Throughout human history, God has proven His love for us. He has planned from before the beginning of time for us to be one in Him, but His love for us demands that we choose this unity ourselves. He gives us free will to make this choice, but we all fail to love God as He has loved us. So He sends us a saviour Jesus, His only Son, who is able to love God perfectly. In His love, Jesus rectifies the damage caused by our sins and gives us the ability to enter His life so that we can love as He did.
With the doorway to a new life in Jesus open to all people because of God’s loving action for us, our free will comes back into play. Will we now accept God’s love for us in light of the suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus? If the answer is yes, then Jesus gives us clear instructions as to what comes next.
During His conversation with Nicodemus, a Pharisee who secretly talks with Jesus under the cover of darkness, Jesus gives all of us the explicit instruction of what must be done to enter into His kingdom of love. Nicodemus says to Jesus: Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God.
Jesus answered him, Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.
Nicodemus said to Him, How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born?
Jesus answered, Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be astonished that I said to you, ‘You must be born from above.’
Jesus gives the clear message that to be part of His kingdom, a rebirth needs to occur. It is plainly not a physical rebirth, but it is a rebirth of ‘water and spirit’.
How do we know that Jesus means this to be baptism?
First, Jesus Himself is baptized before He begins his public earthly mission of bringing about the Kingdom of Heaven. He goes down into waters of the Jordan River and the Holy Spirit descends upon Him. He does this so that what had been a ritualistic cleansing could be elevated to an efficacious action in which grace can be lavished upon all of those who take part.
Second, Jesus explicitly commands the Apostles in His last words to them before His Ascension into heaven, to Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. He gives this commandment to the men He had entrusted to advance His kingdom on earth. And the way for the Apostles to usher all those who believed in Jesus into His kingdom was through baptising them through water and spirit.
So for those who believe that Jesus is the Son of God, if we want to enter into His life, we must be baptized. Jesus makes it explicitly clear that to receive His life, we must take the path that He did, into the waters of Baptism. When we do this, we will be given His Spirit and enter into His Kingdom of Love. Yet, as it was for Jesus, Baptism is just the beginning of the incredible life that God has in store for us.