There’s plenty of Bible in our services, from the beginning (call to worship) to the end (benediction).

But there is a particularly Word-centred section with multiple readings and a sermon that aims at unpacking at least one of those readings.

What are we doing in the service of the Word?

In the ancient offering rites of the old covenant, following the laying on of hands – which had to do with the transfer of guilt, and thus with receiving pardon, as we have just done moments ago – after that, the animal was chopped up and placed on the altar.

Remember that the animal represented the worshipper. The worshipper was, in effect, being chopped up, rearranged, set in order, so that he could become fit for ascending to God as a “burnt offering.”

That is what the Word does to us: It “chops us up” – it rearranges us, interprets our lives, challenges us for fitting service to God. So says Hebrews 4.12:

For the Word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intents of the heart.

Surely it is no mere coincidence that this appears in the NT book which says more about sacrifices than any other; nor is it mere coincidence that immediately after this, Hebrews goes on to speak about ascension: that is, it talks about our great High Priest who has “passed through the heavens.”

We are being rearranged here, so that we can ascend with Christ – ascend to feed with God, just as the sacrificial animal was arranged on the altar, and then went up in smoke to be consumed by the glory cloud.

Therefore, we are not hearing the Words of Scripture, only to take in information. We are no here to master a set of data, but to be mastered by the One who speaks, who is God Himself. Let us hear the Word with open ears, ready to be changed.

Thank you for your question. I am glad to see that you are concerned to
follow the Bible in this way. I hope you don’t mind if I take a few
paragraphs to talk about this.

Paul mentions baptism which includes infants in 1 Corinthians 10.2. Of
course, he is referring to an Old Testament event, but as he continues, we
find that he says that the Red Sea and wilderness partaking of water from
the rock and manna were of the same pattern as baptism and the Lord’s
Supper. To be more precise: he uses the language of “tupos” in verses 6 and
11, which is more than “example;” it refers to a pattern or matrix. And this
pattern of Israel was set for “us” (new covenant believers, including
Gentiles), who partake of the Lord’s Supper (1 Corinthians 10.16-22).

The overall context of the passage has to do with faithful living, and Paul’s
point is basically this: Just as Israel was baptized and ate and drank
spiritual food and drink, and yet came under judgment when they tested
Christ, so too with us who fit into the same pattern: we are the body marked
by baptism (see 1 Cor 12.12-13), and we eat and drink spiritual food and
drink, but we must not provoke the Lord to jealousy as Israel did, or we too
will be subject to judgment.

So Israel (including the little children) experienced baptism in the event
of the exodus.

Baptism started long ago, under the old covenant. In fact, Hebrews 9.10
refers to the washings in the Mosaic law as “various baptisms.” Under the
old covenant, in the case of males, circumcision was an entrance into
cleansing, which granted one access to the tabernacle (later, the temple).
(The case was slightly different for females; instead of circumcision -
which obviously belongs to males – they were cleansed through the
purification of their mothers. I can’t go into that here, but it’s based on
Leviticus 12.) That cleansing could be lost in various ways (e.g. sin, as
well as contact with “unclean” things such as dead bodies etc) but was
restored largely by way of these washings. Part of the point of the fact
that under the new covenant there is “one baptism” (Ephesians 4.5) is that
that complex structure of cleansing is no longer necessary under the new
covenant. Rather than circumcision plus baptism after baptism after baptism,
there is now only one baptism.

With regard to your question, the point is that this one washing (new
covenant baptism) does not do away with the infant participation that had
always been the case with old covenant cleansing. That’s why when Peter
preaches on Pentecost, he proclaims baptism in the terms already known. He
says, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ,
for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy
Spirit.” And he grounds that statement with this promise: “For the promise
is for you and *for your children* and for all who are far off – everyone
whom the Lord our God calls to Himself” (Acts 2.38-39). That is an echo of
Old Testament passages such as Genesis 17:7 (where God says, “I will
establish my covenant between Me and you and your offspring after you
throughout their generations”). Peter’s hearers, familiar with the way God
worked throughout the Old Testament Scriptures, would have understood
clearly that God was continuing to work under the new covenant in terms of
believers and their children, just as He did under the old.

It is to be noted that this way of God’s working is not only for people with
Israelite ancestry. Israel was never strictly about blood; Gentiles often
joined with Israel even under the old covenant. In particular, when Israel
left Egypt under Moses, they left as a “mixed multitude” (Exodus 12.38),
meaning that many of those people were not of ethnic Israel. In connection
with 1 Corinthians 10, which I mentioned above, it is also important to note
that shortly after the Exodus, the people in the wilderness were living as
Gentiles in many basic respects. There was no circumcision between the
exodus and the entrance into Canaan 40 years later (see Joshua 5.2-5), and
even Passover was only celebrated the first year after the exodus. (Males
could only participate in Passover if they were circumcised.)

So it is no accident that Paul draws a parallel between Israel’s experience
in the exodus and in the wilderness and the experience of the Gentiles in
Corinth. They were both baptized with water, and their “spiritual” food was
bread (Israel’s spiritual food would normally include meat; for example, the
Passover lamb). As I said, while in the wilderness Israel was functionally
Gentile in many basic respects; and the inclusion of a “mixed multitude”
then pointed forward to the great “mixed multitude” that has come into the
people of God since the Pentecost after Jesus’ ascension. God is the
covenant God of believers and their children, now in the new covenant for
Gentiles, just as much as under the old covenant with Israelites.

That’s why it’s no surprise when the New Testament says that a household
head was baptized along with his/her household (for example, Acts 16.15,
33). So in 1 Corinthians 7.14, Paul describes the children of believers as
“holy ones” – “saints,” whereas the children of unbelievers are “unclean.”
You see that the term “unclean” draws from that old covenant language,
referring to those not eligible to worship God at the tabernacle; the
children of believers, on the other hand, are those who are cleansed for
worship. Which fits completely with everything we have already seen
regarding baptism above.

I apologize if that seems like a rather long and complex answer, but the
Bible is a very rich book, and must be read in terms of its own story, not
in bits and pieces. So I hope that is of some help. I can refer you to an
online essay I wrote about infant baptism if you ever wish to read more:

http://www.biblicalstudiescenter.org/ecclesiology/infantbaptism.htm