140119 Doing the Right Thing

"Doing the right thing" is a popular idea, or should be. Everyone should want to do the right thing if they possibly can. John the Baptizer was at the Jordan River between the Lake of Galilee and Jericho. He was baptizing people who came to him in repentance for their sins. One day when he was preaching he looked up and saw someone coming towards him. He may have recognized this person as his cousin, Jesus, but he didn't know who he really was. Or, he may not have recognized him immediately. We can assume that they spent time together as they were growing up but they lived quite a distance apart. Jesus came to him and asked to be baptized. Let's read Matthew's account. Matthew 3:13-17 Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented. And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”

We see from this account that Jesus came from Galilee for the specific purpose of being baptized by John. But…

John would have prevented him. John baptized with water for repentance and…

Jesus did not need repentance. It is very clear in Scripture that Jesus did not need to repent. Let's look at a couple of passages beginning with Peter's testimony. 1 Peter 2:22 He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. And then we go to Paul's testimony… 2 Corinthians 5:21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. Without doubt Jesus had nothing to repent of. He had no sin of his own and that allowed him to become our substitute paying the price of our sin on the cross. John found it very hard to believe that Jesus wanted to be baptized by him. John realized who Jesus was when he came for baptism. When John saw him coming, the next day, he said, "Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world." Whether or not Jesus needed to baptized…

John believed he was unworthy. Obviously, Jesus did not hold the same attitude towards John as John did towards himself. Let's look at Jesus' testimony found in Matthew 11:11-15 Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force. For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John, and if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah who is to come. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.

Here we see that John was a type of Elijah. Elijah was to come before the Messiah but not in bodily form. So that Jesus could say, excepting himself, there is no one born of women who is greater than John. John was the prophet who introduced the Messiah. Those who came before said that the Messiah was coming. John could say, “Here HE is!” Matthew tells us that John came to fulfill the prophecy spoken by Isaiah, “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; make his paths straight.’ ” This was quoted from Isaiah chapter 40. Without a doubt, John was worthy of the responsibility of baptizing the Creator of the Universe, even if John could have understood that he was worthy…

John could not understand the purpose. Remember, John baptized upon repentance of a person. See what Mark had to say. Mark 1:4-5 John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And all the country of Judea and all Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.

People were coming to John in vast numbers to be baptized. The Pharisees were very jealous of John because of the popularity he enjoyed among the people. They could see that their control over the people was slipping from their hands. John was announcing that the kingdom of heaven was at hand. That was something the Pharisees could not offer to the people. More than that, John was calling the Scribes and Pharisees a brood of vipers! This was a very poisonous snake that struck without warning and has a very strong poison. I suppose the term lingers in modern English as, "Snake in the grass". More than that, John told them that their descent from Abraham meant nothing if they did not bear fruit in keeping with repentance. He told them that God could raise up children of Abraham from the stones on the ground. This was a tremendous threat to the authority of the Scribes and Pharisees. Jesus did not need repentance, John thought he was not worthy to perform the baptism and did not understand the reason for it. However…

Jesus assured him it was okay. When we don't understand the thing we really need to know is that Jesus considers it be OKAY! If that's the case it will be all right. Jesus wanted him to understand that…
This was the right time. After his baptism, Jesus had gone into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. Apparently, during that time, John was arrested ending his public ministry. Then the ministry of Jesus began with these words found in Mark 1:15 “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” The time had come for Jesus to begin his public ministry. So when he came to John it was the right time for him to be baptized beginning his public ministry. He repeated John's words, "the kingdom of God is a hand." But He added to the call for repentance the positive command to "believe in the gospel". Not only was it the right time…

This was the right thing to do. Sometimes we simply need to know that something is right. We don't always have to know why it's right. Until that day when he came for baptism John apparently did not know that Jesus was the Messiah. I have no doubt that John knew who Jesus was because he was a member of John's family. John simply knew that someone was coming after him and that “someone” was the Messiah of Israel. The following passages that come from John's gospel sometimes confuse people. John the disciple wrote the books of the Bible that have his name as well as the Book of Revelation. John the Baptizer did not write any Bible books but his ministry is told partially in John's gospel.

Let's go back to the gospel of John the disciple and see what John the Baptizer had to say. John 1:31-34 I myself did not know him, but for this purpose I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel.” And John bore witness: “I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.”

God had sent John to prepare the way for the Messiah by calling the people to repentance. He came to know who Jesus really was even before he led him into the baptismal waters. He objected that he needed to be baptized by Jesus rather than the other way around.

When this happened John immediately knew that this was the one whom he had been told would baptize with the Holy Spirit. And he testified that Jesus is the Son of God. It was the right time and it was the right thing to do.

Jesus' baptism inaugurated his ministry. We will continue with the account of John the disciple found in John 1:35-39 The next day again John (the Baptizer) was standing with two of his disciples, and he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!” The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, “What are you seeking?” And they said to him, “Rabbi” (which means Teacher), “where are you staying?” He said to them, “Come and you will see.” So they came and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day, for it was about the tenth hour.

I believe there is very little doubt that these two disciples were John, the brother of James, and Andrew the brother of Simon Peter. Whenever John the disciple mentions himself in his gospel he seldom calls himself by name. This is one of those examples. He tells us there were two disciples and he names one of them, Andrew. The other disciple remains unnamed but was surely John himself. Otherwise, how would John have known about the incident?

Jesus' baptism occurred at the right time and it was the right thing to do to inaugurate Jesus' ministry.

The results were amazing. Heaven opened, the Holy Spirit descended and a voice spoke. This happened more than once.

The heavens were opened. In the very early days of his ministry as Jesus began to gather disciples he told them what would be happening in the near future. Let's look at John 1:51 “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.” Jesus promised that they would see angels ascending and descending on himself. He emphasized his humanity by calling himself "the Son of Man". As Jesus was ending his ministry, 2 to 3 years later, he took Peter, James and John and went up on a mountaintop and met, in their presence, Moses and Elijah representing the Law and the Prophets. Matthew gives us one account in Matthew 17:5 He was still speaking when, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.”

Obviously it was important for John the Baptizer to hear those words at Jesus' baptism and again, the disciples needed to hear those words on the mountain. Both times it was affirmed for them, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased…". Jesus did not need to hear these words but those around him did. He already knew, and had known from eternity past, that he was the beloved Son.

So, more than once, in the ministry of Jesus, the heavens were opened. At the end of Jesus' time on earth the heavens opened to receive him as he ascended on a cloud. At least twice in the book of Acts a similar event occurred. Once, when Stephen was martyred. At that time he saw the heavens opened and our Lord Jesus standing at the right hand of the throne in heaven waiting to greet his servant. Saul of Tarsus stood nearby holding the coats of those who would stone Stephen to death. Later, this same Saul would have the heavens opened for him and he would see the living Lord Jesus who was saying to him, "Saul, Saul why are you persecuting me?" The result of that encounter was salvation for Saul who soon became known as Paul the Apostle. The heavens opened and…

The Spirit of God descended on Jesus. We can return to our original text in Matthew 3:16 to see these words, And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him;

When he did obey Jesus, John the Baptizer saw the Spirit descending on Jesus. Most pictures that depict this event show a white pigeon landing on Jesus. I don't believe that's what happened. I believe that John saw the Spirit coming down "like a dove" and remaining on Jesus. What did the Spirit look like? One of my favorite answers to such questions is, "I don't know"! We are really not told what the Spirit looked like we only know that the spirit came down "like a dove" would have descended. I find it hard to describe so if you want to know how it happened start feeding pigeons and you will soon see how they descend and land. The Holy Spirit came on Jesus in a dove-like motion.

The heavens opened, the Spirit of God descended and…

God spoke. (From Adam to Malachi)

The first words God spoke that we have record of was, "Be fruitful and multiply." And then God went on to describe to Adam his responsibility for the creation. Again and again God spoke and man did not always listen. After Adam sinned God called out to him in the garden seeking to restore the relationship that was broken. God spoke to Cain after he killed Abel his brother. In fact, the whole Bible is God speaking. From Adam, in the book of Genesis, to the last prophet of the Old Testament — Malachi, God spoke and man heard. But Amos prophesied a period of time when God would no longer speak. It lasted for about 400 years. Let's look at the words in the prophecy of Amos. Amos 8:11-12 “Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord God, “when I will send a famine on the land— not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord. They shall wander from sea to sea, and from north to east; they shall run to and fro, to seek the word of the Lord, but they shall not find it.

Amos could see a time when Yahweh would not speak and men would seek a word but not hear it. The last words that God spoke, as recorded by Malachi the prophet, were “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.”

The one who came in the spirit and power of Elijah was John the Baptizer! For hundreds of years there had been no word from the God of heaven. There were no prophets, or preachers, only Scribes and Rabbis. The written word found in the scrolls was the only evidence that God had ever spoken. Now, after all those years, God began to speak through John. "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." No wonder people from all Judea and Jerusalem were going out to hear him. He had the words of God! When he spoke he spoke as one with authority and not like the Scribes and Pharisees. He spoke in order to set the scene for the Messiah to come into his own. John recognized that his ministry was finishing when Jesus appeared. John said, "He must increase and I must decrease." Soon after he baptized Jesus, John would be arrested and soon after that beheaded. From that time forth Jesus would speak with the same authority John did and in the power of the same Spirit.

Jesus did not need repentance but he did need to be baptized by John to begin his ministry. Later Jesus would say that John was the most worthy man in history. Jesus' baptism was, according to his own words, "to fulfill all righteousness". Or to do the right thing. Today, baptism is modeled upon that of Jesus. We do not baptize a person to show that they have repented we baptize a person because they have accepted Christ as Lord and Savior and want to obey him. Baptism is a symbolic act picturing death to the old way of living, burial and resurrection to live a new life. We see that in Romans 6:3-4 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

Do you need to make that commitment today?

All scripture quotes from:The Holy Bible : English standard version. 2001. Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.