Old Testament Prophecies of Baptism

Rev. Ronald Hanko

Rev. Hanko is a minister in the Protestant Reformed Churches in America and has authored a number of books, including (among others) the following: Doctrine According to Godliness: A Primer on Reformed Doctrine (2004), The Coming of Zion’s Redeemer: Commentary on Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi (2015). He was also the joint author of Saved by Grace: A Study of the Five Points of Calvinism (1995) and its accompanying study guide (all of which can be purchased at http://www.cprc.co.uk and http://www.rfpa.org).

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[Previous section: “Old Testament Baptisms”]

Further evidence for sprinkling as the biblical mode of baptism is found in the Old Testament prophecies of baptism.  There are several steps we must follow in looking at these prophecies.

      

In the first place, we must remember that water baptism is only a sign.  The reality of baptism is the washing away of sin by the blood and Spirit of Christ our Savior.  There seems to be little disagreement about this, for Scripture’s testimony is clear.  That the washing away of sin by Christ’s blood is baptism in its deepest spiritual reality is clear from Titus 3:5, I Corinthians 6:11, and Revelation 1:5.  Titus 3:5-6 and I Corinthians 6:11 also show that the work of the Spirit in sanctifying us is properly called baptism.

Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour. (Tit. 3:5-6)

And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God. (I Cor. 6:11)

And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood. (Rev. 1:5)

If this is true, then all the Old Testament passages which prophesy the death of Christ and its saving power and the work of the Spirit as Sanctifier, are prophesying of baptism, that is, of the spiritual reality of baptism to which the water sign points.  That spiritual reality, when prophesied in the Old Testament, is customarily described in terms of sprinkling or pouring.

      

Not only that, but if the spiritual reality, prophesied in the Old Testament, is described as a sprinkling or pouring, is it strange that the sign should also be by sprinkling or pouring?  Ought not the sign correspond to the reality?

      

The passages, then, that prophesy the work of the Spirit in terms of sprinkling are Isaiah 44:3, Ezekiel 36:35, Joel 3:28-29, and Malachi 3:10.

      

Isaiah 44:3 says:

              

For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground: I will pour my spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring [notice the reference to infant baptism as well—RH].

The pouring of water here is the Old Testament figure for the outpouring of the Spirit.

      

Ezekiel 36:25-27 speaks of sprinkling:

Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols will I cleanse you.  A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.  And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.

The cleansing with water is once again the equivalent of the gift of the Spirit of God as Sanctifier.

      

Joel 2:28-29, the passage Peter preached on at Pentecost, describes the gift of the Spirit also in terms of pouring:

And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: and also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit.

Finally, Malachi 3:10, though it does not speak specifically of the Spirit, must be understood as prophesying that event, for the blessings of God, so great that there is not room enough to receive them, must be the blessings of salvation given by the Spirit of Christ (cf. Eph. 1:3; 3:16-19).  The verse from Malachi which prophesies this is verse 10:

Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open  you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.

Likewise, the application to us of the blood of Christ, also symbolized by the water of baptism, is always prophesied and described in the Old Testament as being by sprinkling in Isaiah 52:15:

So shall he sprinkle many nations; the kings shall shut their mouths at him: for that which had not been told them shall they see; and that which they had not heard shall they consider.

This passage is, of course, the introduction to Isaiah 53 and its precious and abiding testimony concerning the death of Christ and its saving benefits.

Indeed, every passage of the Old Testament which speaks of the blood of the sacrifices, which symbolized the shed blood of our Savior, speaks of that blood being sprinkled or poured (Exod. 9:8, 10; 24:6, 8; 29:16, 20; Lev. 4:7 18, 25, 30, 34; 14:7, 51; 17:13; etc.).  Even the water that was used in the cleansing rituals of the Old Testament was sprinkled or poured.  This in itself is a powerful testimony, for all these sprinklings and pourings were symbolic of true baptism—the cleansing power of the blood and Spirit of Christ; but when one adds the testimony of Hebrews 9, which identifies these sprinklings and pourings as “baptisms,” the testimony of Scripture is unmistakable and irresistible.

      

All the prophecies, therefore, of the Old Testament which prophesy the reality of baptism and have something to say about the mode, speak of sprinkling or pouring.  That is no small testimony concerning the manner of the application of the sign of baptism.  The water which symbolized the application of the blood and Spirit of Christ, we believe, ought to be administered in the same way that the reality is administered—by sprinkling or pouring.

[Next section: “Baptism with the Holy Spirit”]