13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. 14 But John tried to deter him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?”
15 Jesus replied, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John consented.
16 As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him. 17 And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”
MacArthur....
Remember that Matthews focus in his gospel is on Jesus as King, he is seeing Him as King, he is presenting Him as King, that's why the royal genealogy, that's why the, the involvement in the royal birth, that's why the royal visit of the Magi who honor Him as a King, and they were the official kingmakers of the Orient Everything that Matthew does focuses on the element of His Kingship. And last time we saw the commissioning of the King. How His baptism and His anointing by the Holy Spirit, and the Word of God, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased," came together to be the commissioning of the King, the anointing of the King for His saving work.
This is one of the passage in the Bible where the concept of the trinity is found - the baptism of the Son, the anointing of the Son by the Holy Spirit and the Word of God the Father
First, there is a problem with Jesus wanting to be baptized by John, and John knew it. John tried to prevent Jesus from being baptized because John's baptism was a baptism of repentance, a baptism for sinners, and Jesus was certainly no sinner. So, why did Jesus want to be baptized?
MacArthur says....
Jesus submitted to John's baptism as a symbolic act of identifying with sinners who were seeking salvation; and I'll go a step further. I believe that His baptism was a symbol of His death. I believe it was a symbol of His dying as He went into that water, and a symbol of His rising as He came out....So He begins His public ministry with a declaration that, though He is absolutely sinless, He has come to identify with sinners, to redeem sinners; and the culminating work will be the cross.
Then we have the anointing of Jesus by the Holy Spirit descending on Him as a dove - something everyone would immediately recognize as the sin offering for almost everyone (bull for the rich, lamb for the upper middle class, dove for the common folk - pretty much everyone). The people would equate the dove with sacrifice. God anointed Him for service, and He anointed Him in order to strengthen His humanness for His ministry.
And finally, we have the Word of God the Father.
there's one thing about a sacrifice. Whenever a sacrifice is offered to God, it has to be the right one. True? Without spot, without blemish, and that is precisely what God is saying. "This One, who identifies with sinners, this One who is to be the dove of sacrifice. I say in Him I am well pleased. I accept Him as the sacrifice." ...
By baptism, He identifies with sinners and pictures His death. By being anointed with the Spirit, He is empowered to minister a ministry that ultimately will make Him a sacrifice. The dove of sacrifice. And by the Father's Word, He is said to be the worthy sacrifice.
Tomorrow's scripture focus: Matthew 4:1-11
2 comments:
Great points about why Jesus was baptized by John. Love the info about the dove, too. I never made that connection before.
http://followtherabbi.com/world/encyclopedia/article/jesus-baptism
Really cool article about how the Jews would've seen parallels between creation and Jesus' baptism.
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