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WHY DID JESUS NEED TO BE BAPTIZED?
So why would Jesus need to be baptized by John?
Well... Jesus' baptism by John was the beginning of Jesus' ministry
Mark 1:1 starts out: "The BEGINNING of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God" and then Mark starts telling us about Jesus' baptism by John.
In Luke 3:23 we're told of Jesus' baptism by John and then we read: "Now Jesus himself was about thirty years old when he BEGAN HIS MINISTRY..."
Obviously, for some reason, Jesus' ministry began with His baptism.
Now, at this point in Jewish history, water baptism served one of 3 purposes.
1st, there was the Baptism Of Repentance.
This was what John the Baptist's was preaching.
But of course Jesus didn't need to repent because He hadn't sinned.
The 2nd kind of baptism was for people who desired to convert to Judaism.
It was a Baptism Of Conversion.
If you were a Gentile who wanted to convert to Judaism, they baptized you in water.
ILLUS: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown explained that: "The Jews were accustomed to say of a heathen proselyte, on his public admission into the Jewish faith BY BAPTISM, that he was a new-born child."
So, baptism was used when someone wanted to convert to Judaism. But Jesus had no need to convert to Judaism. He already was one. He'd been born a Jew.
So baptism in those days could be for repentance or conversion... and Jesus did not need to be baptized for those reasons. So, for what OTHER reason would a person be baptized in water back then???
Well, the only other people who experienced baptism - in the Jewish faith in that day were priests. The Law dictated that especially the High Priest was to "washed with water." And the Temple had pools set aside for just that purpose.
In Leviticus 8:6 we're told that - by the instruction of God -- "Moses brought Aaron and his sons forward and washed them with water."
Then, later, during that ceremony Moses "poured some of the anointing oil on Aaron's head and anointed him to consecrate him." Leviticus 8:12
This act INITIATED Aaron's ministry as High Priest. When Aaron and his sons were washed with water and anointed with oil, they BEGAN their priesthood and were empowered to make sacrifices and to handle holy things as God's representatives.
At that point (their baptism) God put His mark of approval on the ministry of Aaron and his sons.
The Bible tells us that Jesus' ministry began with His baptism by John.
After His baptism, the Father anointed Jesus with the Holy Spirit as it descended on Him in form of a dove. And the Father put His mark of approval on Jesus by loudly declaring:
"This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased." Matthew 3:17
This was the beginning of Jesus' ministry as our High Priest.
Did you realize Jesus was our High Priest?
Indeed He is!
Hebrews 4:14: "...we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God..."
From the day of His baptism by John at the Jordan until His death on the Cross, Jesus (as our High Priest) prepared the ultimate sacrifice for our sins... His own body.
YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU’RE TALKING ABOUT!
Rejection comes in all forms. Steven was a young man that felt the call of God on his life. He came from a really close family. He finished his college and then went off to seminary.
After finishing seminary he came back before going to his first church. He visited with all of his relatives for about a week. He stopped by the church and talked to his hometown Pastor. The Pastor asked him if he would like to preach this Sunday. He felt honored and took the Pastor up on the invitation.
Sunday morning came and after hours, yes-even days, of preparation he stepped up behind the pulpit looked out at the congregation of friends and relatives and started to expound the knowledge that he had learned. Well, his young niece, Kathleen, about six years old - stepped out into the aisle and put her hands on her hips - her left foot out in front of the other - her head cocked to one side - THEN she said in a very loud and clear voice for her age. “Uncle Michael, You don’t know what you are talking about!”
Rejection is hard to handle from anybody - but from a six year old it is really taxing.
“ If you were to ask Jesus today the one reason for his coming to earth, He would sum up his entire ministry in one statement: He came to seek and to save that which was lost” Dr. James Merritt President of the S.B.C. 2001
Pastor Mark Thompson of Faribault, Minnesota, suffered terrible knife wounds from an assailant in his home, in October 1988. One of the many consequences of his difficult recovery was being forced to miss watching his son Chris run in the state cross-country championship meet. Pastor Thompson commissioned his brother Merv to go in his stead.
According to the account in the St. Paul Pioneer Press & Dispatch, Mark told his brother, "I can’t be there to see Chris run. So I want you there at the beginning of the race. Holler a lot. ... Then at the end, I want you to really cheer loudly. And I want you to make your voice sound like mine."
Merv...
Ponce Brown
One author in his writings on the subject of becoming authentic noted that William Faulkner, the novelist, toiled for years as an unknown, disrespected writer in rural Mississippi before he finally gained recognition. When he won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1950, his acclaim grew. When approached later about the literary people and authors he associated with, Faulkner shrugged his shoulders and said, and “I don’t know any literary people The people I know are other farmers and horse people and hunters and we talk about dogs and guns and what to do about the hay crop or this cotton crop, not about literature.”
“I know men and I tell you that Jesus Christ is no mere man. Between Him and every other person in the world there is no possible term of comparison. Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne, and I have founded empires. But on what did we rest the creations of our genius? Upon force. Jesus Christ founded His empire upon love; and at this hour millions of men would die for Him.” –Napoleon Bonaparte
“Like a mighty army moves the church of God” may be the blueprint in a familiar hymn, but it has not always been observed. In fact, someone wrote a parody of this particular verse of “Onward, Christian Soldiers,” and it runs like this: Like a halting caravan Moves the church of Christ; We are feebly faltering Toward our timid tryst. We are all divided, Many bodies we, Kept apart by doctrine And lack of charity. Careful, Christian pilgrims Walk in doubt and fear, With the cross of Jesus Bringing up the rear. source J. Vernon McGee
As one commentary points out, “Jesus sees every man, no matter where he is: in the dark places of his sin and shame, in his home and work and play, in his seeking to know the truth. Jesus sees everything about a man, but there is one pe...
Have you ever been really thirsty? When you’re really thirsty, you’ll about drink anything as long as it’s wet – because you’re thirsty. I once read a newspaper article about how a criminal on the run gave himself up because he was thirsty. The police had apparently surrounded this man so that his options of getting away were no longer possible. The police used wisdom when it came to capturing this outlaw. They offered him a Pepsi. He took them up on their offer and came out of his hiding place. Yes, he got arrested, but he had his thirst quenched.
Aron Ralston did. The 27 year-old mountain climber spends his holidays climbing the Rocky Mountains. He’s done it over 45 times, alone, and always in the winter – most of the time after midnight. Life on the edge is nothing new for him. But life under an 800 pound boulder? He was climbing off one when it shifted and trapped his right hand against the wall of a narrow crevice. He shoved the rock with his shoulder, and tried to chisel it with his knife. He even attempted to hoist the boulder with his climbing rope and pulley. The boulder would not budge. After five days, with food and water gone and having drifted back and forth between depression and visions of friends and water, he made a decision, the thought of which makes mere mortals gulp. He decided to cut off his own hand. He had to break his own wrist first, and then with a cheap multiuse tool, be began cutting into his own arm. The blade was dull, and he said that it took over an hour to finish his own amputation. He finally broke free from the boulder and then faced the challenge of finding help. He crawled through a 150-foot ravine, rappelled (one handed) down a 60-foot wall, and then hiked six miles. Only then did he run into some Dutch tourists, who no doubt, got more for their money than what their travel agent promised. Aron downplayed his own courage and explains his escape as a “matter of pragmatics.” Pragmatic indeed. On one hand, death. Without the other hand, life. When faced with the choice, he chose life. Hey, when you’re thirsty, you’ll do about anything… (2) 2. Adapted from: “Come Thirsty” by Max Lucado. Pp. 39-40
