Do you know that when Christ was baptized, He gave a picture of His great work of redemption? He said to John, "Thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness," by which I understand not that He fulfilled all righteousness by being baptized, but that His baptism was a picture or emblem of the fulfillment of all righteousness. What was done with Christ when He was baptized? First, He was regarded as one who was dead; therefore, He was buried beneath the water. He thus set forth the fact that He had come to earth to be obedient unto death, even the death of the cross; and in due time He would actually die and be buried. But baptism does not consist in merely plunging the person into the water; he must be lifted out again; otherwise, he would be drowned, not baptized. So the Savior, when He arose up out of the water, set forth His own resurrection. By His baptism, He figuratively said, "I shall die for sinners, I shall rise again for sinners, and I shall go back to heaven to intercede for sinners. My death will put away all their sins, and My resurrection will complete their justification." His dying, His burial, His rising, His ascension - these are the fulfillment of all righteousness; and it is by these that we are saved. It is not by your being baptized that you are saved; it is Christ being baptized for you with that baptism of blood when He poured out His soul unto death that you might live forever. It is not your suffering, but His suffering that avails for your salvation. Trust in Christ Jesus and you shall find in Him all that you need.
-copied*