Life doesn't always go the way you expect it to go. While evil people do meet the justice they deserve, all too often true justice, in this World, gets perverted. How many times have we seen the innocent die young at the hands of evil people who get away with it. You will remember that John the Baptist was born six months before his cousin, Jesus, to Zechariah the priest and his wife, Elizabeth. Like the birth of Christ, John's birth was also announced by an angel.
There are several reasons why it was fitting for John to baptize Jesus as HE began HIS ministry to embark on His great work. First off, it was appropriate that Jesus set the example to us all in by submitting to the will of HIS FATHER. HIS forerunner, John was the “voice crying in the wilderness” whom Isaiah prophesied, would call people to repentance in preparation for their Messiah (Isaiah 40:3). By baptizing Him, John was declaring to all that Jesus was the One they had been waiting for, the Son of God, the One he had predicted would baptize “with the Holy Spirit and fire” (Matthew 3:11).
Jesus’ baptism by John takes on an added dimension when we consider that John was of the tribe of Levi and a direct descendant of Aaron. In reality, John was one of the most qualified me ever to not only minister to God, but to also mediate things of men before God. Just compare John the Baptist's credentials to the credentials of the imposters who were High Priests of those days. I wrote about it in my post, "John The Baptist, The Last Aaronic High Priest".
In Luke's Gospel. he specifies that both of John’s parents were of the Aaronic priestly line (Luke 1:5). One of the duties of the priests in the Old Testament was to present the sacrifices before the Lord. John the Baptist’s baptism of Jesus could be seen as a priestly presentation of the Ultimate Sacrifice. There are more significances that yoiu can read in my commentary on the subject. Today, we look into the time John introduced Jesus by saying, "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”
This is a continuance of John responding to the Pharisees and Sadducees. The doctrine John preached was that of repentance, in consideration of the kingdom of heaven being at hand; now here we have the use of that doctrine. Application is the life of preaching, so it was of John's preaching.
Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, and do not think to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”
Matthew 3:8-12
To truly understand and appreciate John's full impact on the ministry of Jesus, I highly recommend the commentary I wrote, "John The Baptist, The Last Aaronic High Priest". It will shed light on the importance of John's position in ensuring that all the requirements needed for Jesus to fulfill were completed.
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