Matthew 3:13-17
When Jesus came to be baptized by John, John recognized that he was the one that needed baptizing, not Jesus. John was right about that. But, Jesus said that this was part of accomplishing God’s purposes, so John needed to allow it.
When Jesus came up out of the water, the Holy Spirit descended on Him and the Father spoke, declaring that this was the coming One John had been proclaiming, saying, “You are My beloved Son; with You I am well pleased.”
With those words, reference is made to Psalm 2:7, a Messianic Psalm, looking forward to the coming King and Isaiah 42:1, a Servant Song, looking forward to the Servant of God who would give His life to rescue God’s people (see Isa. 53).
In this declaration, God both identifies Jesus as the promised King and as the sacrifice for sins.
In John 1:25-31, John the Baptist described his baptizing work as a means to indicate who the promised One, the Son of God, was. Because of what happened here, Johnwas able to identify Jesus as the Lamb of God who had come to take away the sins of the world.
Note also that we hear the Father, see the Son, and see the Spirit all present in this One moment. Though the concept is difficult to wrap our minds around, we see the One God in three persons.
Lessons to Learn:
Jesus was a perfect man. John saw it. The Father declared it. We do not know much about the time between chapter 2 and chapter 3 regarding the life of Jesus. But, from the statements in these verses we learn that Jesus lived an innocent life.
See John’s humility. John recognized his status in relation to Jesus. John will point people toward Jesus. Later, some express concern at the amount of people Jesus is baptizing. John will respond, “He must increase, but I must decrease.” Jesus would speak of John’s greatness, but John recognizes He’s not in the same category as Jesus.
We are thankful for the opportunity to share in these weekly considerations of God’s word. It is always best if you can have a Bible close at hand and evaluate what we say. We always want to go “back to the Bible” for what we teach.
To reach us with your questions and comments or to request a personal Bible study, find us at backtothebiblepodcast.com or email us at info@backtothebiblepodcast.com
