Matthew 3:13-17
The Presentation of the King
Open your Bible to…
John 1:33 I did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, “Upon whom you see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’
Pray
Intro
√ The presentation of the King
Last week Matthew introduced us to the Messenger of the King, John the Baptist!
He came to prepare the people for the coming King
He came to point the people to the King when He came
As we pick up Matthew’s account at the end of chapter 3 we find that John’s job comes to a close as he makes…
…the presentation of the King.
Ap. The character of the King
As Matthew introduces us to the adult Jesus we get our first peek at what kind of a King He is. Matthew reveals that…
He is righteous
He is anointed
He is love
…for the Jew then, and for all people at all times we find the character of King to be very attractive! He’s the kind of King we all long for.
A King Who…
Cares for His people
Protects His people
Provides for His people
…and most of all loves His people!
What a contrast to the kind of kings the people were used to…
…men like Herod and Augustus.
People would be drawn to Jesus because of His character and love.
He is righteous (vs. 13-15)
Matt.
Matt.
Matt.
√ He is baptized
After 30 years of obscurity Jesus travels from
All four Gospel writers record Jesus’ baptism.
Matthew alone records that John raised any objection to baptizing Jesus saying…
“I need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?” – Vs. 14
Which raises an interesting question…
“Why indeed did Jesus need to be baptized?”
John’s baptism was for sinners who wanted to prepare themselves for the coming King…
…clearly Jesus wasn’t a sinner, and He is the King they were waiting for, so why did He come to be baptized?!
1) To confess the sins of the nation
Some believe that Jesus was fulfilling the role of the High Priest who would confess the sins of the people before God.
Ex. Much like Moses, Ezra, and Daniel did in their day.
So, Jesus wasn’t baptized for the purpose of confessing His sins…
…rather, He was confessing the sins of the nation.
2) To identify with sinners
John called Jesus…
“The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the World” – John
Remember that John was a priest. According to the Law of Moses when a sinner brought a lamb to be offered for his/her sins they had to lay their hand on the lamb’s head while the priest cut its throat.
As the person (the sinner) put their hand upon the lamb it presented a picture (symbol) that the animal was identified with the sins of the person.
Look at the picture in the
…Jesus, the Lamb of God, was baptized by John, a priest, that He might identify Himself with the sins of the World.
In a sense, John’s hand on Jesus could be a picture of each of our hands placed upon the Lamb of God Who came to die as a substitute for our sins.
3) To fulfill all righteousness
Note Jesus’ response to John’s objection…
“Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” – Vs. 15
If you check the Law in the Old Testament you will not find any requirement for baptism as a means to righteous.
What then did Jesus mean?
Some suggest that Jesus was baptized to fulfill every requirement that anyone might place upon a person for salvation.
Ex. Doctrine of Baptismal regeneration
That is, Jesus was baptized so that we wouldn’t have to be, no matter what doctrine people come up with.
√ He is righteous
As we’ve already seen in our text, John recognized that Jesus didn’t need to be baptized for His own sins because…
…He is righteous!
What exactly does that mean?
Righteous…
“To be just, innocent, free of sin, or blemish”
Or…
“To be in right standing before God”
As such Jesus is unique above all other human beings! Paul tells us that the rest of the world…
…every person ever born is not righteous because we’re all sinners!
“for all have sinned and
fall short of the glory of God.” Rom.
The point is that the righteousness of Jesus is one more piece of evidence that He is the Messiah, a unique person without sin…
…the promised King!
Ex. Every other religious leader is unrighteous!
Muslims don’t deny that Muhammad was a sinner…
…as recorded in the Qur’an (Surah 48:2, 47:19, 40:55 etc.)
And, they even acknowledge that Jesus was without sin…
“Amongst those who were born, only Jesus, son of Mary, was untouched by Satan and not overpowered by him.” (Suyuti commenting on Surah 3:36)
So, the King is presented to the people as the only One Who is righteous.
Ap. We can trust Him to do right by us!
He is anointed (vs. 16-17)
Matt. 3:16 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.
Matt.
√ He is anointed
We immediately note that Jesus’ baptism was different than anyone else whom John had baptized! As Jesus comes up out of the water…
The Holy Spirit descends upon Him
The Father speaks from heaven
I’ve done a lot of baptisms and never seen or heard that! Neither had John.
The fact is that part of the purpose for which John began baptizing people was so that he could identify the coming King…
…the Messiah.
“Messiah” means…
“Anointed”
The Hebrew concept of Messiah is that He is the anointed in the sense that God…
Choose Him
Empowered Him
…to be the king.
Ex. David anointed to be king by Samuel
1Sam. 16:13 Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers; and the Spirit of the LORD came upon David from that day forward. So Samuel arose and went to Ramah.
The oil that Samuel poured on David is a type, or picture of the Holy Spirit. Just as Samuel was sent by God to identify the new king…
…so John was sent to identify the King
Where as Samuel poured oil on David’s head and the Holy Spirit came upon him in power.
So John baptized Jesus in water and the Holy Spirit came upon Him in power.
In both cases God identifies whom He has chosen by the anointing of the Holy Spirit.
Note John’s testimony as recorded by the Apostle John…
John
John
John
That is, with every person that John baptized there was within him the anticipation that this one could be The One!
John
John 1:33 I did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, “Upon whom you see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’
John
So, the purpose for which John baptized people was that he might be able to identify the King when He came…
…God’s Anointed One.
√ The Trinity
This section of scripture is a great proof text for the Triune Nature of God. We see…
The Son in the
The Spirit descending upon the Son
The Father speaking from heaven
All three Persons of the Trinity, each with a unique manifestation and ministry, and somehow still only One Being.
While the Triune Nature of God is beyond human comprehension, none the less, we know it to be true because it is revealed as Truth in the Scripture.
Be careful that you don’t pick up any of the strange doctrines floating around in our generation that would deny, or dismiss the reality of the Trinity.
John wrote…
“Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either; he who acknowledges the Son has the Father also.” – 1st John 2:23
Jesus is fully God and fully Man, this section of scripture provides a glimpse of that mystery!
√ The empowerment of the Holy Spirit
It is significant and important that we not come to wrong conclusions about Jesus’ relationship to the Holy Spirit.
That is, some might suggest that Jesus didn’t have the Holy Spirit until after He was baptized!
After all, we see the Holy Spirit descending upon Him as He comes up out of the water…
…wouldn’t that mean that prior to His baptism that Jesus was without the Holy Spirit?
The answer is “no”, for the Holy Spirit is one and the same
as the “spirit of Christ” (Romans 8:9 & 1 Peter
Rather, what we observe at Jesus’ baptism is the empowerment for the ministry to which He was called.
Ex. Jesus laid aside His power and privilege when He took the form of a Man (Phil. 2)
He lived and experienced life as a human being, still God for that is His Nature…
…yet, for our sakes took on the limitations of a human being.
As a Man He required the empowerment of the Holy Spirit to fulfill the call that the Father had placed upon His life.
So, Jesus was, and is, and always will be God. The vision of the Holy Spirit descending upon Him was to empower Him for ministry in accord with God’s prophetic Word…
Is. 11:2 The Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon Him,
The Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
The Spirit of counsel and might,
The Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD.
Ap. The empowerment of the Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit came to live in the disciples after Jesus’
resurrection (John
…but were not empowered for ministry until Pentecost (Acts 1:8 & chapter 2).
Each of us has been given the Holy Spirit at the moment of our salvation, but, we need the empowerment of the Spirit to do what Jesus has called us to do.
If you’ve not received the power of the Holy Spirit, then
ask the Father to grant you that power and He will (Luke
He is love (vs. 16-17)
Matt. 3:16 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.
Matt.
√ He is love
Matthew tells us that in addition to the vision of the Holy Spirit descending upon Jesus…
…that the Father spoke from Heaven!
“And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
The significance is that we have recorded for our consideration the testimony of the Father regarding Jesus.
Two things stand out…
The Father loves His Son
The Father is pleased with His Son
Regarding the second
point the Father is speaking about the so-called “silent years” of Jesus as He
grew up in
The Father’s testimony is that in all things Jesus did what He was supposed to do and in such way that He honored the Father.
Regarding the first point I don’t think that any of us would doubt the Father’s love for Jesus.
What is more difficult to grasp is that as much as the Father loves Jesus…
…He was willing to turn Him over to Death that our sins could be forgiven!
How great then is the Father’s love for you and me! This is the mystery that Paul speaks of in Romans 8:31-39…
“He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us
all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?” – Rom.
…the marvel of God’s love for sinners like us as demonstrated by the fact that He did not spare His own son!
Ap. Do you know that God loves you?
How much? So much so that He is willing to give us what He would never take from us.
Ex. Abraham
The first use of the word “love” in the Bible is found in Gen. 22:2…
Gen. 22:2 Then He
said, “Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the
Note…
The first time that “love” is mentioned in the Bible is in reference to the love of a father for his only son.
God tells Abraham to take that son and offer him as a
sacrifice on a mountain in the
Yet, we know how the story plays out. Just as Abraham lifts the knife to kill his only son the Father intervenes and provides a substitute for Isaac.
Gen. 22:8 And Abraham said, “My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering.”
Guess where we find the first use of the word “love” in the New Testament?
Matt.
Note, it is the love of a Father for His only Son.
But, this time the Son is sacrificed for the sins of Man demonstrating forever that God’s love us is so great that He gave His own Son up to death…
…in the very place that He would not allow Abraham to sacrifice His only son.
Where’s Moriah?
2Chr. 3:1 Now
Solomon began to build the house of the LORD at
So, the very place that God sent Abraham to offer Isaac is
the place where God instructs Solomon to build the
…very likely the same place that Abraham offered Isaac.
A picture of God’s redeeming love.
Close
√ The presentation of the King
What a King He is! He is…
Righteous
Anointed
Love
Do you know the King?