The Baptism of Jesus Christ

THE BAPTISM OF JESUS CHRIST

            We are going to look at the baptism of Jesus Christ from the Gospel of Mark and will probably look at some of the other gospels in order to get some more insight on this remarkable portion of the life of Jesus Christ.

            I will have to admit that I was wondering why it was necessary for the Lord Jesus Christ to be baptized at all, and I know that I am not the only one who has wondered about why He was baptized.  As far back as the early Church there were some who proposed different ideas as to why Jesus was baptized, and we will look at some of these later on but first I want to go back a bit to the last time I wrote on the Gospel of Mark to make a point that is needed to understand what is happening at the baptism of Jesus Christ.  We talked about the word “gospel” and what it meant and that it was used before Jesus was even born on this earth.  We spoke about the Greek word that we translate as gospel and that word is “Euaggelion.”  I now want to make a quote, a very old quote from actually before that birth of Jesus to help us understand how this word was used in the Roman world, for after all that is the audience that Mark is writing to.  “The providence which has ordered the whole of our life showing concern and zeal has ordained the most perfect consummation for human life by giving it to Augustus, by filling him with virtue for doing the work of a benefactor among men and by sending in him, as were, a Savior for us and those who come after us to make war to cease, to create order everywhere, the birth day of the God Augustus is the beginning for the world of the euangelion on that has come to men through him.”  John MacArthur, who made this quote in a sermon goes on to say, “How interesting.  They used the word euangelion on that occasion in that inscription to describe the arrival of Caesar Augustus.  Caesar Augustus is by the providence, it say, the one who will bring to us the work of a benefactor, the work of a Savior, make war cease, create order everywhere.  It is the arrival of a god.

            “The good news then is that Augustus Caesar has arrived.  The actual inscription was dedicated to him, apparently, on his birthday.  And then it is a technical term again to refer to the ascendency of the triumph of an emperor.”

            We saw in the last lesson on Mark the Herald of the New King, and now in this section we will see the coronation of the new King, and that will happen at His baptism.

            We will first look at the baptism of Jesus Christ and then look at the audio and also what was seen at the baptism of Jesus Christ.

            “9 ¶  In those days Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 10  Immediately coming up out of the water, He saw the heavens opening, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon Him; 11  and a voice came out of the heavens: "You are My beloved Son, in You I am well-pleased.’”  (Mark 1:9-11)  These are the only words from the Gospel of Mark that there is on the baptism of Jesus, for we mentioned that the Gospel of Mark is a fast moving book and so he doesn’t talk much about the baptism of Jesus.

            The baptism of Jesus may have taken place in the summer of 26 A.D. and it is believed that John had been baptizing for about six months and we remember that his baptism was a baptism of repentance in order to prepare the way for the Lord.  A baptism of repentance, then again we ask why Jesus was to be baptized by John, and John will ask the same question when we look at other accounts of the baptism. 

            John was told by God to baptize people, and he was also told to look for the Messiah, and he would know him because he would see the Holy Spirit descend upon him.  Remember John testified that he baptized with water but One was coming who would baptize with the Holy Spirit, and with fire.  “29 ¶  The next day he *saw Jesus coming to him and *said, "Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! 30  "This is He on behalf of whom I said, ’After me comes a Man who has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me.’ 31  "I did not recognize Him, but so that He might be manifested to Israel, I came baptizing in water.’”  (John 1:29-31)

            We see in Matthew’s account that John did not want to baptize Jesus and told Him so, but Jesus told John that it was something that was needed to be done.  John knew who Jesus was but this is the first time we see Jesus and John together in the NT.  John knew that Jesus was the Son of God and because of this he knew that Jesus was sinless and that is why he did not want to baptize Him.  When the Scribes and Pharisees came to John to be baptized this is what he said to them, “7 ¶  But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, "You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8  "Therefore bear fruit in keeping with repentance; 9  and do not suppose that you can say to yourselves, ’We have Abraham for our father’; for I say to you that from these stones God is able to raise up children to Abraham. 10  "The axe is already laid at the root of the trees; therefore every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 11  "As for me, I baptize you with water for repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, and I am not fit to remove His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 12  "His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clear His threshing floor; and He will gather His wheat into the barn, but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.’”  (Matthew 3:7-12)  John knew who they were and he knew who Jesus was and thus the totally two different reactions.        

           

            As I stated earlier there are some strange ideas from people wondering why it was necessary for Jesus to be baptized.  There is an false gospel called the “Gospel According to the Hebrews says, “Behold, the mother of the Lord and His brethren said to Him, ‘John the Baptist baptizes for the remission of sins, let’s go and be baptized by him.’  But He said to them, ‘What sin have I committed that I should go and be baptized by him, except per chance this very thing that I have said is ignorance.’”

            The Gnostics said that Jesus was purely man and only a man until He was baptized, and then at His baptism the divine Spirit, the part of Him that is deity infused into Him.  There is a prophecy that speaks of Jesus when He is born to be called Emmanuel, “God with us.”

            We mentioned that John saw the same problem of baptizing Jesus, but what is the reason that Jesus says that He must be baptized.  Let us look again at Matthew 3, “15  But Jesus answering said to him, ‘Permit it at this time; for in this way it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.’ Then he *permitted Him.”   Here is the reason that Jesus was to be baptized, to fulfill all righteousness. What does He mean when saying “to fulfill all righteousness?”  To do everything that was righteous to do everything that God required.  We can see from the Gospel of John the “orders” that were given to John by God, “29 ¶  The next day he *saw Jesus coming to him and *said, "Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! 30  "This is He on behalf of whom I said, ’After me comes a Man who has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me.’ 31  "I did not recognize Him, but so that He might be manifested to Israel, I came baptizing in water." 32  John testified saying, "I have seen the Spirit descending as a dove out of heaven, and He remained upon Him. 33  "I did not recognize Him, but He who sent me to baptize in water said to me, ’He upon whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining upon Him, this is the One who baptizes in the Holy Spirit.’ 34  "I myself have seen, and have testified that this is the Son of God." 35  Again the next day John was standing with two of his disciples, 36  and he looked at Jesus as He walked, and *said, "Behold, the Lamb of God!’”  (John 1:29-37)

            I want to look at another verse from John’s Gospel that takes place in what is called “The High Priestly Prayer,” which is found in John 17.  Jesus is about to go to the cross and he is praying to His Father, and in this prayer He states this, “4  "I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do.”  Jesus is saying to His Father that everything that He had given Him to do He has done, and that includes His baptism. It was God’s will that Jesus be baptized and since Jesus was going to take the place of sinners He must take part in this baptism of repentance even though He is sinless.  Let’s look at a wonder verse that will help tie this together, “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor. 5:21).  I just love this verse and what it means, and I have said on many occasions that this is a trade that is so very unfair, but a trade that speaks of the love that God has for us who are His own.  Here is how John MacArthur explains this verse, “Well it simply means this, that when Jesus died on the cross, God treated Him as if He had lived your life.  He treated Him as if He had lived your life.  And He punished Him as if your sin was His sin.  Now because of that, He treats you as if you lived Christ’s life.  So Christ lived a perfect life with perfect obedience to everything God commanded, including baptism, in order that His perfect life could be credited to your account.  When God looks at the cross, He sees you bearing the weight of sin.  When He looks at you, He sees Christ covering you with His righteousness.  He did everything that God said to be done because He was perfectly righteous, perfectly obedient and it is that perfectly righteous life that has been credited to your account as if you lived it.  That’s what justification means.”

            Now we have to look at a second aspect of His baptism in which He fulfilled all righteousness.  The first aspect was active which was by His obedience, but this second aspect is passive by His death.  We can go clear back to the OT to see that righteousness required a death.  What we see here is Christ being baptized symbolically identifies with sinners as He would also do on the cross.  Baptism is a picture of a sinner being plunged into the river of death and coming up a new creature.  “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.”  (2Cor. 5:17)

            Now we want to look at the baptism itself and see exactly what happened according to Mark’s account in Mark 1:9-11.  “9 ¶  In those days Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 10  Immediately coming up out of the water, He saw the heavens opening, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon Him; 11  and a voice came out of the heavens: "You are My beloved Son, in You I am well-pleased.’”

            Let us first look at where Jesus came from in Israel, and that is from Nazareth and that is in Galilee.  We see in John 7:40-41 something about Jesus and Galilee: “40  Some of the people therefore, when they heard these words, were saying, "This certainly is the Prophet." 41  Others were saying, "This is the Christ." Still others were saying, "Surely the Christ is not going to come from Galilee, is He?”  Galilee is mentioned in the OT:  “1 ¶  But there will be no more gloom for her who was in anguish; in earlier times He treated the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali with contempt, but later on He shall make it glorious, by the way of the sea, on the other side of Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles. 2  The people who walk in darkness Will see a great light; Those who live in a dark land, The light will shine on them” (Isaiah 9:1-2).  Galilee was Galilee of the Gentiles and that is because it was conquered by the Assyrians and later on they put some Gentiles in there with the Jews and so it was not a popular place for those who were living in Jerusalem, and thus the scorn about Jesus coming from there.

            We see that Nazareth is so obscure that it has to be mentioned with Galilee in order to find out where it is located.  Nazareth is not mentioned in the OT.  As for the Jordan where John was baptizing in it is not a really big river, in fact it is small, but that does not make a lot of difference because it is famous because it is in the land of Israel, and because Jesus was baptized in it. As far as the word baptism it is a transliteration over from the Greek language and it means “Not to be confused with 911, bapto. The clearest example that shows the meaning of baptizo is a text from the Greek poet and physician Nicander, who lived about 200 B.C. It is a recipe for making pickles and is helpful because it uses both words.  Nicander says that in order to make a pickle, the vegetable should first be ‘dipped’ (bapto) into boiling water and then ‘baptised’ (baptizo) in the vinegar solution. Both verbs concern the immersing of vegetables in a solution. But the first is temporary. The second, the act of baptising the vegetable, produces a permanent change.

   When used in the New Testament, this word more often refers to our union and identification with Christ than to our water baptism. e.g. #Mr 16:16. ‘He that believes and is baptised shall be saved’. Christ is saying that mere intellectual assent is not enough.  There must be a union with him, a real change, like the vegetable to the pickle!”

(Bible Study Magazine, James Montgomery Boice, May 1989)

            Next I want to mention that this scene that takes place at the baptism of Jesus Christ is Trinitarian, all three members of the trinity are present for we see when Jesus comes up out of the water we see the third person of the trinity landing upon Jesus like a dove, and we hear the Father speaking to Jesus from the heavens.  Let’s make one thing clear here the Holy Spirit did not land on Jesus in the form of a dove, the word “like” a dove is used, a simile is used here to say that when the Holy Spirit landed on Jesus He came down the way a dove lands, which is slow, not like a bird of prey looking for something to capture.  In John 1:32 we read that John the Baptist saw and heard this so it was not a vision. 

            We have to remember that God has been silent for 400 years and now we see the Holy Spirit descend upon Jesus and God the Father speaking from heaven so the silence is broken in a very dramatic way. The verb that is used in Mark 1:10 for the word opening is only used one other time in the Scriptures and that is when the curtain was split after the death of Jesus, the curtain that divides the holy place from the Holy of Holies showing that we now can come directly to God as Hebrews talks about when it speaks of boldly coming to God. Heb 4:16  “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.”

Isaiah spoke of this in chapter sixty-four-one:  “Oh, that You would rend the heavens and come down, That the mountains might quake at Your presence.”  I also mentioned that there was a man who wrote about this in 250 B. C. “The heavens will be opened and from the temple of glory with a fatherly voice, the glory of the Most High will burst forth upon Him.”  We see these words in Isaiah 42:1a that go along with what God the Father speaks out from heaven:  “"Behold, My Servant, whom I uphold; My chosen one in whom My soul delights. I have put My Spirit upon Him.”  We see in John 3:34 these words, “"For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God; for He gives the Spirit without measure.”  At Jesus’ baptism the Holy Spirit came upon Him without measure, and this is not said of anyone else.

            At this point I wish to make one more quote for a sermon by John MacArthur on the subject of Jesus’ baptism:  “At the risk of over-simplifying something that is profoundly mysterious and beyond the grasp of all of us, let me see if I can give you a way to understand it.  You have the Man/Jesus here, you have the Son of God, eternal deity here and that which is deity is conveyed to the man which is humanity through the means of the Holy Spirit.  As it says He grew in wisdom and stature and favor with God and man, it was the Holy Spirit dispensing to the man Jesus the developing realities of truth that matured Him.  That’s how you have to understand it.  The Holy Spirit is the mediator between deity and humanity.  John Owen makes the point that His divine nature did not directly communicate anything at all to the human Jesus; it all went through the mediation of the Holy Spirit, part of His self-emptying.  Through the Holy Spirit, divine power came, understanding came, enlightenment came, and revelation came so that His human nature was under the full control of the Holy Spirit so that everything He did He did in the power of the Holy Spirit.”  I can think of two passages that go along with this quote and one of them is in Philippians 2:5-11.  The other quote is found in Matthew 17:1-13.  The Philippians passage speak of how Jesus emptied Himself of His glory before coming to earth while the passage in Matthew shows a glimpse of Jesus’ glory on the Mount of Transfiguration.

            We have seen some interesting things about the baptism of Jesus Christ and to me it shows God’s marvelous wisdom in working all of this out in order to show His marvelous love and also His justice to make it possible for man to be saved.  I can only say “Praise the Lord.”