Tuesday, December 9, 2014
Acts 2:38–39 (NKJV) Then Peter said to them, "Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call."
CHRIST COMES IN BAPTISM
ADVENT means COMING, thus during the season of Advent we prepare for the celebration of Christ's first coming in humility while also preparing for His second coming in glory. Today we consider how Christ comes in Baptism to cleanse sinners.
Jesus the Christ completed the work that His Father (now also our adoptive father by faith) gave Him to do. Thanks to His life, death, and resurrection, we are granted staggering spiritual blessings. The apostle Peter tells us in his first epistle that baptism saves us through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead (cf. 1 Peter 3:21). We bring both children and adults to Christ in baptism because ...
HE COMES in baptism to cleanse. On the Day of Pentecost Simon Peter urged the people to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ (the way Jesus said to do it (cf. Matthew 28:18-20) for the remission of sins. The forgiveness of sins, a blessing granted to sinners by the Spirit through the means of grace (the Gospel in Word and Sacrament) is the necessary cleansing offered in Baptism. Christ offers this cleansing to both infants and adults, to as many as the Lord God calls to faith and forgiveness. The choice is His and that's a good thing, because His mercy is boundless.
CHRIST who came in humility to save still comes in baptism to cleanse, and that's why we can and should look back on our baptisms with joy!
Jesus comes again in mercy when our hearts are bowed with care;
Jesus comes again in answer to an earnest, heartfelt prayer;
Alleluia! Alleluia! Comes to save us from despair!
(The Lutheran Hymnal, 56:2)
