Man’s guilty conscience warns him of God’s just wrath. So, he constructs some hiding places. Some try to build a temple of good deeds to appear like a responsible citizen, and get some “attaboysâ€. Some construct a mental amusement park to indulge all their carnal appetites, hoping the gnawing of their guilt will be drowned in the din of distraction. But neither a tower of self-righteousness nor a den of indulgence provide the shelter man seeks. You’d be better off building an igloo in Phoenix in late July.
The promise of baptism is the promise of Shelter. By faith you’ve come to shelter in Christ. In these waters, God promises to look upon you as one who dwells in the strong fortress of Jesus Christ. To paraphrase the hymn-writer, you are a soul that has leaned on Jesus for repose, and God will not desert you to your foes.
In baptism, Jesus invites us out of our flimsy towers of good deeds, out of our hovels of selfish indulgence, and into His death, into His life, into His fellowship with His Father and the Spirit. Every other shelter has failed you and left you bare and defenseless, so come and welcome, our brother, to the strong tower of Jesus Christ.
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