The Baptism of Jesus
Mark 1:9-11
From 1890 came this incident: A noted wild beast tamer gave a superb performance in
The curtain rose on an Indian woodland scene. A rustling noise is heard and a huge serpent is seen winding its way through the undergrowth. It stops. Its head is erect. Its bright eyes sparkle. Its whole body seems animated. A man emerged from the heavy foliage. Their eyes meet. The serpent quails before the man. Man is victor.
Under the man’s signals and guidance, the serpent performs a series of frightening feats. At another signal, it slowly approaches the man and begins to coil its heavy foils around him. Higher and higher they rise, until man and serpent seem blended into one. Its hideous head is reared above the man.
The man gives a little scream and the audience unites in a thunderous applause, but it freezes upon their lips. The trainer’s scream was a wail of death agony. Those cold, slimy folds had embraced him for the last time. They had crushed the life out of him. The horror stricken audience heard bone after bone cracked. Man’s plaything had become his master.
That guy was a little too comfortable being wrapped up by a snake, but by the time he realised he had a problem it was too late. That reminds me of how a lot of people view sin. They are comfortable with it. They even enjoy it sometimes. They think they are in control of it, but let me tell you…
You are either dead in sin, or dead to sin!
Romans
If you are an honest person though you will understand that no matter how hard you try, you still sin. You still do things that you should not do – things that fall short of God’s standards, His character, His plan for your life. You will know that as attractive as sin seems at the time that it always leads to painful consequences in your life, yet you still do what you shouldn’t and fail to do what you should. You will know that when you stand before a righteous God that He will have every reason to condemn you for the sin that has marked your life.
Is there any remedy for sin? Is there any way to defeat this snake that constricts us and squeezes the life right out of us?
We are journeying through the book of Mark together, and last week we looked at John’s baptism that is described in the first part of chapter 1. We discovered there that there were baptisms taking place where people would confess their sins and commit to turn their lives around – what we call repentance. God in response would forgive people’s sins and cleanse them – helping them to live free from the defilement of sin. I want you to understand that the forgiveness and cleansing that those people experienced was not yet complete, because something still needed to be done in order to break the power of sin and remove the consequences of sin – which is death.
What happens next in the story explains what must happen. I’m predicting though that many of you here today will be quite surprised when you discover what this next part of the story has to say about that.
Pray
Read: Mark 1:9 & 10
Why did Jesus need to be baptised?
John’s Baptism involved confession and repentance – that’s what it was for. Jesus didn’t need to confess anything or to repent from anything, so why be baptised?
John himself asked that question. In Matthew chapter 3:13-15 we read:
13 Then Jesus came from
15 Jesus replied, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John consented.
John said “Hey, I know that I am a sinner – I need to confess and repent; I need forgiveness and cleansing from sin. But you? You don’t need that at all! Why are you coming to me to be baptised, when it’s me who should go to you?”
Jesus answers in effect “You won’t understand this now, so just do as I ask. But know that this is an appropriate thin for us to do in order to fulfil all righteousness”.
So what makes baptism appropriate for Jesus as part of fulfilling all righteousness?
1) It confirmed the ministry of John
Jesus placed His seal of approval on John’s ministry by participating in baptism Himself. People would see that and know from His example that Jesus was in total agreement with John’s message and ministry. It would reaffirm for others that they needed to confess, repent and be baptised as a public declaration of that decision.
2) It announced the beginning of Jesus’ priestly ministry
We talked a little bit last week about how important ceremonial washing was for priests in their ministry. Jesus is about to begin His priestly ministry, and in doing so submits Himself to an appropriate ritual.
3) It set an example for future believers
Jesus wanted baptism to not just remain an Jewish ritual, but a Christian one. He therefore sets an example for His followers throughout the ages. This leads us to…
4) Jesus was pointing forward to His death and resurrection as the victory over sin and death
In baptism today we look back to the death and resurrection of Jesus. Based on passages like Romans chapter 6, we understand Christian baptism to still be a baptism of repentance as it was in John’s time, but also a baptism of faith in Jesus. Let me explain…
John’s baptism was a public confession of sin and declaration to change. So is Christian baptism. Christian baptism adds a whole new layer of meaning to that because we now understand what Christ was pointing toward when He was baptised in the
We understand that Jesus died for our sins, and by being immersed in the waters of baptism we are stating publicly that belief. By faith we know that Jesus rose again to new life, and our rising out of the water is a sign of that new life. Our baptism shows that Jesus has died for our sins and given us eternal life with God. It is also our pledge that we have died to sin, and have committed ourselves to live a new life which is dedicated to God. This is neatly summed up in 2 Corinthians 5:17-18 which says: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ”
Today I’d like to show you just a couple of examples of just how incredible God’s plan is. I want you to see how from before the world began God had a plan of redemption. Just as Jesus’ baptism points forward to His death and resurrection, God had already provided some other signs of the same wonderful truth.
Ephesians 1:3&4 says:
3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. 4 For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.
God chose to love you, to forgive you and cleanse you from sin before sin had even entered our world. God chose to bless you with every spiritual blessing, knowing everything that you would do that should disqualify you from receiving them. Today as we see some of the incredible scope of God’s plan I hope that like Paul, you will stand back in wonder and say “Praise God”!
I want to show you just two examples from the Old Testament of how God’s people could be cleansed from things that had defiled them. Both of these methods involved the use of cleansing water.
Leviticus 14:1-7
14 The Lord said to Moses, 2 “These are the regulations for the diseased person at the time of his ceremonial cleansing, when he is brought to the priest: 3 The priest is to go outside the camp and examine him. If the person has been healed of his infectious skin disease, 4 the priest shall order that two live clean birds and some cedar wood, scarlet yarn and hyssop be brought for the one to be cleansed. 5 Then the priest shall order that one of the birds be killed over fresh water in a clay pot. 6 He is then to take the live bird and dip it, together with the cedar wood, the scarlet yarn and the hyssop, into the blood of the bird that was killed over the fresh water. 7 Seven times he shall sprinkle the one to be cleansed of the infectious disease and pronounce him clean. Then he is to release the live bird in the open fields.
Basic Process:
- This person has been tainted by his or her disease, and needs to be made right with God and restored to fellowship with the community of believers. Here’s how that happens…
- Take 2 clean birds – clean, pure, undefiled.
- Kill one of those birds over fresh water – remember fresh water is a symbol of God’s cleansing
- So the blood and water would mix. Blood is a symbol of atonement for sin. Remember that the wages of sin is death – blood symbolises the price for sin being paid. So we have atonement and therefore forgiveness, and cleansing. Sound familiar?
- The live bird, together with the other items, is then dipped in this mixture, and the person is sprinkled 7 times. Why 7? It is the number of completion. That’s an interesting study for another time, but for today it’s enough to know that sprinkling 7 times is a way of proclaiming the cleansing complete.
- The live bird is then released – it has been immersed in death yet lives on. It becomes a symbol of renewed life for the cleansed person.
This is a weird ritual right? Why did God do such weird things and make such strange rules back then? Because He had a plan, and when that plan reached it’s climax He wanted it to become very clear just what that plan was. The Old Testament is full of imagery that points forward to Jesus. God the Father was already testifying about His Son long before Jesus was baptised in the
Jesus fulfilled the role of both of those birds. What those birds achieved symbolically He achieved in reality. He atoned for our sin so we could be forgiven. He cleansed us from sin so we could live in renewed fellowship with God and one another.
I want to read you another example of a cleansing ritual. This one is far more wide-reaching than the one we’ve just looked at, which mainly focussed on restoration from defilement from skin disease.
Numbers 19
19 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron: 2 “This is a requirement of the law that the Lord has commanded: Tell the Israelites to bring you a red heifer without defect or blemish and that has never been under a yoke. 3 Give it to Eleazar the priest; it is to be taken outside the camp and slaughtered in his presence. 4 Then Eleazar the priest is to take some of its blood on his finger and sprinkle it seven times toward the front of the Tent of Meeting. 5 While he watches, the heifer is to be burned—its hide, flesh, blood and offal. 6 The priest is to take some cedar wood, hyssop and scarlet wool and throw them onto the burning heifer. 7 After that, the priest must wash his clothes and bathe himself with water. He may then come into the camp, but he will be ceremonially unclean till evening. 8 The man who burns it must also wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he too will be unclean till evening.
9 “A man who is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer and put them in a ceremonially clean place outside the camp. They shall be kept by the Israelite community for use in the water of cleansing; it is for purification from sin.
…. (information on some of the things that make people ceremonially unclean – namely any sort of contact with a dead person)…
17 “For the unclean person, put some ashes from the burned purification offering into a jar and pour fresh water over them. 18 Then a man who is ceremonially clean is to take some hyssop, dip it in the water and sprinkle the tent and all the furnishings and the people who were there. He must also sprinkle anyone who has touched a human bone or a grave or someone who has been killed or someone who has died a natural death. 19 The man who is clean is to sprinkle the unclean person on the third and seventh days, and on the seventh day he is to purify him. The person being cleansed must wash his clothes and bathe with water, and that evening he will be clean. 20 But if a person who is unclean does not purify himself, he must be cut off from the community, because he has defiled the sanctuary of the Lord. The water of cleansing has not been sprinkled on him, and he is unclean. 21 This is a lasting ordinance for them.
This is a very important ritual. Of course people were going to come into contact with a dead person at some stage – even having someone die in your tent or house, or entering the dwelling where someone died was enough to make you unclean. You were not allowed to worship at the Tabernacle (later on at the
So you can imagine how important it was for the nation of
From the time this command was given until the
What’s my point?
Do you know that Jewish Rabbi’s have kept a rough log of how many unblemished, unworked red heifers were used in this ceremony. Do you know how many there were in total?
Nine.
Nine unblemished red heifers in 1500 years. That is nowhere near enough for what was needed.
An unblemished red heifer is in fact very difficult to come across. It cannot have a single hair of any other colour but red. The hairs across it’s shoulders must be straight, to show that it has never borne a yolk.
In fact, there are groups today who have committed considerable resources in trying to breed just such an animal. There are groups who are committed to restoring
What’s the point?
The red heifer sacrifice is what is known in Judaism as a chok – a biblical law which must be from God, because there is no way that it makes sense to us humans! It’s impossible to live up to.
I reckon that’s great! 1500 years before Christ’s death and resurrection, God was already demonstrating that it was beyond our ability to meet His requirements. Through Moses He gave His people a task which they could not complete, in order that when the time was right He would complete the task Himself.
Hebrews 9:13-14
13 The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. 14 How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!
Remember the story of the snake? Sin leads to death. The message of baptism is that Jesus died for our sins, and He rose to life again. He is the one who makes us clean in God’s sight. It’s the same message contained in the rituals of the two birds and the red heifer that were commanded by God some 1500 years before Christ would eventually fulfil that meaning. Those aren’t the only 2 rituals that contain that message either, we could list example after example.
Have you accepted forgiveness and cleansing from sin through Jesus Christ? Have you been baptised as a public declaration of that belief, and a commitment to leave sin behind and live for Christ day by day? If you have done these things, are you living up to that commitment through the grace of God and through your own self-discipline?
Sin is serious. It required a serious and wonderful remedy that was incredibly costly and precious. It required the blood of Jesus. Now the choice is yours – You are either dead in sin or dead to sin.
a Traditionally leprosy; the Hebrew word was used for various diseases affecting the skin—not necessarily leprosy; also elsewhere in this chapter.
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