John the Baptist came preaching repentance as a necessary preparation for receiving the coming Messiah. Those who received his message came to be baptized as a testimony of such repentance. Yet the Scriptures record that Jesus himself came to be baptized by John even though he had no need of repentance. “Then cometh Jesus…unto John, to be baptized of him. But John forbad him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me? And Jesus answering said unto him, suffer it to be so now…then he [John] suffered him” (Matthew 3:13-15).
The Gospel of John further explains the significance of Jesus’ baptism. John said of his own ministry, “I baptize with water; but there standeth one among you, whom ye know not; he it is, who coming after me is preferred before me, whose shoe’s latchet I am not worthy to unloose” (John 1:26-27; emphasis added). John’s ministry of baptism would reveal this one of whom he spoke. John testified “I knew him not: but that he [Christ] should be made manifest to Israel, therefore am I come baptizing with water” (John 1:30-31).
John recognized that Jesus was the Christ because he “saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him [Jesus]. And…he that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and remaining on him, the same is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost. And I saw, and bare record this is the Son of God” (John 1: 32-34).
There are three attributes significant to the ministry of this one whom John was sent to reveal. First, Jesus was affirmed by the Father Himself to be the Son of God. After John baptized Jesus there came “a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:16-17). The deity of Jesus was essential to his role as the Messiah of Israel, the one who “would save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21). Paul, in his Epistle to the Romans, connected Jesus’ Sonship with his resurrection from the dead, essential to the gospel of our salvation. He testified that he [Paul] had been “separated unto the gospel of God…concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was…declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead” (Romans 1:3-4).
Second, John’s baptism gave witness to the fact that Jesus is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost. This baptism began at Pentecost when the promised Spirit was sent by Christ upon his disciples in Jerusalem (Acts 2:1-4). Every believer who puts their faith and trust in Jesus Christ since that day is given the gift of the Holy Spirit who dwells within them forever. This is the promise of Christ as the one who baptizes with the Holy Ghost. “And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever; even the Spirit of truth” (John 14:16-17).
Finally, a third characteristic is bound up in John’s testimony at Christ’s baptism. He declared of Jesus, “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). It is not possible that the “blood of bulls and goats should take away sins” (Hebrews 10:4). Only the blood of the eternal Son of God could pay the price of sin before a holy God. Is Christ Jesus your Lamb?
From the Chaplain 