The Word This Week
Luke 3:21…
Now that John has accomplished what God has sent him to do, leading the masses to receive a baptism of repentance of their sins, Jesus appears.
John had been explaining to the people who came to him he was NOT Messiah, but the forerunner of He Who is to come. John’s ministry was to prepare sinful hearts for the coming of Christ, and his completion of this specific mission to serve God in this way was remarkable.
John is regarded as the last of the Old Testament prophets, even though he appears in the New Testament. His ministry was successful in ways beyond imagining. In the Old Testament, the prophets came to the people to confront them with God’s pending judgment against them. By and large, the people were not receptive to the message of God in the Old Testament, and they paid a high price for disregarding God’s prophets – going into exile for their sin against God.
John, on the other hand, is well listened to by the people. The difference – and it is huge – is that rather than John going to the people, the people came to John. How this happened is never explained, but it makes all the difference pertaining to how well his message had been received. Traveling 20 or 30 miles or maybe more on foot demonstrates a willingness to receive what John has to say. And they did. And they repented of their sins and were baptized to demonstrate what had taken place in their hearts.
Only now was the road into the human heart paved and ready to receive the saving ministry of Jesus Christ. By the direction pf the Holy Spirit, Jesus knew when to appear and where to appear. This in itself is a miracle in a time when no means of navigation existed, and certainly no way of knowing what was happening down by the Jordan, except perhaps by word of mouth.
Jesus presented Himself for water baptism. In this He was identifying with those who were seeking a relationship with God by faith. He would be the object of their faith, which had been conceived by the Word of God. Jesus had no need for repentance. That is not the issue here. I believe Jesus is presenting himself for ordination into His earthly ministry, according to the Law, at thirty years of age.
Whenever a High Priest presented himself for ordination into the ministry, the first step in the process was a ceremonial cleansing – by water immersion, which is a form of baptism called a ‘mikvah’ by the Jews.
Jesus’ ordination into ministry was mind blowing. All three Persons of the Godhead are present to verify exactly Who He was and what was happening. We see the Person of the Holy Spirit, and we hear the words of God.
Let His saving ministry begin.
Pastor Bill
Now that John has accomplished what God has sent him to do, leading the masses to receive a baptism of repentance of their sins, Jesus appears.
John had been explaining to the people who came to him he was NOT Messiah, but the forerunner of He Who is to come. John’s ministry was to prepare sinful hearts for the coming of Christ, and his completion of this specific mission to serve God in this way was remarkable.
John is regarded as the last of the Old Testament prophets, even though he appears in the New Testament. His ministry was successful in ways beyond imagining. In the Old Testament, the prophets came to the people to confront them with God’s pending judgment against them. By and large, the people were not receptive to the message of God in the Old Testament, and they paid a high price for disregarding God’s prophets – going into exile for their sin against God.
John, on the other hand, is well listened to by the people. The difference – and it is huge – is that rather than John going to the people, the people came to John. How this happened is never explained, but it makes all the difference pertaining to how well his message had been received. Traveling 20 or 30 miles or maybe more on foot demonstrates a willingness to receive what John has to say. And they did. And they repented of their sins and were baptized to demonstrate what had taken place in their hearts.
Only now was the road into the human heart paved and ready to receive the saving ministry of Jesus Christ. By the direction pf the Holy Spirit, Jesus knew when to appear and where to appear. This in itself is a miracle in a time when no means of navigation existed, and certainly no way of knowing what was happening down by the Jordan, except perhaps by word of mouth.
Jesus presented Himself for water baptism. In this He was identifying with those who were seeking a relationship with God by faith. He would be the object of their faith, which had been conceived by the Word of God. Jesus had no need for repentance. That is not the issue here. I believe Jesus is presenting himself for ordination into His earthly ministry, according to the Law, at thirty years of age.
Whenever a High Priest presented himself for ordination into the ministry, the first step in the process was a ceremonial cleansing – by water immersion, which is a form of baptism called a ‘mikvah’ by the Jews.
Jesus’ ordination into ministry was mind blowing. All three Persons of the Godhead are present to verify exactly Who He was and what was happening. We see the Person of the Holy Spirit, and we hear the words of God.
Let His saving ministry begin.
Pastor Bill