The Lights in Angelus Temple are lowered, the soft velour curtains of the baptistry are swept aside and there in miniature is a portrayal of that scene where the multitudes came to John to be baptized of him. Yea, even our Master made His way through the throng and requested to be baptized, saying, "Suffer it to be so now."
We find ourselves in fancy, standing by the river of Jordan. How frequently we have closed our eyes and pictured the slow-moving, sluggish water, the trees—bamboo, palms, olive and cypress—growing by the banks of the river and the hills dipping down to the water.
We have also pictured in fancy that strange man, John Baptist, misunderstood then but honored now, standing there in camel's hair, preaching the gospel, that they should repent and turn to the Lord with their whole heart.
We have seen the throngs coming from Judea, Capernaum, Sameria, Cyrene and all the country 'round about the Jordan. We have seen them as they leaned forward, heard the message, and trembled when they realized they were sinners—without God and without hope. Their faces have brightened as they heard the finishing of the Gospel story. We have seen them as they stepped down into the river and John baptized them.
One day as they were baptizing, Jesus drew near. A little ripple of astonishment passed over them as they stepped to one side and He entered the water. We can picture Him speaking to John and being baptized of him.
No wonder John the courageous, dauntless, fearless man that he was, should hesitate.
"Jesus, Saviour, I have need to be baptized of Thee. Thou art the Son of God. Thou dost have no sin, why shouldst Thou be baptized? There is no obligation on Thy part, Lord, to be baptized, for Thou art so righteous and so flawless. Why humble thyself like these common, everyday mortals, coming down to be baptized of me in the Jordan! No, Lord, instead of that, I have need to be baptized of Thee.
"Thou who wert with the Father in the beginning, before the world was, when the morning stars sang of Thy glory, the hills bowed at Thy presence and the mountains trembled at Thy touch, Thou who were conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, the Beloved of the Father! No, no, Lord, I cannot do it—Bless Him! He came to fulfill all righteousness—He came not to destroy the law but rather to fulfill the law. He came to fulfill the will of God. How pitiful it makes some of us look in regard to water baptism.
In a moment there sweeps over us almost that breath-taking realization of the humility of Jesus Christ. Let us look at the steps of Him who said, "Suffer it to be so now."
Clasping His beautiful white hands before Him, He looked at John, smiled, and said:
"Suffer it to be so now."
Jesus fulfilled every step from the cradle to the Throne. He never hesitated, saying, "I am better than man—I do not need to do that."
He was born in a manger. Surely the angels demonstrated with Him, "You were born to the purple, to wear a crown. Why do you need to be born in a stable and laid in a manger?"
"Suffer it to be so now."
The Lord was working out a plan. The Master did not shoot out arrows at random but He had a plan and a pattern. He knew when He began just what He was going to accomplish, and He said, "Suffer it to be so now."
Have you ever stopped to read in the New Testament, "This was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets? Thou, Bethlehem Ephrathah, from you should come a Governor."
The Book was fulfilled. Suffer it to be so now, and not half fill or three-quarters fill but to fulfill all righteousness. Hallelujah! He was born in a manger, reared in a carpenter's shop assisting His foster father, Joseph.
Then we see Him coming down to the river Jordan to be baptized, "Surely this is not necessary."
He is the Shepherd, He leads the way. He goeth forth and His sheep follow.
Jesus Christ went on to Gethsemane—"not My will, but Thine be done." Yet so many of us say, "I don't see that this is necessary, or that it is essential. What is the reason for a certain thing being done?"
"Suffer it to be so now."
Jesus Christ became obedient to death and was buried.
"Oh, Lord, to be laid in a grave so cold and damp. That was not a fit place for the Lord of glory. It was a borrowed grave, too. Lord, why did you permit it?"
"Suffer it to be so now."
The Lord went all the way. Jesus is looking for those now, Suffer it to be so tonight and come. Then, after you have taken that step and all that old life with its sin and rebellion is gone, then suffer it to be so, come and be buried with your Lord in baptism.
"Well, Sister, I was not brought up that way. Little water is as good as much water."
As a baby I was never even sprinkled because of the beautiful dedication service of the Salvation Army. It astounds even me, speaking so fervently of it now.
Somehow I felt that water baptism must have been all right when the Lord was here on earth and somewhere down the line it has been lost track of, and when I was born again, the subject of being buried with the Lord in baptism did not appeal to me.
Instead of refusing, I decided it would be better to trace it out for myself. Taking my concordance, studying alone, there were several instances that came to my attention. John had been baptizing but he moved to a place on the river where there was much water. Also, large numbers were being baptized by the Lord's disciples, though Himself baptized not.
Then I read in Luke of the great commission wherein Jesus told the disciples to go into all the world and preach the Gospel and teach them, to observe whatsoever He had commanded them, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and the Holy Ghost.
Again, in Mark—he that believeth and is baptized, the same shall be saved. That does not mean if you are not baptized you won't be saved, but I do interpret that the two should go together.
Then I turned to the second chapter of the Acts of the Apostles and it was here that I began to ask myself the WHY of water baptism, and just what it all meant.
Peter, in the second chapter of the Acts, was standing there with his face alight and aglow, talking to the people. In fact I could see them pricked to the heart with conviction, asking, "What shall I do to be saved?"
Then came Peter's response, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost."
The first step, then, was repentance, the second step was to be baptized in water, and the third was the baptism of the Holy Spirit. The one thing that impressed me was to repent and be baptized. Then I began to question:
What is repenting? Could a baby repent? Although I looked through the Bible and tried to find where a baby was baptized—had really repented and was baptized—I could not find it. I challenge anybody to find recorded in the Bible where a baby was every baptized.
While reading the eighth chapter of Acts, I found that they were baptized, both men and women. Simon, the sorcerer, himself believed and was baptized, but he was not really converted. When he was baptized, he was a dry sinner and came up a wet sinner for they said afterward that the gall of bitterness was in his heart.
I had been converted and received the baptism of the Holy Ghost. Therefore, perhaps I was left out and did not need to be baptized in water. But at the house of Cornelius in the tenth chapter of the Acts, they all spake with tongues and magnified the Lord.
Then Peter asked them to be baptized, or told them he thought they should be? No! He commanded them to be baptized, both men and women. Acts 10:47: Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we? That took all the props out from under me.
The Eunuch was going through the wilderness and Philip caught up with him and preached unto him the Gospel. As they came to water, the Eunuch asked, "What doth hinder me from being baptized?"
Then both went down into the water, both Philip and the Eunuch. I knew if Philip just sprinkled him it would not have been necessary for both to have gone down into the water, for Philip could thus have reached down and put a little water on the head of the Eunuch. The Eunuch went on home in his chariot and Philip went on preaching the Gospel. At the Jordan there was much water. If they had a bucket or a sea shell, such as is painted of John Baptist sometimes, I know they would not have to go where there was much water, for a sea shell full would have sprinkled a great company.
Baptism came from the word baptizo, meaning to dip in water or to submerge. Then what did going down under the water mean? I turned to my concordance again to find, if I could, the meaning of this. Then the light broke in on my heart and settled it forever with me, and I said, "Suffer it to be so now."
Romans 6:3: Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into His death? Therefore, we are buried with Him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
Then we were submerged, covered, baptized into His death. That over two or three times. Therefore, we were buried with Him by baptism into death, that like as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we should walk with Him in the newness of life.
For if we had been planted—now I knew all about planting was I not a farmer's daughter, and if we wanted to plant a potato, we did not just sprinkle it with a little dirt, but we dug a hole and buried it, deep.
In the likeness—I knew what a likeness was, too. When my father was young and he saw a photograph, he would always say, "That is an exact likeness of my friend." If we were buried in the likeness of His death, so shall we be raised in the likeness of photograph.
Now—it was settled. Here was a photograph, a picture—beautiful, Sacred rite. When we are converted and go to Calvary, we reckoned our old, sinful nature, rebellious lives are nailed to the cross with Jesus.
Jesus did not jump from Calvary to Pentecost. They took Him to the grave. So reckoning my old life dead with Christ, crucified with Him, the thing to do was to be buried, buried in the waters of baptism, just as they buried Christ.
We reckon we are dead. "Jesus, I am dead with you and going down into the garden of Joseph of Arimathea."
Digging graves and burying all His people would not be very nice, but the Lord prepared a much better way by having them all baptized in water.
Then, too, the water means cleansing. There, again, is a significance. The water came from Galilee, flowed through the Jordan and emptied into the Dead Sea. Just so Jesus is our Galilee and the Jordan is the cleansing stream of Calvary which carries our sins far away into the dead sea of God's forgetfulness.
You can not bury yourself, neither can you baptize yourself. It is a picture, a likeness. Just as Jesus Christ was raised the third day to walk in newness of life, so, after we are buried with Him, we will be raised to walk in newness of life with Him.
He is calling you and bidding you to come to Him and find rest and peace. He is longing to forgive your sins and wash you in His precious blood, making you whiter than the driven snow. He desires to give you a place in His kingdom and bring you before the Father without spot or blemish or any such thing, and in order to do that you need to come to Him just as you are. Reckon your old life is dead and buried with Him, the old, selfish desires are in the past and a new life is begun.
Then, when that old life is dead, it should be buried. The old corpse is gone but there is a resurrection life where we walk with Him on that path that leads ever upward into the glory land. Suffer it to be so now; for thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness.