Welcome to The MHB Podcast. This is Michael Baun. And welcome to my 181st episode. In this episode we are going to continue our study of the book of Matthew. We are finishing chapter three. The first two parts of chapter three discussed a lot about John the Baptist as well as the idea of repentance from sin. We saw John preaching to the crowds and calling on them to repent and be baptized for the Kingdom of God is at hand. The religious elite – the Pharisees and the Sadducees – came to hear John’s message but they summarily rejected the notion that they themselves were sinners. These people were self-righteous and they thought repentance and baptism should be reserved for the sinful Gentiles. These Jews believed their Abrahamic heritage was sufficient for their salvation and so heart transformation was not a priority for them. John told them their heritage means nothing and that God could simply raise up sons of Abraham from the stones if He wanted to.
This closing passage of chapter three shows us the baptism of Jesus. It’s one of those rare and exciting moments in Scripture where we see all three Persons of the Trinity present in the same scene. John – being the humble man that he was – was taken aback and didn’t consider himself worthy to baptize Christ. But Jesus told him to do it so they could fulfill all righteousness. The baptism of Jesus is a seminal moment in the Gospels because Christ establishes the example for our own baptisms and this moment marks the beginning of His earthly ministry. Let’s read verses 13-17:
Mat 3:13 Then Jesus *arrived from Galilee at the Jordan coming to John, to be baptized by him.
Mat 3:14 But John tried to prevent Him, saying, “I have need to be baptized by You, and do You come to me?”
Mat 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.
Mat 3:16 After being baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove and lighting on Him,
Mat 3:17 and behold, a voice out of the heavens said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.”
Jesus was nearly thirty years old when He was baptized. John was just six months older than Him. It’s interesting to think about how Jesus lived in relative obscurity in the small place of Galilee for so much of His life. This is demonstrative of the unfathomable patience of God. We see clearly how special this moment in Scripture is and how it pleased the Father – yet none of the Persons of the Trinity were too eager to wait for the fulness of time. That’s worth thinking about if you believe you are pursuing a God-ordained calling on your life. If even the mission of Jesus Christ Himself was not subject to expedience then it’s likely you’ll have to wait as well. John was probably baptizing people in the Jordan for about six months prior to the baptism of Christ. But during these six months it’s possible more advancement had been made in preparation for Christ’s ministry than in the entire decades leading up to it. So as you continue to work, wait, and search for a move of God in your life just remember He’s operating on His own timing and His own timing is the best timing.
Notice how Jesus traveled from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized. I’m not saying it’s wrong for churches to have nice baptistries conveniently located inside their buildings, but both baptism and communion are serious ordinances which should be carried out thoughtfully and with great reverence. Even merely worshiping on the weekend should be done in this manner. You can only find God when you seek God. When entering into His presence remember He is the all-powerful Creator of the universe, but you can call Him Father because through Jesus you are a child of God.
John preached a baptism of repentance and Jesus subjected Himself to this baptism. But Jesus knew no sin – so why did He do it? Allowing John to baptize Him was a profound expression of humility. Jesus always spoke of humility from the very moment He began to preach. The King of kings and the Lord of lords, the One who is fit for the highest honors, is gentle and humble in heart such that His first public action is to abase Himself and set the example of humility. If you are going to rise to prominence you would do well to learn humility first. You need to be okay with starting low before gaining traction. It’s tempting to want to skip that process and become influential overnight, but the outcomes when such a thing happens are rarely good. Arrogance is a great destroyer of hearts. We often see child-stars developing debilitating addictions and personality problems because they are honored before they have an opportunity to learn humility. John was faithful in separating himself for God’s work and he was diligent in his preaching and his baptizing of the people leading up to Christ. Because John worked to honor God in this way, Jesus extended the immeasurable honor of allowing him to be the one who baptized God Himself. In all that you do you should work to honor God and God will be pleased with you for it.
Notice how the reflexive reaction of John is to object against Christ’s instruction to baptize Him. Peter had the same reaction when Christ lowered Himself to wash the future-apostle’s feet. Both of these men were so faithful and believed so deeply in Jesus that they were dumbstruck at the idea of Jesus serving them instead of the other way around. These objections show us that even the most devout followers of Christ can be taken aback by the mysterious ways of God. To reject God’s instruction in anything is fundamentally a spiritual misunderstanding on your part. That’s why humility is so important. John and Peter reactively denied the will of God to allow Christ to serve them in these ways – but their humble hearts prevented them from getting stuck in the ditch in these moments. An arrogant person may have rejected the opportunity to baptize Jesus and then insisted that he or she was right to do so. In the moments where you have to choose between leaning on your own understanding of God or following Him with child-like faith, it’s much safer to choose child-like faith. This kind of faith is not possible without a humble heart.
There’s another point I want to touch on here. Throughout the Scriptures there are examples of godly people having this reaction of feeling like they aren’t worthy to carry out the will of God. John’s mother felt she wasn’t even worthy to have Mary the mother of Jesus come to her. The prophet Isaiah believed he was too sinful to carry out the work of God. John the Baptist here in this passage declares himself unworthy and Peter does the same thing later on. Here’s the point: it’s perfectly natural to feel like you’re not good enough to do the work of God. I would say it’s even expected. One of Satan’s fundamental desires is to shame you into rejecting Jesus. It’s entirely possible God has ordained you to do a great work in advancing the Kingdom of God on earth. But as soon as you start attempting to live out your calling don’t be surprised if you are struck with imposter’s syndrome or the sense that you aren’t pure enough. The reality is you’re not pure enough and you’re also not wise enough or powerful enough to do God’s work. The only reason you’re able to do anything of value for God is by His own Holy Spirit working through you. You’re not alone in your mission – God is with you every step of the way and this very fact means you’re qualified to fulfill your calling.
The Spirit of the Lord had been on John since before he was born and had been working through John for months before Christ came to be baptized. By this point it’s likely that John was universally well-respected by all who resonated with his calls for repentance. But even at the height of his prominence John the Baptist remained humble. If you’re able to stay humble while your reputation rises then God may keep future honors in store for you. If the Spirit of God had been on John from the womb you might wonder why he thinks he needs Jesus to baptize him. John realized the imperfection of the world we currently live in and he understood the imperfection of himself. The best possible spiritual condition is to understand how much you need Jesus to continue washing your spirit of its impurities. The purest people are the ones who realize they aren’t pure at all. John knew he was polluted merely as a consequence of his humanity. He had the Spirit of God, yes, but he wanted even more of the Spirit of God.
Water baptism is a symbolic representation of the kind of baptism John wanted from Jesus. When we choose to make Jesus Lord of our lives we are spiritually baptized by Him. This transcendental phenomenon occurs within you and is a necessary part of being born-again and entering the Kingdom of God. Regardless of how righteous you think you are, the most righteous among us are the ones who realize how desperately they need this spiritual baptism and the consequent sanctification. At this moment in John’s ministry he was probably surrounded by crowds of people who would readily accept him as the Messiah himself. But instead of embracing such an honor John publicly confesses his need of Christ. No matter how prominent you become or how well-respected you are by the people around you, you should never feel ashamed of announcing how all of who you are depends on Jesus. You should readily admit that none of your work would be possible and who you are as a person would be undone without Christ and His grace.
Even though John came before Jesus he still had equal need of Jesus as we do today. The same is true for every human spirit who lived an earthly life before Christ came. John was a shepherd who was stewarding the souls of the people who heard him preach. Shepherds need Jesus just as much as the people who they are shepherding. John understood the necessity of preaching to himself. Here’s what I mean: Sometimes pastors and teachers get so caught up with the health of their people that they forget to monitor their own spiritual condition. They can deliver perfectly lucid sermons and develop impactful points as they teach the Scriptures – but they can get into a place where they almost stop listening to themselves. Even if you’re not a pastor, the chances are good that someone looks to you for spiritual advice and guidance. One of the most important parts of stewarding the souls of others well is to ensure that you are first stewarding your own well. You can’t pour from an empty glass. Paul instructed Timothy to pay close attention to himself and his teachings and to persevere in those things. He said by doing so Timothy would ensure salvation both for himself and for the people who hear him.
This development of self is something that I take very seriously. Over the past year I’ve allowed my circumstances to draw me away from paying attention to my own development and my own teachings. I can tell you that I’ve literally watched myself and those around me start to lose purchase on the Word of God. I don’t recommend it but if you allow yourself to drift away from the Scriptures and watch what happens to yourself and those in your sphere of influence – I bet it will be something like this: First is that conversations about the things of God will taper off and then mostly cease altogether. The concerns of the world will magnify and begin to dominate your daily thoughts. Second is that your words will be less seasoned with biblical truth. And finally, if you have conversations about God at all, they will be conversations divorced from a Scriptural foundation and mostly based on whimsical speculations about the nature of reality and the character of God. That subtle backsliding which occurs when you fail to steward your own spirit is how you give birth to idolatry. If you need a reason not to forsake the gathering of the saints and go to church every weekend that’s a pretty good one.
Christ’s humility was such that He allowed Himself to be baptized by a sinner, as a sinner, in the presence of many sinners. All of this despite the fact that He Himself knew no sin. Jesus overruled John’s refusal to baptize Him and John wisely accepted Christ’s command despite the mystery of it. Jesus makes no objection to the fact that John himself needs to be baptized by Christ – He simply says now is not the time for it and right now Christ needs to be baptized as a common sinner. It was the right time for Christ because He had emptied Himself of His divine glory and chose humility so that He could manifest into the human condition. Although He was perfectly pure He chose to be baptized as if He needed to be washed of sin – and that’s because He took the sin of the world onto Himself. During this special period of history John’s baptism was given the highest honor because it was a necessary ordinance in foreshadowing the future baptism of the Holy Spirit. The fact that Jesus paid respect to this ordinance shows us plainly that no matter how talented or gifted we are – we are never too good to show respect to God’s ordinances. This means faithfully attending to baptism, communion, and even other less important rituals which have been passed down through time. You would do well to honor tradition – especially if you don’t understand the tradition or why it is there to begin with.
Another reason Christ insisted on being baptized was because He needed to manifest Himself to Israel in a special way. Seeing the Spirit of God descend onto Christ like a dove provided evidence that He was truly the Son of God. Jesus said His baptism would fulfill all righteousness. Everything Christ did on earth was part of His grand design for redemption. As Christians it’s important for us to do the things God expects of us, but it’s also important for us to things which are beautiful and which bring good into the world. Creativity and art are good examples of this. Beautiful art doesn’t nourish you the way food and water do, but it does provide a kind of nourishment for your soul. To live in a world without beauty would lead rather rapidly into despair. Another good way of thinking about this is how you might go above and beyond to do a good job at your workplace. You can tell the difference when someone is doing the bare minimum in order to get paid and get out, over against the person who cares about the quality of their work and wants it to be good for good’s own sake. Just like a world without art, we don’t want to live in a place where the workers are incompetent and careless as they manufacture products, cook our food, and perform our surgeries. Putting the bare minimum of effort into these kinds of things brings very real and tragic consequences.
It was fitting for Christ to be baptized because in baptism He demonstrated His unfailing readiness to comply with the Father. Since Christ’s baptism was the culmination of John’s ministry, it also validated all of the work John did in preparing the way by calling on others to repent of their sins. God has done a lot of work to make you who you are today and He’s chosen – in His infinite wisdom – for you to live in this particular time period. It is befitting a follower of Christ to acknowledge the powerful work of God and to do what you can to make sure His divine work bears fruit in your own life. As human beings we have an innate understanding that this is true which is why we get so upset when we witness wasted potential. We actually hold a person who’s tried and failed in higher regard than a person who’s never tried at all. And you might say: well I don’t try because I already know I’m not good enough to succeed. You need to be careful with that way of thinking. It is true there are certain things you should stay away from because they are not meant for you – but this way of thinking could just as easily be a pretense of humility used to avoid shouldering your God-ordained responsibility. The reason you can tell John the Baptist was truly humble is because while his humility caused him to decline baptizing Christ at first, once Jesus enjoined him to do it he didn’t allow his humility to get in the way of accepting the duty. He didn’t allow his low view of himself to become an excuse to disobey God.
The heavens rejoiced at the baptism of Christ and the Father was well pleased with Him. Scripture says the heavens were opened up to Him. One reason for this cosmic display of glory would be to encourage Jesus as He is about to embark on His earthly ministry. The glory and the joy of heaven is ready and waiting to receive Him once His work is done. That’s worth thinking about if you find yourself suffering or doing a lot of work for the Kingdom of God. Heaven is waiting for you on the other side of it and is ready to envelope your spirit in joy as you walk into the presence of God at the end of your life. Another reason the heavens are opened after Christ’s baptism is to show us that in and through Jesus heaven has been opened to us. The Fall of humanity caused the heavens to be sealed shut against the sin of this world. But Jesus changed all of that and through Him we are given restored access to the Kingdom of God. Something special happens when we faithfully attend to the ordinances of God. If we practice these things with truth in our hearts we should expect to grow closer in correspondence with God. If you want God to speak into your life then start by reading the Scriptures. Studying the Scriptures and allowing them to soak in your soul will change you at a level impossible to diagnose by worldly means. But you will notice the difference in your day-to-day life and the intimacy you feel with God through Jesus.
You can think of Christ’s baptism like it was His public inauguration. Everyone who was there likely saw the Spirit of God descend upon Him. When Genesis talks about the creation of the world it says the Spirit of God hovered over the face of the deep – or the face of the waters. Jesus didn’t need the Holy Spirit in the same way you and I need the Holy Spirit because all three Persons of the Trinity are one with each other. But the prophet Isaiah foretold that the Spirit of God would rest on Jesus. Throughout the Old Testament we see God grace specific individuals with the power of His Holy Spirit in order to do things like prophesy. After Jesus this specificity with which the Holy Spirit makes Himself available to people is changed. In the same way that Christ opened the gates of Heaven that all who believe on Him may enter the presence of the Father, so He also provided the means by which we may be indwelled by the Spirit of God. Faith in Jesus is what opens your heart to the Holy Spirit. When you are baptized in the Holy Spirit and He indwells you, His power brings you gifts, grace, and comfort. He also sanctifies you so that you become more like Jesus.
This passage says the Spirit of God descended on Christ like a dove. It’s possible a real, living dove was seen but I think it’s more likely the Spirit presented Himself as something like a dove. He doesn’t take the form of man because the form of man is specific to Christ – the second Person in the Trinity. That’s why Jesus calls Himself the Son of Man. The dove has symbolic significance in Heaven because the dove represents innocence. The dove is also harmless and inoffensive which is characteristic of the gentleness of Jesus. It’s true we serve a God of justice and His wrath is terrifying, but it’s also true we serve a God of grace and His love for us means He doesn’t wish to harm us anymore than a gentle dove can harm us. To be a good Christian you must embrace the gentle nature of the dove. This doesn’t mean you fail to defend the defenseless in the face of evil – but it does mean you don’t use violent means to advance your own cause. The dove is also known for its mourning. The Scriptures say Jesus was well acquainted with grief and He wept for the broken nature of the world – like at the death of His friend Lazarus. The dove was also the only kind of bird which was offered as a sacrifice by the Levites and so it represents the self-sacrificial character of Jesus. It also makes sense that a dove would represent the beginning of the gospel because the gospel is good news. When the flood waters began to recede it was a dove which brought tidings to Noah that his ordeal was coming to an end.
Christ is baptized, the Holy Spirit manifests as a dove, and God the Father presents Himself as a voice from Heaven. Revealing Himself as a voice is in keeping with how He revealed Himself in the Old Testament when He gave Israel the Law. The Father said, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.” This is a very special statement and it is the heart of the gospel in one sentence. The reason is because so long as we are in Jesus we can hear these words as if they are spoken to us ourselves. When you are in Christ you become a child of God and when you practice faithful obedience the Father is well-pleased with you. The thought that any among humanity can be looked on so favorably by a holy and perfect God is staggering. The fact that people such as us can be redeemed and covered in the righteousness of Jesus is the most important miracle ever performed.
Jesus is the Son of God and He was begotten to the Father from eternity. This means Christ is uncreated – He has always existed alongside the Father from everlasting to everlasting. The same is true for the Holy Spirit – all three have existed in loving communion forever. The role of Christ as our Redeemer was to be born supernaturally into our world as the ideal human, and then give Himself to the Father in sacrifice for our sins so that we can partake in His ideal nature. It’s difficult – and might be impossible – to measure the magnitude of the gift which was given to us through Jesus. Jesus is the beloved Son of God in whom the Father says His own soul delights. Such a thing was never possible with humanity. You know all the ways you’ve transgressed, and likely still transgress against God. The task of being holy enough to please God is fully insurmountable for us. The chasm which exists between the way things ought to be and the way things are is too wide for us to cross. So you consider the transcendent impossibility of being like Jesus on your own effort and then you consider the depth of love the Father must feel for His perfect and eternal Son. And then you understand He gave up His Son to save us while we were yet sinners. The wells of God’s grace and the limits of His love for humanity are incomprehensible when examined in this light.
Humanity chose war with God and God gave us Jesus as the peace-maker. The roots of Christ reach down into the most broken of repentant sinners and the heights of His glory reach all the way up to the throne of God. Outside of Jesus the presence of God is as deadly to us as a consuming fire, but inside of Jesus we can bound right up to Him as a child does to his loving Father. That’s the difference that Christ makes for our eternity. That’s the gospel. Jesus is beloved Son to the Father and Jesus is beloved Savior to ourselves. This gospel is the light and hope of all nations and has been fundamental to every good and loving thing humanity has been able to accomplish. Don’t make yourself go another day without it. Your loved ones and your community need you to become all that God meant for you to be. Make today the day you decide to trust in Jesus and lift up your eyes to Heaven to witness His power and His glory and in that glorious light you will witness your redemption.
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