"The Prophet Meets The Messiah”

In Jesus Holy Name January 9, 2022

Luke 3:16,21-22

“The Prophet Meets the Messiah”

“The Mystery of God” said Isaiah, “is a bittersweet mystery.” It is a mystery for all kinds of people. Those who are bitter against God, or so,for what they consider His lack of concern, and a mystery for those who sweetly tell His story. The Gospel of Luke tells us that God takes back prodigals. He makes them into loving people again. This is the greatest mystery of all. The mystery of all mysteries that God should care enough about human beings that He Himself would come to the earth He created, offering Himself as the perfect sacrifice for our sins. This is the mystery of the Gospel and the message of the Bible.

The 1st century writer Luke tells us that John was standing in the middle of the Jordan River baptizing people, calling them to repent of their broken commandments. Suddenly John sees his cousin standing in line waiting for His turn to be baptized. He was surprised. Luke tells us that Jesus was around thirty years old. This was the age when the priests of Israel could begin to be ordained.

Jesus did not need to be baptized for the remission of sin in His life. Jesus had no transgressions which needed forgiving. He chooses to be ritually washed in the waters of the Jordan on behalf of Israel and all humanity. His moment of baptism was a sign of His identity and mission. The words of the angel to Joseph will soon be fulfilled. “You shall name the child of Mary, Jesus, for He is conceived by the Holy Spirit, and He will save God’s people from their sins.”

To be baptized by John meant that you were being purified from your sins. You were being freed from your past broken commandments and you were starting all over again, you are returning to a right relationship with God. God used John to take souls which had been blackened by sin and, through this river washing, made them whiter.

It was an effective ministry and people flocked to John's wilderness location, asking him to take them into the river and wash them of their sins. Baptism was a request John gladly performed for anyone who was truly sorry for their past transgressions. But when Jesus, the perfect Son of God, came forward and asked to be baptized, John hesitated and expressed his reluctance to take Jesus down into the water. Jesus walks right into the river Jordan with John, not because He needed “forgiveness” but because it was God’s initiation into the final episode in His plan to defeat Satan.

Why the Jordan River? The Jordan stands for the death of the old world and the new promises of God. When Israel reached the Jordan River after wondering in the wilderness for 40 years a new world lay before them. The promise of God was about to become reality when they crossed the Jordan into the Promised Land. (Joshua 3 – read a few verses)

At the Jordan River, the waters parted, when the feet of the priest carrying the Ark of the Covenant stepped into the water. God commanded Joshua and the Israelites to set up 12 stones, with names of each tribe on a stone. The twelve stones reminded them of the death of the past 40 years filled with acts of disobedience, and a new life of resurrection lay just across the river.

John and every Jew who had gathered at the river to be baptized, knew this ancient history. When Jesus came, John knew He was the Messiah and he did not want to baptize Him, for John knew Jesus would be the One who removes broken commandments from people’s lives. Baptism means burial of the old life and the beginning of the new. Jesus was beginning His ministry by stepping into the shoes of every sinner. (from Jesus a Theography by Leonard Sweet p. 113)

With water dripping from His body, the heaven opened and the Spirit of God descended on Jesus in the form of a dove. Both John and Jesus heard the Voice of God from Heaven. “You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased.” John saw the Son being baptized, the Spirit anointing and heard the Father speaking. John then said: “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.”

The battle for the promised redemption of humanity promised to Adam and Eve was about to explode in the wilderness temptations. The Holy Spirit was always within Jesus from the moment of His conception, now the Holy Spirit would empower Jesus for healing all who were under the power of the devil… destroying the devil’s power over people’s lives.