Word of Salvation – Vol. 18 No.04 – January 1972
Jesus Baptised
Sermon by Rev. J. J. Van Wageningen, B.D. on Matthew 3:13-15
Scripture Reading: O.T. Psalm 40
N.T. Matthew 3
Psalter Hymnal: No. 406; 233:1 (after proclam. of grace);
235:5 (after 10 comm.); 361:1,2 (after sermon) 438:1,2,3; 491
We do not find many details about the life of the Lord Jesus, before He publicly started His ministry at the age of thirty. Luke mentions some particulars in his gospel – ch.2:40, “And the child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favour of God was upon Him.” This is the history of the first 12 years of Jesus’ life. As a true human child He passed through a process of physical and spiritual growth and development. He grew up perfectly – as no one before or after Him. He was truly man, but a perfect man, even in childhood. And through all the years of growth and development in true wisdom the grace of God, His guiding, protecting and supporting love and power rested upon the child. There was no barrier between Him and God, because He was perfect in all things.
Then Luke tells the event of Jesus’ going to Jerusalem. His parents were used to going there every year at the feast of the Passover. They took Jesus with them when He was 12, and He stayed behind there, sitting among the teachers, who were amazed at His understanding and His answers. His presence there was for Him a matter of course, “Did you not know that I must be in My Father’s house?” And Jesus went down with His parents and came to Nazareth and was obedient to them. Then again Luke gives a general description – vs.52, “And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature, and in favour with God and man.” Jesus was an absolutely perfect human being, spiritually as well as physically. He enjoyed the highest respect and affection of people who knew him – and God Himself also showed Him His favour and pleasure.
This is all Luke writes about the 18 years from Jesus’ 12th to His 30th year of age.
In Matthew 13:55 and in Mark 6:3 we read that later on the people in Nazareth say, “Is not this the carpenter, the carpenter’s son, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon and are not his sisters here with us?”
From these remarks we may conclude:
1. that most probably Joseph had died, for only Mary is mentioned, “Jesus the son of Mary”.
2. that Jesus had learned the carpenter’s trade and practised that trade like Joseph did. He is called “the carpenter’s son” and “the carpenter”.
3. that Jesus grew up in a rather big family. The names of four brothers are stated and there were some girls too, “Are not his sisters here with us?”
God’s Word does not tell us more about Jesus’ life as a boy or a young man. Later on people who were not satisfied with this made up all sorts of fantastic and childish stories concerning Jesus’ doings and sayings as a child. It is unnecessary to say that this is foolish and worthless. God does not give us His Word to satisfy our curiosity, but to reveal Himself in Jesus Christ, to make known His work of salvation. The purpose is, as John states in ch.20:31, “These are written, that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His Name.”
At the age of 30 (the normal age of a teacher) Jesus started His public ministry. The first thing He did was to go to John the Baptist in order to have Himself baptized.
This is the subject of our text, JESUS BAPTIZED.
1. Why John objects to it;
2. Why Jesus insists on it.
1. It was about 400 years ago that the last prophet Malachi had spoken in Israel. That is a long time, 400 years. And then all of a sudden John the Baptist appears, preaching in the wilderness of Judea as another Elijah. He wore a garment of camel’s hair, and a leather girdle around his waist.
Crowds of people flock together, Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan went out to him. Here the Word of God is preached, the living Word of the living God, and God’s people live by God’s Word. It is no lovely, sugar-coated message they hear. It is a word of severe judgment, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. …Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”
Judgment, but not as a final word, for behind this message is the grace of God. The name of this messenger is John, which means, “Yahweh, the God of His people, is gracious”. Behind this message is Jesus, the Saviour, whose forerunner, whose herald, John is.
Therefore the baptism John preaches is the baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. Without Jesus you cannot understand John the Baptist. John has a very special position. He stands on the borderline of the Old and the New Testament. He speaks the first word of the glad tidings of salvation, “Behold, the Lamb of God!”
And the way of the Lord has to be prepared and therefore he announces the coming judgment and calls us to repent and believe, for we cannot come to Jesus unless we truly repent. He calls everybody, the sinners and the righteous people, the pious and the godless men, they all have to repent and believe.
In his baptism he shows them the reality, the reality of God’s judgment, for without repentance they will perish.
In his baptism he also shows them the reality of divine forgiveness; confessing their sins they receive the sign of the cleansing from their sins.
His preaching is the same for all. There is no escape. Whether you are a Pharisee or a Sadducee, it is of no avail. Even the fact that you have Abraham as your father is not a ticket, a pass into the kingdom of heaven. John the Baptist sweeps away all the religious and social privileges, all the fancied claims and rights, with which men think they can stand before God. Nobody and nothing is spared.
John does not preach in this way because he likes to rebuke because it gives him a secret pleasure and makes him feel good. No, not at all. He has to do it because God sent him and charged him to do this as the herald of Christ. His preaching and baptizing are fully related to Christ. This Word and this sign would have been idle, empty, if Jesus of Nazareth had not come to fulfil it.
“Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John”. This is the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry. He starts His work as the Messiah, as the Christ, in the midst of His people. And the first thing He does is to go to the Jordan to John, as one of the many who want to be baptized. He does not arrive there as the One who has the right to wield the axe and execute the judgment John announced; as the One superior to John. No, He comes as the inferior one, who bows down His head to receive the heaviest blow Himself. He comes to John to be baptized by him.
“John, baptize Me!”
Can you understand that John refuses to do this? In the text a word is used that means: to prevent strongly and continuously.
After all we have heard concerning his preaching and baptizing, we are inclined to agree with John. It is a matter of course that he does not want to baptize Jesus and strongly objects to it. Jesus is the only one, who does not need baptism, “the baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins”, for Jesus is the sinless One, holy, righteous, innocent, without any dark spot.
John objects to it. He says, “I need to be baptized by You and do You come to me?” John the Baptist recognizes his own unworthiness. As a matter of fact he belongs to the people who receive baptism. But he must baptize them, because God told him to do so; and there is nobody to baptize him. John does not exalt himself, He is a very humble man. And he recognizes Jesus’ greatness. Jesus is far superior to him. “I need to be baptized by You, and do You come me?”
2. The Saviour however insists on it, “Let it be so now”.
Our Lord wants John to baptize Him willingly, and He explains why. The reason why is, “For thus it is fitting for us to fulfil all righteousness”.
It is not something of a personal nature, something between John and Jesus. Much more is at stake. Both, John and Jesus, have been sent by God. Both of them have a task laid upon them by God. John has the task of being the herald, the forerunner, “the voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord”. Jesus has the task of being the Messiah, the Christ, the Redeemer.
“You shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins”. This is the will of God, clearly expressed to them. This is the right thing they have to do, the righteousness they have to fulfil before God. John has to preach and baptize. Jesus must save His people from their sins.
This is the reason why Jesus asks John to baptize Him. Personal sin and personal cleansing are out of the question. Jesus stands there as the Christ, the Head of His sinful people. He is one with His people. “God chose us IN CHRIST before the foundation of the world” (Ephesians 1). So far back it goes: before the foundation of the world. So deep it lies: in eternity God chose us in Christ.
This is the secret, the mystery of the unity between Christ and His people; God chose us IN CHRIST. This means, for His people, eternal salvation. It means for Jesus, who is the Christ, to be the sin-bearer. “God laid upon Him the iniquity of us all.”
Therefore Jesus seeks the baptism of John. “It is fitting for us to fulfil all righteousness.”
He is true man, really one of us; He is righteous man, He is the One for us, the One who takes our place; “Lo, I have come to do Thy will, O God!” Jesus begins His ministry, and the first thing He does, before the eyes of God and men, is to show that He is the bearer of our unrighteousness. Of His own free will He bows His head under John’s baptism, and comes under God’s judgment for us. He seeks us in our real need. “For thus it is fitting for us to fulfil all righteousness.”
This word is the first word of Jesus which Matthew records, and in this word the whole work of redemption is stated, the entire task of Jesus as our Mediator, our Head. With this word Jesus takes the first public step on the road to Calvary, to the cross. His baptism is a prophecy of His crucifixion. Laden with our sins He accepts God’s righteous judgment and does God’s will with a perfect obedience. His baptism is a stage on the road from His incarnation – the Word became flesh – to His sacrificial death – Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us.
Therefore there is hope, there is salvation! Not for Pharisees, not for Sadducees, not for people who trust in their own religiousness and decency; not for those who have only Abraham as a father, not for people who trust in the fact that they had a pious mother, a god-fearing father. There is hope, there is salvation for sinners, who trust only in Christ, who belong to Christ; for sinners, who are nothing in themselves, but sinners; Christ however is their righteousness, their all.
We are in Him – this is a matter of faith. Repent and believe! Prepare the way of the Lord, make His paths straight. True faith, true repentance, sincere confession of your sins, humble prayer for forgiveness, childlike trust in Jesus as in your Saviour, love for Him, obedience to Him, a following of Him is this a reality in your heart and life? Do you truly belong to His people of which Christ is the Head?
Then you see the riches of your own baptism. It is a sign and a seal of your oneness, your unity with Christ. His death is your death. His resurrection is your resurrection. His obedience is your obedience. His righteousness is your righteousness. His life is your life.
Then you see the riches of His work for His people, the riches of His work for you. He fulfilled all righteousness. All that had to be done, He did. There is a perfect redemption. We have a perfect Saviour!
We cannot imagine, what it meant to Jesus, how important this moment was. “He came to the Jordan, to John to be baptized by him.”
He knew that the time had come to start His work: “O, God, I have come to do Thy will” – John, baptize Me, I am one with My people, I will stand in their place, before the judgment-seat of God. It is fitting for us to fulfil all righteousness.
And John baptized Him.
“Praise your Saviour, now and ever!”
Amen.