The Baptism Of Jesus -The Voice Of God

In Jesus Holy Name January 10, 2021

Text: Mark 1:4,9 Epiphany Redeemer

“Water and the Voice of God”

In November 2010, a wedding party in Gle-nel’g, Australia, was unexpectedly called into action right after the wedding ceremony. While they were posing for pictures on a scenic ledge, a woman unrelated to the wedding fell into the water and started to drown. Dressed in his tuxedo, the best man jumped in and brought the woman back to shore.

Then the bride, a trained nurse, waded into the water and started administering CPR. By the time the life saving volunteers had arrived, the woman had regained consciousness. The victim was lucky that the bridal party was there and acted quickly. After the daring rescue operation, the drenched but heroic best man and bride happily rejoined the wedding reception. (story from Rev. Gregory Seltz, Lutheran Hour)

An interesting but important rescue. Jesus did the same for us. He jumped into the waters of sinful humanity to bring us back to life. How did it happen? God sent a man named John. The cousin of Jesus was quite the sight to behold.

Chuck Swindoll observed, “It would be an understatement to say John the Baptizer swam upstream.” He broke with all religious traditions…He was baptizing Jews. That was not normal practice for Jewish people. In John’s day baptism was for Gentiles who wanted to become Jews…. He was calling people to repent and change their behavior, asking them to be baptized. No wonder the Pharisees questioned his action.

John’s parents were Zechariah and Elizabeth, both elderly people whom God graciously surprised with a baby. Luke tells us that, from John’s boyhood until the day of his public ministry, John lived in the desert (1:80). During that time, he was clothed in camel’s hair, wore a leather belt, and ate a steady diet of locusts and wild honey (Mark 1:6). He offered a fire-and-brimstone call to repentance, challenging people to change their behavior, to prepare the way for Messiah.

Mark tells us that Jesus traveled from Nazareth to the Jordan River. Once there,

Jesus steps into the water, for a baptism He didn’t need, to save people who didn’t deserve it. He was implementing God’s plan to save people who have been outlawed from His holy presence because they had broken His commandments. The scene was dramatic. Large crowds. John preaching. People confessing their sins and being baptized. Then Jesus steps into the water. With water dripping from his hands, John proclaimed: “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.”

Everyone knows John 3:16. There is another verse like it. I John 4:10 “This is love; not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” It is a true love story that stops the fear of death and offers hope for people who have lost friendship with their Creator. It began in heaven. It would find completion on earth at the cross of Jesus.

The beginning of our restoration to friendship with our God, becomes visible in the waters of the Jordan where we hear the voice from heaven. “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am pleased to dwell.” (Col. 1:19) The God of creation, embodied in Jesus Christ, is empowered by the Holy Spirit to begin the final attack in the cosmic battle against Satan.

Stepping out of the waters of the Jordan, the dripping wet Savior is “sent into the desert by the “Spirit of God”. When Jesus is “baptized by John”, the event publicly proclaims to the world that the Son of God is entering the battle to save sinful humanity from sin, eternal death and the power of the devil. (Heb. 2:14) By His baptism He enters the waters of our sinful lives, so that by His sinless life, His sacrificial death, and His miraculous resurrection we might be restored to friendship with our Creator.

The Bible is clear, people who have broken God’s commandments, need our lost and broken intimacy and peace with our God, restored. The wages of sin is death. Humanity’s rebellion against God is the root cause of all that is evil in the world. From God’s point of view there is no one righteous, not one. In this cosmic battle Satan constantly tempts every human being to replace God with personal selfishness. It is attractive. James the brother of Jesus in his letter writes: (read James 1:13-15)

John was calling people to repent. Jesus, himself began His ministry with the

words: “Repent the kingdom of heaven has come.” C.S. Lewis has this definition of “repentance”.

“Fallen man(kind) is not simply an imperfect creature who needs improvement: he is a rebel who must lay down his arms. Laying down your arms, surrendering, saying you are sorry, realizing that you have been on the wrong track and getting read to start life over again from the ground floor…. That is the way out of our