The Fifth Sunday in Lent
March 13, 2016
Isaiah 43:16-21
This is what the LORD says—he who made a way through the sea, a path through the mighty waters, who drew out the chariots and horses, the army and reinforcements together, and they lay there, never to rise again, extinguished, snuffed out like a wick: “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland. The wild animals honor me, the jackals and the owls, because I provide water in the desert and streams in the wasteland, to give drink to my people, my chosen, the people I formed for myself that they may proclaim my praise.” (NIV1984)
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
For as long as I can remember I have been a “Trekkie”— which means that when I was growing up Star Trek was my all-time favorite show. Every week I would lie on the floor in front of the television and watch as Captain Kirk and the starship Enterprise stayed focused on their five year mission: “to boldly go where no man has gone before.” I was enthralled by Mr. Spock with his pointy ears and sometimes prickly logic. I envisioned what it would be like to say, “Beam me up Scotty!” and instantly be transported onto the Enterprise— or wherever I wanted to go. But mostly, I imagined how wonderful and how exciting it would be to travel across the universe and discover new worlds— “To boldly go where no man has gone before”!
Now, of course, I realize what I didn’t realize as a child. Now I realize that traveling across the universe at warp speed without ever having to stop for fuel or provisions is impossible. Now I realize that while the universe is just as big if not bigger than I ever imagined, and while the universe is even more beautiful than I could ever imagine, this planet which the good Lord has given to us, this planet that we call “home” is unique in a whole variety of ways. One of the ways in which the earth is unique is that it contains everything we need to live— especially water!
From early on mankind has known the importance of water. From early on mankind has realized that water is absolutely essential to our very existence. Perhaps that is why the good Lord very often connects the picture of water with the picture of life on the pages of His holy Word. Therefore, my friends, as you and I continue our sermon series entitled Holy! Holy! Holy! let’s see how this portion of the book of Isaiah focuses our attention on: Holy Water. There are two things we want to see today. First let’s see how the Lord used water to provide His Old Testament people with physical life and salvation. Then let’s see how God uses water to provide us, His New Testament people with spiritual life and salvation.
If you have your Bibles open to Isaiah 43 look at the opening two verses of our text. Isaiah writes, “This is what the LORD says— he who made a way through the sea, a path through the mighty waters, who drew out the chariots and horses, the army and reinforcements together, and they lay there, never to rise again, extinguished, snuffed out like a wick.” What event in the history of God’s Old Testament people is Isaiah describing here? He is describing the parting of the Red Sea. The Lord God of Israel had delivered His Chosen People out of slavery in the land of Egypt with great power and miraculous signs. Two million souls strong the people of God marched victoriously out of Egypt laden with gold and silver and clothing and livestock and herds and flocks. (See Exodus 12:35-38) Within days, however, the Children of Israel found themselves hopelessly trapped. On one side of them were the mighty waters of the Red Sea. On the other side were the horses and the chariots, the swords and the spears of Pharaoh’s mighty army! God’s people quickly learned, however, that with the Lord there is always hope, with the Lord there is always salvation! The Lord God parted the waters of the Red Sea, allowed the Israelites to cross over on dry ground and when Pharaoh’s army tried to pursue the Israelites the Lord caused the waters to come crashing down with the result that Pharaoh’s army “lay there, never to rise again, extinguished, snuffed out like a wick.”
This, my friends, was a “defining moment” in the history of God’s Chosen People. For generations to come the celebration of Passover not only reminded the Israelites of how the Lord their God led them out of physical slavery, but the celebration of the Passover also reminded God’s people of how the Lord granted them physical life and physical salvation when He used the water of the Red Sea to save His people from certain death at the hands of Pharaoh’s army. From that perspective we might even call the waters of the Red Sea “holy water” for that is the water that God used to provide His people with physical life, physical salvation. But as great and as glorious as that “defining moment” in history was for God’s people look at what Isaiah says in verses 18-21 of our text, “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland. The wild animals honor me, the jackals and the owls, because I provide water in the desert and streams in the wasteland to give drink to my people, my chosen, the people I formed for myself that they may proclaim my praise.”
God had already revealed to His people through His servant Isaiah that just as He had allowed their brothers and sisters in the Northern Kingdom of Israel to be conquered by the Assyrians because of their sin and their stubbornness, so also God would allow the people of Judah and Jerusalem to be conquered and carried into exile by the Babylonians because of their own sin and their own stubbornness. But as God’s people sat in exile in Babylon the Lord did not want them to sit and pine about the “good ‘ol days,” the days when the Lord delivered their ancestors from certain death using the waters of the Red Sea. The Lord did not want His people to be looking backwards and grieving over the glories they once enjoyed, glories that now seem to be hopelessly lost forever. No, instead of backwards God wanted His people to look forward! God wanted His people to know that just as He was able to deliver their ancestors from the powerful Egyptian army so also He will deliver them from the mighty Babylonians! God wanted His people to realize that even though they were about to be carried off into exile, the Lord their God was already planning and preparing for their return to their homeland! And what a mighty glorious return it would be! God uses the picture of “making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland,” God promises His people, “I provide water in the desert and streams in the wasteland to give drink to my people, my chosen, the people I formed for myself” to assure His people that they would lack nothing as the Lord graciously leads His people home to Judah and Jerusalem! Yes, my friends, once again, God uses the picture of “water,” we might even say “holy water,” to describe how He would give His people physical life, physical salvation!
Now as I was studying this text and as I was listening to our Lord say to His Old Testament people, “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! … I provide water in the desert…to give drink to my people, my chosen, the people I formed for myself” I could not help but think of how beautifully those words apply to you and to me. All too often we get mired in our past, don’t we. Sometimes we long for what we might remember as the “good ‘ol days” and wish we could go back to them. Sometimes we lament over how often we let sin rule over us as though we were its “slaves” and how often we found ourselves as “captives” to actions or to attitudes that we now regret. But the Lord our God does not want us to stay mired in the quicksand of our past, my friends! The Lord our God does not want us to let the sins of our past define who we are today or determine who we will be tomorrow! Instead of looking back, God says to you and to me, “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! … I provide water in the desert and streams in the wasteland to give drink to my people, my chosen, the people I formed for myself.”
What is the “new thing” that the Lord our God has done for us? How has the God of heaven provided us with “water in the desert and streams in the wasteland” of this sinful and sin-filled world? Permit me to suggest that the good Lord has done this for you and for me through “holy water”— the “holy water” of Baptism! By itself the water of Baptism is just plain water. But when that ordinary water is connected with the extraordinary power of God’s holy Word it becomes a washing through which God Himself fulfills His promise, “See, I am doing a new thing!” The apostle Paul emphasizes the “new thing” that God does for us through the Sacrament of Holy Baptism when he writes in his letter to the Romans, “Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life” (Romans 6:3-4).
Our Baptism, my friends, was a “defining moment” in our lives. The actual water used at our baptism may be long gone, but the “new thing” God did for us, the “new life” that God gave to us, the “new salvation” that became ours through the Sacrament of Holy Baptism continues into eternity! At the time of our Baptism the good Lord rescued us from a spiritual “desert” that could only bring death and destruction and He freely gave us to drink of the “living water” of His Son. At the time of our Baptism the God of heaven graciously brought us into the group of people He describes here in our text with the words, “my people, my chosen, the people I formed for myself.” And now because of what the Lord has done for us, because of what the Lord has given to us, because of the salvation the Lord has secured for us our number one goal in life is to “proclaim” His “praise”! The words of our mouth as well as the actions of our life are to proclaim the “new thing” that the Lord has done for us— and for all people— through the work of His Christ (Pointing to the cross) and through the power of His Holy Spirit (Pointing to the Baptismal font).
This is why it is so vitally important for us to remember that Baptism is a Sacrament— something that God does for us. Sadly, in many churches today Baptism is taught as something that we do for God. For example, in the Baptist church Baptism is defined as, “Christian baptism is the immersion of a believer in water in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It is an act of obedience symbolizing (emphasis mine) the believer’s faith in a crucified, buried, and risen Savior, the believer’s death to sin, the burial of the old life, and the resurrection to walk in newness of life in Christ Jesus.” Do you see the false teaching here? Instead of believing, teaching and confessing what Scripture declares concerning Baptism (namely, that Baptism is one of the “means” or “tools” that God uses to created the gift of saving faith in a person’s heart— even in the heart of an infant) the Baptist church maintains that baptism “is an act of obedience.” In other words, Baptism is your way of showing God and your way of showing others that you have “accepted” Jesus as your Lord and Savior. Essentially, they have this precious Sacrament completely backwards!
“What difference does it make?” someone might say. It makes a tremendous difference my friends! For centuries the Christian Church has been confessing in the Nicene Creed, “We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.” If Baptism is your “act of obedience” and then one day you realize that you have not been very “obedient” to your Lord, what do you do? Just get baptized again! What difference does it make? If baptism is your “act of obedience” then the emphasis is placed on what you do for God and not on what God does for you. What difference does it make? Let me give you a real-life example.
In one of my previous congregations I had a couple who had been blessed with the gift of a son. The day after Mom gave birth I went up to the hospital to visit them and to congratulate them. The first thing I noticed was that the baby was not in the room with Mom. After I chatted a little bit, I asked about the baby. Mom and Dad told me that there was something “not right” with him and so the doctors had him in the NICU. When I asked what the difficulty was they said, “The doctors aren’t sure.” Dad took me to see his son in the NICU. He looked very thin. Apparently he could not nurse or eat out of a bottle so they had to insert a feeding tube down his nose. After having a prayer and a devotion with Mom and Dad I left. The next day I went up to see them again. The baby was still in the NICU. The doctors were still uncertain of what the problem was. I talked to Mom and Dad about having their son baptized. Dad (who was not yet a member of our congregation) wanted to wait. He had family that he wanted present for the baptism. The next day I went back. Same conversation. Same response. After a few days the doctors said that they wanted to transfer the baby to a hospital that specialized in pediatrics. I suggested to Mom and Dad that we have their son baptized before he is transferred. Dad finally agreed and we baptized their son in a little room adjacent to the NICU. The next day the baby was transferred to that specialty hospital. Within days he was diagnosed with Zellweger Syndrome— an incurable genetic disease. Three and a half months later the baby died in Mom’s arms. Can you guess what I preached on at the baby’s funeral? Baptism! I assured Mom and Dad that when their son was baptized with water in the name of the Triune God, he was adopted by God to be His very own dearly beloved son! I assured Mom and Dad that their son was now safe in our heavenly Father’s Kingdom and that one day they would see him again. And, I was able to give them that assurance because— because of what the Scriptures teach us concerning the Sacrament of Holy Baptism! What difference does it make? It makes all the difference, my friends — both in time and in eternity!
The billions upon billions of dollars our nation spends on sending rovers to Mars to look for water is a testimony to how much we realize that water is essential for life. No water— no life. My prayer this morning we will take this realization and apply it to our spiritual lives as the children of God. Just as we might say that the water of the Red Sea was “holy water” in so far as God used that water to provide His children with physical life, so also we can say that the water of Baptism is “holy water” insofar as this is one of the ways what God uses to give us spiritual life!
To God be the glory!
Amen