July 14th, 2026
1 Corinthians 10:1-3 — For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, ² and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, ³and all ate the same spiritual food, ⁴ and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ.
This past Sunday, we celebrated the baptism of two wonderful children, and I quoted this section of 1 Corinthians in introducing the covenant sign of baptism. This passage was very important in my transition into the Presbyterian Church. I grew up in a Baptist setting, so the idea of baptizing infants was offensive to me, but as I read Paul’s words to the Corinthians and learned to view baptism within the greater narrative of Scripture, that hurdle was removed.
The Apostles and the Early Church leaned heavily on the story of Exodus, and Tim Mackie of the Bible Project even does a full series on the Exodus throughout Scripture. The Exodus works as a type (that is a shadow of a greater reality) of baptism in the Old Testament. The Pharaoh and Egypt are a typological signs of the Devil and sin/slavery, Moses is a type of Christ, the Red Sea is a type of baptism, and the Israelites are a type of the Church. And the cloud was the presence of God, and many understand that the cloud was the manifestation of the Holy Spirit leading Israel. As God leads the people of Israel out of bondage to slavery, they find themselves trapped between the water and an army intent on dragging them back into bondage. God uses Moses to lead the people through the Red Sea into the wilderness, a land of waiting and pilgrimage.
In the same way, Christians and their covenant children are led through the waters of baptism in Christ into a land of waiting and pilgrimage. We are sojourners in this life, awaiting the coming time when we will cross through the waters of the Jordan into the Kingdom of heaven, but in the mean time, we are like the Israelites who wandered through the wilderness.
And just like the Israelites, we are dependent upon God to spiritually nourish us. Paul speaks of the spiritual food and spiritual drink in the Wilderness. As you may recall, the Israelites were wanderers, so they could not plant seed to grow grain for bread, but God provided manna for them as bread and water from the rock that Moses struck. Paul points out that the manna was a type of Christ’s body, and the water was a type of Christ’s blood. The manna and water are signs of the bread and the cup, of the body and blood of the new covenant in Christ.
As we remember our own baptisms and reflect on the beauty of the mystery echoed throughout the pages of Scripture, we are reminded of our deliverance from slavery, our union with Christ, the forgiveness of our sins, reception of the Holy Spirit, and new birth and adoption as sons of God. In our baptisms, we are buried with Christ and initiated into the Covenant Family of the visible church, and for our covenant children, we faithfully trust God to bring faith alive in them to begin their pilgrimage as professing believers and followers of Jesus Christ to be admitted to the Lord’s Table.
Baptism is not a moment, but it is a reoccurring reality as Martin Luther would say every day we drown the old Adam in the waters of baptism to live in the new Adam who is Christ. Every day, we ought to remember that I am a baptized Christian and be encouraged of the promises of God to equip me to walk by the Spirit and bear fruit. We must resist the urge to reduce baptism to a mere profession of faith or as a ritual washing of sins. Baptism carries those realities, but it is far more than that. Baptism is a sign and seal of our being ingrafted into Christ to participate in the benefits of grace, and commit ourselves to be the Lord’s.
Forget not your baptism!
United in Christ,
Rev. Joshua Fried
Pastor
This past Sunday, we celebrated the baptism of two wonderful children, and I quoted this section of 1 Corinthians in introducing the covenant sign of baptism. This passage was very important in my transition into the Presbyterian Church. I grew up in a Baptist setting, so the idea of baptizing infants was offensive to me, but as I read Paul’s words to the Corinthians and learned to view baptism within the greater narrative of Scripture, that hurdle was removed.
The Apostles and the Early Church leaned heavily on the story of Exodus, and Tim Mackie of the Bible Project even does a full series on the Exodus throughout Scripture. The Exodus works as a type (that is a shadow of a greater reality) of baptism in the Old Testament. The Pharaoh and Egypt are a typological signs of the Devil and sin/slavery, Moses is a type of Christ, the Red Sea is a type of baptism, and the Israelites are a type of the Church. And the cloud was the presence of God, and many understand that the cloud was the manifestation of the Holy Spirit leading Israel. As God leads the people of Israel out of bondage to slavery, they find themselves trapped between the water and an army intent on dragging them back into bondage. God uses Moses to lead the people through the Red Sea into the wilderness, a land of waiting and pilgrimage.
In the same way, Christians and their covenant children are led through the waters of baptism in Christ into a land of waiting and pilgrimage. We are sojourners in this life, awaiting the coming time when we will cross through the waters of the Jordan into the Kingdom of heaven, but in the mean time, we are like the Israelites who wandered through the wilderness.
And just like the Israelites, we are dependent upon God to spiritually nourish us. Paul speaks of the spiritual food and spiritual drink in the Wilderness. As you may recall, the Israelites were wanderers, so they could not plant seed to grow grain for bread, but God provided manna for them as bread and water from the rock that Moses struck. Paul points out that the manna was a type of Christ’s body, and the water was a type of Christ’s blood. The manna and water are signs of the bread and the cup, of the body and blood of the new covenant in Christ.
As we remember our own baptisms and reflect on the beauty of the mystery echoed throughout the pages of Scripture, we are reminded of our deliverance from slavery, our union with Christ, the forgiveness of our sins, reception of the Holy Spirit, and new birth and adoption as sons of God. In our baptisms, we are buried with Christ and initiated into the Covenant Family of the visible church, and for our covenant children, we faithfully trust God to bring faith alive in them to begin their pilgrimage as professing believers and followers of Jesus Christ to be admitted to the Lord’s Table.
Baptism is not a moment, but it is a reoccurring reality as Martin Luther would say every day we drown the old Adam in the waters of baptism to live in the new Adam who is Christ. Every day, we ought to remember that I am a baptized Christian and be encouraged of the promises of God to equip me to walk by the Spirit and bear fruit. We must resist the urge to reduce baptism to a mere profession of faith or as a ritual washing of sins. Baptism carries those realities, but it is far more than that. Baptism is a sign and seal of our being ingrafted into Christ to participate in the benefits of grace, and commit ourselves to be the Lord’s.
Forget not your baptism!
United in Christ,
Rev. Joshua Fried
Pastor
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