Baptism makes us new creations.
I will establish my covenant with you,
that never again shall all bodily creatures be destroyed
by the waters of a flood;
Now, even the place that seems like the embodiment of old creation, the desert cannot prevent us from receiving the covenant blessings of God. Deserts become, for us, springs of dry land. We have access to the water from the rock, Christ, even as we journey through the desert.
The Spirit drove Jesus out into the desert,
and he remained in the desert for forty days,
tempted by Satan.
He was among wild beasts,
and the angels ministered to him.
To our normal way of looking the desert seems dry. It seems like our very lives are at risk here. But in the desert with Jesus, infused with the new life of baptism, we find increasing strength, deeper wells of joy, the path away from ourselves and toward eternal life.
Good and upright is the LORD,
thus he shows sinners the way.
He guides the humble to justice,
and he teaches the humble his way.
Let's not go into the desert alone. Let's follow Jesus there. Let's go at the prompting of the Spirit, relying on the life given to us in baptism. Only in this way do we escape starvation. Only in this way do we learn just how much we can rely on God when nothing around us seems to indicate that we can. If we let the Spirit manifest our baptismal grace within us we will go through the desert but we will not be thirsty.
This prefigured baptism, which saves you now.
It is not a removal of dirt from the body
but an appeal to God for a clear conscience,
through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,
who has gone into heaven
and is at the right hand of God,
with angels, authorities, and powers subject to him.
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