In our study of liturgics we should start with Baptism since it is this sacrament which inaugurates the Christian life. And when we think of Baptism we think of a Priest immersing a baby in blessed water in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. This is the beginning of a Christian’s life and most people usually associate this rite of Baptism as a reference to the water as cleansing and purifying. But this is not actually the most important meaning of the rite. And to fully understand this symbolism we have to look at references in the Old Testament that can set us on the track of interpreting this rite. We must look more specifically at the Creation and the Deluge, the great flood with Noah, and the Exodus from Egypt with Moses crossing the Red Sea. And what happened in the Old Testament directly corresponds to the New Testament which is one of the principles of biblical theology. This comparison between the Old and the New Testament is called typology and its foundation, is to be found in the Old Testament itself.
We see Pharaoh as the devil, being the leader of Egypt, which is a figure of the sinful world we live in, is destroyed by the water of judgment. The sea is also the figure of Baptism, since it delivered the people from Pharaoh, as Baptism from the tyranny of the devil. The sea killed the enemy; so in Baptism, our enmity to God is destroyed. The people came out of the sea whole and safe; we also come out of the water as living men from among the dead.