Lesson 8: “When He was baptized”

Source:  Chapter 7 of the book by J. Oswald Sanders entitled “The Incomparable Christ”

What was the significance of baptism?  To the ordinary Jews who flocked to John the Baptist at the Jordan river, the baptismal rite carried two meanings: first, it was a public declaration, an acknowledgment that they are abandoning their old sins and that they are awaiting the promised Messiah.  To the sinless and perfect Son of God, Jesus Christ, who had no sin of his own to abandon, it was His entrance into his work as Messiah:

1. Jesus’ baptism identified him with the world’s sin:  he allied himself with the sinful human race he had come to redeem, this is the first step to his substitutionary atonement. He became the human race’s substitute and representative just as Adam was the human race’s representative. It was a public exhibition of His willingness to assume the burden of the sin of the whole race. Isaiah 53:12: “he was numbered with the transgressors” in order that Jesus may “bear the sins of many.”

2.Jesus’ baptism showed God the Father’s approval of Him.  God the Father showed to all His approval of Jesus Christ: “this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.” Jesus was no ordinary man, he was no ordinary prophet or evangelist, he was God’s final declaration.  He was God come in the flesh.  He was God’s final revelation of God himself.  Thus, all that we need to know about the Father, we will know by looking unto Jesus.

3.Jesus’ baptism was the occasion of his anointing for the service. The Holy Ghost descended upon him in the form of a dove.  The anointing not only of oil but of the power of the Holy Ghost signified his entrance into divine work to fulfill the will of the Father.

One may well ask, why did Jesus Christ need the power and anointing of the Holy Spirit seeing that Jesus Christ is himself God?  The empowerment of Jesus Christ coincides with his coming in the flesh.  When he came in the flesh, he did not become any less God, but he restrained himself from using all his powers and prerogatives as God. He did not show forth the glory that he possessed as God but was content to take upon himself the “form of a servant” when he was made in the likeness of man.  He humbled himself and allowed himself to be led by the Holy Spirit just like any human.  It set an example of how any saved sinner can be empowered to fulfill the will of the Heavenly Father. It set an example of Jesus Christ denying himself, refusing to do his own will but instead, to humbly obeying the Father’s will.