In the New Testament we are taught that baptism is a sacrament of death and resurrection. All who are baptized are baptized into the Lord’s death (Rom. 6:3), and all who die with Him are also raised with Him. We are raised to life for our justification (Rom. 4:25). Thus coming to the waters of baptism represents mortification, the killing of the old Adam, and coming from the waters of baptism represents walking in newness of life.
And so in every baptism there is an element of continuity and an element of discontinuity. Before the Exodus, Israel and Egypt both were tangled up together. After the great Red Sea deliverance, which Paul describes as a baptism into Moses, in the cloud and in the sea, the Israelites stood in their liberty on the far side of the Red Sea. They had been brought out of the house of slavery, out of the house of bondage. At the same time, Pharaoh and his chariot divisions were all drowned at the bottom of the sea.
And this is why we can sing and rejoice at every baptism. The horse and rider are thrown into the sea.
Photo by @samaradoole at unsplash