“This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”  Matthew 3:17

Last Sunday, eleven people were baptized at our church.  It was a blessing to watch my grandson take that step of faith and publicly say he belonged to Christ.  But that wasn’t all!  It was a double blessing to see children, now junior high age whom I had taught in Pioneer Club on Wednesday nights, also take that step of faith and show they also belonged to Christ!  Baptism is such a special time of rejoicing for the family of God!  Our generation passes the torch to the younger generation and watch God work in their lives.

The subject of Baptism was on my mind since I was studying in Matthew about the baptism of Jesus.  The thought occurred to me, “if Jesus never sinned, why did He have to be baptized?”  In doing a little research, I found some interesting information on the subject.  If you were a Gentile before the first century and wanted to worship the God of Israel, you would have to be baptized and repent of your sins.   The baptism of John symbolized repentance.  Jews accepting John’s baptism admitted they had been like Gentiles and needed to become God’s people inwardly.  This was an amazing admission given their hatred of the Gentiles.  The people were repenting in anticipation of the arrival of the Messiah.  John’s baptism differs somewhat from Christian baptism in that Christian baptism symbolizes the death, burial and resurrection of the Lord Jesus, it looks forward to Jesus’ death on the cross.

So why did Jesus have to be baptized?  I think there are several reasons.  1.)  He wanted to identify himself with sinful humanity.  He had lived a sinless life and did not need to repent of anything, yet He identified Himself with sinners, the ones He came to save.  2.) It pictured His death, and resurrection.  3.) It pictured the importance of Christian baptism.  4.) It was a public affirmation of Himself as the Messiah by the testimony of God Himself speaking from heaven.  “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”  Matthew 3:17. It was an outward act of obedience to His Father and gave legitimacy to John’s ministry.

The Pharisees and Sadducees were horrified at Jews being baptized.  The name Pharisee meant “separated ones” and they were known for their legalistic adherence to fine points of the Law.  The Sadducees denied all things supernatural, the resurrection of the dead and the existence of angels.  They accepted only the first five books of Moses.  They tended to be wealthy aristocratic members of the priestly tribe and in Herod’s day, they controlled the Temple.  Pharisees were legalists, Sadducees were liberals.  John called them both a “brood of vipers.”  They disliked each other, but united in their hatred of Jesus and John the Baptist.   They called themselves “sons of Abraham,” but Abraham’s real descendants are those who share his faith.  “Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness.  Understand then, that those who have faith are children of Abraham.”  Galatians 3:6-7.

All three persons of the Trinity were there the day Jesus was baptized.  The Father spoke from heaven, Jesus was baptized by John and the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove rested upon Him.  What a beautiful picture!  “I have installed my King on Zion, my holy mountain.  I will proclaim the Lord’s decree:  He said to me, ‘You are my son; today I have become your father.  Ask me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession.”  Psalms 2:6-8. 

Your friend, Jean