Matthew 3 -- WHY He Did It

When John preached, “Change your hearts and lives because the kingdom of heaven is near,” the listeners had no idea just how immediately that would be confirmed, for not long after that, Jesus Himself showed up to be baptized by John.  Knowing who He was, John insisted that he needed to be baptized by Jesus instead.  After all, Jesus had no sins that He needed to repent of!

 

My commentary discussed why Jesus was baptized:  “First, His baptism gave approval to John’s ministry.  Second, He identified Himself with publicans and sinners, the very people He came to save.  But mainly, His baptism pictured Hi future baptism on the cross when all the waves and billows of God’s judgment would go over Him.”

 

Those “waves and billows of God’s judgment” were meant for me for my sins!  And just as Jesus physically felt the water surrounding Him as He was lowered below the surface, so too did He feel my sins – past, present, and future – wrap around Him and pull Him under from the weight of them as He hung there on the cross and took the punishment of God’s wrath that was meant for me.

 

When Jesus came up out of the water, He saw heaven opened up and the Holy Spirit descending upon Him like a dove.  This was a personal message from His Father, and it was meant to encourage Him and reassure Him as He began His ministry, that God loved him and was highly pleased with Him for His obedience.  Knowing what He would endure some three years later, Christ still obeyed His Father in everything.  He didn’t question and He never failed to obey, because He trusted His Father.

 

Dear God, help me to rust in You that way.  Speak clearly to me as You did to John.  And help my sons to trust me to help them come to know You better in this life each and every day.  Help them to obey, too, Lord.

 

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford