Even as we look at God's judgment on the earth - earthquakes, people fleeing, mountains splitting - we also see our Lord gathering a people to himself, a people he has chosen to be holy before him, a people he has chosen to redeem from death into life. Titus 3.4-7 sums that situation up. Our Lord has appeared, in the right time, according to his plan, and has saved us. He has not done it with any regard to our works or our lack of works. He has just done it. And how has the Lord accomplished this salvation? Again, not by any of our works but by his work, washing us with "regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit" (ESV). This washing is also a gift of God, given to us through Jesus, justifying us, giving us an inheritance of a certain hope.
How are we to read the "washing" language in the New Testament. The more I look at it the more I see the waters of baptism in the washing language that we see. The term "baptism" as we see it used of Christian baptism is always a ceremonial application of water. It is always done by someone else, so the person receives baptism rather than applying it himself. And it always seems to have some sort of a concrete result linked to it. The Word of God along with the physical element (water) is applied to the person and the Lord lays his claim on that person - a claim of faith, a promise of a life of righteousness, an inheritance of the Kingdom.
May the Lord always remind us of our baptism, that we have been washed, that he has renewed us.
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