It is now time to move into the New Testament, where the answers to the questions about the water are located. The ultimate answer to this question is alluded to in (NASB)John 7: 10-14. It is in the story of the Samaritan woman at the well. It states,“10Jesus answered and said to her, ‘If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, “Give Me a drink,” you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.’ 11She said to Him, ‘Sir, You have nothing to draw with and the well is deep; where then do You get that living water? 12You are not greater than our father Jacob, are You, who gave us the well, and drank of it himself and his sons and his cattle?’ 13Jesus answered and said to her, ‘Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again; 14but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.’”
This woman goes on to ask Jesus in verse15, “The woman said to Him, ‘Sir, give me this water, so I will not be thirsty nor come all the way here to draw.’” Later in the chapter from verses 23-26, Jesus tells her, “23But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. 24God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.’ 25The woman said to Him, ‘I know that Messiah is coming (He who is called Christ); when that One comes, He will declare all things to us.’ 26Jesus said to her, ‘I who speak to you am He.’” So it is quite obvious that this living water is the most important water there will ever be.
Water, as we saw in the Old Testament had a significant role in recording God’s redemptive purpose. In the New Testament we are introduced to John the Baptist. In John’s message of baptism we see a transition to more specific details of this hope of redemption and salvation.
Beginning in Matthew 3: 11-12 we read John’s confession to the truth, “11As for me, I baptize you with water for repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, and I am not fit to remove His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 12 His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clear His threshing floor; and He will gather His wheat into the barn, but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” Here is where we are first introduced to a baptism of the Holy Spirit to give us true eternal life, having no part of any lake of fire kind of death.
But this set of verses goes further than to just introduce us to the Holy Spirit. We are here given the proof that the Holy Spirit came down from Heaven, as we read from verse 13-17. “13Then Jesus arrived from Galilee at the Jordan coming to John, to be baptized by him. 14But John tried to prevent Him, saying, ‘I have need to be baptized by You, and do You come to me?’ 15But Jesus answering said to him, ‘Permit it at this time; for in this way it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.’ Then he permitted Him. 16After being baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove and lighting on Him, 17and behold, a voice out of the heavens said, ‘This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.’” We can rejoice that in our lives we can be secure in the knowledge that the Holy Spirit came and landed on Christ and that He gives the Holy Spirit to us.
There are many verses in the book of Acts that speaks to the baptism introduced by John the Baptist. It begins in Acts 1: 22, “beginning with the baptism of John until the day that He was taken up from us—one of these must become a witness with us of His resurrection.” Then later in Acts 19: 2- 4 we see the Apostle Paul explain and give clarity to baptism, “2He said to them, ‘Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?’ And they said to him, ‘No, we have not even heard whether there is a Holy Spirit.’ 3And he said, ‘Into what then were you baptized?’ And they said, ‘Into John’s baptism.’ 4Paul said, ‘John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in Him who was coming after him, that is, in Jesus.’ 5When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 6And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Spirit came on them…”
Yes, Paul spoke directly to the believers about the baptism of the Holy Spirit by Christ and also of the baptism by water for repentance by John the Baptist. But Paul also went back to the Old Testament and spoke of a water cleansing in Ephesians 5: 25-27 “25Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, 26so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless.”
In these two passages in Ephesians Paul brings together both the Old and New Testaments. Cleansing and purification were the Old Testament themes. In the New Testament John the Baptist was preaching repentance. Jesus Christ gave His life for us and washed us each clean resulting in the baptism of the Holy Spirit that is freely given to all who believe. However, that’s not all there is to it.
We don’t want to forget about the living water. Remember, Paul said we were cleansed by the washing of water with the word. Jesus is the Word, and as Romans 6: 4 explains, “Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.” Our belief in the atonement through Christ Jesus has forever changed us, we who were once dead can now understand John 7: 38, “He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’”
After Jesus had been glorified He sends the Holy Spirit to all believers. At that moment all believers enter into the eternal. Believers have received that living water the Samaritan woman at the well asked for. Through Jesus Christ and His baptizing us with the Holy Spirit believers are reborn and are walking in newness of life.
This is why every Christian celebrates Easter and everything related to the Passion. It is the whole Good News that has been told from Genesis through Revelation 22. It is completed as Revelation 22:1states, “Then he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb.” That is an answer for “What about the Water.” This is news we need to share with every unbeliever who will listen.
So, every time you attend a baptism remember, yes it’s about the water, especially the living water. This makes Christ Jesus’s baptism of the Spirit of God so important and the statement that baptism is an outward expression of in inward reality so personal.