Daily Devotional Monday 26th December 2022
by William MoodyMatthew 3
John the Baptist Prepares the Way
3:1 In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, 2 “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”1 3 For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said,
“The voice of one crying in the wilderness:
‘Prepare2 the way of the Lord;
make his paths straight.’”
4 Now John wore a garment of camel’s hair and a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. 5 Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to him, 6 and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.
7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 Bear fruit in keeping with repentance. 9 And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. 10 Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
11 “I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 12 His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”
The Baptism of Jesus
13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. 14 John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” 15 But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented. 16 And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him,3 and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; 17 and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son,4 with whom I am well pleased.”
Footnotes
[1] 3:2
Or the kingdom of heaven has come near
[2] 3:3Or crying: Prepare in the wilderness
[3] 3:16Some manuscripts omit to him
[4] 3:17Or my Son, my (or the) Beloved (ESV)
Jesus’ baptism (v13-17) marked the beginning of His public ministry. John was very reticent to baptise Jesus (v14). This is because John saw baptism as a sign of washing away sin, and he knew Jesus didn’t need to be washed of sin but rather that he John needed to be washed.
Baptism is an outward sin of the inward cleansing we all need. This cleansing does not come from water baptism but rather through being born again by the Spirit of God.
Jesus told John that Him being baptised needed to be done to fulfil all righteousness (v15). This does not mean that Jesus needed to become righteous, but that He was walking the path of perfect obedience on behalf of sinners who couldn’t walk it themselves. Jesus later would speak of a baptism He would have to undergo (Luke 12 v50), by which Jesus meant the cross. The cross was a baptism in that Jesus who had no sin, became sin, so that by experiencing God’s wrath for that sin, He would achieve cleansing and righteousness, on behalf of His people (2 Corinthians 5 v21).
At this moment of baptism Jesus receives the Holy Spirit (v16). Why did Jesus who was God the Son, need the power of the Holy Spirit of His ministry? Jesus would perform His ministry in human weakness, and His weak human nature needed the power of the Spirit. We too need to pray for the Spirit.
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