Message

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In the last lesson we learned that John the Baptist came to prepare the way for the Lord. He preached the message of the kingdom of heaven in the hopeless world. The essential step to the kingdom of heaven is repentance. People came to him and were baptized for repentance. His baptism became so popular that his byname became “Baptist.” He clearly said, “Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.” We pray continually that we may produce fruit in keeping with repentance. Today’s passage is about the baptism of Jesus. It is surprising that Jesus was baptized by John. Why did Jesus have to be baptized, though he was the sinless Son of God? The reason is clearly written in Matthew’s gospel, “to fulfill all righteousness”. We also see how God responded when Jesus was baptized. May God help us to know the deep meaning of Jesus’ baptism. First, to fulfill all righteousness (13-15). Look at verse 13. “Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John.” To be baptized by John Jesus travelled from Galilee to the Jordan. He was not baptized on the way to go somewhere or simply dropping by. For this one purpose of being baptized by John he purposely travelled all the way to the Jordan from Galilee. Jesus knew what had to be done before God and invested time and effort. May we be willing to invest due time and energy to do what God wants us to do with priority. When Jesus came to be baptized, John must have been surprised. He knew who he was and who Jesus was. In John 1:15 John the Baptist testified concerning Jesus. He cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’” Though John was born six months earlier than Jesus, he knew that Jesus was before him. Jesus was even before Abraham, and before any human being. For he is the eternal God. So when Jesus came to be baptized by him, John was so burdened and tried to deter Jesus, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” John knew what baptism meant. He said in 3:11, “I baptize you with water for repentance.” Baptism is for sinners for repentance. John knew he was a sinner before God and thus he had to be baptized by Jesus, the holy one. And he also reasoned that the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit does not need water baptism by anyone. John’s understanding was right. Then how did Jesus respond to it? Look at verse 15. “Jesus replied, ‘Let it be so now, it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.” These are the first words spoken by Jesus in Matthew’s gospel. To Jesus what is proper or right had to be done. It is “to fulfill all righteousness.” As we studied Jesus’ life is the fulfillment of God’s prophecies. Even in escaping to Egypt as an infant baby and returning to Judea and withdrawing to Galilee God’s prophecies concerning him were fulfilled though he did not know what was going on. Now knowingly and purposely Jesus wanted to fulfill all righteousness. Matthew must have been very much impressed by these words of Jesus and his life-attitude: “to fulfill all righteousness.” Righteousness is an important word in Matthew’s gospel. It is written in this gospel more often than in other gospels (3:15; 5:6,10,20; 6:1,33; 21:32 – 7 times in Matthew (2 times in Luke and 2 times in John; 19 times including ‘righteous’). Most probably Matthew wanted to live a righteous life. But he got lost for many reasons and became a tax-collector. Since he repented and followed Jesus, he really pursued righteousness. So he wrote Jesus’ words in his gospel, “For I tell you that unless your righteousness-surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven” (5:20), “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled” (5:6), “Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (5:11), and “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (6:33). “Righteousness” is one of the most important words in the Bible. God is just and righteous as the Holy One. We can say that the summary of the Bible is: “Righteousness lost; Righteousness restored.” When Adam sinned, righteousness was lost. But righteousness was restored through Jesus’ death and resurrection. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 1:30, “Christ Jesus…is our righteousness, holiness and redemption.” Since man’s fall, the history of God had been the history of restoring righteousness until Jesus came. This history had been so long; including so many people. It began with Abel murdered by his brother Cain. When the blood of righteous Abel was shed on the ground (Mt 23:35), the history of the righteous seemed to be discontinued. But God gave Seth to Adam in the place of Abel, and continued the history of the righteous, reaching to Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses…etc. Fulfilling all righteousness includes so many people and events. The genealogy of Jesus well shows this. It also encompasses Jonathan’s denying himself and supporting David to be a king of Israel according to God’s will. It also encloses Isaiah’s prophecy regarding John the Baptist, “A voice of one calling in the desert…” And it includes Amos, whose names means “burden bearer.” We remember the words, “…let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!” (Amos 5:24). Jesus knew all the history of righteousness and said, “It is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.” For this Jesus had to be baptized. Here we learn several things. First of all, Jesus had a sense of God’s history. Jesus, as the Son of God, could ignore all the history done by men. Compared to himself, John was even less than servant class. John said of Jesus, “I am not fit to carry his sandals.” But Jesus recognized all the history of God and all the works of men. Of course Jesus knew what God would do through him, to save many through his life, especially through his death and resurrection. He must have had a great vision as he began his public messianic ministry. But at the same time he remembered and recognized the long history of God done up to John the Baptist, whose main work was the baptism of repentance. So he was willing to be baptized by him. Jesus’ having a sense of God’s history is related to his humility. In this world everybody wants to be the top and boss and number one person. It seems that nobody wants to be number two person (even in a family). Because of this human history is the history of blood. But Jesus the Son of God was baptized by John for the purpose of fulfilling all righteousness. In John chapter 9 when a blinder begger was healed by Jesus, his eyes were opened to see Jesus and to see the history of God. He told the Pharisees clearly about God’s history. Then the Pharisees got mad, saying, “You were steeped in sin at birth; how dare you lecture us!”, and they threw him out (Jn 9:34). One missionary wanted to put his hand on one 2nd gen’s head as the expression of blessing him. The 2nd gen, however, refused it, thinking that’s humiliating him. But Jesus was baptized by John for the work of God. It is a forever beautiful example in human history. It is also important to know that when Jesus was baptized by John, he identified himself as a sinner, though he was sinless. It was to save men from their sins. Later he had to undergo the baptism of death for man’s sins (Lk 12:50). He was numbered with the transgressors (Isa 53:12). He died on the cross with two robbers, one on his right and the other on his left. He was assigned a grave with the wicked (Isa 53:9). Here Jesus was baptized associating himself as one of sinners. It was like God going to Babylon as an exile when his people were taken as exiles to Babylon. When a trouble-maker son was called to the principle’s office, his father who was of high authority also had to be called and stand with his son before the principle. To anyone it is not easy to associate with a bad person. But Jesus did so and was baptized as a sinner. Jesus’ baptism by John taught us his having a sense of God’s history, his humility and his identification as a sinner. It was to fulfill all righteousness for the salvation of mankind. Jesus already fulfilled all righteousness and we cannot add anything to the fulfilled righteousness. He is our righteousness. He wants us grow in his righteousness, trying to do right in every area of life. Also, we can still participate in the history of the righteousness, following Jesus’ example. Our 2009 SBC was a part of this history, and having Genesis Bible Academy is also a part of this history of God. In doing God’s work we need a sense of God’s history. To build up God’s work and ministry we should learn the humility of Jesus, overcoming all personal feelings. And to serve God’s flock of sheep we need to learn his identification. It is good to remember what Matthew wrote in Mathew 13:43: Jesus said, “Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father…” Second, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased” (16-17). Then at the time of Jesus’ baptism, what happened? Look at verse 16. “As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him.” What a glorious sight! It makes a quite contrast to Jesus’ humble baptism by John. At the seemingly small earthly event heaven responded gloriously. Before God it was such a great event. Even more there was a voice from heaven. It said, “This is my Son, whom I love; and with him I am well pleased.” God expressed such a happy response at the baptism of his Son. It is likely that in the Bible it was the only time the Father God expressed his joy. At the time of Noah when the whole earth was corrupted, God expressed his grief, saying, “I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth…for I am grieved that I have made them.” When we read the Bible, God seemed to be sorrowful most of the time because of his people’s rebellion and turning away from him. Man’s sin made God grieved and his heart broken. Nothing could make God joyful. But when the Son Jesus was baptized by John to fulfill all righteousness, God was so pleased and could not but express his joy and happiness, saying, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” God did not express his joy and happiness when the Son did a great miracle such as feeding the five thousand with five loves and two fish or calming the storm, etc., saying, “My Son, you are truly great. That’s way you are my Son.” But when his Son was humbly baptized by John to fulfill all righteousness, God was so pleased and could not but express his joy and happiness. He said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” This voice from heaven reminds us of Psalm 2:7, “You are my Son,” and Isaiah 42:1, “Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight.” God happily acknowledged the baptized Jesus as his beloved Son. He did not say, “Yes, he is one of sinners through the baptism.” No. He said, “This is my Son whom I love.” Also, I delightedly affirmed him as my chosen one, the Messiah, who will suffer and die for the salvation of mankind. In fact Jesus’ baptism by John turned out to be the glorious inauguration ceremony of the Messiah by God. It was God’s great encouragement for his Son when the Son began his mission as the Messiah. Here we see the deeper reason of God’s joy and happiness. It was not just because of the Son’s humbleness. God expressed his great joy and happiness because God could see the saving of mankind as his Son launched his messianic life and mission through being baptized by John. God could foresee that numerous mankind would be saved through his Son’s humble obedience. Romans 5:19 says, “For Just as through the disobedience of the one man they many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man many will be made righteousness.” Many sinners would be saved and restored into the glorious children of God. May God help us to live a humble and obedient life of mission so that we can also please God. We thank God for Jesus’ baptism by John. He said, “It is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.” At this baptism of Jesus, a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” May we learn to fulfill all righteousness and his purpose in our lives so that we can be the children with whom God is pleased.

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