John the Baptist Part 9

IX. The apex of John’s ministry was his baptism of Jesus Christ. MAT 3:13-17; MAR 1:9-11; LUK 3:21-23. A. The sinless Jesus submitted Himself to this ordinance of a temporary figurative death, burial and resurrection which spoke of His own work to save us. 1. Whereas John’s baptism was of repentance for the remission of sins, Jesus had no sin and therefore nothing to repent of and have remitted. 2. Jesus was/is flawlessly righteous and so is called, “...Jesus Christ the righteous...” 1JO 2:1. 3. The righteous are not called to repentance, only sinners. LUK 5:32. 4. There was something else going on with the baptism of Jesus. It was “...to fulfil all righteousness” (MAT 3:15). B. Dr. Jay Adams (a Pedobaptist sprinkler-type) in his book, The Meaning and Mode of Baptism on p. 17 tries to use MAT 3:15 to support baptism by sprinkling. His argument goes like this: 1. John the Baptist was a Levitical priest keeping the Law of Moses. 2. John was keeping the righteousness of the Law for the sprinkling of Levites in NUM 8:6-7. 3. Jesus was honoring the same law and was therefore anointed as a priest at thirty years of age by a sprinkling baptism even as Levites had to be thirty years old to enter tabernacle service. NUM 4:3, 47 c/w LUK 3:21-23. C. But... 1. If John was sprinkling Jesus in keeping with NUM 8:6-7; 4:3, 47 and this is what was fitting Him to be a priest, how could this be fulfilling all righteousness? a. Jesus was of the tribe of Judah, not Levi. b. Judah was ineligible for the priesthood. HEB 7:14; 2CH 26:18. c. John and Jesus would both have been breaking Moses' Law if John was anointing Jesus as a priest as Dr. Adams proffers. d. In fact, if John's baptisms of others were according to the command to sprinkle Levites, he had already been breaking that law since he baptized without regard to tribe or sex. MAT 21:31-32. John the Baptist 6-29-25 Page 15  e. Above all, how could a Levitical priest (John) anoint Jesus with the Melchisedec priesthood which God HIMSELF conferred upon Jesus by His oath? HEB 7:21. 2. The sprinkling of a Levite is NOT the washing of a priest. a. Not all Levites were priests. NUM 16:7-10; LUK 10:31-32. b. Only the sons of Aaron could be priests. EXO 28:1; 30:30; NUM 3:10. c. The priests had a brass laver to wash IN. EXO 29:4; 30:18-21; LEV 16:4. (1) The washing of Aaron’s flesh in water for the Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement) service is interesting since it particularly foreshadows Jesus Christ “...by whom we have now received the atonement” (ROM 5:11). (2) “...this washing may be either an emblem of Christ's baptism, which he submitted to before he entered on his public ministry, and was, by dipping; or rather of his being cleared, acquitted, and justified from all sin, upon his resurrection from the dead, after he had made atonement for it, and before his entrance into heaven; as he had no sin of his own he needed not the washing of regeneration, or the water of sanctifying grace to be sprinkled on him, to cleanse him from it but inasmuch as he had sin imputed to him, and which he took upon him to make atonement for, it was proper and necessary, when he had made it, that he should be justified in the Spirit, that so he might enter into heaven without sin imputed, as he will appear without it when he comes a second time.” (John Gill) d. Sprinklings are distinct from washings. LEV 6:27. e. The priests were anointed with oil, not water (EXO 30:25, 30-31) and oil suspends over water, an apt picture of the superiority of the priests over the Levites. f. Jesus' anointing was with the Holy Ghost. ACT 10:37-38 c/w LUK 4:18. (1) The O.T. high priest was washed with water right before his anointing. EXO 29:4-7. (2) This corresponds with Christ being washed with water right before His anointing. MAT 3:16-17. 3. So what were John and Jesus doing that was fulfilling all righteousness? a. John's baptism and ministry were by divine appointment. LUK 3:2-6 c/w MAR 11:28-33; JOH 1:6. b. The church of God was undergoing a reformation. HEB 9:10. c. An old order defined by pedigree, nation, circumcision and Mosaic code was being abrogated by a new order defined by repentance, faith and baptism. d. This kingdom was spiritual and entered into by baptism. MAT 21:31-32 c/w LUK 7:29-30. e. John was NOT perpetuating a long-held Mosaic ceremony for Levites or imitating ritual ablutions of the Essenes, as some have conjectured. f. Again, John's baptism was of repentance for the remission of sins. MAR 1:4. (1) Jesus Christ had no sins of his own and was only the legal bearer of our sins. 1PE 2:22-24. (2) However, “...in ALL THINGS it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in John the Baptist 6-29-25 Page 16  things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people” (HEB 2:17). (3) As God, Christ had given the law by which John baptized people into the kingdom of heaven. Thus, He submitted Himself to that revolutionary ordinance in demonstration of its validity and of the fact that the promised kingdom had come: “...The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand...” (MAR 1:15). (4) Christ was therefore made a genuine brother of the new order: the gospel church and kingdom of God/heaven. HEB 2:11-12. (5) As the sacrificial lamb once had to be taken FROM the pre-advent church (LEV 16:5), Christ our Lamb and Brother was taken from among the reforming church that would be under a N.T. to be offered for our sins. (6) By submitting Himself to the ordinance of water baptism, Christ by example showed that none who would have a part in the new order of the kingdom of heaven are exempt from its entry requirement. D. Moses opened a way through the Red Sea to freedom. Joshua opened a way through Jordan to Canaan. Elijah opened a way through Jordan to his own translation. 1. But when Jesus was baptized, a channel was opened through the watery atmosphere of earth unto heaven while Jesus prayed. LUK 3:21-22. 2. The Spirit descended upon Jesus like a dove, and this was the very sign that God Himself had prophetically given to John concerning the One Who would baptize with the Holy Ghost: the Son of God. JOH 1:29-34. 3. “As the prayer of Jesus winged heavenwards, His solemn response to the call of the Kingdom - ‘Here am I;’ ‘Lo, I come to do Thy Will’ - the answer came, which at the same time was also the predicted sign to the Baptist. Heaven seemed cleft, and in bodily shape like a dove, the Holy Ghost descended on892 Jesus, remaining on him. It was as if, symbolically, in the words of St. Peter,893 that Baptism had been a new flood, and He Who now emerged from it, the Noah - or rest, and comfort-bringer - Who took into His Ark the dove bearing the olive-branch, indicative of a new life. Here, at these waters, was the Kingdom, into which Jesus had entered in the fulfilment of all righteousness; and from them he emerged as its Heaven- designated, Heaven-qualified, and Heaven-proclaimed King.” (Alfred Edersheim, The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, p. 302) 4. Then “...a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (MAT 3:17). No such thing was said of Moses, Joshua or Elijah. John the Baptist 6-29-25 Page 17