At the Lake: The Baptism of Jesus

Luke 3:1-6​

v. 1 Now in the fifteenth year of Tiberius Caesar’s reign when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea and Herod Antipas was tetrarch of Galilee and his brother Philip was tetrarch of Iturea and the district of Trachonitis and Lysanias was tetrarch of Abilene; v.2 when Annas and Caiaphas were High Priests, the word of God came to John, son of Zechariah in the wilderness; v. 3 and he went to all of the country of the Jordan and preached a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, v. 4 as written in the Book of Isaiah the prophet “The voice of one shouting in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; make His paths straight, and v. 5 every valley will be filled, and every mountain and hill will be made flat/low and the crooked paths will be made straight and the rough roads will become smooth v.6 and all of the people will see the salvation of God” (Isaiah 40:3-5).

​Mark 1:5-8

1. 5 And all of (the inhabitants of) the region around the Jordan and all of the inhabitants of Jerusalem went out to him; and he baptized them in the Jordan River as they confessed their sins. v. 6 Now John was dressed in camel hair and had a leather belt around his waist and ate locusts and wild honey. v. 7 And he preached saying, “There is One coming after me mightier than I of whom I am unworthy to stoop down and untie the straps of His sandals. v. 8 I baptize you with water, but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” ​

Matthew 3:7-12​

v. 7 Now seeing many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “Brood of vipers, who told you to flee from the coming punishment? v. 8 Then produce fruit (works) worthy of repentance. v. 9 And do not think that you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as father’; because God can raise up children for Abraham from these stones. v. 10 For already, the axe lies at the root of the trees; every tree that does not produce good fruit, will be cut down and thrown into the fire. v. 11 Although I baptize you in water for repentance, the One coming after me who is mightier than I and Whose sandals I am not worthy to carry, He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. v. 12 and His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will clear His threshing floor, and He will gather His wheat into the barn, and He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. ​

Luke 3:10-14​

10 Then the crowds asked him, “What shall we do?” And John replied saying, v. 11 “The one who has two coats give to the one having none, and the one with food, do likewise.” v. 12 Then the tax collectors came to him to be baptized and they also asked him, “Teacher, what should we do?” v. 13 and John replied saying, “Do not collect more than what you are commanded.” v.14 Then the soldiers came and asked him, “What should we do?” And he replied to them saying, “Do not extort anyone, do not bring false accusations, and be content with your pay.”​

Matthew . 3:13-17​
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13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. v. 14 But John refused Him saying, “I should be baptized by You. Yet You come to me?” v. 15 But Jesus replied, “Let it be this way for now; we should do everything (it is proper for us) to fulfill all righteousness.” So, John acquiesced. v. 16 Then after Jesus was immersed, He immediately came up out of the water and the heavens were opened to Him, and John saw the Spirit of God like a dove descending and remaining on Him. v. 17 And behold a voice out of Heaven said, “This is My beloved Son in Whom I am well pleased.”​

The Baptism of Jesus: It demonstrated His previous solidarity as the second person of the Triune God.​
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• Jesus, as the Second Person of the Trinity, enjoyed equality with the Father and the Holy Spirit from eternity; He knew no beginning; as the Word, the Father created the Universe through Jesus and through His Word, the creation is sustained (Heb. 1:2-3)​
• Jesus emptied Himself of His divinity (prosperity, power, and position) and became the Servant of God for mankind; God supplied the divine sperm and Mary the human egg for His in-utero conception; nine months later Jesus the infant was born and grew into the God-man Jesus who fulfilled the Father’s wishes as the perfect sacrifice for the sins of fallen mankind​
• But the Father and the Holy Spirit could see outside of time and knew that Jesus would remain sinless, obedient, and triumphant over Satan, culture, and the grave: thus, the Father’s voice, “This is My beloved Son in Whom I am well pleased” and the Holy Spirit’s appearance as a dove​
• The Triune God appeared all together at the Wadi Kharrar​
• The Father acknowledged His Son by voice on two other occasions: during His Transfiguration ( Mt. 17:5) and while speaking in the Temple Mount area to some Greeks (Jn. 12:28) ​

Jesus’ Baptism: It marked the beginning of His public ministry.​
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• John the Baptist understood that he, as the Forerunner and Announcer of the soon coming Messiah, would establish the right environment for the Messiah’s work in Judea, Galilee, and the rest of Israel. ​
• John the Baptist was highly respected by the populace and somewhat so by the religious elite, who asked him if he was the Messiah. John told them that he was not the Messiah but would introduce Him to society.​
• John was told that the Messiah would have the Spirit come upon Him and remain (Jn. 1:33); so, when the Spirit as a dove remained on Jesus at His baptism, John’s inkling that his second Cousin was the long-awaited Messiah (based on what he had heard from his parents about Jesus and his own boyhood experiences with Him) became a reality​
• From Jesus’ baptism on, John directed his disciples to follow Jesus not him; he told them that he must become less over time, but that Jesus would become greater over time (Jn. 3:30). Indeed, when Judas’ replacement had to be made as described in Acts 1, Peter directed the 120 disciples in the Upper Room to chose someone as replacement who had been with Jesus from His baptism until His ascension (Acts 1:21-22); here, we see that Jesus’ first century church considered His baptism the beginning of His earthly ministry​​ 

Jesus’ Baptism: It became the pattern for circumcision of the heart (excision/cutting away of the Old Adam nature) needed by His followers to engage in a sanctified life ​

• Jesus came to John to be baptized; but John initially refused. Jesus told John that he should baptize Him because everything should be done to fulfill all righteousness: including the “righteousness” of His baptism​
• Jesus was fully human with the propensity to sin from the Old Adam nature inherited from Mary…the Apostle Paul explained to the Christians in Roman and in Colossae that water baptism was a spiritual circumcision performed by the Holy Spirit to execute the iniquity each believer carries; without which, living in the Spirit was impossible to consistently accomplish (Col. 2:11-12; Rom. 2:29; 6:3-11; 8:5-9)​
• I am only speculating but Jesus would have had more struggle to remain triumphant over Satan, sin, and culture without water baptism; He certainly insisted that John baptize Him; I think He did this not only to model this behavior for His future disciples, but to experience what we experience in water baptism: the “circumcision made without hands” by the Holy Spirit ​

Jesus’ Baptism: It empowered/anointed Him through the Holy Spirit for His mission as the Messiah and demonstrated to His followers how to execute an empowered life ​
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• The Holy Spirit in the form of a dove did more than affirm the Son by remaining on Him during His water baptism; I think the holy Spirit also anointed Him in power and all things supernatural ​
• I think Jesus could have easily accessed supernatural power had He wanted to do so or been directed by the Father to do so before His water baptism and Spirit baptism. But remember, His earthly father Joseph is not mentioned by the four evangelists during His early three-and-a-half-year ministry. Likely Joseph died despite being the parent of Jesus Son of God.-Jesus did not intervene. Indeed, remember Jesus’ reluctance to perform His first miracle at the wedding of Cana. ​
• Jesus needed supernatural power to handle the attacks of Satan during His forty days immediately after His baptism; He repelled the devil with spiritual smarts and the use of the Word despite His ability to assuage His hunger by miracles…however, He was the conduit for 39 miracles of healing, nature, exorcism, and of reversing death(widow of Nain’s son, Jairus’ daughter, and Lazarus): these indicated that Jesus wasn’t shy in operating with power when He needed to do so​
• Jesus needed the supernatural release of the Holy Spirit in His life to combat the intellectual and spiritual challenges of the religious elite throughout His public ministry​