Hello my ‘Walking with Jesus’ friends,
We’ve just begun a 40 day journey following Jesus to Easter 2022. Yesterday I left you standing on the banks of the Jordan river watching as a very strange looking man was waist deep in the river preaching and people would occasionally walk out of the crowd, down into the river, and this man, John the Baptist, would baptize them! Matthew describes the scene this way: “John’s clothes were made of camel’s hair and he had a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey. People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by John in the Jordan River.” (Matt. 2:4-6)
Now I can’t fully explain John’s unusual attire or his diet, but there are links both to the old prophet Elijah and the diet of a Nazarite. You’ll remember I explained yesterday that John baptized people who wanted to acknowledge their sin and their readiness for the Messiah to come as their Leader. Their baptism did not in any way forgive them of their sin, it simply was a public statement of repentance of sin and readiness for Messiah. A spiritual movement was happening with John. More and more people were believing his preaching and watching carefully, expecting to see their long awaited Messiah any day now!
Yesterday I showed you that John was the man predicted by the prophet Isaiah 700 years before, as “the voice of one calling: ‘In the desert prepare the way for the LORD; make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God…and the glory of the LORD will be revealed and all mankind together will see it.”(Isaiah 40:3-5)John, the miracle son of the old priest Zechariah and his old wife Elizabeth, (Luke 1) was the man described by Jesus’ dear friend, the Disciple John this way: “There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John. He came as a witness to testify concerning the light, so that through him all people might believe. He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. The true light that gives light to every person was coming into the world… John testifies concerning Him, ‘This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me has surpassed me because He was before me.’ “ (John 1:6-9,15) So let’s be careful we don’t confuse John the Baptist with John the Disciple, friend of Jesus.
Later, John the Disciple, the author of the fourth gospel which bears his name, gave this brief commentary about who he believed Jesus to be: “For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father’s side, has made God known!” (John 1:17,18) Matthew, Luke and John all describe for us what the scene at the Jordan river was in those days as John the Baptist preached his fiery sermons, chastised the Jewish Pharisees, and baptized people who were convinced the Messiah would be coming very soon. Suddenly one day, John the Baptist was stunned by what happened. Out from the crowd walked Jesus Himself, right down into the water, ready to be baptized.
Matthew describes the historical moment this way: “Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. But John tried to deter Him saying, ‘I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?’ Jesus replied, ‘Let it be so now, it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.’ Then John consented. 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. And a voice from heaven said, ‘This is My Son, whom I love, with Him I am well pleased.” (Matt. 3:13-17) Now friends, put yourself there on the banks of the Jordan river watching this. What have you just witnessed? Jesus looked like any other Jewish guy in the crowd. No special clothes, no halo around His head, no singing angels… just an ordinary looking Jewish man. But John recognized Jesus immediately and as you see hesitated, indicating Jesus should baptize him. However Jesus knew this event would announce Him to the world! His mission to be the Savior of the world would be launched right here in the Jordan river, with John the Baptist.
But wait a minute! If Jesus is God incarnate, and people were coming to John the Baptist for baptism repenting of their sin and declaring their desire to receive and follow the Messiah, then why would Jesus, the sinless Son of God, want to be baptized by John? The answer is in what happened with John and Jesus in that river. It was not at all what had happened with every other person John had dunked down into that water.
Friends look closely with me, do you see what happened as Jesus came up out of the water and do you understand what it means? We don’t know if the people saw what Jesus saw, but the phrase “heaven was opened” suggests that Jesus and perhaps John, were able to see all the way from that river right into God’s throne room of heaven filled with angels! Does it remind you of another time this happened? Acts 7 is the account of the stoning death of Stephen the deacon, and here’s the record of that sad moment: “Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. ‘Look,’ Stephen said, ‘I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.’ (Acts 7:55,56) The response of the people was terrifying for they grabbed Stephen, threw him to the ground, dragged him out of the city, and stoned him to death.
But for Jesus, standing in the Jordan river with water John the Baptist, the record says: “Jesus saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on Him.” As the people watched, did it look to them as simply a cute scene with a dove flying in and landing on Jesus’ shoulder or did they see something more? I don’t know if the people or John in any way saw spiritual significance to this. What I do know is suddenly everyone there heard a loud, clear voice speak, in their language and with authority: “This is My Son, whom I love, with Him I am well pleased.” (Matt. 3:17) Matthew gives us no commentary on how the people reacted, but it’s not difficult for me to imagine it threw the crowd into great confusion and debate! Who said that? What does it mean?
I wonder friends if you remember this happened one other time, a few months later, and again it’s Matthew who records the event for us? You’ll find it in Matthew 17. Jesus invited three of His disciples, Peter, James and John to take a stroll with Him one day and they hiked partway up a mountain together. I imagine these three guys were filled both with a sense of feeling special, since the other 9 disciples were not invited, but also expectation that Jesus had something special to say to them. Perhaps they thought of the times Moses and Elijah and other great Hebrew heroes had hiked up mountains to meet with God. Matthew describes what happened this way: “Jesus was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light. Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus!! A bright cloud enveloped them and a voice from the cloud said, ‘This is My Son, whom I love; with Him I am well pleased. Listen to Him!“ (Matt. 17:1-5) Now I can’t fully explain all that happened here but for today I wanted you to see the link between God’s voice from heaven announcing Jesus in the Jordan river baptism, and God’s voice from heaven affirming Jesus, and demanding that the disciples and all of us LISTEN to Jesus on the mount of transfiguration.
As Jesus walked up out of the Jordan river that day, dripping wet, He looked no different than He had a few moments before. But something very significant had happened… Jesus had been introduced, by the voice of God from heaven, as the Son of God, with whom God the Father was well pleased. The people present couldn’t ignore it, nor could they pretend they didn’t hear or see what had happened. So let’s pause right here and watch Jesus walk out of the water, back into the crowd. If you had been there, what would you have said to Him or asked Him that day? May I ask another question in closing today? Can God the Father say the same thing about you and me today? “This is My son, or My daughter, in whom I am well pleased”? If you have trusted Jesus to be your Savior, then YES you are a son or daughter of God, but is He well pleased with your life and mine? Let’s talk to God about that right now…
Today’s Scripture is Matthew 3:13-17.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
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Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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