One Day by the Jordan

Q: Why was Jesus’ baptism necessary?

A: Jesus’ baptism must be of great significance because it is the first thing Jesus does to initiate His public ministry. It is also significant that His baptism is recorded or alluded to in all four Gospels (Matt. 3:13-16; Mark 1:9-11; Luke 3:21, 22; John 1:32, 33). Your question is a good one. A few thoughts are in order.

Not Needed, but Indispensable

Initially John was reluctant to baptize Jesus, but Jesus informed him that this is to be done in order to fulfill God’s plan (Matt. 3:13-15). True, sinners need baptism, but not Jesus. Here the Sinless One is demonstrating what, according to the divine plan, sinners should do. It is God’s intention that sinners confess their sins, repent, and be baptized. Jesus as our representative was doing for us what, at that moment, we could not do but are expected to do. In His baptism Jesus introduced to us the order of salvation: confession, repentance, baptism, reception of the Spirit. It could be said that in His baptism Jesus transitioned from John’s baptism of repentance through water to the true nature of Christian baptism through water and the Spirit.

The Presence of the Godhead

As Jesus comes out of the water, He engages in dialogue with the Father through prayer, and the Father and the Spirit make their presence felt by the Jordan. After the Fall the Son of God became the mediator between God and sinners, but now the Father once again speaks directly to a Human Being, the Incarnated God. One of the members of the Godhead was already here, and He is now joined by the other two members for the proclamation of an event of transcendental importance. As Christ is our representative, the words of the Father were also addressed to us (Matt. 3:17; Mark 1:11; Luke 3:22). This is a major moment in cosmic history. The voice of God is heard on our rebellious planet proclaiming that the human race belongs to the Godhead and describing humans as beloved sons of God! This will be possible because the Son will descend to the tomb and come out of it alive and victorious. At Jesus’ baptism the three Persons of the Trinity, who originally formulated the plan of salvation, are now present on our planet at a critical moment in salvation history.

Declaration of War

Through the Incarnation, the Son of God came to us to face the forces of evil as never before. Yet He remained hidden in Galilee for about 30 years. In the divine calendar every event occurs at the appropriate time. Daniel predicted the moment of the anointing of the Messiah (Dan. 9:25), and now that moment had arrived. Jesus left Galilee and went to the Jordan to declare that His public fight against Satan, on Planet Earth, was about to begin. His baptism was a public event through which He was introduced to us not only as God’s beloved Son but also as the Lamb of God that would take away the sins of the world (John 1:29, 36) through a battle against evil powers without parallel in cosmic history. The decisive battle was now on. It would be a battle for the heart of the human race and for the final liberation of Planet Earth. There was no time to waste! Immediately after His baptism Jesus was led by the Spirit to the wilderness to face the enemy and defeat him, anticipating His final victory on the cross. Jesus’ baptism is indeed an important event within salvation history that should move humans to join Him through baptism.