Tag Archives: John’s baptism

LUKE’S GOSPEL…THE SON OF MAN – 5

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“When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. And as he was praying, heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” Now Jesus himself was about thirty years old when he began his ministry. He was the son, so it was thought, of Joseph, the son of Heli…the son of Enosh, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.”

‭‭Luke‬ ‭3‬:‭21‬-‭23‬, ‭38‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Luke’s careful research into the history of Jesus yielded some significant information about His initiation into His ministry and His genealogy as the human Jesus. 

We, of modern western persuasion, tend to read the story of Jesus’ baptism from our own particular religious perspective. Some denominations ignore the details and equate their practice of infant baptism by sprinkling as the counterpart of circumcision under the Old Covenant. For them, it is important to bring their children into the covenant before they can disqualify themselves through their choices. Once the little ones are in the covenant, it is the parent’s responsibility to ensure that they reach the age of “confirmation”, so that their destiny is secure. 

For other groups, baptism, or total emersion in water, is a statement of faith in Jesus, an act of obedience to Jesus’ command and example, and identification with and initiation into His death, burial, and resurrection. 

What did baptism mean to Jesus as a Jew?

To Jesus, the “mikveh”, ritual washing, was a practice connecting Him to His Jewish roots as a human, not a ritual connected to the New Covenant. 

Google says…

“To Jesus, as a Jew, the mikveh (ritual bath) was a familiar Jewish practice for spiritual purification, cleansing, and transition, similar to the water immersion he received from John the Baptist, signifying a new spiritual state or readiness for God, though Jesus’s baptism became a unique, one-time symbol of initiation into a new covenant rather than repeated ritual cleansing. His immersion connected him to ancient traditions of purity and prophecy, foreshadowing his unique role as the source of spiritual rebirth, as explained to Nicodemus.” 

There has special significance around Jesus’ age of thirty when He left His childhood home and presented Himself for baptism.

“Now Jesus himself was about thirty years old when he began his ministry…”

‭‭Luke‬ ‭3‬:‭23‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Since Jesus combines in Himself the three major roles of leaders in Israel…prophet, priest, and king…He followed in the tradition of His human ancestors. 

  • “Numbers 4:3: States Levites from age thirty up to fifty were to perform service in the Tent of Meeting (Tabernacle).
  • Numbers 8:24: Later adjusted the entry age for Levites to 25 for general duties, but 30 remained significant for the priestly order.
  • David: Was thirty when he began to reign (2 Samuel 5:4).
  • Joseph: Was thirty when he began serving Pharaoh (Genesis 41:46).
  • Ezekiel: Was called as a prophet at age thirty (Ezekiel 1:1).
  • Jesus: Began His public ministry around age thirty (Luke 3:23), fulfilling this pattern. 

Significance of Age Thirty:

  • Maturity & Readiness: In ancient Israel, thirty marked the point of full physical, mental, and spiritual maturity, making one fit for major leadership and sacred tasks.
  • Symbol of Fullness: It signified vocational readiness, highlighting Jesus’ preparedness for His comprehensive mission as the ultimate Priest, Prophet, and King.”

(Source: Google AI)

Let’s turn again to Google AI for a better understanding of Jesus’ baptism against the backdrop of Jewish religious ritual.  

“Meaning of Mikveh in a Jewish Context

For Jews in the Second Temple period, mikveh was a common practice for achieving a state of ritual purity (tahara) after experiencing certain forms of ritual impurity (tum’a), such as after a menstrual cycle, childbirth, or contact with a corpse. 

  • Purity, not Cleanliness: It was a spiritual, not physical, cleansing; one had to be physically clean before immersion.
  • Symbolism of New Life: Immersion symbolized a change of status, a transition, or a “new birth,” such as for a convert to Judaism or a bride before her wedding.
  • Source of Water: The water had to be “living water” (mayim hayim), from a natural source like a spring or rainwater, and not held in a vessel. John the Baptist performed his immersions in the flowing Jordan River, a natural water source. 

“Significance of Mikveh/Baptism for Jesus

While the common reasons for a mikveh were for purification from sin or uncleanness, Jesus’ immersion had unique significance: 

  • Fulfilling All Righteousness: When John the Baptist initially objected to baptizing Jesus, Jesus responded, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness” (Matthew 3:15). This meant participating in the purification rituals required by the Jewish law and culture of his time.
  • Initiation of Ministry: Jesus’ immersion in the Jordan River marked a major milestone and the beginning of his public ministry as the Messiah and Rabbi. (As the Prophet, Priest, and King, in the new order, mikveh was also an act of initiation into His three roles…my addition). 
  • Identification with Humanity: By being baptized alongside repentant sinners, Jesus identified himself with humanity and God’s plan to save them, even though he was sinless.
  • Divine Affirmation: Immediately after his baptism, the heavens opened, the Spirit of God descended on him, and a voice from heaven declared, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:16-17). This affirmed his divine identity and mission.
  • Symbolic of Death and Resurrection: For Christians, Jesus’ immersion is a powerful foreshadowing of his death, burial, and resurrection, which later became the central symbolism of Christian baptism. 

In essence, Jesus’ mikveh was a transformative public declaration and a symbolic “new beginning” for his life’s mission, rather than a cleansing from personal sin.”

Can you see, then, how Jesus’ baptism formed the bridge between His Jewish roots and the new order in which Jew and Gentile would signify through baptism, their identity with Him in His person, His roles, and His redemptive work. 

Luke, in his careful historical record, presents Jesus, not only as a true descendant of Adam, as the Son of Man meaning a human being as well as a Messianic figure, according to Daniel 7…

“In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.”

‭‭Daniel‬ ‭7‬:‭13‬-‭14‬ ‭NIV‬‬

…but also the son of God by the affirmation of the Father…

“When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. And as he was praying, heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.””

‭‭Luke‬ ‭3‬:‭21‬-‭22‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Luke ensured that he presented an accurate record of Jesus’ credentials. Jesus presented Himself to John to do what was culturally, religiously, and spiritually the right thing, to subject Himself for mikveh, at the appropriate age of thirty, as a witness to His readiness to take office as prophet, priest, and king, and to initiate a new order, culminating in a new covenant, signed in His own blood.

Jesus’ bloodline, traced through David and Abraham to Adam, the first human, created by God, also affirms His true  humanity.  

THE GOSPEL OF MARK – GOT THEM AGAIN!

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GOT THEM AGAIN!

27 They arrived again in Jerusalem, and while Jesus was walking in the temple courts, the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders came to him. 28 “By what authority are you doing these things?” they asked. “And who gave you authority to do this?”
29 Jesus replied, “I will ask you one question. Answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I am doing these things. 30 John’s baptism—was it from heaven, or of human origin? Tell me!”
31 They discussed it among themselves and said, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will ask, ‘Then why didn’t you believe him?’ 32 But if we say, ‘Of human origin’ …” (They feared the people, for everyone held that John really was a prophet.)
33 So they answered Jesus, “We don’t know.”
Jesus said, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.” Mark 11:27-33

Jesus’ action had thoroughly rattled the Pharisees and religious leaders. They knew they were losing ground with the people. They no longer had them in their power and they were deeply worried about where this was going. Although Jesus had never given any evidence of planning an uprising against Rome, they were not sure of His intentions. His talk about a kingdom was highly suspicious. They had to nail Him so that they could find a cause to eliminate Him.

They had not yet learned that they could never get the better of Him. Never challenge Jesus to a debate because of the environment of His experience. His thinking and His wisdom were in the eternal realm of the kingdom of God and no-one could get better than that. Since He was speaking and acting with authority, they demanded to know the source. He was speaking and acting outrageously, according to their understanding, and they needed to know who gave Him the right to do so.

Jesus was sharp. Once again, His counter-question was designed to expose their hypocrisy. In His question there was a subtle hint at the answer. Their response to His question about John’s authority would reveal their attitude towards Him.  Jesus knew that they had rejected John the Baptist’s ministry, although they knew in their hearts that John was a prophet of God. Since the source of John’s authority and the source of His authority were the same, if they acknowledged John, they would have to acknowledge Him. If they rejected John, they would lose the respect of the people because the people acknowledged John as a prophet.

The religious leaders were caught in a dilemma. To answer one way or the other would expose them. They had to back off because Jesus had them cornered. Checkmate! Jesus walked away smiling. Another nail in His coffin, for sure, but the truth would always prevail. As representatives of the false kingdom, they had to bow to truth even if they refused to embrace it. Jesus was slowly building a case for the truth so that, when He was executed as a lawbreaker, the entire superstructure of lies this worldly kingdom was built on, would collapse.

THE BOOK OF ACTS – DUNKED INTO JESUS

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DUNKED INTO JESUS

“‘We’ve never even heard of that — a Holy Spirit? God within us?’

“‘How were you baptised then?’ asked Paul.

“‘In John’s baptism.’

“‘That explains it,’ said Paul.’ John preached a baptism of radical life-change so that people would be ready to receive the One coming after him, who turned out to be Jesus. If you’ve been baptised into John’s baptism, you’re ready now for the real thing, for Jesus.’

“And they were. As soon as they heard of it, they were baptised in the name of the Master Jesus. Paul put his hands on their heads and the Holy Spirit entered them. From that minute on, they were praising God in tongues and talking about God’s actions. Altogether there were about twelve people there that day.” Acts 19:2-7 (The Message).

Why did Luke include this incident in his story of the church? Was it because the Holy Spirit knew that in days to come the church’s understanding and practice of baptism would become another issue so contentious that it would split the church and even be the reason for bloodshed? Misunderstanding about baptism and the work of the Holy Spirit have done major damage to the unity of Christ’s body.

It is impossible, in a short article like this, to deal with the subject thoroughly. However, these few verses indicate that there is a close link between truth, belief and experience. Unless the practice of baptism is linked to the truth of its meaning, it becomes just another useless religious ritual.

In the light of Paul’s action when he found believers who had only been baptised into John, we have to question the practice of infant baptism. How is it possible for a baby or young child to understand and believe the significance of baptism into either John or Jesus? It’s not the act of sprinkling or immersing in water that is important. It is the meaning of the action that gives it its power.

Baptism was a common practice in Judaism. It signified a washing away of the old life and initiation into and identity with a new movement. Priests were baptised into the hereditary office of the priesthood when they reached the age of thirty, as were rabbis when they had completed their training in the Beth Talmud.

There seems to be a close link between baptism into the name of Jesus and the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

To be baptised into the name of Jesus indicated that the initiate had been washed clean of the old life with its sinful practices and embraced Him and His teaching as a new Master and a new way of life. The Holy Spirit sealed this transaction by taking up residence in the new believer and empowering him to become what he had confessed to be.

“Don’t you know that all of us who were baptised into Christ Jesus were baptised into His death? We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.” Romans 6:3-4 9(NIV).

There is much more to baptism than being dunked under water. A spiritual transaction takes place in that act of obedience; the old life for a new life, an outward sign of identification with Jesus in His death and resurrection, initiation into a life of discipleship and a sealing of that action by the Holy Spirit’s permanent indwelling. The believer is immersed both into Jesus and into His body, which is the church, by the Holy Spirit.

“For we were all baptised by one Spirit into one body — whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free — and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.” 1 Corinthians 12:13 (NIV).

Impasse!

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IMPASSE!

They arrived again in Jerusalem, and while Jesus was walking in the temple courts, the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders came to Him. ‘By what authority are you doing these things?’ they asked Him. ‘And who gave you the authority to do this?’ Jesus replied, ‘I will ask you one question. Answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I am doing these things. John’s baptism – was it from heaven, or of human origin? Tell me!’

They discussed it among themselves and said, ‘If we say, “From heaven,” then He will ask, ‘Then why didn’t you believe him?’ But if we say, “Of human origin,” (they feared the people, for everyone held that John was really a prophet).

So they answered Jesus, ‘We don’t know.’ Jesus said, ‘Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.’  (Mark 11: 27-33).

“By what authority?” the religious leaders demanded. That was the burning question. S’mikah! No rabbi was permitted to make pronouncements regarding the understanding and interpretation of the Torah, the Law of Moses unless he had s’mikah, official recognition that he had authority to do so. From where did this s’mikah come? In the case of all other rabbis who had authority, it was conferred on them by those who had authority.

Jesus was continually a puzzle both to the religious leaders and the general public because He spoke and acted with authority like no other. Those with s’mikah would add to the top-heavy interpretations already recognised as authoritative. Jesus, on the other hand, swept aside everything the rabbis before Him had said and went back to God’s original intention, focussing on God’s mercy rather than on legalistic requirements.

What the merchants and money-changers were doing in the temple courts was blatantly evil, but they did it with the sanction of the religious hierarchy because it was another way of lining their pockets. These men should not have even needed to ask who gave Him the authority to drive out the wicked men. Without all the additions from the rabbis, the Torah said it was wrong to steal. But the religious leaders made it an issue of authority so that they could have a valid reason to indict Jesus. If He were acting without s’mikah, they could deal with it legally.

But Jesus was far too smart for them. It was legitimate for Him to answer a question with a question. This was a recognised rabbinic teaching method. On many occasions He had openly declared the origin of His authority. It came from the Father who sent Him. John the Baptist, whose s’mikah was acknowledged by the people, was a human witness to Jesus’ authority, as was the Father and the Holy Spirit at His baptism. Now He demanded to know whether they accepted the authority of John to baptise Him or not. Ceremonial washing was the act of officially conferring s’mikah on one whose authority was recognised.

They were caught! If they said, “Yes,” they would have acknowledged John’s authority to baptise Jesus, indicating that John recognised Jesus’ s’mikah. If they said, “No,” the people would have been in an uproar because they believer that John had s’mikah. They refused to commit themselves, and they walked away seething. This was another nail in Jesus’ coffin, as far as they were concerned.

Every time Jesus exposed them publicly, they lost more face with the people. By this time their reputation and their piety were in tatters. Their evil hearts were laid bare for the people, whose admiration and confidence they so desperately craved and did everything to protect, to see. This man had to go before they completely lost their control over and influence with the people. If this happened, the people would get out of hand and Rome would step in and crush them like pesky bugs.

This was a clash between the dominion of darkness and the kingdom of light. What the religious leaders planned to do with Jesus was evidence of the master they served. By serving themselves they served, not God but the enemy of everything that belonged to the light. Jesus was a representative of truth. No matter what they did to Him, they could not extinguish the light of truth. When the dust had cleared after the final showdown, the truth would finally be revealed.

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

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God Inside You

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GOD INSIDE YOU

“Now it happened that while Apollos was away in Corinth, Paul made his way through the mountains, came to Ephesus and happened on some disciples there. The first thing he said was, ‘Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed? Did you take God into your mind only, or did you also embrace Him with your heart? Did He get inside you?'” Acts 19:1-2 (The Message).

First of all, it’s possible that these disciples were not part of the mainstream church in Ephesus. Paul had spent time there and would no doubt have thoroughly taught the believers the practicalities of their faith, including the person and work of the Holy Spirit. These people might have been the fruit of Apollos’ ministry or an isolated group who had been influenced by other believers in Ephesus but had not yet heard the whole story.

When Paul encountered them, the first question he asked was very significant. If they were unaware of the Holy Spirit’s existence and work in them, they would have lacked an awareness of God’s presence, which was basic to their experience of being “in Christ” and “Christ in them”. As recent converts from paganism, the idea of “God inside them” would have been completely foreign.

Paul did not want them to have the wrong idea that they had simply changed religions. This was not about mental assent to a new belief system. This was about something as radical as relocation into a new dimension of living in which Jesus ruled in the core of their beings through His personal representative, the Holy Spirit.

It was vital that they understood that they were “under new management”, and that they acknowledged and became increasingly aware of His presence in them so that they would recognise and respond to His voice. What was the point of a new religion? That would simply be exchanging one lie for another. To believe that Jesus is who He said He is meant a change of master, a transformation of character and disposition, and a new destiny and destination.

Why is it, then, that the Holy Spirit has become such a contentious and divisive issue in the church? Is this another one of Satan’s ploys to divide the church, and to cloud the truth with such irrelevancies that the most important thing is forgotten? Without the Holy Spirit’s inward, intimate work in us, we can only give mental assent to Jesus, and He becomes just another religious figure among many.

The Holy Spirit, according to Jesus, is the key to knowing Him. “‘…I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Counsellor to be with you forever — the Spirit of truth'” John 14:16 (NIV).

“‘All this I have spoken while still with you. But the Counsellor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.'” John 14:25-26 (NIV).

“‘I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on His own; He will speak only what He hears, and He will tell you what is yet to come. He will bring glory to me by taking what is mine and making it known to you.'” John 16:12-14 (NIV).

Could Jesus have said it more plainly? Is the church not full of immature believers because Christian leaders have failed to do what Paul did — introduce them to the Holy Spirit? Instead of quarrelling about the “doctrine” of the Holy Spirit, how much better it would be for us to get to know Him personally and, by so doing, get to know Jesus!

The Holy Spirit is not some “thing” that we can divide up and choose what we like about Him and ignore or reject what we don’t like. He is God, the third Person of the Trinity who indwells us in the fullness of His person. When we acknowledge Him, it is His divine right to choose what He does with us, and He will always do good because He is God.