Why Was Jesus Baptized? The Answer Most People Miss

Hello and welcome to Through the Bible with Les Feldick. An Oklahoma rancher and farmer, Les Feldick has been teaching homestyle Bible classes for 20 years in Iowa, Oklahoma, and Texas. Les Feldick's unique style of Bible teaching has made the books of the Bible come to life. When Les is teaching, it's so interesting that people say time just seems to fly by. And now, here is Les Feldick. Okay, good to have everybody staying with us the way it looks all afternoon. And for those of you joining us on television, we just trust you'll take your Bibles and follow these references with us. And the only reason we teach is just to get people to study the book. You don't have to agree on what I'm saying, but hopefully I can give you some food for thought and will cause you to search the Scriptures. I remember years ago, a lady was visiting one of our classes. I think she had come down from Michigan visiting relatives, and she was going out the door and she said, "...I don't know that I agree with you, but since I've already made up my mind, I'm going to start studying my Bible." And I said, "...Hey, that's the only reason I'm here." And that's all I maintain. If I can just get people's appetite whetted, or if I can raise their eyebrows enough that they'll go back and say, "...Hey, I'm going to check this out." If that's what we want, check it out. And see if these things that I'm teaching aren't really so. Because we don't try to go high fangled, or use big words, or anything like that. We just try to keep it as simple as we can, so that even relatively young children can comprehend what we're trying to show. Now for this half hour we're going to go right into the Book of Matthew. Hopefully the last two or three programs have been enough introduction that you can see that all of the Old Testament prophecies are now coming to a fulfillment. And it's all based upon everything that God had promised to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob. It comes along Moses, the Law was another covenant. Then comes to David, and he promises David that out of him would come the King. See, all of that is looking forward. And here it comes now in the New Testament, but it's just an extension of the Old. Remember I said three or four programs ago, so many people think that there's a big wall between the Old Testament and the New Testament. You get in the New Testament, this is Christianity, and everything else is all by the Boards. Well, nothing could be further from the truth. We aren't going to see Christianity right away. We're just an extension of the Old Testament program. Now we pointed out then several weeks ago in verse 1 of Matthew 1. Now if you're a Bible student, this should just immediately open your eyes. Where it says, "...the book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham." And that's as far as it goes. It doesn't go all the way back to Adam, because you see, everything that's going to take place with regard to the coming of the King and the Kingdom began with Abraham, not Adam. It began with Abraham. And that's why the genealogy only goes that far. Now we covered that in three or four programs back. Now as we go through that genealogy just briefly, I think it's interesting that there are only four women listed in the whole genealogy. Only four. And yet they're the very four women that every one of us would just as soon leave out. But God sees fit to put them in here. And I'll point them out to you, and then you can figure out why I said what I said. But in verse 3 you have the first one, where Judas begat Phares and Zerah of Tamar. Now you've got to go back to Genesis, and you remember that Tamar played the prostitute. Phares begat Esram, Esram begat Aram, and Aram begat Amidadab, and so on and so forth. Now you come down to verse 5, and Solomon begat Boaz of Rahab. Now again what was Rahab? A harlot, a Gentile, a non-Jew. And remember God had always mandated that the Jews were to have nothing to do with the Gentiles. And yet here we have one in the genealogy. And then the next one, and Boaz begat Obed of Ruth. And where did Ruth come from? Moab. And what were the Moabites? Taboo. Don't you have a thing to do with the Moabites? Because you remember they began with the ancestral relationship of Lot and his daughter. And so the Jew was to have nothing to do with the Moabites. Yet here we have a Moabite girl in the genealogy. Now I think all this just points out, that, now I think of a verse. I can't help it, Romans. I told you we'd stay in Matthew, but Romans. Chapter 5, verse 20. And I think this best explains, because even though we're back here in the Jewish economy, basically under the Law, yet it's the same God. God hasn't changed. God has never changed, from eternity past, nor will He into eternity future. It's the same God. But the only thing that changes, is His responsibilities that He puts on the human race. Alright, now look what Romans chapter 5 says, in verse 20. And again, this is Paul writing, and he says, Romans 5, verse 20. "...so that sin could be seen for all of its awfulness. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound." You see that? In other words, even back here now to the genealogy, as low as some of these people may have fallen, yet what was able to go beyond that? The grace of God. See, even though we're not under the program of grace, yet God's grace has always been evident. Even when Adam sinned, go all the way back into the Garden, when Adam sinned, and I appreciate when people write in, and say they never saw this before. Adam and Eve didn't go running looking for God, but what happened? God went looking for them. Now, what was the basis for God looking for these creatures who had violently disobeyed Him? His grace. And so He reached down and He brought Adam and Eve back into a relationship with Himself. And so it is, the nation of Israel would turn their back on Jehovah, and how many times didn't they go to the very depths of rejecting? And yet what caused God to always go back to them? His grace. In the same way with these four women in the genealogy, it just shows again that even though these women were in direct opposition to everything God had instructed, yet in His mercy and His grace He's able to even bring them into a place of renown by being in the genealogy. Alright, now we're going to move on out of the genealogy and we come to verse 18 where it says, Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise, when as His mother Mary was espoused to Joseph before they came together, in other words, before their marriage had been consummated, before they had come together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit. Then Joseph, her husband, being a just man and not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privately, in other words, to keep the whole thing secret. But while he thought on these things, verse 20, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, and saying, Joseph, thou son of David. Now keep all this in mind. Why is this instituted here? To show that Jesus is in that royal family. You remember back in 2 Samuel chapter 7? Now this goes way back in our studies. What did God promise David? That beginning with him would be a royal house, a royal family, and down through the ages that royal family would be the ancestors then of the King. And that of course is who Jesus is presented as. And again, don't run ahead of what has been revealed so far. All we're going to understand in the opening part of the New Testament is that the King has now made His appearance. The King. And that's all we're going to see first. Later on it's going to be revealed, of course, that He's going to be the Redeemer. And then still later on, further revelations. But for now, just accept the fact that here He comes to be the King of Israel. Fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. Now here comes the basis then of our doctrine of the virgin birth. Now there are a lot of people that can't buy it, but if they can't, they're doomed, because that's part of our salvation. I taught again way back there in Genesis, beginning with Eve, that the blood of the mother never goes into the fetus, into the baby. The mother's blood has nothing to do with the fetus. That comes only from the Father. Now this is basic, even though it's a physiological fact, yet it is a basis of the virgin birth of Christ, and that He could be sinless, and that His blood was divine, untainted, and that He was incorruptible. Now had Mary's blood interchanged with the fetus while He was in the womb, then that wouldn't have been true. But physiologically we know it's true that the blood of the mother never enters the blood of the little one. I told my class a while back, I was reading one of the cattle magazines just a few weeks ago, on experiments in breeding and so forth, and the same thing. The blood of the sire, I mean the blood of the mother, of the calf, never enters the calf. The whole blood system of the fetus, of whatever it is, comes from the Father. I showed it to my wife. I said, See, people sometimes think I'm out in left field. I know they do. But it's a scientific fact that the blood system comes from the Father and not the mother. And that's why the Scripture maintains then that Jesus did not have a human father, consequently He didn't have the human blood, He had divine blood. And that's why the virgin birth is so basic to our salvation. Because if it had been any other way, He couldn't have shed the blood of the Holy Spirit. Verse 23, because it had been spoken again in the Old Testament, Verse 23, Now remember, Jesus is the name of His humanity, of His humility. It's Jesus upon whom is laid the sins of the world. Now, I think I threw it out on the program several months ago. How many of you realize that the disciples or any of the other followers of the Lord ever addressed Him as Jesus during His earthly ministry? Didn't know that? Well you check me out. They never called Him just Jesus. He was either the Lord Jesus, or they referred to Him as Master. Usually Master, but they never called Him just Jesus. And very seldom does Paul use just Jesus. I think it's once or twice in all his epistles. But he too always refers to Him as the Lord Jesus Christ, or as Christ, or as Lord Jesus. And see the reason is now that after He had suffered the humiliation of His humanity, and He took upon that humanity the sins of the world, now in resurrection power He becomes again the glorified Lord of glory, and as such is where we know Him. We know the resurrected Christ, the One who died for our sin. Now that's important. I think a lot of people are missing this. I've mentioned the fact that many of you probably remember coming out of the 60's we had a lot of the Jesus people. And oh they made a big ado about Jesus. But see they knew nothing of His resurrection power. They knew nothing of His saving power. They were just constantly referring to His good earthly life. And listen, no one is saved by simply believing that Jesus did good. That's not salvation. And we'll be pointing that out as we come up through the Gospels. Alright, now then. We come into chapter 2, and we have the account of course of the wise men making their appearance. And I'm not talking about Bethlehem because of Herod's decree. And then they went down into Egypt because again prophecy had said that He would come up out of Egypt. And then they went up to Nazareth because prophecy had said that He would be a Nazarene. He would be a citizen of Nazareth. And then I think I'm going to take the time now to just come right on into chapter 3. We're going to move on from the account of His birth. Because like I said, I think most of you know that in and out better than I. But now in chapter 3 we are introduced to John the Baptist. And remember John the Baptist was a prophesied Old Testament prophet. He was to be the herald or the announcer of the King. And he is prophesied back there in the Old Testament, plain as day. Alright, now here he comes. Chapter 3, verse 1. Do you like a verse for that? I see some of you writing some notes. Just come back to Malachi. Just a few pages to the left. Malachi chapter 3. Now I haven't mentioned before, but while you're looking for that I want to throw this out. Remember too, that between the book of Malachi and the appearance of the angel announcing the birth of John the Baptist and to Joseph and Mary is 400 years. Now that's a long time. We call it the 400 years of silence. Now up until that time, from you might say Abraham until Malachi, God had been revealing Himself through the prophets and through various other means to the nation of Israel. But after the book of Malachi was written, completing the Old Testament, 400 years elapsed until God makes His next move with the nation of Israel. Now that's just a historical fact, but I think it's interesting. Now Malachi chapter 3, verse 1. Malachi chapter 3, verse 1. Now remember the Lord here is Jehovah, God the Son. 1. And the Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in, behold, he shall come, saith the LORD of hosts." Now that's John the Baptist being promised that he would come on the scene, be the messenger to announce the King, and the King, remember, is the fulfillment of that Abrahamic covenant. I'll keep putting it on the board until you see it in your sleep. He'd been promised a nation of people, that is Abraham had been a nation of people. They would end up in a geographical area of land, and then at some future time God would come and be their King as well as their Redeemer. Now that's all in that covenant. And then of course after that covenant made with Abraham, then you came to the covenant of law. You had the covenant that God made with David concerning the royal family, and the covenant He made with Moses concerning the land of Palestine. Now those are all separate covenants, but they were all under the Abrahamic covenant, and now here it is. They've been a nation of people for 1 ,500 years since they came out of Egypt. They have now been in the land, and out, and back in it again after having been in Babylon. Here they are. So in those days came John the Baptist preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and here's John's message. Matthew 3. John 3. And he says, "...repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." Now remember I closed that in the last half hour. The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. Well what made the Kingdom at hand? The King. Now when the King went back to heaven at the ascension of Abraham, where will the Kingdom be? On earth. So wherever the King is, you have the Kingdom. Now the King is here, and the Kingdom of Heaven is just over the horizon. This is His whole scope of approaching the nation of Israel, but it's in fulfillment of the covenants. That's what's promised. Now let's move on. Verse 3. John 3. "...for this is He that was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah." See it's also in Isaiah. I took you back to Malachi, but Isaiah also speaks of John the Baptist, and he says, "...the voice of one crying in the wilderness. Prepare ye the way of the Lord, and make his paths straight." Now I'd like to have you come quickly on down to verse 6. John 3. "...and they were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins." And in my answer I wrote, and I'm going to share it now with the whole class and the whole television audience. I said, can you think of any other subject in Christianity that will cause more controversy, more anger, more disruption of fellowship, and more everything else that you can think of than baptism? Have you ever thought of that? Oh I've experienced it over and over, where I can just see people who seemingly had real sweet fellowship, until all of a sudden they realized they didn't agree on baptism, and then there went their friendship. Now there's something wrong when something can cause such division amongst believers. There's something wrong, and I guess I'd have to say it's because we have so many different views of this baptism. Some feel it is mandatory for salvation, and some of course that it has nothing to do with salvation. Some in sprinkling, and some in immersion, and you've got all these conflicting ideas, and I think it's a pity. Now we're going to see what the Scripture says. Here John, no doubt about it, maintains that if they're going to show saving faith in the fact that the King and the Kingdom is here, they would have to show that with the baptism of repentance. That's why it's always called the baptism of repentance. The two could not be separated, and so as these Jews were repenting of their failure of the system of Law and everything else, they were now preparing their hearts and minds for the King and His Kingdom. Now then my question is, why baptism? That throws a curve at almost everybody. Why? Well now remember who we're dealing with. We're dealing with the Jew, and if you go back again to the Old Testament economy, in order for the priest to be prepared for the Day of Atonement, or even as a young priest was being made ready to enter into the priesthood at the age of 30, what was the first thing they had to do? Wash, wash, and wash some more. Throughout the whole system then of the Law of Moses, there was that constant washing to show to the very mind of Israel that sin was a filthy thing. This is what we're dealing with. We're dealing with sin, and that sin was reckoned as filthy. That's why leprosy is used as a picture of sin. Now most of us don't know how horrible a leprous person can look, especially in the final stages. It was beyond comprehension, and that's what sin does. So you remember that Naaman the Syrian general had leprosy, and his servant just begged him to go to the prophet of Israel and be healed. So he ends up with Elijah, and the old prophet doesn't even come out himself. He sends his servant out, and he tells that big Syrian general to go dip in Jordan seven times. Well the old general said, wait a minute, there's a river up in my home city of Syria that's a lot cleaner water than that old Jordan. But that wasn't what God had said through the prophet. He said, you dip in Jordan. Well he finally did, and what happened? He was healed of his leprosy. Now the water didn't do it, but God did it, because Naaman, reluctant as he was, was still exercising faith. But that dipping in Jordan indicated a cleansing. Now the same way with the priesthood, with all their wash, wash, wash, they were merely emphasizing the need for a spiritual cleansing. The water couldn't do it, it was just a picture of the cleansing aspect, preparing these priests for the priesthood. Now remember I told you a couple of programs back, when Israel was told that every Jew was to be a priest of God, what little right had to happen first before they were ready for the priesthood? They had to be washed. And how did they experience that symbolic washing? With their baptism. Now that's all you can put on it. Now when we come to the baptism of Jesus, that has been a big question for I imagine millions of people. Why did Jesus have to be baptized? He didn't have any sin to repent of, and He had no need for that. But again He came to fulfill all the requirements of the priesthood again, symbolically what did He have to experience? The washing. So as He went down in that baptism of Jordan, He symbolically fulfilled the washing of the priesthood, and at the same time He identifies Himself with His covenant people, the nation of Israel. You see how everything just holds together? There's a reason for it, but we have to understand it. Thank you for watching Through the Bible with Les Feldick, a weekly Bible study. If you would like more information about the Les Feldick Ministries, a Bible study in your area, or about this program, write to Les Feldick Ministries, Route 1, Box 760, Kinta, Oklahoma 74552. That's Route 1, Box 760, Kinta, Oklahoma 74552. Through the Bible with Les Feldick is viewer -supported, and your gift is appreciated. Les Feldick.