The Baptism of Jesus Ps 29; Isa 42:1-9; Acts 10:33-43; Matt 3:13-17

Introduction https://youtu.be/epPZiFCzMTg

Let me begin with a few assumptions: we have all been baptised, few of us can recall that event, and none of us have fully appropriated the significance of our own baptism in the light of the baptism of Jesus. since there are numerous connections between Jesus’ baptism, and the plan of God from creation to consummation, the baptism of Jesus isn’t merely an event in his personal life, but a major leap forward in God’s plan to restore and glorify a once hopelessly broken universe. Most crucially our call to take the gospel into Bassendean and beyond, is how the rule of God opened for Jesus through his obedience in submitting to baptism.

Context

The immediate context is the word of God preached by John the Baptist. “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Matt 3:2; Luke 3:2). John preached this word of the inbreaking of divine power to rule with prophetic authority (Matt 21:26), so that the whole nation was stirred, and people streamed from every corner down to the Jordan to confess their sins and be immersed in its waters (Matt 3:5-6). John’s charge to the religious high performers of the day, [the Pharisees] “Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 Bear fruit in keeping with repentance….10 Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.” (Matt 3:7-11), electrified the spiritual atmosphere. People flowed to the Jordan convicted the only way to avoid divine judgement was to turn back to God, to “repent”. John “upped the ante” by prophesying of the imminent arrival of someone “mightier” than himself, the coming one would separate the wheat from chaff, the one for everlasting burning (Isa 33:14), the other for the storehouse of the Lord (Matt 3:11-12). Then the fulfiller of all things (Matt 5:17; 2 Cor 1:20; Heb 1:1-4) arrives on the scene.

Exposition

v.13-15 “Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. 14 John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” 15 But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented.”

John intuitively recognises that Jesus is not another member of the crowd, for he can discern no personal sin in him. What then does Jesus mean by “to fulfil all righteousness” (Matt 3:15)? Anyone reading our Old Testament is struck by the blatant failure of ordinary humans to perfectly repent; the old covenant people, as with all humanity, needed someone to stand in for them to perfectly turn to God submitting without reservation to his righteous judgment on our rebellion. Jesus will set right what has gone wrong from the sin of God’s first son, Adam (Luke 3:38), until his own coming.

16 And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water,

Jesus going down into the water and rising Jesus pointed prophetically to his coming death-entombment-and-resurrection. By parting the waters of the Jordan  with his own body, he was (symbolically) united with God’s creative action in parting the waters above from the waters below making space for the land (Gen 1:6-8) where humanity could exercise dominion over the earth (Gen 1:26-28), united with Moses in his crossing at the Red Sea (Ex 14:21ff.; cf. 1 Cor 10:1-5)  on the way to the Promised Land, and one with Joshua in the crossing of the Jordan as the entry point to Canaan (Josh 3). Whilst all these great dividing’s of water failed to reach their God appointed goal of sharing his kingdom rule with his chosen people, the baptism of our perfect prophetic leader and Saviour (Acts 5:31) will bring success in the restoration of the whole creation. This is what is indicated to Jesus by what he now “sees”,

V. 16b. “and behold, the heavens were opened to him, “

The prophet Isaiah cried out to the Lord with great intensity, “O that you would tear open the heavens and come down… to make your name known…” (Isa 64:1-2).  And this dramatic language of the splitting open of the division of heaven and earth is used elsewhere in the New Testament of last days world transforming cosmic events (John 1:51; Acts 7:56; Rev 4:1; 19:11) [i.e. apocalyptic events.] The opening of the heavens to Jesus will empower him to exercise God’s rule on earth through giving him unimpeded access to the will of his heavenly Father.

v.16c. “and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him;”

Whilst the dove may allude to the bird-like hovering of the Spirit over the deep before the first act of creation (Gen 1:2), it would have recalled to Jesus mind the descent of the dove on the dried land after the destruction of the Flood (Gen 8:12, 21 cf. 9:1-2). Just as in the prophets, Israel is a “senseless dove” (Hos 7:11; 11:11), who needs to be rescued by God’s power from captivity among the nations [Egypt, Assyria], so the dove is a messenger of peace because it speaks of God’s grace beyond a coming flood of judgement, the judgement of which the Baptist  spoke, and which Jesus would endure in his own life’s end.

The Spirit “rests on” Jesus (John 1:32) with a permanence unknown to the prophets who precede him (e.g. 1 Sam 16:14; 2 Kings 3:15). If in Noah’s days the Spirit was withdrawn as a judgment on rebellious humanity (Gen 6:3), Christ’s reception of the Spirit speaks of his internalising God’s Word permanently for a rebellious people (Ezek 2:2ff; 3:10-11, 24ff cf. Mark 1:10 with Luke 4:18-30 etc.) This coming of the Spirit with divine ruling power continues today.

You may recall me talking about an experience I had as a young believer when I implored (cf. Isa 64:1-2) the Lord to pour out his Spirit and I was filled with overwhelming joy love and tears for hours. Call this the “baptism of the Spirit/being filled with the Spirit” or whatever you like, but see it is a share in the waterfall of grace which inundated Christ at his baptism. This all reminds me of my time at the Iguassu Falls on the border of Argentina and Brazil, after watching vast torrents of water (3mill l/sec) pouring endlessly and effortlessly over the main falls, as I walked up to higher ground and noticed a small trickle of water flowing out of the hillside. I sense the Lord’s Spirit saying the torrential outpouring was like his wondrous love and grace, the tiny stream like all feeble human efforts.

17 and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”

Biblically, when you hear “behold”, expect to hear God speak. The coming of the divine voice to Jesus will expound the significance of the descent of the Spirit upon him. As the Lord spoke directly from heaven in the giving of the Law of Moses at Sinai (Deut 4:12; 5:4, 24), here a new era of revelation is opened in his speaking so clearly / so proudly to his only Son.

“This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” “This” points emphatically and exclusively to Jesus reminding us that all we have from God we have “in him” (Acts 4:12), but from what place in the Old Testament is the Father quoting his own words. Many think the voice draws on the messianic Psalm 2:7 “You are my Son, today I have begotten you.” This would be testifying to Jesus that he is Messiah (Acts 13:33; Heb 1:5; 5:5; 2 Pet 1:17) and, as the psalm goes on to say, has been given the rule of the nations (Ps 2:8; cf. Gen 49:10; Matt 28:19; Acts 1:8; Phil 2:11 etc). The prophetic origin of “beloved Son” is a little more difficult to pin down.

Many commentators point to Isaiah 42:1, which we read earlier, “Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my Spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations.” This is a part of a series of “Servant Songs” in Isaiah (42:1-4; 49:1-6; 50:4-9; 52:13 – 53:12) which culminate in the prophecies of Isa 52:13-53:12 speaking of the humiliating but redeeming death of God’s chosen servant. Looking more widely, in Genesis 22:2 (Greek O.T.) God commands Abram “take your beloved Son, whom you have loved, Isaac….and offer him…as a burnt offering on one of the mountains”. Jesus complete submission to death as a true Son, symbolised by baptism draws out of the Father’s heart (cf. Luke 6:45) immeasurable pleasure, ““with whom I am well pleased”.  [Do you believe these words are spoken of you in Christ? (Rom 8:14-16; Gal 4:4-6)] The Father’s limitless approval will sustain Jesus’ difficult obedience (Mark 14:36) all the way to the cross. We lack the all-strengthening joy of the Lord (Neh 8:10) because we are unwilling to sacrifice everything for the cause of his kingdom.

Jesus later prophesied to his followers, ““Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” (Luke 12:32). We are such a “little flock” and the pleasure of our Father can be ours today! Whilst we haven’t surrendered all to God like Jesus, or even like the first disciples, but the Bible testifies says that when we were baptised, we “all were made to drink of one Spirit” (1 Cor 12:13 cf. John 7:37-39), at that point the seal of God’s approval that came on Jesus at his baptism (John 6:27) came on you. [If it were otherwise, John could never say, “in this world we are like Jesus.” (1 John 4:17).]

Summative Significance of Jesus Baptism

When Jesus was baptised in the Jordan the Father saw you in him and he saw you in what that baptism prophesied, the coming crucifixion and resurrection of his Son (cf. Rom 6). The way to living a holy life (Isa 35:8) has been opened for all who by faith would follow Jesus through baptism. Once unclean and lost we are now holy in the Lord (2 Cor 6:16-7:1). Jesus is the prophetic leader who leads us out of the exile of sin into the Promised land of God’s glorious kingdom of ‘righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” (Rom 14:17)

To remind us of such great things the Church needs regular baptism renewal rites, not only of a liturgical sort, but of the type I remember so well in the Pentecostal congregation of my early Christian years where they’d often talk so zealously about “following Jesus by faith through the waters of baptism. As the baptism of Jesus launched his prophetic (Matt 4:23ff; Mark 1:14-15; Luke 4:14-15), priestly (Num 4:3; Luke 3:23) and kingly ministry (cf. 1 Sam 10:1-6; 16:12-13; 1 Ki 19:16,19; 2 Ki 2:9, 15; Ps 2:7; Acts 10:38) in the power of the Spirit and the Word (Acts 10:36), by grace we share in the same anointing (1 John 2:20, 27) to press home his victory in the world. In Jesus baptism unto death, God has taken away the judgement of the world (John 1:29; 2 Cor 5:19) and released ever-new levels of spiritual power to do the will of the Father in facing the conflict and suffering which lie ahead in traversing the rivers of life (Isa 11:15; 42:1; 43:2 etc.)

Through baptism into Christ the heavens have been opened to us and we can freely call God “Abba! Father!” The Spirit who always makes space for the rule of the Lord on earth (Gen 1:2, 9 >1:26-28; 8:1-3a> 9:6-7; Ex 15:8, 16>Josh3 ff.) and the Word unite [the “two hands of God” (Irenaeus)] in calling us as the people of God into new advances for the glory of God. I unapologetically need the help of the Lord to fulfill the call that the Lord has put on my life in 2023….and so do you. Let us pray…