I can think of no better way to find, understand, and fulfill our purpose than to look at Jesus’ life as the pattern. I see three essential areas as important “faith” issues that Jesus experienced, and as disciples of Jesus Christ, we should experience also.
The three encounters Jesus faced before He entered into His ministry.
These three encounters parallel what a disciple of Jesus Christ must experience. Show More
- The Seal of the Holy Spirit. In Jesus’ case, it occurred while He was baptized by John the Baptist.
- The Baptism of the Holy Spirit in the Wilderness Temptations– Equipping- receiving of the authority and power of the Holy Spirit (The empowerment for service!)
- Receiving the mission or call to fulfill the Lord’s purpose. In Luke 4:18 Jesus said, “The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me…” For us, it is the Great “Com-mission.” The call to partner with Jesus and His mission, ministry, or assignment. In other words, your purpose.
STEP ONE: THE SEAL OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.
The first significant event in Jesus’ life is His baptism by John the Baptist. (Matthew 3:13–17; Mark 1:9–11; Luke 3:21-22, John 1:29–34). It is here that Father seals Jesus with the Holy Spirit.
THE SEAL OF THE FATHER IS THE HOLY SPIRIT.
The evidence of our salvation is the Holy Spirit of God living in us. Christianity is not a religion of rites, traditions, and formalities, but a living relationship with our Lord. The Holy Spirit is the evidence of our “sealing” by the Lord.
- 2 Corinthians 1:21 “Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us is God, 22 who also has sealed us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.”
- Ephesians 1: 13” In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.”
- Ephesians 4:30 “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.”
Now of course, Jesus did not need salvation for Himself for He is the ” the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Jesus.” (John 14:6). However, the Lord allowed this so that all would see that Jesus was the Christ (Messiah, Savior) and the Spirit of the Lord was upon Him. This is instructive for us as believers. We need to recognize and trust in the Holy Spirit in us as believers of Christ.
Before I get to Jesus baptism by John the Baptist, I need to discuss two other areas for context. (1) How is a person saved, and (2) what is the significance of John the Baptist’s baptism of repentance?
How is a person saved?
I think Jesus made it very clear in Mark 1:14, “Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, 15 and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.’”
Repentance
The first point is that a person must repent! In this sense, the word repent means to “turn around” or have a “change of mind,” a change in direction. A person repents when they turn back to God.
Turning back to God means the following:
- One has to acknowledge that they did not believe in who and what Jesus accomplished on the Cross, the forgiveness of sin.
- One has to acknowledge that Jesus is God incarnate.
- They must also acknowledge that, up to this point, they were not following the teachings of Jesus Christ, the teachings on love, forgiveness, and acceptance.
It is easy for us to repent of specific acts that are unrighteous; it is another thing to repent of being totally wrong about the Lord’s grace, mercy, and character and then deciding to “turn-around” and walk towards the Lord.
Believe in the Gospel
The second part of the phrase is to “believe in the gospel or the Good News. The spiritual Kingdom of God is present on earth today. As a result, the Good News is that you are forgiven of all of your sins. You are declared justified or innocent and have taken on the righteousness of Jesus Christ, our Savior. You are declared to be a “son” and co-heir with Christ. God is “for you” and not “against you”! You see, believing is not a matter of saying the right words, like a salvation prayer. Believing means that, from the heart, you demonstrate through your actions and behavior that you are a child of God!
Now a look at Christian Water Baptism
I recognize that some people believe that Christian Water Baptism is the means of receiving Christ. But, as I look at Romans 10:9-13, I see that the only requirement is to believe and confess Jesus as Lord. Now, if we look at Water Baptism as our confession, then Water Baptism becomes an outward sign of an inward decision and change. Here is
Let’s get back to Jesus’ account of His baptism by John the Baptist.
The Matthew three account:
- John the Baptist, who was Jesus’ cousin, was baptizing with the baptism of repentance. This baptism was an opportunity to be symbolically “cleansed” in the Jewish tradition and recognized that there was an inward change of heart towards God. John realized that Jesus was the Messiah and felt unworthy to be baptizing Jesus, but Jesus said, “Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” He said to fulfill the Jewish Law of cleansing, enabling Him to enter the synagogues and teach and preach.
16 When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. 17 And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
- The Lord had taken this time to make known that Jesus had the Spirit upon Him. We know that after Jesus was resurrected and ascended to Heaven, He sent the Holy Spirit as a gift, to live in every Christian Believer. I believe that this was the opening of direct communication and relationship between the Father and the Son! As Born-again Believers, we have the Holy Spirit living in us, and we can be sure that the Lord hears us, and we can hear from the Lord! (Read 1Corinthians 2)
The baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist, in my mind, represents the first experience that we should take note of in His preparation for ministry. It is in this experience that the Holy Spirit falls upon Jesus. The fact that it took place during Jesus’ baptism could lead some to think that the baptism was the primary experience. Focusing on the baptism would lead us to miss the fact that although Jesus is the Lord incarnate, He was still a man when He walked the earth for 33 ½ years and He was limited by His humanity.
Jesus experienced something that God wanted all of humanity to see that to serve the Lord; you must have the Holy Spirit first. As Jesus would say in the Gospel of John, “you must be born-again to see and enter the Kingdom of God.” (John 3:1-21)
As to the Baptism of John, it was not Christian water Baptism as we know it today. John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance. It was an opportunity for people who had walked away from the Lord to change their minds and “turn back” to God. Remember, the Jews of Jesus’ time were discouraged, depressed, and defeated. They were under harsh Roman rule. They were a conquered people and, in some sense, gave up hope that God would deliver them.
John’s message was a breath of hope! Matthew 3:2-3 John’s proclamation was, “… “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” 3 For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, saying: “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the LORD; Make His paths straight.’”
John was preaching good news stirring up hope and anticipation! Then Jesus comes to John to be baptized. Now, did Jesus need to be baptized with the baptism of repentance? Of course not. However, He did it so that the Son could glorify the Father. Listen to what Matthew 3:16-17 says, “When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. 17 And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
The Spirit of God descending like a dove, gently resting upon Jesus. Note that the heavens were opened to Him, which simply means open communication between Jesus and the Father. Open communication is what is promised to us when we become born-again. Heaven is available to us as believers.
SIDE NOTE: The interval between the Old Testament and the New Testament is often referred to as “the 400 years of silence.” During this interval it was as if Heaven was closed because there were no Prophets. Now because of Jesus, Halleluiah, Heaven is open again!
Next time we will look at the Three Temptations of Christ in the wilderness… and its significance.
Bonus Material:
Let’s take a moment to look at the tradition of baptism in Jesus’ day.
The following is taken from www.oneforisrael.org. A Messianic Jewish Resource.
Ritual Bathing in the Old Testament times
7 Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying: 18 “You shall also make a laver of bronze, with its base also of bronze, for washing. You shall put it between the tabernacle of meeting and the altar. And you shall put water in it, 19 for Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet in water from it. 20 When they go into the tabernacle of meeting, or when they come near the altar to minister, to burn an offering made by fire to the LORD, they shall wash with water, lest they die. 21 So they shall wash their hands and their feet, lest they die. And it shall be a statute forever to them—to him and his descendants throughout their generations.”Exod 30:17-21
Immersion in Jewish Tradition
The Jewish laws which had been passed down orally from generation to generation had several things to say about the need for ritual washing, and the most desirable places to do it.
There are six different options suggested that satisfy the requirements, starting with pits or cisterns of standing water as acceptable but least desirable, moving up to pits that are refreshed by rainwater as slightly more desirable, then the custom-built ritual bath, or “MIKVEH” with 40 se’ahs (300 liters) or more of water, then fountains, then flowing waters. But “living waters” (as found in natural lakes and rivers) which were considered to be the best possible situation.
So, John’s immersing people in the “Living waters” of the River Jordan was perfectly within Jewish law and practice at the time.
So, immersion in a mikveh was quite common at the time of Jesus, but the New Testament also describes baptisms taking place not only in rivers, but in any available body of water. In Acts 8, we read of a visiting pilgrim from Ethiopia, who came to believe in Jesus as he read the book of Isaiah on his way home:
“As they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, “Look, here is water. What can stand in the way of my being baptized?” (Acts 8:36)).
By this point, baptism had come to signify, or symbolize, a decision to accept Jesus as Lord and Savior.