THE MINISTRY OF JOHN THE BAPTIST
(Part 5)
Matt. 3:1-17
Morning Mediation 9/13/16
Verses 13-17 say, “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? 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. 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.”
We are told by Mark specifically where Jesus came from to be baptized of John. Mark 1:9 says, “And it came to pass in those days, that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized of John in Jordan.” This was probably two or three days journey for Jesus. Why did Jesus come and ask John to baptize Him? It certainly was not because He needed to repent or have sins washed away. He did come to John and ask him for baptism.
John’s first response is brought out in the words. “But John forbad, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me?” The word “forbad” translates “diakoluo” and means “ to hinder, to prevent.” It is a imperfect active indicative verb. This is a continuous action verb and means that John kept on resisting the idea of baptizing Jesus. It does not imply an argument. John baptized repentant sinners. It was evident to John that Jesus needed no repentance. What a testimony to the purity and holiness of Christ! John refuse to baptize the Pharisees and Sadducees on the grounds of hypocrisy. Here John is resisting on the grounds of our Lord’s holiness and office.
Jesus is manifest to Israel at His baptism. From this point on, He will begin His public ministry. It is my belief that John’s baptism was a picture of the death, burial and resurrection and not different from Christian baptism. John was the last of the Old Testament prophets. He did not understand what would happen in the setting aside of the nation of Israel and the birth of the Church. This was a hidden mystery to Old Testament saints. John probably did not understand the truth of the “Suffering Messiah” and therefore, would not have seen the picture in baptism of the death, burial and resurrection. This is MY OPINION. And if you have different beliefs about this, it is YOUR OPINION. It is not wrong to have an opinion. It is wrong to teach our opinions as INFALLIBLE. God does not explain some things and leaves us to trust Him with those things He doesn’t explain.
John said, “I have need to be baptized of thee.” The verb “I have” is a present tense. John says, “I continually have, I am in a state of constant need.” John was a holy man. But when Jesus came on the scene, all of a sudden John saw himself. Jesus has a way about doing that to us. Isaiah was in good shape until he saw the “Lord high and lifted up.” Then Isaiah said, “Woe is me! for I am undone . . .” The presence of God will make the holiest man fall on his face and see the need of grace. This is the reason John said, “I have need to be baptized of thee.” Those who walk the closest to the Lord, see themselves as sinners in need of grace. You can go to the bank with this: any arrogant cocky Christian is not even in the vicinity of the Lord. He will have to impress you with his knowledge or something else; it will not be with his walk with the Lord. Now I’m not setting myself up as a judge. What I’m saying is Bible: Isaiah 57:15 says, “For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.”
Jesus responds to John’s reluctance with the words, “Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness . . .” The word “suffer” translates “aphiemi” and is defined by Strong: “to send away; to bid to go away or depart; of a husband divorcing his wife.” Jesus says “divorce yourself from this idea.” Isn’t that good? There are some ideas we have to permanently divorce. We are not going to marry new ideas until the old ones go. Jesus is telling John that His baptism has nothing to do with worthiness, it has to do with obedience. John was the forerunner. The Messiah is on the scene and needs an introduction. He has ceased to be an IDEA and has become a REAL LIVE PERSON. Jesus is saying “John do your job and I’ll do mine and in doing it we will fulfil all righteousness.” We are not here after we are saved to make a personal point. We are here to fulfil God’s will and purpose in our lives. Every man is a plan of God. We may not understand everything about what God is doing with us. John didn’t. But we can continue to act in obedience to Him as long as we live and we will be received with His “well done” as we enter into the fulness of the life we now possess. Glory to God and the Lamb forever!!! Someone hold my mules!
Jesus was not baptized in order to become the Son of God. He was baptized to manifest that He was the Son of God. And when Jesus, as the Eternal Son, submitted in obedience to the will of the Father, the Father gave testimony concerning His Son to those who were present.
This is brought out in the words, “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.” The words “went up” translate “anabaino” and means “ascend, to go up, to rise, mount, be borne up, spring up.” All these words are resurrection words. Baptism pictures the resurrection. Jesus declares the purpose of His coming at the service where He is introduced into His public ministry. Don’t make the mistake of saying John’s baptism was different from ours today. We are not baptized to become Children of God. We are baptized to manifest that fact. If a person is not saved before his baptism, he is lying when he is baptized. This is the reason the so-called baptism of babies is Unscriptural. I’m not being negative here. Our children are not Christians because they are born to us as Christian parents. They must be born again when they reach the age of responsibility. And that age is not given is Scripture. Jesus said, “Forbid not little children to come to me.” But they do need to be old enough to recognize who Jesus is and make the decision to come.
Matthew says when this took place, “ . . . Lo, the heavens were opened unto him . . .” I do not know what this means. It could be that the heavens became something like a visual display of heaven with the throne of God and the angels on display. The Old Testament saints could have been in the scene to witness the introduction of the ONE on whom they waited with joyful expectancy. This was what happened to Isaiah in chapter six of his book. This was heaven’s testimony to the authenticity of John’s baptism and our Lord’s introduction into His public ministry by means of that baptism. Then the Spirit of God descended like a dove and lit on Jesus. This was a visual confirmation to John of the Messiahship of Jesus.. John 1:32-34 says, “And John bare record, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him. And I knew him not: but he that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and remaining on him, the same is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost. And I saw, and bare record that this is the Son of God.”
Then there was the voice: “And lo, a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” After approximately 29 years on this earth, God the Father could still say that He was well pleased with His Son. I praise the Lord for this.. Because His acceptance is mine. First John 4:17 says, “ . . . as he is so are we in this world.” Jesus as the Son of God became as the Son of man all that God in all His holiness demanded that man should be. And God could say about Him, “I am well pleased.”
May God bless these words to our hearts.
In Christ
Bro. White
