Baptismal meditation

Isaiah 52:13-15: Behold, My servant will prosper, He will be high and lifted up and greatly exalted. Just as many were astonished at you, My people, so His appearance was marred more than any man and His form more than the sons of men. Thus He will sprinkle many nations, kings will shut their mouths on account of Him; for what had not been told them they will see, and what they had not heard they will understand.

Yahweh promised Abraham that he would be the father of many nations, and gave the sign of circumcision to mark the people that would be the agent for His blessing. Jesus is the true Seed of Abraham, who blesses to every nation of the earth, and the story of history since Jesus is the story of the fulfillment of that Abrahamic promise.

This is the story of baptism as well. We see so many baptisms around here that they become humdrum, rote. We need to remember that every time we see a baptism, we see the promises of God fulfilled right before our eyes. In every baptism, the Seed of Abraham claims yet another child of Adam from among the nations to be His own.

That, I say, is true of every baptism. But we have a particular privilege today to witness a baptism that demonstrates that with special clarity. Typically, we are witnesses to baptisms of Americans, citizens of a nation that has been Christian since its founding. That is dramatic, and it enacts the promise of God.

Today we see something different, even more dramatic. Jung Jin and Sung Hee are Koreans, not American-Koreans but Koreans. They are part of an increasingly Christian nation.

Korea is far older than America. Its history reaches back into the third millennium BC, but Christianity arrived in Korea only in the 18th century and Protestants only in the 19th. Until the middle of the last century, the Korean church grew very slowly, but since then Korea has become one of the places on earth where God’s promise to Abraham is being fulfilled in spectacular fashion.

Today, we get to see that firsthand. Today, Jesus Christ reaches across the globe to mark this Korean baby as a daughter of Abraham.

Isaiah tells us more about what this means. He repeats the promise to Abraham, and describes it as the Lord’s promise to sprinkle many nations. According to Isaiah, this sprinkling is the act of the Servant of Yahweh. Like Israel, this Servant is despised and rejected and marred.

But Isaiah says that the Suffering Servant is also the exalted Servant. By His suffering and death, the Servant of Yahweh who is the Seed of Abraham is raised up to rule. And he exercises this rule by sprinkling the nations, cleansing them and claiming them. Today, that Servant, Jesus, exerts His authority and power today before our eyes by claiming this Korean baby as his own.

When the Servant sprinkles the nations, Isaiah says, the nations will stand back in awe. Kings see the Servant of Yahweh at work and they will stop their mouths in wonder. They will be astonished as the Servant of Yahweh sprinkles them, showing that He is King of kings and Lord of lords.

Every baptism fulfills the promise to Abraham, and so every baptism is a moment of astonishment. Jung Jin, Sung Hee, this moment should lead you to give thanks and praise to the Servant of Yahweh, who is making your daughter His own. You should be filled with wonder and be glad.

For all of us, this baptism is awesome in the most literal sense. Because today, at this moment, in this baptism, we see God do what He has always intended to do: We see Him filling the earth with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.