The Matrix, that phenomena of special effects that won four Academy Awards and was placed in the national Film Registry in 2012 as one of the greatest science fiction films of all time, has got to be one of my all time favorite movies. But, this has nothing to do with the movie. Last week I had an epiphany when a scientist used the word matrix in terms of one body of substance or material surrounding another. Infact, the actual definition: an environment or material in which something develops; a surrounding medium or structure. I had never thought of the word before only that it was the title of a movie. But it moved me into thinking about the experience of Baptism.
In the doctrine of our faith we believe that Baptism is through total immersion based on several scriptures in the Bible one of which is Matthew 3:13–17:
Matthew 3:13–17| Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, to be baptized by him. John would have prevented him, saying, ‘I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?’ But Jesus answered him, ‘Let it be so now; for it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness.’ Then he consented. And when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, ‘This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.’
What intrigues me is the idea of the matrix–the material–that surrounded Jesus during his baptism experience. What is it about these two hydrogen atoms bonded to a single oxygen atom that make it so miraculous?
The Wonder of Water
Water is an incredible material. It can exist in three forms all at once: Gas, liquid and a solid. It expands when it freezes (and hot water freezes faster than cold water) and then it can float on its liquid form. It has the ability to split a huge boulder in two, carve a glacial valley, and given enough pressure it can cut through steel. It nourishes plants and animals alike by acting as a solvent that breaks down the nutrients so that the molecules can travel through blood vessels in an animal or through a plant up the xylem through a process called capillary action. DNA, proteins, molecules and all the parts that make up cell membranes wouldn’t work without water. It is as essential to our life as oxygen and food.
So why is water the matrix for baptism? Jesus understood the fundamental principle of the necessity of water to promote and sustain life, its symbolic strengths and its universal appeal and acceptance. However, Jesus’ stated purpose was not about magical mystical powers in the water but about the procession of things to come to fulfill all righteousness (Matthew 3:15). Jesus was connecting the material with the spiritual, the tactile with the intangible. By announcing his pleasure with his son following his baptism, the Father’s approval marked the beginning of the end times of things that must take place in order to fulfill all that had been established to make this an unbreakable and everlasting covenant between God and man. Baptism was never man’s invention to reach God–It was God’s action to connect with man. A marked point in time as a symbol for people to own their faith.
Jesus’ Commandment
Baptism is more than symbolic when Jesus gives us a directive. The mandate was more than a suggestion, it was a statement that he would be with us as we do this work in light of the gospel.
Matthew 28:19–20|“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Death, Burial, Resurrection
In our confidence we have this assurance through our faith that our completion of the act through baptism is a reflection of the death, burial and resurrection of our Lord. He laid down his life of his own free will and we do the same in this symbolic gesture.
Colossians 2:12–14| For we’ve been buried with him into his death. Our “baptism into death” also means we were raised with him when we believed in God’s resurrection power, the power that raised him from death’s realm. This “realm of death” describes our former state, for we were held in sin’s grasp. But now, we’ve been resurrected out of that “realm of death” never to return, for we are forever alive and forgiven of all our sins! He canceled out every legal violation we had on our record and the old arrest warrant that stood to indict us. He erased it all — our sins, our stained soul — he deleted it all and they cannot be retrieved! Everything we once were in Adam has been placed onto his cross and nailed permanently there as a public display of cancellation.
The Old is Dead and the New has Come to Life
We understand through baptism that our old self is being buried, dead to the sin that kept us as slaves. Now we are new creations and we have this hope through our resurrected Lord.
Romans 6:3–6| Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.
Conclusion
Baptism is not magic. You won’t pop up out of the water and suddenly see angels. But it will begin the process to a changed life, a life, that, if you will allow God to lead you, will be an amazing adventure. Its purpose is to empower you to have an unshakeable faith in the face of any trial or temptation as you travel this narrow road.
Titus 2:11–14| For the grace of God has been revealed, bringing salvation to all people. And we are instructed to turn from godless living and sinful pleasures. We should live in this evil world with wisdom, righteousness, and devotion to God, while we look forward with hope to that wonderful day when the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, will be revealed. He gave his life to free us from every kind of sin, to cleanse us, and to make us his very own people, totally committed to doing good deeds.
