WE ARE GOING TO LOOK THIS DAY ABOUT BAPTISM, THE BAPTISM OF JESUS AND OURS. LIFE ON PLANET EARTH MUST HAVE WATER. CHRISTIANS SEE IN THE WATERS OF BAPTISM THE MATRIX OF OUR NEW LIFE IN CHRIST. THE FONT IS LIKE THE JORDAN RIVER THAT LEADS US TO THE NEW LAND OF PROMISE, LIKE THE PRIMEVAL WATERS OVER WHICH THE SPIRIT OF GOD HOVERED IN CREATION. WE STAND IN THE RIVER, BUT WE ARE WITH THE BAPTIZER IN THE WILDERNESS HEARING THE ACCLAMATION OF JESUS BAPTISM AND OURS. A BRIDE PUTS ON A WEDDING DRESS TO GET MARRIED. THE PRIESTS OF LEVI, BEFORE THEY SERVE, BATHED AND PUT ON FRESH LINEN ROBES. BEFORE YOU DO SOMETHING SPECIAL, YOU GET READY.
THE FIRST EVENT IN JESUS ADULT LIFE WAS HIS BAPTISM. THE FOUR GOSPELS RECORD THE EVENT. IT WAS THE LAUNCHING PAD OF HIS EARTHLY MINISTRY.
IT WAS HOW HE GOT READY THE GOSPEL OF LUKE {3:3] SAYS THAT JOHN THE BAPTIST...CAME INTO ALL THE DISTRICT AROUND THE JORDAN, PREACHING BAPTISM OF REPENTANCE FOR THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS
THEN VERSES [21-23]; NOW IT CAME ABOUT THAT WHEN ALL THE PEOPLE WERE BAPTIZED, THAT JESUS ALSO WAS BAPTIZED, AND WHILE HE WAS PRAYING, HEAVEN WAS OPENED, AND THE HOLY SPIRIT DESCENDED UPON HIM BODILY FORM LIKE A DOVE, AND A VOICE CAME OUT OF HEAVEN, " THOU ART MY BELOVED SON; IN THEE I AM WELL PLEASED." AND WHEN HE BEGAN HIS MINISTRY, JESUS HIMSELF WAS ABOUT THIRTY YEARS OF AGE. AFTER THE DETAILS OF JESUS BIRTH, WE ARE GIVEN VERY LITTLE INFORMATION ABOUT HIS FIRST THIRTY YEARS. WE HAVE TWO GLIMPSES. ONE IS THE STORY OF HIS VISIT TO THE TEMPLE AS A TWELVE YEAR OLD BOY DESCRIBED IN LUKE [2:41-51]. THE OTHER IS A PAIR OF VERSES AND AFTER THIS STORY WHICH RECORD HIS DEVELOPMENT. THE EARLIER VERSE SAYS HE GREW IN THREE WAYS. AND THE CHILD CONTINUE TO GROW AND BECOME STRONG-PHYSICALLY; " INCREASING IN-WISDOM;" MENTALLY; " AND STATURE," 'AND IN FAVOR WITH GOD." SPIRITUALLY; WITH MEN-SOCIALLY {LUKE 2: 52]. SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT SEEMS TO EMERGE FROM THE AGE OF TWELVE ON. BUT GENERALLY, THESE WERE THE YEARS OF SECLUSION AND PREPARATION. THEN CAME THE BOOM, SUDDENLY OUT OF NOWHERE, JESUS APPEARS ON THE SCENE AND IS BAPTIZED, WHY BY JOHN? LET'S THINK ABOUT WHERE THIS WAS IN HISTORY. JUDAISM HAD BEEN IN A LONG SPIRITUAL SLUMP.. FOUR HUNDRED YEARS THERE HAD BEEN NOTHING BUT SILENCE, FROM GOD, AND IT SEEMED AS IF NONE OF GOD'S PROMISES COULD EVER COME TRUE. THERE HAD BEEN NO PROPHET, NO VOICE FROM HEAVEN, NO FRESH WORD OF GOD. HEAVENS SILENCE HAD BEEN EXCRUCIATING. THE ISRAELITES HAD BEEN CONQUERED BY ROME. BUT AS HEBREWS: [1:1 SAYS] GOD AFTER HE SPOKE LONG AGO TO THE FATHERS IN THE PROPHETS IN MANY PORTIONS AND IN MANY WAYS, IN THE LAST DAYS HAS SPOKEN TO US IN HIS SON.
THE LORD JESUS CHRIST BROKE THE SILENCE! HIS NAME WAS THE WORD, GOD SPEAKING TO MEN AGAIN AT LAST.
BUT FIRST, GOD SENT JOHN THE BAPTIST TO ANNOUNCE HIM, TO BE HIS FORERUNNER. JUST HAVING THE HONOR. OF INTRODUCING HIM MADE JOHN THE BAPTIST THE GREATEST OF ALL PROPHETS! JOHN BECAME, THEN, THE BRIDGE BETWEEN THE OLD AND NEW COVENANTS, THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS. HIS WORD WAS THAT ONE WAS COMING WHO WAS THE END OF ALL THE MILLIONS OF OLD TESTAMENT SACRIFICES AND THE FULFILLMENT OF ALL THE THOUSANDS OF OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECIES.
NOW ONLY A REPENTANT, FORGIVEN CLEANSED PEOPLE WOULD LISTEN TO THE WORDS OF JESUS CHRIST AND COMPREHEND WHAT HE WAS SAYING. SO JOHN'S CALL WAS FOR ISRAEL TO COME TO, TO PREPARE FOR THE COMING OF THIS MESSIAH, THE SON OF GOD.
IT SEEMED SO STRANGE THAT JESUS WOULD HIMSELF BE BAPTIZED, AS THOUGH HE, TOO, NEEDED TO REPENT. CERTAINLY IT LINKED HIM PUBLICLY WITH JOHN AND PUT HIS SEAL OF APPROVAL ON WHAT JOHN WAS DOING. JOHN'S MESSAGE IS ALWAYS NEEDED; YOU AND I NEED IT AT THIS VERY MOMENT IT IS A WAY TO A FRESH ENTRANCE OF JESUS INTO OUR LIFE, A NEW BEGINNING AGAIN WITH HIM, TO HUMBLE OUR HEART AND CONFESS YOUR SINS AND SEEK HIS FACE ANEW. JESUS WAS MORE THAN SIMPLY TO SAY JOHN WAS DOING SOMETHING IMPORTANT. JESUS REASON FOR HAVING JOHN BAPTIZE HIM WAS MORE THAN SIMPLY TO SAY, JOHN WAS DOING SOMETHING IMPORTANT. JESUS ALSO, WAS DOING SOMETHING IMPORTANT. IN BAPTISM, THOUGH HE WAS SINLESS, HE WAS IDENTIFYING WITH US SINNERS WHOM HE CAME TO SAVE., SO HE ENTERED INTO OUR SCENE, EVEN THE SCENE OF THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL IN THEIR BAPTISM, AND "FULFILL ALL RIGHTEOUSNESS," AS MATTHEW [3:15] SAYS: THAT CHRIST CAME TO DO EVERY GOOD WORK. THAT GOOD NEWS IS THAT ALL CHRIST DID IN HIS BIRTH, IN HIS THIRTY-THREE YEARS AND IN HIS DEATH AND RESURRECTION, WAS FOR US! YOU SEE HE IS NOT ONLY OUR SAVIOR FROM SIN, BUT OUR SAVIOR FOR LIFE. HE NOT ONLY SAVES US FROM HELL, BUT HE GIVES US HIS RIGHTEOUS LIFE. HE NOT ONLY QUALIFIES US FOR HEAVEN, HE COMES INTO US TO, LIVE HIS LIFE THROUGH US AND BECOMES TRULY " THE LIFE" FOR US. A THOUSAND YEARS BEFORE, THE PSALMIST, DAVID HAD CALLED HIM, " THE ANOINTED ONE,' AND PROPHESIED THE FATHER'S WORDS OUT OF HEAVEN, " THOU ARE MY SON" (PS. 2,2,7). IT ALL STARTED FOR JESUS, AS WE SEE THAT HE WAS IN THE ATTITUDE OF PRAYER, WHILE HE WAS PRAYING [LUKE 3:21]. SO MANY OF GOD'S PEOPLE ARE NOT PEOPLE OF PRAYER! FOR THIRTY YEARS, ALL JESUS DID AND THOUGHT WAS A DELIGHT TO THE FATHER, AND GOD COULD SAY, " I AM WELL PLEASED," BUT NOW HE NEEDED THIS SPECIAL WORK OF THE "HOLY SPIRIT" TO PREPARE HIM FOR THESE THREE YEARS OF MINISTRY, DEATH AND HIS RESURRECTION. THIS COVERING WITH THE SPIRIT, THIS PUBLIC AUTHENTICATING BY THE FATHER, THIS BAPTISM OF JESUS WAS A LAUNCHING PAD, AND IT WAS A STUPENDOUS EVENT IN HIS LIFE. WITHOUT IT HE COULD NOT HAVE GONE ON. HEBREWS (9:14). AND WONDERS OF WONDERS, JESUS, SAID THAT NOW HE GIVES THE HOLY SPIRIT WITHOUT MEASURE TO THOSE WHO COME TO HIM!
"AND IT ALL STARTED WITH HIS BAPTISM."
No comments:
Post a Comment