul is making an analogy to the effect that just as the Hebrews were saved from death by passing through water, one is saved from eternal death due to sin by passing through the waters of Baptism.

Peter makes a similar point using the example of Noah in 1 Peter 3:20-21:

"In the days of Noah, during the building of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were saved through water. Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a clear conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ."

[Merrick]

Which was a type of the Flood... which was a type of Creation.