One of the diversions of my youth was spelunking. A term used for cave exploration. I was first introduced to it when I was visiting Perryville Missouri when I was about 15. We were staying at the college which was associated with my high school, during a basketball tournament. One of the underclassmen asked if anyone would be interested in ‘cave climbing’. I was immediately and assumed we would be going to an open cave like Mammoth or even the Mark Twain. I certainly wasn’t ready for what I was about to experience.
After about a half hour drive, we came to what looked like a cow pasture. There was tall waving grass in a hilly landscape, but where was the cave? Gathering all the gear we walked until arriving at what seems to be a small rock outcropping that had a crack like hole. It looked like it could be a fox’s den. To my amazement our guide said, “This is it.” And began to instruct us on what we were about to do.
Once geared up one by one we backed our way into the hole. Even for me a skinny kid it was a tight fit. The hole opened into first a horizontal then a vertical crevice or fissure. Being claustrophobic did not help, in places squeezing through is the only way to describe our descent. After minutes in of wriggling, one by one again, we dropped about six feet into an open area. None of us had our lights on yet and when the guide, Jimmy turned on his I was amazed to see we were on a small platform that opened into this massive underground dome. Stalactites and stalagmites were everywhere. A surreal world of colors and textures. We explored for hours through more domes and waterfilled passages. I was hooked. I joined the ranks of spelunkers.
Over the next ten years there were many more caving adventures but none of them ever compared with the wonder and amazement I felt that first time. First time experiences seem to stay with me more than anything else. I don’t imagine I am all that much different than any one reading this. I have heard people describe their first-time snorkeling in an exotic reef, climbing that mountain or rafting a whitewater river. We hold on to these things all our lives.
But I have also known that once I experienced that rush, many times the excitement of doing it again is lost. It was ok I normally just move on to the next adventure. But I experienced this also when I committed my life to Christ and was baptized. Here I felt something must be wrong.
The thing is that when I was thinking of baptism I treated it like many of my earthly first-time events. Oh yeah, I prepared and did bible study and thought I was ready. When I stood in that font and went under the water, I came up seeing all new colors. I was fired up; the world was as beautiful as that first flash of light in that dome years before. I will remember that feeling for the rest of my life. But soon I was back in my street clothes and… now what?
With earthly events you can at least try to recapture that moment, it is never the same, but you can try. With baptism, it was pretty much once and done. So again… now what? It took a young minister and the word of God to work out what had gone wrong.
I was listening to a sermon by this young minister one Sabbath and he said something the perked up my ears, “Baptism is like a marriage.” I am sure for some of you this is like, duh, of course it is. But for me, I had never thought of it in those terms. He went on to say that the Bible constantly uses marriage as a central metaphor for God’s relationship with us. That sent me on a journey through the God’s Word which not only changed my idea of baptism but my life as the “bride of Christ”.
I do not have room for all the verses I have found on the subject, but I want to list a few of my favorites:
“For your Maker is your husband, the Lord of hosts is his name; and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer, the God of the whole earth he is called.” (Isaiah 54:5) God is our husband, when we commit and repent, baptism is more than an event it is a marriage to the Creator of All.
“For I feel a divine jealousy for you, since I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin.” (2 Corinthians 11:2) Baptism is a miracle where sinful man can be presented to God as a ‘pure virgin’.
“When I passed by you again and saw you; behold, you were at the age of love, and I spread the corner of my garment over you and covered your nakedness. I made my vow to you and entered into a covenant with you, declares the Lord God, and you became mine.” (Ezekiel 16:8) Baptism more than event it is a covenant, when I enter it I became His, a committed child of God.
Believe me there are so many more verses, and every one is an intimate look at something so much bigger than I understood. Joining my life to Christ in baptism was not just another ‘rush’ event, it was a life changing, life long commitment. And today, I do look back on it with more awe than standing in the center of a glittering dome below the earth. Because it was the day that I said, “I do” to the great I AM. Me, a sin filled loser, died in the watery grave to be reborn whiter than snow. Climbing to the top of Mount Everest will never top that.
Blessings John
1/22/18
