John 3:11-17 I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me comes one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. But John tried to deter him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” Jesus replied, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John consented. 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 alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”
Today’s passage reveals a miraculous happening at Jesus’ baptism: 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 alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” Probably many people were baptized before Jesus that day, but no others before or after him had this heavenly confirmation of God’s pleasure or his satisfaction in their lives. Only Jesus received this validation of right standing with God. All the others were baptized for their sins, expressing repentance through the ritual of baptism. Raised from the water, the others determined to improve their lives by following God’s demands more explicitly in their daily walk. Only Jesus stood as the righteous One, before and after baptism. He alone received praise and honor from God. Jesus pleased God, for his walk, his words, and his deeds reflected God’s goodness. His life fulfilled a covenant with God, complete dependence on God and his will. Sin stained all the others John baptized that day, for they had the oil of darkness penetrating their very nature. Washing with water would not do away with this indelible stain, just as a stain of olive oil on one’s clothes remains when clothes come out of the water in the washing machine. When John lifted the other people out of the water in the river, the stain of breaking God’s covenant permanently marked their lives. The convention of baptism could not change their inner makeup. Only God changes the heart; man cannot change his inner nature by his own efforts. Outside of Christ, the covenant-breaker’s stain exists permanently on his life. Jesus said, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. (John 14:6) For those who were baptized, repentance was a good thing—a desire to lead a better life is always good. The desire to get right with the Creator is positive. Many people want to do better, but they do not want a Savior. Doing good in life is not a bad desire, but the stain of sin will never be washed away by good intentions or baptisms. Often people wish they could go back in their lives to an earlier time, to erase some of the wrong doings, the offenses that they perpetrated in their lives, but that is impossible. The stain of our sins remain, permanently. The awfulness of wrong thoughts, words, and deeds can never be completely forgotten or abandoned forever. The stain of one who is a covenant breaker with God and man will always be there no matter our good thoughts of redemption, even if we repent with tears. Sin is stable: water will not wash it away, only the blood of Jesus—the One who pleased his Father.
In Jesus’ baptism we see an intervention that changes this ceremony into a divine happening. In John’s baptism we see a man baptizing other men and women. Even a very good man such as John was still a man baptizing another man. This whole procedure was good, but earthly; otherwise, the event pertained only to the actions of men. But on this day, God involved himself with this ceremonial happening. As we noted above, God came down like a dove and rested on Jesus. Then they heard a voice from heaven saying, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” God involved himself, and He pierced the clouds and spoke out loud to make his presence known. His Spirit alighted on Jesus, confirming that the man Jesus was his Son, the Messiah. Jesus in the flesh is the Messiah: God with mankind. We see what John meant when he said: I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me comes one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire. Jesus, the Son of Man, would dwell with men; He would open the words of God to men; He would perform mighty miracles, and his words would separate the wheat from the chaff. For some would believe in his works and take hold by faith of his works on the cross, but others, especially the elite of the world, would reject him and his deeds. They would be the chaff winnowed out on the threshing floor. God would separate his newly born from the chaff, those of the sinful world who rejected him. The Holy Spirit, the resurrecting power of God, abides in the wheat that is set apart. They have been cleansed by the blood of the Lamb. He, the eradicator of sin, has created new life for the covenant breakers, bringing them to the Father God in complete holiness. That day on the river Jordan, Spirit of God alighted on Jesus, indicating that Jesus had a holy mission, the cleansing of sin from man’s DNA. The seed of Adam was to be destroyed, and the seed of Jesus was to be permanently revered and held forever in heaven. The born again will be washed clean, made alive evermore, because God dwells in them and they dwell IN GOD. As we read in the word, But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. (1 John 1:7)
Generally, people in our day no longer worship idols. Mankind has progressed in every way—we have computers, processors that can quickly discover intricate secrets of nature and of existence. We can number the hairs on the heads of men, keep track of every animal that lives on this planet. In so many ways, we are like God, at least as envisioned by the primitives. Why do we need this idea of the corrupted man in need of salvation? We know a healthy mind accentuates goodness, not evil; a healthy mind should be positive, not negative. Mankind is now more than ever in charge of his own destiny; he does not even have to rely on gender, race, and status to get ahead or to determine his restrictions. The world in many ways is open to all of mankind; the closed doors of the past have been cracked open; societal norms, mores and restrictions have been pushed aside. We have more freedom now than humans have experienced from the beginning of time. Why this sin question then? Why bring men back under the bondage of good and evil? The answer is that man’s heart has not changed. He has a multitude of ways to experience evil, darkness, or harm to others. Even today in an educated, rational existence, men are caught in the quicksand of sin, always sinking lower and lower. The flesh and its pursuits has no boundaries. Men and women today can engage their minds quickly through the computer into the most wicked dens of darkness. An investigation of computer blogs, sites, and destinations would open up a plethora of dark images. Young and old are involved; male and female unite, determined to explore evil. Our sophistication, rational thought, and civilized enlightenment has led us to more sin, not less. Yes, we do positive things. But this is not what the baptism of the Holy Spirit is all about. We are to do good things. Adam and Eve broke covenant with God by partaking of the tree of good and evil. Their decision contaminated them from the inside out. People may do good, but the stain of covenant-breaker remains upon their lives. They are self-driven, not God-driven. The law fleshed out the covenant to the Israelites, but the Israelites could not fulfill their part of the covenant, even though they said many times: “Yes, we will do it; we will obey the commands of the Lord.” But the Old Testament reveals their failure to fulfill their part of the covenant: obedience to God the Creator. View your own lives honestly. How many laws designed for the benefit of society have you broken, laws meant for protection, peace, safety, and unity? We justify our actions in the moment because we are special and our need makes the action okay. That is why we break the speeding laws without feeling guilty. We may cut corners on our taxes or take advantage in selling things to others. The Bible says, every man does what is right in his own eyes. The baptism of John did not change the heart’s condition, but the baptism of the Holy Spirit changes the soul to righteousness: GOD IN US, WE IN HIM! Consider this: You baked a chocolate cake, but you mistakenly put salt in place of the sugar. Now, you have a bitter tasting cake. As a frugal person, to save the cake you cover it with an inch of chocolate frosting. Problematically, once you eat through the frosting, you will find the cake inedible. So it is with God and his creation, mankind. No matter how much frosting of good works you put on the covenant-breaker, when the veneer is washed away, the covenant breaking sinner is exposed. He is inedible, contaminated, stained indelibly. Just as the cake could not be saved by adding sugar, mankind cannot be saved by good works and a pleasing outward appearance. The salty cake had to go, and a new cake had to be baked. God has made a new cake of you. Paul wrote, Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here. (2 Corinthians 5:17) You are completely pleasing because you recognized the ONE who is completely pleasing to God. By faith, you have taken his life for yours; it is no longer your life that you live, but the covenant-keeper’s life you live: Jesus Christ. He alone is ACCEPTABLE TO GOD ALMIGHTY FOREVER.
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