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The phraseology is by no means unusual which represents afflictions and trials as a baptism with which an individual must be baptized. In addressing the sons of Zebedee, Christ had asked, "Can ye drink of the baptism that I drink of, and can ye be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?" In the Old Testament, moreover, the Psalmist speaks of "entering into deep water," which is manifestly the same imagery as that employed in the New. There is a peculiar beauty in this form of expression, when the party to whom it is applied is a righteous and God-fearing man. Baptism is the being dipped in the water, the being sprinkled with the water, and not the being drowned or completely overwhelmed. The form of expression denotes that, however tremendous the affliction may be, it shall not be finally destructive; nay, that it shall issue in addition to what has already been attained. For the word "baptism," in its very essence, has reference to some essential change, so that the man when baptized is presumed to enter on a state from which he had been previously excluded. It will be needful that you carry with you this general view of baptism, as rightly introductory to, and symbolical of, an alteration in circumstances or state, if you would enter fully into our Lord's meaning when He speaks in our text — "But I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how am I straitened till it be accomplished!" The whole structure of the sentence is in exact keeping with the common notion of baptism, seeing that a condition of greater freedom is evidently looked forward to by Christ, as certain to result from those waves of fire through which He had to pass. He laboured under a species of bondage prior to His agony and death; and the consequence of the agony and death would, He knew, be deliverance from this bondage. There is, therefore, peculiar fitness in His describing that agony and death as a baptism with which He should be baptized. A change was to take place; and for the bringing about of that change, immersion in a deep ocean of trouble was actually indispensable.

I. CONSIDER CHRIST'S AGONY AS A BAPTISM. Now, it was a stupendously great work which our blessed Lord undertook in His mission to earth. He had assumed human nature in union with the Divine, and thus stood in the attitude of the representative of mankind. He was no solitary and isolated being acting out for Himself the duties which, as a creature, He owed to the Creator; He was the Surety of the whole of our race; and in the very minutest circumstance of His life we have a close and important concern. He took our transgressions just as well as those of all others living on the earth, and cast them into the waves, and then they rolled on an immensity of wrath, and the innocent Surety bowed down, and trembled, and sank beneath the impetuous torrent. Not, however, that this is the only reason why our Lord's agony and passion may be characterized as a baptism. We have spoken to you of baptism as introductory to some alteration in state or condition. The word only applies to cases in which some change is presumed, as the result of immersion, to have taken place either literally or symbolically. But, with respect to the sufferings of Christ, they agree in every point with the declaration which limits the applicability of the phrase. The baptism of our Lord was such, that length of time was not needful in order to give effect to endurance. Each instant of our Surety's anguish, seeing that He was God as well as man, was equivalent to such countless ages of human punishment, that it was enough for justice that he should be immersed in the water, and then quickly emerge. This fallen creation, tottering under the curse, was then plunged into an abyss of wrath, and sparkled as a renovated thing so soon as He arose above its surface. The agony in Gethsemane was only for a brief season; the ignominy of the crucifixion was soon brought to a close; the imprisonment of the grave quickly gave way; and then He who "bore our sins in His own body on the tree," was literally baptized with the baptism of bitterness. The woe, infinite in extent, was but finite in duration — "Thou wilt not leave My soul in hell; neither wilt Thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption." He must descend into darkness, that the waves and the storms might go over Him. Anguish — He must endure it; contumely — He must submit to it; the hidings of His Father's face — even this, the bitterest and most grievous of all, must be encountered. But then this enduring, this wrestling, they were but for a brief season. He did not tarry in the waters, though it was needful He should be covered by them. And thus the emerging and immersion follow so closely one on the other, that you cannot better describe the great work than by saying of our Lord, that He had "a baptism to be baptized with."

II. CONSIDER IN WHAT RESPECTS IT WAS THAT THE SAVIOUR WAS STRAITENED TILL THIS BAPTISM WAS ACCOMPLISHED. The work of redemption was not complete, and Christ therefore was "straitened," as unable to exhibit a finished deliverance. The Spirit was not yet poured out on His followers; and therefore was He "straitened," inasmuch as He could not preach the deep mysteries of His gospel. Conflict with Satan was not concluded, and therefore was he "straitened" in His human nature, being still exposed to all his attacks. And, lastly, He had not yet won the headship over all things, and therefore was He "straitened" by being circumscribed in Himself, in place of expanding into myriads. These, with like reasons, serve to explain, in a degree, the expression of our text; though we frankly confess that so awful and inscrutable is everything connected with the anguish of the Mediator, that we can only be said to catch glimmerings of a fulness which would overwhelm us, as we may suppose, with amazement and dread.

III. LET US COMMEND TO YOU, IN CONCLUSION, THE NOBLE DESIRE OF ST. PAUL. "That I may know Christ, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death." There is to be wonderful analogy between the firstborn and His people, and we call on you to examine whether you find it realized in your own experience. Unto each of us there remains the baptism of death; a baptism in the truest and most literal sense; for we do but pass through the Jordan, and not stay in the waters. But are we "straitened?" Do we feel ourselves "straitened" till this baptism is accomplished? Let us have no evasion and no subterfuge. We are predestined to be conformed to the image of God; and as He was" straitened," so, if we belong to Him, shall we also be "straitened." Who can be a real Christian and not feel "straitened?" It is our very profession that we are but strangers and pilgrims below; that our home is above. There is "a law in our members warring against the law of our mind — the good that we would we do not — the evil that we would not we do" — "we bear about with us a body of sin and death" — "we see only through a glass darkly" — "it doth not yet appear what we shall be." Are we not then "straitened?" I would give my soul to heavenly music, to communings with the glorious beings of the invisible world; but the flesh clogs the spirit, weighs it, and presses it down, and thus am I "straitened." I would love God with all my heart, with all my soul, and with all my strength; abstracting myself from things that perish in the using, and centring myself on the joys that are laid up for the faithful; but my affections are seized on by the creature; the visible prevails over the invisible, and thus I am "straitened." I would mount even now on the wings of faith, realizing the promise that "they who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount with wings as eagles." I would walk to and fro through the inheritance of the saints, but the things of time hang lead on the pinion, and thus I am "straitened." I would have my thoughts by day and my dreams by night coloured by the pencil of Christian hope; but indwelling corruption throws a stain on the picture, and thus I am "straitened."

(H. Melvill, B. D.)

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KJV: But I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how am I straitened till it be accomplished!

WEB: But I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how distressed I am until it is accomplished!