Week 3 – Devotional 4 - Jesus is Baptized – Did Jesus Need to Be Baptized?

20/03/2014 – Thursday – Read Matthew 3:13-15; Mark 1:9; Luke 3:21

1- Jesus went from Galilee to Jordan to be baptized by John the Baptist. Why did John refuse to baptize him? What did John want Jesus to do? You think he wanted to be baptized with what type of baptism?

2- How do you think John knew Jesus was the one that would baptize with Holy Spirit and fire (the Messiah)? Who gave him this revelation?

3- As we saw at the beginning of this week, the baptism of John was a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. Did Jesus ever sin? Only someone with no sins could be the perfect replacement in our death and for the forgiveness of our sins. So why did Jesus go to seek John’s baptism?

4- John, besides being waiting to be baptized by Jesus, refused to baptized him because his baptism was one of repentance for forgiveness of sins. Once Jesus had no sins he had no need of being baptized. What was Jesus answer to this? What does it mean to fulfill all righteousness?

Notes:

1-  Righteousness in this text may indicate two things: A)- God’s will; B)- the Law. Jesus followed all the requirements of the Law, so that he could fulfill all the Law and not be found in fault (for example, circumcision). Jesus always obeyed the will of the Father.

2- Another reason for the baptism of Jesus could be for it to serve as a prophetic act. In the baptism the act of immersion into the water represents the death and the act of coming out of water represents the resurrection (Romans 6:3,4; Colossians 2:12). So by being baptized he was prophesying his future death and resurrection.

3- Jesus gives us the example as well, because later he and his disciples would be baptizing with water (John 4:1,2) and before he went to heaven he left commandments including the baptism (Matthew 28:18-20; Marc 16:15,16).