SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/24/2020
12:20 PM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-2 “Baptism
of the Son”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matthew
3:13-15
Message of the verses: “13 Then Jesus arrived
from Galilee at the Jordan coming to John, to be baptized by him. 14 But
John tried to prevent Him, saying, ‘I have need to be baptized by You, and do
You come to me?" 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.
I
mentioned that we would discuss whether or not Jesus knew John the Baptist
before this event, and the short answer is that because they were cousins that
they probably did play together when they were kids. John’s mother Elizabeth knew that Mary’s
child was the Messiah and so we can be sure that she talked to John about
this.
John
MacArthur writes “Jesus came ‘to John’ specifically ‘to be baptized by him,’ as
indicated by the aorist passive infinitive (baptishenai),
which emphasizes purpose. But the idea
of Jesus’ being baptized by him was unthinkable to John. He not only knew Jesus’ human identity but
His divine identity. The apostle John
tells us that John the Baptist ‘saw Jesus coming to him, and said, ‘Behold, the
Lamb of God!’ ‘(John 1:29). John knew
that this was God’s own anointed Messiah, come to fulfill God’s redemptive
purpose. The Baptist’s first reaction to
Jesus’ request for baptism was ‘I have need to be baptized by You.’”
John
said that because he knew that he was a sinner, and because he knew that Jesus
was the sinless Lamb of God and I suppose that this probably frightened
him. We do know that John’s baptism was
a baptism of repentance and that Jesus was not a sinner, the only Person every
born of woman who could say that. John
wondered then, and people since still wonder why Jesus had the need to be
baptized.
Some
think that Jesus needed to be baptized in order to show that John’s baptism was
right. Others think that because
Gentiles were baptized in order to get into the faith of Judaism. Others thought
that because Him ministry was about to begin that this is why He was going to
be baptized. There is little to no
support with these speculations.
MacArthur
writes “It was because John the Baptist was fully aware of Jesus’ deity and
sinlessness that he ‘tried to prevent Him.’
The Greek verb is in the imperfect tense (diekoleuen) and suggests a continued effort by John—‘he kept trying
to prevent Him.’ The verb is also a
compound, whose prepositional prefix (dia)
intensifies it. The pronouns in John’s
statement are all emphatic, giving evidence of his bewilderment. ‘I have need to be baptized by You, and do
You come to me?’ He did not directly
contradict Jesus, as Peter would do (Matt. 16:22), but he thought that somehow
he surely misunderstood what Jesus intended, that He could not possibly mean
what He seemed to be saying.”
Think
for a moment back to when we were looking at the Pharisees and Sadducees, and
why was it that John did not want to baptize them? Well the answer is the exact opposite as to
why he did not want to baptize Jesus.
John called the Pharisees and Sadducees a “brood of vipers,” and yet he
knew that Jesus was the sinless Son of God, perfect Son of God and that is why
he did not want to baptize Jesus. He
knew that his baptism for repentance for sin was totally inappropriate for
Jesus, and this is why John attempted to prevent it from happening. Again John knew that Jesus was sinless.
We
will continue talking about John’s trying to prevent Jesus from being baptized
by him in our next SD.
Spiritual meaning for my life: We talked a bit about Peter message to Jesus
in the 16th chapter of Matthew and then Jesus had to rebuke him
later on in that chapter. When I sin
knowing that it is wrong I need to be rebuked by Jesus, or perhaps His Spirit,
but I suppose there are times when I sin and not realizing that I have sinned.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Continue to fight the good fight in the power
of the Spirit, to continue to seek to be humble, and to find joy in the reading
and studying of God’s Word.
1/24/2020 12:48 PM
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