Those who responded to the preaching of John the Baptist submitted to water baptism for the remission of their sin. Since Jesus was without sin, it is very curious why he participated in what others were doing. John himself even objected. Jesus responded by saying that it was necessary to fulfill all righteousness. So now we have a second curiosity that our Lord said righteousness must be fulfilled. We must delve deeper into some explanation for what happened that day.
John had previously prophesied that he who would soon appear on the scene would have a different baptism of the Holy Spirit and fire. The baptism of Jesus was a bridge from what a prophet (John) would declare toward the divine infilling of the church established by Christ.
Up to this point, Jesus had been a trained carpenter and the oldest son of Mary providing for his family in the absence of the deceased Joseph. Baptism represents a turning from and a turning toward. Thus, Jesus was turning from his daily life as a worker toward the fulfillment of prophecy as the Messiah who would be rejected by his people, crucified, and then be resurrected.
Through baptism Jesus identified himself with the vilest of sinners without himself committing any sin. He was not saying that he was one of the good old boys. He was saying that he could stoop to any depth for any of the good old boys. In every way possible Jesus was identifying with sinners.
His path to the cross led him to the victory of righteousness over Satan and sin. This baptism was step one of his ministry to be the proxy for each and every one of us from the ancient time period to this day. Sin had its way over mankind. The righteousness of Jesus rescued mankind from the doom where they were heading.
By the confirmation of the voice from heaven that Jesus was the Son of God, this act brought salvation to the point of most need. It was a melody for the universal range of God’s goodness to mankind. It was a signal to evil to give its best shot possible against the Lord so there would be no question of the power of Jesus and the victory he brought.
There were two opposing groups at that time. The Pharisees and Sadducees represented the failure of organized religion for the sake of religion. To them salvation was nothing more than putting a check mark by every demand that they themselves had penned. Opposite were those without degree or a reputation, but who wanted the truth of what salvation offered by confession and submission. Jesus sided with those in need for later on in his ministry Jesus said that he came to save that which was lost.
By being in the waters of repentance without sin, Jesus was silently declaring that he came to rescue us from sin. In the same way a man dives into the lake to rescue a drowning man so did Jesus, dive into the spiritual lake of tainted souls who were drowning. God was acting through Jesus in a new way by the power of grace.
Jesus did not come to fulfill the law that was distorted by formalized religion. He came to indicate our reckless condition under the original Mosaic law that his Heavenly Father sanctioned. The ultimate goal of Jesus was to offer his own righteousness to anyone who believed and accepted him as Savior. His baptism was an unveiling, launching of true righteousness on earth.
His baptism was like that of a man who was the first to sit in the bleachers as life as it played out before him while inviting others to sit with him. This means his baptism was a fulfillment of the public contract before anyone there, that the kingdom of God was opened by faith only. John had to have faith in Jesus to comply in the baptism simply because Jesus said to do it. John was the first to comply in subjection to Christ as all others would need to do.
The peculiarity of the moment was to point witnesses to heaven not to the waters of the earth. Our new spiritual life does not belong to those waters, our blessings did not spring from those waters, our portion with God begins at those waters and continues outside the world toward heaven. John was not a priest or any way connected with the functions of Jerusalem. His wilderness journey was better than walking in the city.
The heavens opened onto Christ, not the spectators. The scene demonstrates the Trinity at that moment when God the Son of God, God the Holy Spirit, and God the Father were together initiating the ministry of Jesus for the purpose of his coming. God’s Blessings and Privileges did not come directly on John the Baptist or the Spectators. First, it had to come from the Lord Jesus then to men. This baptism of Jesus makes us one with him because of his perfection and not one with him because of our imperfection. This is how we come to the world displaying the nature of God.
Christian Writer 