Water and Salvation in Scripture - Part 1

Water and Salvation in Scripture: The Flood and the Red Sea

Grace, mercy, and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who saves us through water and the Spirit. Amen.

Introduction: The Strange Dual Nature of Water

From the beginning of creation, water has been both a gift of life and an agent of death. It refreshes the thirsty ground, nourishes the crops, and sustains the body. Yet the same water can overwhelm, drown, and sweep away whole nations. In the Scriptures, God uses this dual nature of water not only in the ordering of creation, but also as the instrument of salvation and judgment. Again and again, the Lord works through water—sometimes to destroy the wicked, sometimes to save His people, always to point toward His greater work of salvation in Christ.

Today we begin a journey through Scripture, tracing the theme of Water and Salvation. And where else to begin but with the Flood and the Red Sea—two mighty acts of God in which water became the means of judgment against sin and deliverance for His people. Both events, as the apostles themselves teach, prefigure the sacrament of Holy Baptism, through which the Christian is delivered from sin and death into life and freedom.

I. Noah and the Flood: Judgment and Salvation Through Water

Genesis tells us: “The flood continued forty days on the earth. The waters increased and bore up the ark, and it rose high above the earth” (Gen. 7:17). The waters of the flood were God’s judgment upon a corrupt and violent world. The wickedness of man was great in the earth, every intention of the thoughts of his heart only evil continually. So the Lord determined to blot out man, beast, and creeping thing. The waters that poured from heaven and surged from the deep were the instruments of His wrath.

Yet even in wrath, God remembered mercy. Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord. He was commanded to build an ark, a vessel of salvation that would ride above the waters. Noah and his family—eight souls in all—entered the ark and were saved. When the floodwaters receded, they stepped out onto dry ground, the beginning of a new creation.

The Apostle Peter draws the line from Noah to Christ: “God’s patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water. Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you” (1 Pet. 3:20–21). Just as Noah was carried through the waters of death into life, so the Christian, in baptism, is carried through the flood of sin into salvation. The waters that drown the unbelieving world become, for the believer, the waters of rebirth.

Notice the paradox: the same water that destroyed also saved. Outside the ark, the waters overwhelmed; inside the ark, the same waters lifted up and bore them safely. So too in baptism. For the unbeliever, God’s judgment remains. For the believer, baptism becomes life. The font is both tomb and womb: a place of death and of new birth. We are buried with Christ in baptism, and raised with Him to newness of life.

The ark itself becomes a type of Christ and His Church. Just as Noah’s family was preserved within the ark, so the baptized are preserved within the body of Christ. Outside of Christ, there is only death; in Him, eternal life. Just as the ark was sealed with pitch, so the Church is sealed with the blood of Christ, that the waters of judgment may not seep in.

The early fathers delighted in this typology. They saw in the wood of the ark a foreshadowing of the wood of the Cross. The ark was lifted up upon the waters to save Noah; the Cross is lifted up upon the flood of sin to save the world. As the ark bore the chosen through judgment, so the Cross bears the believer through death into life. And the number eight—eight persons saved—was no accident. For on the eighth day, the day beyond the week, Christ rose from the grave, inaugurating a new creation. Thus the baptismal font is often octagonal, reminding us that in baptism we enter the eighth day, the everlasting day of resurrection.

II. Israel at the Red Sea: Deliverance Through Water

Turn now to the Red Sea. Israel had been redeemed from Egypt by the blood of the lamb. The angel of death passed over their homes, and Pharaoh reluctantly let them go. Yet soon he pursued them with horses and chariots. The people were trapped between the sea before them and the army behind. Death pressed upon them from both sides.

Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the Lord drove the waters back with a strong east wind. The people of Israel went into the midst of the sea on dry ground, the waters like walls on their right and on their left (Exod. 14:21–22). When Pharaoh’s army pursued, the waters returned and overwhelmed them, so that not one remained.

The Apostle Paul interprets this event: “Our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea” (1 Cor. 10:1–2). Israel’s passage through the sea was their baptism. They were delivered from slavery, set free from Pharaoh’s dominion, and brought into covenant with God. As the flood prefigures baptism as salvation from judgment, so the Red Sea prefigures baptism as deliverance from bondage.

Again, the same water that saved also destroyed. For Israel, the sea was the path to freedom; for Egypt, it was the grave. For the believer, baptism is the passage into life; for the unrepentant, the waters of judgment remain. The Christian is no longer under Pharaoh, that is, no longer enslaved to sin, but has passed through the waters into freedom to serve the living God.

And again, the Fathers saw Christ everywhere. The rod of Moses stretched over the waters was a type of the Cross, by which the waters were divided and the way of salvation opened. The cloud that overshadowed them was the Holy Spirit, guiding and protecting. The Red Sea became the great baptismal font of Israel, out of which a nation of slaves arose as a people of God.

III. The Consistency of God’s Work Through Water

Why does God so often choose to work salvation through water? Because water is both ordinary and mighty, both humble and terrifying. It is part of daily life, yet when stirred in storm or flood, it becomes overwhelming. So too the sacraments: humble water, joined with God’s Word, becomes the very instrument of eternal salvation. As Martin Luther said, “Certainly not just water, but the Word of God in and with the water does these things.”

Moreover, water signifies cleansing. We wash with water to remove dirt. God washes with water to remove sin. But in His economy, cleansing comes through death. The old man is drowned, and the new man rises. Thus baptism is not a symbol merely, but a divine act of killing and making alive. The Flood and the Red Sea show us that water is not only for washing, but also for drowning. Sin and death must be drowned, that life may emerge.

This is why baptism is not optional, not an empty sign, but the means by which God joins us to Christ. “Baptism now saves you,” says Peter—not as an external washing, but as the pledge of a good conscience before God, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Through water and Word, we are united with Him who went down into death and rose again. The Flood and the Sea point forward to this mystery, now revealed in Christ.

IV. Exhortation: Living as the Baptized

What then does this mean for us who have passed through the waters of baptism? It means first that we are safe within the ark of Christ’s Church. The world may rage, judgment may fall, but within Christ we are secure. Therefore, cling to the ark; do not leap into the waters of sin. Remain in Christ, and He will bear you safely to the new creation.

It means also that we are free. Pharaoh no longer rules over us. Sin is no longer our master. We are not slaves but sons. Therefore, live not as those still in Egypt, longing for the flesh pots, but as those who have passed through the sea, who have been bought with a price, who belong to God. The old tyrant may pursue, but he cannot overtake; the waters have swallowed him up. Christ has triumphed.

And it means finally that we walk in hope. As Noah emerged from the ark into a renewed earth, as Israel walked out of the sea onto the shore of freedom, so we too shall come through the final judgment into the new heavens and new earth. Baptism is the pledge of that day. The flood of death will not overwhelm, for we are in Christ. The sea of despair will not consume, for we are baptized into His victory. He who saved Noah, He who delivered Israel, He who raised Jesus from the dead, will also bring us through.

Conclusion: Christ the Living Water

Beloved, all Scripture speaks of Christ. The Flood, the Ark, the Red Sea, the rod of Moses—all find their fulfillment in Him. He is the Ark that bears us up. He is the Lamb whose blood delivers. He is the Rod lifted high. He is the Living Water that flows for eternal life.

Therefore, let us rejoice in our baptism. Let us remember daily that we are baptized, that sin has been drowned, that we have been set free. And let us look to the day when the final flood of judgment will come, and the Church, borne in Christ, will come safely to rest upon the eternal shore.

To Him be glory forever and ever. Amen.