Christ
also underwent two baptisms. In the Jordan, Jesus became the
first person to experience a baptism of both water and Spirit (Jn. 1:33).
This baptism “revealed” him to Israel and launched his public ministry
(Jn. 1:31-32). His second baptism occurred at the crucifixion
(Mk. 10:38). While Jesus did not suffer actual flames, he became the substance
behind the atoning sacrifices “made to the Lord by fire” (Lev. 23:27). His
first baptism was necessary to “fulfill all righteousness” (Mt. 3:15), while
his second baptism was necessary to impute this righteousness to us (2 Cor.
5:21).
When
Jesus presented the eschatological sequence of his ministry, he explained that
his second baptism must precede the
fiery judgment. Jesus told the crowds: “I have come
to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! But
I have a baptism to undergo, and how distressed I am until it is completed! Do
you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division” (Lk.
12:49-51). Jesus longed to gather the righteous and to judge the wicked, but his
second baptism was necessary to justify the righteous. His people could never survive
the fires of their second baptism, unless
he first underwent the torment of his second
baptism.
Our
first baptism signifies our participation in his second baptism — namely his death,
burial, and resurrection (Rom. 6:4). Before his ascension, Jesus sent his
church “to the ends of the earth” to baptize the nations in preparation for the
judgment (Acts 1:8).
This deferred judgment reveals God’s mercy. As Michael
Horton points out:
If the last judgment had
occurred immediately in Christ’s earthly ministry, there would have been no
space in history for the proclamation of the gospel to the ends of the earth.
There would have been no ingathering of the remnant from the nations…No
repentance, no faith, no ‘day of salvation,’ but a sudden judgment that would
have led to the condemnation of Jews and Gentiles together in one heap.[1]
Creation and Flood
In an inspired defense of two-advent eschatology, Peter appealed to creation and the Flood. He warned that scoffers would come in the last days asking, “Where is this ‘coming’ he promised?” Peter responded, “They deliberately forget that long ago by God’s word the heavens existed and the earth was formed out of water and by water. By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire” (2 Pet. 3:4-7). In his earlier epistle, Peter explained that “this water symbolizes baptism” (1 Pet. 3:21). Peter employed these two baptismal types to support the two advents of Christ.
The creation and the Flood are pictures of baptism. When Jesus emerged from the waters, the heavens (i.e., the waters above) were parted; the Holy Spirit descended as a dove; and God declared his pleasure over his Son (Matt. 3:16-17).
In the first three days of creation, the world was submerged beneath lifeless waters. The Spirit hovered above the waters; God separated the waters; dry land emerged as a sanctuary for life; and the Lord declared his new creation to be “good” (Gen. 1:1-13).
Likewise, in the Flood narrative, God judged the world, and it was once again submerged beneath the waters. However, one righteous man found favor with God, and Noah was commanded to build the Ark as a sanctuary through the judgment. When God parted the waters, the dove descended to Noah, heralding a new beginning for mankind.
These two baptismal types complimented each other. The first baptism was inaugural, while the second baptism judged the wicked and ushered in a new beginning for mankind. Once this circuit was completed, God promised never to flood the world with water again (Gen. 9:11).
Moses & Joshua
The next set of paired baptismal types comes with Moses and Joshua. When the Lord appeared to Moses from the burning bush on Mount Sinai, he announced a two-stage plan.
I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the
Egyptians and to bring them up out of
that land into a good and spacious land… (Exod. 3:8).
God accomplished the first stage of his promise by delivering Moses and the Israelites through the parted waters of the Red Sea. Like creation, a light shone in darkness; wind (רוּחַ) came upon the waters; the waters parted; and there was a new beginning for Israel (Exod. 14:19-22). In this crossing, the Apostle Paul claims that the Israelites were “baptized into Moses” (Exod. 2:10). Michael Horton explains that this baptism “prefigures the union of believers with Christ.”[2] However, unlike Christ, Moses was unable to lead them into the Promised Land.
Joshua then led the Israelites through the parted waters of the Jordan — accomplishing a second baptism. God’s people were transformed from sojourners to residents in the Promised Land, and Joshua’s subsequent campaign foreshadowed the Second Advent. Joshua was a conquering warrior. His victory over Jericho anticipates the Lord’s victory over Babylon.[3]
Even the temperaments of Moses and Joshua are instructive for the two advents. Moses was a humble servant (Num. 12:3) who abandoned royalty and delivered his people (Heb. 11:24). He struggled with betrayal, rebellion and rejection (Num. 26:9). On the other hand, Joshua led as a conquering warrior who would not suffer dissension. He made the kings of earth into his footstool (Jos. 10:24). Both of these extremes are captured in Christ’s first and second comings. As Michael Horton wrote, “[Jesus] came first in humility and grace, but will return in glory and power.”[4]
[1] Michael Horton, “Risen Indeed,” White Horse Inn Blog,
http://www.whitehorseinn.org/blog/2011/04/23/risen-indeed-3/ (accessed
April 27, 2012).
[3] Warren A. Gage, Theological
Poetics: Typology, Symbol and the Christ, (Fort Lauderdale: St. Andrews
House, 2010), 36-37.
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