Heidelbergian Children's Catechism (age 8- 10 years)
Lord's Day 27
This is the second Lord’s Day explaining baptism, for much can be said about it. When a baby is baptized in your church, the minister scoops water from the baptismal font. He sprinkles it on the forehead of the baby. In the time of the apostles, many people heard the good news about Jesus and became believers. Then they were baptized in a brook or in a river. For a moment, they completely disappeared under water. Of course, that was done with adults, not with babies. This still happens often on the mission field when people believe and want to be baptized. You may have seen the pictures in Mission News; that is a real bath. This is the second Lord’s Day explaining baptism, for much can be said about it. When a baby is baptized in your church, the minister scoops water from the baptismal font. He sprinkles it on the forehead of the baby. In the time of the apostles, many people heard the good news about Jesus and became believers. Then they were baptized in a brook or in a river. For a moment, they completely disappeared under water. Of course, that was done with adults, not with babies. This still happens often on the mission field when people believe and want to be baptized. You may have seen the pictures in Mission News; that is a real bath. back to normal when the water of baptism has dried. For, once baptized means baptized for always. Even if you want to run away from the Lord, you cannot wipe off your baptism. After the water has dried up, your forehead still says without letters that you belong to the Lord! And that is great! Many things follow from that: forgiveness, safety, eternal life. But what if someone does not want to follow the Lord and goes his own way? People who do that throw away all the promises of baptism. At their baptism they were privileged to be God’s own children, but now they become disobedient children. They may always return to God, but if they don’t, their punishment will be greater, because at one time they did receive baptism. Do you remember the story of Paul and Silas in prison? They prayed and sang psalms. Then there was an earthquake that opened the doors of the prison and unchained all the prisoners. The jailor thought they had all run away, and he wanted to kill himself. Just on time Paul told him to put away his sword, for all the prisoners were still there. After that, Paul and Silas told him about the gospel. When the jailor asked to be baptized, his children had to come too, for he was told that God was not only his friend, but also the friend of his children. You can call this friendship a covenant. This also happened to you, for children of believing parents belong to the church. Sometimes, a newborn baby dies. A small baby cannot even believe. The parents cry and are very sad, but they know that the Lord has taken their child to himself in heaven. We can say that the Lord is the God of the covenant. He was that already before children were baptized. At that time, boys were circumcised. A small piece of skin was cut away from their penis. That must have hurt, and there was some blood. Just as that skin had to be removed, so also must the sins be removed from their lives. When these boys grew up, they themselves would become fathers of a family. And the children of these circumcised fathers belonged to the covenant of God, just Iike their father and mother. Now God no longer wants circumcision, but baptism. Look, when you see a baby baptized in church, tell yourself:” I have been baptized, too. I belong to the Lord.”