The unbelievers did not go into the ark, neither did they put their children there. The faithless adults and their little children were not baptized but only immersed in the flood when they all perished outside the ark.15 However, both the believing Noah and all of his children were saved. They were not immersed in the flood. To the contrary, they were alI baptized inside the ark while it was being sprinkled from above by the rain from heaven.16
In a similar way, the waters of baptism from above are today to be sprinkled on believers and on their children. This action urges them all to trust and to keep on trusting in Christ, Who alone saves even them from destruction. For baptism (by sprinkling) corresponds to the rain which fell from above when Noah and his family were all safely inside the ark of the covenant. It reminded them of their salvation from the floodwaters of God’s righteous judgment. Similarly, our own baptism today is a picture of our own redemption. For by grace and through faith, the sprinkling of baptism points us to the sprinkled blood of Jesus which it depicts.17
