LISTEN TO HIM: THE BAPTISM OF JESUS

LISTEN TO HIM:

THE BAPTISM OF JESUS

And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. 

Then he suffered him.

Matthew 3:15 (KJV)

The next recorded words of Jesus occur eighteen years after that day in Jerusalem when His distraught parents found Him among the teachers when they had been looking for Him everywhere. Why the Bible is silent about His teens and twenties, we do not know. These next words were spoken on the occasion of His baptism. This event is recorded in various ways in all four Gospels (Matthew 3:13-17, Mark 1:9-11, Luke 3:21-22, and John 1:29-34). Luke tells us He was praying when the dove descended; but Matthew is the only one that records any specific words Jesus said that day.

Matthew 3:13-14 Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him. But John forbad him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me?

Susie: First, let’s look at a little background on John the Baptist. The scripture tells us that John was the prophet, the forerunner foretold in the Old Testament to prepare the way for the Messiah. However, John began pointing to Jesus long before he was baptizing people in the Jordan River.

Susan: John’s father, Zacharias, was told by the angel Gabriel that his son would be “filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother's womb” (Luke 1:15b). John jumped for joy when Mary greeted His mother (Luke 1:41). An UNBORN baby was the first to recognize the Savior while HE was yet UNBORN. This is a strong argument for the fact that a baby in utero is already the person God is forming inside his mother. John was already announcing the arrival of the Messiah from his mother’s womb!

Susie: John the Baptist was a prophet  even before he could speak! In our current passage, Jesus came to John in order to be baptized. John protested because he knew that he himself was the one in need of cleansing from sin. Since he knew Jesus was the Messiah, or as he called him in the Gospel of John, the Lamb of God, John realized Jesus had no sin that needed to be forgiven.

Matthew 3:15 And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Then he suffered him.

Susan: This is Jesus’s first public act of submission to His Father’s will. Coming to earth as a baby and living a sinless life as a man was all part of God’s plan for our redemption. Allowing John, who as he pointed out should be baptized by Jesus, to baptize Him was a humble act of submission to God.

Philippians 2:8 (AMP) After He was found in [terms of His] outward appearance as a man [for a divinely-appointed time], He humbled Himself [still further] by becoming obedient [to the Father] to the point of death, even death on a cross.

Susan: Jesus came to die in our place but, also, to be our example of living to please God. Therefore, it was fitting that He give us an example of seeking righteousness and publicly demonstrating our commitment to God’s will and God’s ways.

Hebrews 2:10 (AMP)    For it was fitting for God [that is, an act worthy of His divine nature] that He, for whose sake are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the author and founder of their salvation perfect through suffering [bringing to maturity the human experience necessary for Him to be perfectly equipped for His office as High Priest].

Susie: Jesus did not refute John’s declaration that it was he who should be baptized by Jesus. Instead, Jesus explained that they both needed to submit to God’s desire that John be the baptizer and Jesus be baptized. Perhaps, it was a picture of Jesus dying to His private life and being raised up to walk in His public capacity as Messiah.

Matthew 3:16- And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

Susie: Although Jesus was already fully God as well as fully man, the Holy Spirit descended in the form of a dove symbolically anointing Him for service. In fact, both Messiah and Christ can be translated “Anointed One”.

Susan: Our own believer’s baptism symbolizes death to our sin and our own agenda and being raised to new life in Christ and kingdom purposes empowered by the Holy Spirit.

Ways this might apply to our lives:

·       Christ was submissively obedient to God the Father: we must submit to the Father’s will.

·  Christ demonstrated humility in allowing John to baptize Him: we are to be humble.