“Preaching on Christ - The Sovereign Servant”
TOPIC:“Christ - His Voluntary Baptism”
“And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water;
and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God
descending like a dove, and lighting upon him” (Matthew 3:16)
We come now to one of the most interesting events in the life of Christ - His glorious baptism. It is interesting to note that Jesus voluntarily requested to be baptized by John the Baptist. Why our Lord, who never sinned and needed no repentance, should insist upon receiving a rite which indicated the need of confession and repentance, is something I want us to come to grips with in this message.
But not only that, I want us to behold in this event the humility of our precious Savior. Destined to be elevated to the highest, here before our eyes Jesus descends to the lowest as He identifies Himself with sinful mankind. All of the four Gospels record the magnificent account of His baptism, and it is most interesting that each Person of the Godhead was involved in this event: Jesus was baptized, the Holy Spirit descended on Him, and God the Father expressed His love for Him. Let us now make an in-depth study of this aspect of our Lord's life.
Consider, to begin with, the APPEARANCE of Jesus for His baptism. Verse 1 now claims our attention: “Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to the Jordan unto John, to be baptized by him.” Jesus now travels from Galilee to the Jordan River where John was carrying on his ministry of baptizing. I want you to realize that this is the only time in all of the Gospels that Jesus comes in direct contact with John, although as boys I am certain they must have spent time with each other. But now we behold Jesus coming out of seclusion to reveal Himself to men, and to begin His ministry and assume His office as King.
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