Our Baptism in the Red Sea Was Illustrative of our Transformation into the People of God

So, in our departure from Mitsrayim/Egypt, which was representative of a would-be child of Yah coming into a covenant relationship with Yah through the Person and Ministry of Yahoshua Messiah, guided and led by the Presence of Yah as representative of the pillar of cloud, we crossed the Yam Suph/the Red Sea. Our backs to Mitsrayim/Egypt and Ba’al Zephon, representative of the world and its gods, we began our new existence as a people of Yehovah. Separated, set apart from the nation peoples of this world. And Yah celebrated our transition and transformation from that of being slaves and servants to this world to that of being the chosen ones of Yehovah, serving Him, by cleaving the waters of the Yam Suph and gloriously leading us through the Red Sea on dry ground. We entered/went down into the Yam Suph as if we were dead to our former way of life, having left the things and ways of this world. But we came up out of the Yam Suph on the other side as new people. As servants and children of Yehovah Elohim.  

We Were Baptized into Moses in the Cloud and the Red Sea

And thus, we were, in a great spiritual sense, baptized into Moshe (i.e., a type of Yahoshua Messiah) in Yah’s cloud (i.e., Yah’s presence; His Ruach HaQodesh) by way of the Yam Suph/the Red Sea. 

This beloved is just one example of the beauty, mystery, and efficacy of Torah to Yah’s set-apart people when they learn of Yah and walk steadfastly in His ways, with our Master Yahoshua as their focus.

 The Miracle of the Red Sea Crossing is Illustrative of Great Spiritual Truths Regarding our Redemption

The Apostle Shaul wrote:

“But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual” (1 Corinthians 15:46; ESV).

The transformation that we are called to in Messiah consists of two parts: 

1. Being made dead to our former lives. 

2. Being made alive to Kingdom living—transforming into the image of Yahoshua.

True Biblical Baptism is About the Netsari’s Transformation from Death to the Newness of Life

The act of baptism symbolically encapsulates both parts of the redeemed one’s transformation. The chosen one to be submerged in the waters of the mikveh spiritually and symbolically aligns him or her with Yahoshua’s death and burial. As our Master was once dead to this world in every way, so too we are to be dead to this world in every way as symbolized in the simple, but powerful act of baptism.  

But the act of baptism also illustrates to the Netsari that there’s more than being dead to the ways of the world. For our Master Yahoshua did not remain physically dead. By the power of Father Yah’s Ruach HaQodesh/Holy Spirit, our Master arose from the dead, having been transformed into a glorious being.  

The Apostle Paul/Shaul described this glorious transformation that our Master experienced in 1 Corinthians 15 where he wrote:

²⁰ But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first fruits of them that slept. ²¹ For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. ²² For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. ²³ But every man in his own order: Christ the first fruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming. (1Co 15:20-23 KJV)

Our Master’s transformation, in a sense, serves as an earnest. A promise if you will of what’s in store for those who are His at His return. In fact, it was the Apostle John/Yochanan who described this glorious future event in his first epistle:

² Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. (1Jo 3:2 KJV)

Our Glorious Transformation Begins at Baptism

But in the interim, Father requires that we begin that transformation by …no longer conforming to this world and renewing our minds to conform to the things of the Kingdom (Romans 12:2). And water immersion/baptism is where the Netsari begins his or her transformation.

And so, for the Netsari, water immersion/baptism is not just a ritual that born-again folks go through in order to be admitted to a church roll. In fact, it is far from that. But rather, water immersion/baptism is one of the great mysteries of our Faith that embodies both a state of mind and of being.

And over the course of the next couple installments of this series within a series, we will explore this mystery of true biblical baptism that I pray you will be a part of.