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From: Jeff Harrison (Jeff@totheends.com)
To: heb_roots_chr@hebroots.org
Subject: To The Ends Of The Earth--Teaching Letter #7
TO THE ENDS OF THE EARTH--Teaching Letter #7
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THE BAPTISM OF JESUS
by Jeffrey J. Harrison
There are few places on earth as dramatic as the spot
where Jesus was baptized by John. From Jerusalem,
the road drops down steeply among desert hills and
cliffs to almost 1,000 feet below sea level.* Here
there is a flat, 10-12 mile wide desert area flanked
by a wall of huge, rocky cliffs and steep slopes on
the east and the west. Right in the middle of this
desert (called Arabah in Hebrew) is a small canyon
with a river in it. Aside from a few meters of green
on either side of the river, the land is barren and
dry--a tan-colored rocky soil with one small desert
plant here and another over there.
* Sections of the modern road follow the ancient one
mentioned in the Parable of the Good Samaritan going
down from Jerusalem to Jericho.
The reaction of most people who first see the Jordan
River is disappointment.* It is neither deep or wide
as many expect it to be. If it was any smaller, you
could jump across it. Of course, there was more water
in Jesus' day. Today most of the water is pumped out
for agriculture. But even then, in the dry time of
year, John had to hunt for stretches of the river where
there was enough water to baptize (John 3:23). When
the rains fell (winter and spring), the river often
flooded, as before and after God parted the river for
Joshua and the children of Israel (Josh. 3:15; 4:18).°
* Until recently, the actual baptism site was off limits
because it was a military zone between Israel and Jordan.
The only way to see a stretch of the river nearby
was to cross between Israel and Jordan at the Allenby
Bridge border crossing. Now, as a result of the peace
treaty between Jordan and Israel, accessible tourist
sites are being developed on both sides of the river.
° The Jordan no longer floods because of a dam located
near the southern end of the Sea of Galilee.
But most of the year, the Jordan is a tiny green strip
of life in an inhospitable desert. It may seem an
odd place for John to address the nation of Israel.
But this was in direct fulfillment of the prophecy
of Isaiah, "The voice of one crying out in the desert,
prepare the way of the Lord" (Isa. 40:3, Matt. 3:3,
John 1:23).*
* The place of Jesus' baptism also lay along the major
pilgrim route to Jerusalem from the east, so the spot
was not quite as isolated as it seems today.
There was moral authority to a voice from the desert.
Most of Israel's formative experiences with God were
in the desert wilderness: the revelation at Mt. Sinai,
the provision of manna, the pillar of fire and cloud.
Other great miracles took place within sight of the
place John was baptizing: the destruction of Sodom
and Gomorrah, the toppling of the walls of Jericho,
the ascension of Elijah to heaven. By contrast, the
wetter side of Israel, nearer the Mediterranean Sea
on the west, was the place of temptation and compromise
with false gods, the route of foreign armies that had
conquered and oppressed the people.
This gave the desert a sense of purity, of being closer
to God. In the time of Jesus and John this drew many
here: hermits and small communities that renounced
the ease of life in the greener areas and came to the
desert to live. The most famous of these groups was
the Dead Sea Community at Qumran. They renounced all
their earthly belongings, even marriage, in order to
live a strict life of work and worship in the desert.*
* The famous Dead Sea Scrolls were the community's
library. The discovery of a few women in the community's
graveyard may indicate that some of the members were
married.
Why did people feel the need to make such extreme changes
in lifestyle? The writings of the Dead Sea Community
show that there was a general sense that something
had gone spiritually wrong in Israel that threatened
the relationship of the nation with God. The most
obvious problem was the loss of independence to the
Romans about 60 years before the birth of Jesus. The
Romans were unclean, idol worshippers, and oppressed
the people with heavy taxes. But the problem wasn't
only the Romans: many of the Jewish leaders were attracted
by Roman power and wealth and had become collaborators
with the enemy.
The attraction of the West wasn't a new problem. Hellenization
(the influence of Greek ideas, values, and cultural
practices) among the religious elite sparked a nationalist
uprising that overthrew Greek power and established
an independent Jewish nation a hundred years before
the Romans arrived (the Maccabean Revolt). In more
recent times, a civil war pitted the Hellenized Sadducees
against the Pharisees--a war the Romans used to conquer
the Jews and establish the Sadducees in a position
of power. In the minds of many, the Sadducees, who
controlled the priesthood and the Temple, were enemies
that rejected some of the most important teachings
of the Bible (Acts 23:8).* The Dead Sea Community
was so offended by their compromises, they no longer
brought sacrifices to the Temple.
* Bitter antagonism against the Sadducees also appears
in Jewish Rabbinical writings. Sadducees were the
main antagonists of the early Jewish Christian community
in Jerusalem.
John the Baptist and others in the desert, including
Jesus, sided with the conservative "nationalist-religious"
camp.* After all, it was Jesus who overturned the
tables in the Temple and prophesied its complete destruction--so
that "not one stone will be left standing on another."
It was also Jesus who, in a parable, prophesied the
destruction of the religious leadership of Israel because
of their rejection of God's authority (Luke 20:9-19).°
This is an implicit denial of the Sadducees' Hellenized
(today we would say secularized) views (see also Matt.
22:23-33). God has a serious problem with compromised
religion, even when that religion is practiced in his
name and in outward obedience to his Word. If the
heart of man is not right with its Creator, no amount
of outward religious activity can save it.
* There are many parallels between the cultural conflict
among the Jews in Jesus' day and the modern secular-religious
divide in Israel. Although Jesus rebuked the Pharisees
for hypocrisy (Matt. 23), he accepted their primary
theological positions.
° These prophecies were fulfilled to the letter 40
years later when the Romans destroyed the Temple.
John the Baptist's message cut to the core of the problem:
Even though the Jewish people are set apart for God
(holy), being a descendant of Abraham is not enough
to be in right relationship with God (Matt. 3:9).
Something more is needed: personal repentance, and
a life that lives out that repentance (Matt. 3:6,8,11).
John's prophetic message speaks just as strongly to
Gentile Christians, who also consider themselves God's
chosen people: A right relationship with God comes
not through membership in the right group, but through
a personal experience of repentance! Nor can you rely
on a past experience if there is no fruit in your life:
"Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down
and thrown into the fire" (Matt. 3:10).
In the eyes of John--and in the eyes of God himself--the
situation was so severe that Israel needed a whole
new start, a new beginning with God: and thus the
need for baptism.
Baptism or immersion in water was used by the Jews
for cleansing from many different kinds of impurities.
But it was also used as part of the conversion of
pagans to Judaism. If a pagan wanted to become a Jew,
he or she was immersed in water as a sign of new life--a
new start with God, sometimes called a new birth.*
* This was accompanied by a sacrifice in the Temple
and, if a man, circumcision.
But John, and Christianity after him, expanded this
use of baptism as a sign of new life to Jews, too.
They too, he taught, needed a new start with God.
This strong message fell on receptive ears. Thousands
came out into the desert to be baptized.
But the focus of John's baptism was not repentance
for its own sake. It was repentance as a preparation
for entrance into the kingdom of Messiah. "The one
coming after me is greater than me...he will baptize
you in the Holy Spirit and fire" (Matt. 3:11). John
could only bring people to a point of readiness, to
a recognition of their need for personal salvation
and a state of humility and openness toward God. Only
the Messiah himself could grant access to his kingdom
through the cleansing of the Holy Spirit and fire.
This was a whole new level of experience with God than
had ever been preached before. Yes, individual prophets
and men of God had fiery experiences, but now John
was preaching an experience of God's Spirit and fire
for all who would be in the Messiah's kingdom.
This immersion in the Holy Spirit and fire is a symbol
of cleansing, the removal of impurities from the soul
and spirit, just as immersion in water cleanses the
body of physical impurity. It's taking a bath in the
Holy Spirit! The evil thoughts and ideas or actions
that smear our spirits with spiritual filth don't come
off with water. You can't get them off through religious
actions--though many people try. Only God can remove
the filth from our souls with the fire of the Holy
Spirit.
This is the meaning of the flames of fire that appeared
on the heads of the disciples on the Day of Pentecost.
They were being cleansed as they were immersed in
the fire of the Holy Spirit!*
* The Pentecostal movement has emphasized the gift
of speaking in tongues as the sign of the reception
of the Holy Spirit. While it's certainly true that
this gift often accompanied the filling of the Spirit
in the New Testament, surely the more fundamental sign
is that of a holy life of love lived in obedience to
God's Word (1 Cor. 13:1).
When Jesus himself was baptized, the heavens opened
and the Holy Spirit descended on him (Matt. 3:16).*
This was the pattern followed in the earliest church:
after repenting and renouncing the devil, you were
immersed in water. Then, when you came out, you had
hands laid on you to receive the Holy Spirit.°
* Like a dove. Why wasn't there any sign of fire?
There was no impurity to burn away!
° Infant baptism did not become the norm until the
5th century AD. There is some evidence that these
three stages of baptism may have been considered a
triple baptism by the early Jewish Christians: in
fire (repentance and fasting), in water, and in the
Holy Spirit. This may account for the use of the plural
("baptisms") in Hebrews 6:2.
The central role of repentance in baptism is part of
the reason a large segment of the Protestant movement
objects to the baptism of babies: Babies cannot repent
of sin. As a result, the basis of their claim to membership
in the body of Christ is essentially descent: that
they have Christian parents.* The Bible does teach
that the children of believers are holy (set apart,
just like Israel is set apart for God; 1 Cor. 7:14).
But as John said, it's not enough to be a descendant
of Abraham. Or as Jesus put it, "That which is born
of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the
Spirit is spirit" (John 3:6). We cannot see, let alone
enter, the kingdom of God without a spiritual rebirth
(John 3:3,5).
* The practice of confirmation is an attempt to address
this problem. No doubt there are many who take the
confirmation process seriously and sincerely repent
of sin. But those who slip through without a genuine
experience may receive a false sense of security that
will not stand the test of time.
Just as the Spirit that was on Moses was also put on
the elders (Num. 11:17), so Jesus imparts the same
Spirit that rested on him to us. As Peter said on
the day of Pentecost, "Having received from the Father
the promise of the Holy Spirit, he [Jesus] has poured
forth this which you both see and hear" (Acts 2:33):
the imparting of the Spirit to the disciples, confirmed
in spiritual gifts and changed lives that day.
How do we know if we've got the right Spirit? (1 John
4:1) In additional to spiritual gifts, the real Holy
Spirit brings conviction of sin and burns the wickedness
out of our lives (John 16:7-11). Then follows the
refreshing comfort of the Holy Spirit, which produces
enduring fruit of the Spirit (Acts 3:19, Gal. 5:22-26).
Jesus' baptism is also a beautiful picture of the Tri-unity
of God. Together with the Son and the Spirit, there
was a voice from heaven known to the Jews as the bat
qol or "daughter voice"--the echo of the voice of the
Father.
This moment of baptism is a fulfillment of many beautiful
prophecies. The words of the Father quote from three
of them (Matt. 3:17): "This is my son" as in the famous
Messianic prophecy of Psa. 2:7, which identifies Jesus
as the Messiah; "my beloved son" as in the binding
of Isaac by Abraham (Gen. 22:2), which identifies Jesus
as the substitutionary sacrifice for sin, the Lamb
of God that takes away the sin of the world;* and "with
whom I am well-pleased" as in the Messianic prophecy
of Isa. 42:1, which identifies Jesus as the Servant
of the Lord on whom God puts his Spirit. The famous
Messianic prophecy of Isa. 11:1 also identifies the
Messiah as the one on whom the Spirit of the Lord rests.
This matches the instruction given to John that he
would recognize the Messiah as the one "on whom you
see the Spirit descending and remaining on him, this
is the one who baptizes in the Holy Spirit" (John 1:33).
* See the article "The Binding of Isaac" on the Classroom
page of our web site: www.totheends.com
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Copyright c 2000 by Jeffrey J. Harrison. All rights
reserved.
If you know anyone else that would be interested in
this teaching, please feel free to forward it to them.
If this was forwarded to you, and you would like us
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To see these teachings complete with photos, visit
our web site at www.totheends.com. Photo
versions
of Teaching Letters #1-3 are now available. See the
Articles section on the Classroom page.
To The Ends Of The Earth Ministries is sponsoring a
study tour to Israel in June 2001! Pastor Jeff Harrison,
who will be leading the tour, studied with some of
the top Israeli archeologists and Christian scholars
in Jerusalem and led study tours full time while living
in Jerusalem. He now continues to lead tours to Israel
about every other year. This will be a rich time of
study of the Jewish roots of Christianity and the life
of Jesus in the Land of Israel. For more information,
visit the Tours page on our web site at www.totheends.com,
or e-mail us at Jeff@totheends.com
To The Ends Of The Earth is a Messianic/Christian teaching
ministry bringing you information from Israel on the
Jewish Roots of our faith. We are able to make these
teachings available at no charge because of the support
of a team of believers called alongside to help in
prayer and finances. If you are interested in joining
our team, visit our Support page at www.totheends.com,
or contact us by e-mail at Jeff@totheends.com
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