Baptism: Lessons from 1 Peter 3 and Ether 3

 

I was in the baptistry of the Saratoga Springs Utah Temple a few months ago, and I noticed that there was an eight-point star in the center of the floor of the font. I spent some time thinking about what the star might represent. I was led to a scripture in 1 Peter that gave me some significant insights:

For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:

By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison;

Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.

The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us... (1 Peter 3:18-21).

In section 138 of the Doctrine and Covenants, we read of a vision given to the prophet Joseph F. Smith that helps us understand Peter's words. We learn that between His death and resurrection, Jesus Christ taught the gospel to those who had not received it on earth, and He organized the spirits of the faithful saints to preach to those who were in spirit prison. (See Doctrine and Covenants 138:6-37).

Peter talked about eight souls being saved by water in the days of Noah. These eight souls were Noah and his sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and their wives. It is with this same figure (eight) that we are saved by baptism. What does that mean?

The Lord taught Abraham, "children are not accountable before me until they are eight years old" (JST Genesis 17:11). Through the prophet Joseph Smith, the Lord taught, "And their children shall be baptized for the remission of their sins when eight years old" (Doctrine and Covenants 68:27). We receive our first ordinance of salvation--baptism--at the age of eight, the point in our lives when we reach the age of accountability. I believe this is what Peter was talking about.

Shortly after my experience in the temple, I was reading Ether 3 in the Book of Mormon. This is the chapter where the brother of Jared makes 16 stones and asks the Lord to touch them and make them shine so that they could have light in their barges as they traveled to the promised land.

And it came to pass that the brother of Jared, (now the number of the vessels which had been prepared was eight), went forth unto the mount, which they called mount Shelem, because of its exceeding height, and did molten out of a rock sixteen small stones; and they were white and clear, even as transparent glass; and he did carry them in his hands upon the top of the mount, and cried again unto the Lord, saying:

O Lord, thou hast said that we must be encompassed about by the floods... (Ether 3:1-2).

In this passage, we read that the number of vessels that had been prepared was eight, and the brother of Jared talks to the Lord about how his people were going to be encompassed about by the floods. Just as there were eight souls saved from the flood in Noah's day, there were eight Jaredite vessels saved from the floods in their day. In each account, the floods represent baptism. Once we reach the age of accountability--eight years old--we can receive baptism, the ordinance that allows us to enter the gate to the strait and narrow path that leads to eternal life (2 Nephi 31:17-21). As Peter says, baptism saves us.

Now, whenever I see the star in the baptismal font at the Saratoga Springs Temple, I am reminded that baptism opens the gate to heaven. I'm grateful that I have received this ordinance of salvation for myself and that I can offer it to others through participation in the work of the temple. What a wonderful blessing.