Matthew 3 (WEB)
This talk is given at the portion of the Jordan River known as Yardenit, a popular place for Christians to be baptized. Baptism is an ordinance (or sacrament for many) of the church that is a requirement for entrance into the Christian religion. The origin of baptism (meaning immersing or dipping) is unknown for sure but probably relates to the Jewish practice of washing for purification. In this talk I explain some of these ideas.
I'm here at Yardenit at the foot of the Sea of Galilee where a lot of Christians today come to be baptized for the first time or to renew their baptismal vows.
And yet 2,000 years ago it was near a place like this at Aenon in which John himself was baptizing.
The origins of baptism is somewhat of an enigma to us today.
We don't know exactly when this began, but probably came out of the purification rites that were already existent within Judaism.
And what we observe in the passages of Scripture on baptism is that it is not something that is merely a good thing to do, not merely an optional exercise,
but found its way in the preaching of John of the Kingdom of God to come, and also in the subsequent practices of Jesus and the early church,
as a necessary rite that is part of the initiation into the Christian faith, or in regards to John, initiation into the expectation of Messiah.
We read in Mark chapter 1 regarding John that a messenger would come before Yahweh.
And of course we know that to be John the baptizer.
Sometimes we say Baptist, but he is the one who baptized people in expectation of Messiah as a preparation for His coming.
And notice verse 4 of chapter 1 of Mark's Gospel.
It says, "John came baptizing in the wilderness and preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins."
And so we find out that all through this area in which we are placed right now, there were people from both the south from Judea and the Galilee in the north coming down to Aenon near here to be baptized by John,
confessing their sins and expressing a unity of faith in the coming Messiah.
In Mark's Gospel, we have also Jesus coming to John to be baptized.
And that is a difficult passage to deal with sometimes, because we try to figure out now, why would Jesus, the sinless one of God, the one who actually sent John to baptize,
and the one who came to be identified as Messiah at his baptism, why would he be baptized?
And yet the text does tell us at least partly why that is so, to fulfill all righteousness.
Jesus had no sins to confess, but Jesus did have a need to identify with those people who in fact identified with Him.
And that seems to be what's occurring in the baptism of Jesus.
That is, He came to identify with humanity.
And this ties back to the whole concept of the incarnation.
Because we know in Philippians chapter 2 that Jesus, being the very nature of God, did come into our existence to be a human being, to be a servant, and eventually to die.
And we know from John chapter 1 verse 14, for example, that Jesus came as the Yahweh in the midst of His people.
He comes to tabernacle among us.
And so in baptism, this necessary rite of Christianity and also Judaism at this point, was an attempt to identify with God and ultimately with His Messiah.
In reference to Jesus, though, we notice that when He went into the baptismal waters, that a dove came down, revealing that the Holy Spirit had come.
We know the voice from heaven came, saying, "This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased."
And we know that Jesus Himself then, at that very juncture, had the commission of His Messiahship, His three-year ministry began, in which He would declare Himself to be God Himself, in which He would do the works of God, in which He would be the Messiah, the Son of Man, of Daniel.
Baptism is an important feature of Judaism, and it is near here that it all occurred, in a place much like what you're looking at right now.
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.”