JESUS BAPTIZED BY JOHN

JESUS BAPTIZED BY JOHN

    “The word which God sent to the children of Israel, preaching peace through Jesus Christ--He is Lord of all--that word you know, which was proclaimed throughout all Judea, and began from Galilee after the baptism which John preached: how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.”  Acts 10:36-38 (NKJV)

    “The anointing Jesus received in Jordan was Trinitarian in nature, since all three divine Persons concurred in it: “In the name of Christ is implied He that anoints, He that is anointed, and the unction itself (Himself) with which He is anointed.  And it is the Father who anoints, but the Son who is anointed by the Spirit, who is the unction.”  Ireneaus

    Testimony of John.

    “And John bore witness, saying, "I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and He remained upon Him.  I did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, 'Upon whom you see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.'  And I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God." John 1:32-34 (NKJV)

    “It came to pass in those days that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And immediately, coming up from the water, He saw the heavens parting and the Spirit descending upon Him like a dove.  Then a voice came from heaven, "You are My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." Immediately the Spirit drove Him into the wilderness.   And He was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan, and was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered to Him.  Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel." Mark 1:9-15 (NKJV)

    John had been preaching and baptizing for some six months, when we see Jesus come to be baptized also.  Mark shows us Jesus apparently waiting in line like everybody else, and with everybody else.  A strange way for the Messiah to enter the stage of history!  The Sinless One shows He is willing to be a part of sinful humanity (compare  Heb. 2:14-18).  The visible form of the Spirit was probably for the benefit of the people there (compare John 12:30).       The key to what took place at the baptism of Jesus is found in these words by Robert Brinsmead.  “A thing cannot be a new covenant sign or seal if Christ as God did not give it.  Neither can it be God’s sign or seal if Christ as man did not also accept it from God and give God thanks for it.  The baptism of Jesus set the pattern for Him to be the first among many brothers and sisters (Rom. 8:29).”  We learn that this event was to be the mark of identification to show the one who was the Messiah (see John

1:29-34).   In the same way, Christian baptism can be viewed as a mark of identification in which the Holy Spirit seals us to God (Eph. 1:13-14; Titus 3:4-7).  God voiced His approval of Christ Jesus in a way which all those present could hear (Mark 1:11; compare 9:7; John 12:28).  So it was Jesus the Christ, the Human One who came both with the water of His baptism and the blood of His death (1 John 5:6).

    At once following His baptism, the Spirit made Jesus go into the desert to spend forty days being tempted by Satan.  This was not make-believe, but a severe time of testing!  The wild animals and the angels imply complete isolation from human contact during this period, yet under the eyes of a watchful Father.  Even though Jesus did not sin, He experienced every kind of temptation which a human being may face (see Heb. 4:15).  Some may argue that Jesus could not have faced such temptations as we have today, but this is incorrect.  A little thought will show that there are no new temptations, but only the same old ones that the Devil has been using through the centuries.  Jesus experienced to the fullest the entire human existence, but without sin.  Further, He is our Pioneer who has already undergone both death and the resurrection from the dead!

    Even though Mark does not directly state that Jesus defeated the Devil, it is obvious that He did (compare Mark 3:27).  The way Mark mentions the temptation implies that this event was a preparation or probation for the work of public ministry.  Jesus battled the prince of evil personally, before beginning His war with sin, evil, and sickness in the world.  (Of course, Satan continued to tempt Jesus up to the point of actual death.  Compare Mark 8:11; 10:2; 12:15; etc.  All of this is part of God’s act in Christ to set us free, as Paul describes it in Rom. 8:1-4.)

    “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.  For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.  For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”  Romans 8:1-4 (NKJV)