1In those days, John the Baptizer came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, saying, 2“Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!” 3For this is he who was spoken of by Isaiah the prophet, saying,
“The voice of one crying in the wilderness,
make the way of the Lord ready!
Make his paths straight!”
4Now John himself wore clothing made of camel’s hair with a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey. 5Then people from Jerusalem, all of Judea, and all the region around the Jordan went out to him. 6They were baptized by him in the Jordan, confessing their sins.
7But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for his baptism, he said to them, “You offspring of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8Therefore produce fruit worthy of repentance! 9Don’t think to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our father,’ for I tell you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. 10Even now the ax lies at the root of the trees. Therefore every tree that doesn’t produce good fruit is cut down, and cast into the fire.
11“I indeed baptize you in water for repentance, but he who comes after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you in the Holy Spirit. 12His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will thoroughly cleanse his threshing floor. He will gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn up with unquenchable fire.”
13Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. 14But John would have hindered him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and you come to me?”
15But Jesus, answering, said to him, “Allow it now, for this is the fitting way for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he allowed him.
16Jesus, when he was baptized, went up directly from the water: and behold, the heavens were opened to him. He saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove, and coming on him. 17Behold, a voice out of the heavens said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”
In Newness of Life
Matthew 3
Baptized in the Holy Spirit
11 “I indeed baptize you in water for repentance, but he who comes after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you in the Holy Spirit.
John offered a very different baptism from the one we, as believers, now experience. John’s baptism was one of repentance. When we come to faith in Christ, we too repent (acknowledging our sin and our need for a Savior found only in Jesus). However, our baptism, although patterned after Jewish baptism (in a mikvah), is quite different. It is our way of publicly declaring to the world that we have chosen to be identified with Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection.
Baptism (a word taken straight from the Greekβαπτίζω baptizo) means to be immersed, plunged, or dipped. It is our first step of obedience after we choose to accept Christ and His work on the cross. Paul describes the resurrection part of it by declaring, “We were buried therefore with him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life.” (Romans 6:4 WEB)
Walking in newness of life means that our desires must change from the agenda of our old life to the agenda of our new life in Christ. That is a move from a self-agenda to a God-agenda. This doesn’t bring about salvation; it is evidence that a person has been saved. James addresses it, saying that a faith without “works” is dead. What he’saying is that a faith without evidence is a dead faith. We can argue whether that means it was never living or once was alive, and now it’s dead. In either case, it is not a good thing. Baptism is a visual by which we tell the world, “I once was dead in sin, and now I have chosen to walk in newness of life.”
So, let’s return to the words of John the Baptizer. He says that one is coming who will baptize in the Holy Spirit. That’s the key. That’s the “ticket” as we say here in the country. It is ONLY by the power and prompting of the Holy Spirit that we can have any success at all in walking in newness of life. We can’t do it on our own, but through the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit. When we submit to Him, He prompts, pushes, and calls us to walk differently. He is the key. He is the only way that we can walk in newness of life. Yield yourself to Him today and walk in holiness. John promised that you and I would be able to do this, saying, “One is coming who is mightier, and He will baptize you with Himself", living in you, empowering you, and transforming you with one subtle change after another into the very image of Christ.