And it came to pass in those days, that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized of John in Jordan.
It came in those days when John was directing the faith of the people toward the coming Messiah. When the time for His public ministry came, Jesus answered the call to begin His mission by leaving His work in Nazareth of Galilee and going with the people to the Jordan to be baptized, and this was His first act and marked the beginning of His public work. Although Jesus and John were cousins, they had grown up apart and had no direct acquaintance, so their claims could not be dismissed as a plan they had made together.
John knew of Jesus' sinless life and believed Him to be the Messiah, but Jesus' long years of obscurity had left him without certainty. God had revealed that the Messiah would come to John for baptism and that a sign of His divine character would then be given, enabling John to present Him to the people. John recognized Jesus' holiness and superiority and initially resisted baptizing Him, but at Jesus' request he performed the rite by immersing Him in the river.
Jesus was sinless and did not need repentance, so His baptism was not a confession of personal guilt or sin or repentance for Himself. By being baptized He identified Himself with sinners and His people and took the steps required of sinners, acting as the sinner's substitute and representative. By submitting to baptism He fulfilled righteousness through obedience to God's law and honored the ordinance. His life of suffering and patient endurance after His baptism became an example for His followers.
After coming up from the water He bowed on the riverbank and prayed for strength and support, expressing how His sinless humanity depended on the Father to endure the coming conflict with Satan. The opened heavens and descending glory attested His divine character, and the Father's voice declared Him to be His beloved Son, pleasing to the Father. His baptism was the first of two times the voice of God was heard proclaiming Christ as His Son, the second being the transfiguration, with a third speaking just before His betrayal, which contrasts with the cross where the voice from heaven was silent and no testimony in His favor was heard while He suffered abuse and mockery alone.
His baptism came before His wilderness temptation, and after the baptism the Spirit led Him into the wilderness where His mission was about to begin but first He faced temptation for forty days without food, eating nothing in a desolate place with wild beasts to meet three temptations on behalf of those He came to redeem.
It came in those days when John was directing the faith of the people toward the coming Messiah. When the time for His public ministry came, Jesus answered the call to begin His mission by leaving His work in Nazareth of Galilee and going with the people to the Jordan to be baptized, and this was His first act and marked the beginning of His public work. Although Jesus and John were cousins, they had grown up apart and had no direct acquaintance, so their claims could not be dismissed as a plan they had made together.
John knew of Jesus' sinless life and believed Him to be the Messiah, but Jesus' long years of obscurity had left him without certainty. God had revealed that the Messiah would come to John for baptism and that a sign of His divine character would then be given, enabling John to present Him to the people. John recognized Jesus' holiness and superiority and initially resisted baptizing Him, but at Jesus' request he performed the rite by immersing Him in the river.
Jesus was sinless and did not need repentance, so His baptism was not a confession of personal guilt or sin or repentance for Himself. By being baptized He identified Himself with sinners and His people and took the steps required of sinners, acting as the sinner's substitute and representative. By submitting to baptism He fulfilled righteousness through obedience to God's law and honored the ordinance. His life of suffering and patient endurance after His baptism became an example for His followers.
After coming up from the water He bowed on the riverbank and prayed for strength and support, expressing how His sinless humanity depended on the Father to endure the coming conflict with Satan. The opened heavens and descending glory attested His divine character, and the Father's voice declared Him to be His beloved Son, pleasing to the Father. His baptism was the first of two times the voice of God was heard proclaiming Christ as His Son, the second being the transfiguration, with a third speaking just before His betrayal, which contrasts with the cross where the voice from heaven was silent and no testimony in His favor was heard while He suffered abuse and mockery alone.
His baptism came before His wilderness temptation, and after the baptism the Spirit led Him into the wilderness where His mission was about to begin but first He faced temptation for forty days without food, eating nothing in a desolate place with wild beasts to meet three temptations on behalf of those He came to redeem.