The Baptism of Jesus: Mark 1:9-11

In the opinion of biblical scholar James A. Brooks, “The Jordan is one of the most overrated rivers in the world.”[1] He says this because of its diminutive size. Only in flood stage is the Jordan more than 100 feet wide or 10 feet deep. As the crow flies, it is merely 105 miles in length. Measuring all of its twists and turns between the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea, it is only 200 miles. You may say that sounds like a long river, but compared to the world’s longest, it seems like a creek. The Nile is over 4,000 miles, the Amazon just a bit shorter. In fact, the Danube is the twenty-fifth longest river in the world, and it is 1776 miles in length. Donia and I spent about three weeks in the Summer of 2000 doing missions work in 10 cities as we traveled the Dnieper River in Ukraine by boat from one end to the other. That river is three times the length of the Jordan. The Jordan River is only slightly longer than the Yadkin River. Yet, ask anyone in the world to find the Jordan River on a map, and I dare say that most could do it. Why is this so? Why is such a geographically insignificant river of such renown? Geographically insignificant as it may be, it is a river of great historical and theological significance, for it was in these waters that the Lord Jesus Christ was baptized by John the Baptist.

John was in the wilderness, baptizing multitudes who came from Judea and Jerusalem confessing and repenting of their sins in order to prepare themselves to receive the salvation that the Messiah was coming to bring. John preached that this Messiah was mightier than he, and whereas John baptized with water, the Messiah would baptize those who received Him in the Holy Spirit. And this Mightier One came from Nazareth out into the wilderness to be baptized by John.

Throughout His earthly life, Jesus was called Jesus of Nazareth to distinguish Him from many other first-century Jews who bore the same name Yeshua. But Nazareth was harldy a distinguished town. Today, it is home to the Basilica of the Anunciation, the largest Christian structure in the Middle East. But in those days, a frequently heard statement was, “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” (John 1:46). That small town 70 miles north of Jerusalem was a mere 600 acres, populated by 500 people in Jesus’ day. It was situated near the Sea of Galilee, in the region that those in Judea and Jerusalem referred to as “Galilee of the Gentiles,” indicating their contempt for the place. Of 45 Galilean towns mentioned by Josephus, and 63 mentioned in the Talmud, Nazareth is never named, nor is it found in the entire Old Testament. So, the word Nazareth here is in no way intended to indicate any status or grandeur.

Now, we are struck with a very interesting question: Why would this Mightier One who was coming to baptize in the Holy Spirit travel more than 70 miles by foot or beast to the Jordan River to receive John’s baptism in water? We aren’t alone in asking this. Even John the Baptist was curious about it. Matthew records in his gospel, 3:13, that “John tried to prevent Him, saying, ‘I have need to be baptized by You, and do You come to me?’” So why did He do it? It is this question to which I wish to devote time today and offer a three-part answer.

I. Jesus was baptized to inaugurate His earthly ministry

We read in Luke 3:23 that Jesus was about 30 years old when He began His earthly ministry. Prior to this, apart from His birth, we only read of one episode in the life of Jesus. At the age of 12, He came to Jerusalem with His family to celebrate the Passover. On the way home, Joseph and Mary noticed that Jesus was not with them, and they went back and found Him in the temple. Luke says in 2:46-47 that He was “sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard Him were amazed at His understanding and His answers.” So apparently they were asking Him some questions too. And Jesus said to His earthly family, “Why is it that you were looking for Me? Did you not know that I had to be in My Father’s house?” There is no reason to doubt that Jesus was ever ignorant of the purpose for which He was born into this world. He knew that His Father was God, and that His business was saving people from sin. But apart from this episode, we know nothing of the thirty years of Christ’s life prior to His earthly ministry.

These 30 years would be relatively unspectacular in comparison with His final three. He grew up in a devout family, learned a trade from Joseph, and experienced the life of a very normal young man. But the ordained time for Him to begin His mission of redemption came at the age of 30, and that is when He went out to the wilderness to be baptized by John. From this point on, His entire life played out in the public eye, preaching, teaching, and healing. And here at His baptism, that ministry was inaugurated by two remarkable signs.

First, Jesus saw the heavens opening, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon Him. In the Old Testament, prophets, priests, and kings were anointed with oil as a symbol of the Holy Spirit resting upon that person, empowering him for a specific task to which God had called him. Jesus did not receive a symbolic anointing. The Spirit Himself descended upon Him anointing Him to perfectly fulfill the role of the prophet, the priest and the king that the nation longed for and needed in the Messiah. The title Messiah or Christ means anointed one, and Jesus was uniquely anointed to fulfill His predetermined mission. Second, a voice came out of the heavens saying, “You are My beloved Son, in You I am well-pleased.” This indicated that this anointed one was chosen by and acceptable to the Father. No prophet could come and do what this One would do. No other priest could offer the sacrifice this one would offer. No other King could enthrone Himself in the hearts of mankind. This was God Himself, God the Son, coming into the world to fulfill the ultimate and final redemption of humanity.

Mark does not elaborate enough to indicate whether this was seen or heard by any other than Jesus. However, Luke makes it clear that the Spirit descended upon Him in bodily form like a dove. John the Baptist says in John 1:33, “I did not recognize Him, but He who sent me to baptize in water said to me, ‘He upon whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining upon Him, this is the One who baptizes in the Holy Spirit.” So, here at the Jordan River, in a visible and audible way, God the Father and God the Spirit ordained and anointed God the Son, the Lord Jesus, for His Messianic mission. He did not become the Christ or the Son of God at that moment. Those titles are His eternally. But in that moment there was a distinct turning point – not in His nature, but in His life and ministry. Though He was born to suffer and die for sin, His march to the cross took a determined direction from that day forward. He was baptized to inaugurate His public ministry. Also …

II. Jesus was baptized to identify with sinful humanity

The biblical testimony of the character of Jesus is unanimous. John the Baptist pointed Him out as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (Jn 1:29). The sacrificial lamb was required to be one without spot or blemish, and this is exactly the way Jesus was described. Peter referred to Him with those exact words in 1 Peter 1:19. Jesus said of Himself, “I always do what is pleasing to Him,” referring to God the Father (Jn 8:29). He said, “I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in His love (Jn 15:10). He asked those who opposed Him, “Which of you convicts me of sin?” (Jn 8:46), and He received no answer. After scrutinizing Him in the face of false accusations, Pilate said, “I find no fault in Him” (Jn 18:38). The writer of Hebrews says He was tempted in all ways as we are “yet without sin” (Heb 4:15). Peter said in 1 Peter 2:22, “He committed no sin; no guile was found on His lips.” John said in 1 John 3:5, “In Him there is no sin.” So, if John’s baptism was one of repentance and confession with a view toward forgiveness, what in the world was the sinless Son of God doing in that water? Quite simply, He was there for you and me.

When John the Baptist protested against baptizing Him, Jesus said, “Permit it at this time; for in this way it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” The sinless Son of God stood in those waters as the second Adam. As the first Adam failed to obey the commandments of God as our representative, the second Adam would satisfy them. Paul said in Romans 5:19, “For as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous.”

God had commanded that when sin separated man from God, restoration was sought through repentance and confession. And in the waters of His baptism, He stood in our place before the Father, repenting on our behalf of the sinfulness of humanity. It was as if He stood there to say, “I stand in the place of unrighteous people, repenting on their behalf, taking their sins upon Myself, so that they may receive My perfect and unblemished righteousness.” He died for us on Calvary’s cross so that you and I could receive the righteousness that He lived for us during the days of His earthly life and ministry.

I want you to imagine something with me. Imagine all those sinners coming to John to be baptized as they confess and repent of their sins. And imagine that pure and clean water being contaminated by the filth of all that sin. It was into this water that the Lord Jesus was immersed. The pure and spotless Lamb of God, staining Himself with our sinfulness, so that He could carry our sins to the cross. This is what Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5:21 – “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” When He stood in the baptismal waters, Jesus identified Himself with the sinners He came to save. He did not stand there to repent of His own sin, for He knew no sin. He was there in my place, repenting before God of the sins that I have committed, and the sins that you have committed, and the sins of all humanity. And that brings us to the third reason for His baptism.

III. Jesus was baptized to symbolize his death and resurrection

There in the waters of the Jordan River, Jesus took His stand in the place of sinners, and laid Himself down to be buried beneath those waters, and was lifted up again. This is a picture, a symbolic foreshadowing of what He would do three years later on the cross of Calvary. There in that place, Jesus took my place and your place on the old rugged cross. Our sins deserve the outpouring of the wrath of God, but He stood between us, taking that punishment and penalty upon Himself. He died for us. Just as He laid Himself down to be buried in the baptismal water, so He laid down His life on the cross and died and was buried for us. But death did not have the final word. For just as He came forth from the river, so He came forth from the grave demonstrating His victory over sin and death. He did it for us. The victory He won over sin through His death and resurrection is our victory if we place our faith in Him and receive Him as Lord and Savior. When we do that, we say to the Father, “I deserve the death He died. My sins have separated me from Your divine love. But I believe that those sins were punished and paid for when my substitute, the Lord Jesus Christ died. I believe He died for Me, and He defeated my sins in His triumph over the grave. And because You loved me so much to do this for me, I give my life to You, and I receive Christ as the satisfaction of my own sins, and I accept Your forgiveness which He died to give me, and I ask Him to rule over my life now so that the rest of my days can be lived under Your love and according to Your will.”

I dare say there isn’t a person in this room who doesn’t believe that Jesus came and lived among us and died on the cross. You believe all the historical facts about His life and death. But perhaps, just maybe, there is one or more who has never come to Him in faith and repentance and personally received the benefits of His life and death. Perhaps you have never appropriated the loving and merciful forgiveness of God to their own life, and have never been washed by the Holy Spirit’s cleansing power in regeneration. To you, maybe Jesus is nothing more than an intriguing figure of human history. But He lived and died to be so much more for you. He is the Christ, the Messiah, who came into this world to save you from sin, and this very day He beckons you by the wooing of His grace to come to Him and receive Him.

Mark says that when Jesus was baptized, the heavens opened, and there was a public declaration that He was the Son of God. It is interesting to me that the Greek word Mark uses for that opening of the heavens is only used one other time in this gospel. It is a form of the word schizo, from which we get our word schism, and it means a splitting, or a tearing apart. The only other place Mark uses it is when Jesus died on the cross. Turn to Mark 15:38. The veil of the temple had for centuries indicated that mankind was not welcome in the presence of God. It indicated that our sinfulness could not come into the presence of His holiness. But when Christ died as the atoning sacrifice for our sins, that veil was miraculously and supernaturally torn in two from the top to the bottom. No human hand, no man-made device, could have done this. That temple veil was sixty feet tall, 30 feet wide, and the width of a man’s palm. The ancient Jewish writings indicate, perhaps somewhat exaggeratedly, that it took 300 priests to maneuver it. But when the Son of God died for man’s sin on Calvary’s cross, it was torn open from the top to the bottom by the power of God, indicating that the barriers were removed and mankind could now be received into the presence of God. And when the first schism of the Gospel of Mark took place, God announced that Jesus was the Son of God. When the second schism took place, a sinful, guilty, blood-stained Roman centurion stood before the Savior on the cross and said, “Truly this man was the Son of God.”

And I know today that if you make that same declaration, acknowledge Him as the divine Son of God, the Christ, your personal Lord and Savior, that heaven will be opened to you as well, for Jesus will save you from your sins, and wrap you in His righteousness, and impart to you eternal life.

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[1] James A. Brooks, New American Commentary: Mark (Nashville: Broadman, 1991), 42.