Reflective Bible Study

As we continue moving into Matthew’s gospel, we’ll jump out of Jesus’ birth story and back in at His baptism. In Matthew’s gospel, as he shares what happened at Jesus’ baptism, we discover some amazing details. Matthew, Mark, and Luke all include Jesus’ baptism, but as you might have guessed, since we are in the Year in Matthew, we’ll be looking at Matthew’s version of this event.

Let’s read what happened using the New American Standard Bible translation. Matthew includes Jesus’ baptism in chapter 3. Starting in verse 13, Matthew tells us that:

¹³ Then Jesus arrived from Galilee at the Jordan coming to John, to be baptized by him. ¹⁴ But John tried to prevent Him, saying, “I have need to be baptized by You, and do You come to me?” ¹⁵ But Jesus answering said to him, “Permit it at this time; for in this way it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he permitted Him. ¹⁶ After being baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove and lighting on Him, ¹⁷ and behold, a voice out of the heavens said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.”

This event is fascinating in my mind because of a number of reasons. Looking at this passage, we could divide it into two parts, and we could creatively call these two parts the part before Jesus’ baptism and the part after His baptism.

In the first part, the part before Jesus’ baptism, we have a short discussion between Jesus and John the Baptist. When Jesus comes to be baptized by John, John rightly concludes that this event should happen in the opposite way. John knows that Jesus has no need of baptism because Jesus has no need of repenting and turning back to God in a visible way. We could frame this a different way by saying that Jesus did not have to die to a past sinful life and be raised up into a new life with God.

I wonder if Jesus’ response to John essentially says that Jesus wants to set an example for all people. In verse 15, Jesus tells John, “Permit it at this time; for in this way it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” I don’t think Jesus needed to become more righteous than He already was, but I do believe that Jesus wanted to use this event as an official opening to His ministry.

After being baptized, when Jesus comes up out of the water, it is amazing to picture the Holy Spirit descend on Jesus like a dove and to hear a voice from heaven from God the Father drawing attention to His Son.

At the start of Jesus’ ministry, we see all three members of the Godhead distinctly represented and celebrating this opening to Jesus’ ministry together. However, we also see something else.

In the act of being baptized, at the very beginning of Jesus’ ministry, we see a powerful picture of Jesus’ future death and resurrection which would mark the end of His earthly ministry. I wonder if one other reason Jesus wanted to be baptized was to give this subtle foreshadowing that His life was destined to be given up not many years later. While no-one else likely realized this at the time, I’m sure Jesus and the Godhead knew, and for us looking back on this, the connection is clear.

But in the act of being baptized, we see another, more subtle foreshadowing of Jesus’ ministry. In the very act of letting someone else submerge you into the water, you are placing your life in their hands. In this way, we see Jesus, at the start of His ministry, place Himself below humanity and Jesus places His life in John’s hands. For the purposes of this big idea, John represents all humanity. Jesus places His life in humanity’s hands.

The baptism event at the beginning of Jesus ministry is one place we see Jesus intentionally setting the stage for a ministry of service and selflessness. In the baptism event, we discover Jesus placing Himself below humanity and foreshadowing His upcoming sacrifice.

While some people might say that this is just a story that has little value for us today, I find it amazing that three of the gospel writers would include this event thinking it wasn’t relevant for those they were sharing it with. Some of those who want to dismiss this event likely feel that it is as unnecessary as John did when he pushed back at Jesus, wanting instead to be baptized by Him.

However, there is a huge lesson we can learn in Jesus’ baptism. Within this event, Jesus sets an example for each of us living today. Not only is this example the obvious example of being baptized as a way of showing our repentance and turning away from sin, but it is an example of how we should live and orient our lives.

The greatest temptation we all face is living our lives for ourselves. This temptation places ourselves ahead of others. Within Jesus’ baptism, and the example He set for us, we see Jesus living for others, placing others first. Jesus lived His life completely dedicated to bringing glory to God through helping those who were hurting. With rare exceptions, Jesus always stopped what He was doing to help someone who needed help, and regardless of the circumstances, if Jesus knew a miracle would bring glory to God, He didn’t hesitate helping where He could so that God would be glorified.

Jesus lived selflessly and He called us to be His representatives here on this earth. We are called to show Jesus’ selfless love to those around us!

As we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

As I always challenge you to do, intentionally seek God first in your life. Choose to model Jesus and live your life in a way that helps others and brings glory to God. If you choose to align yourself with Christ, intentionally represent Christ as accurately as you can!

Also, continue praying and studying the Bible for yourself to learn and grow personally closer to God each day. While pastors, speakers, authors, or even podcasters can give you ideas to think about, take what you hear and read and test it against the truth of the Bible. While technology changes with time, the spiritual truths the Bible teaches are timeless, and they will survive past the end of this world.

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or give up on where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!

As we continue our year focusing in on Luke’s gospel, it seems a little odd in my mind to jump into the Christmas story, especially since last month, we both likely heard and were reminded of this amazing event. However, Luke’s gospel shares more about Jesus’ birth and childhood than any of the other three gospels, and some of these details are only included in Luke.

While I know it might seem redundant being reminded again of events in the Christmas story, especially when everything built up to our Christmas’ celebrating last month, I’ve found it is fascinating looking at many of the Christmas-time passages outside of the Christmas season. Looking at Jesus’ birth not during Christmas helps us see this event with new eyes, and new insights often stand out when we break out of our cultural routines.

With that said, our passage for this episode leads in to the birth of John the Baptist, who was Jesus’ forerunner in ministry. Let’s read from Luke’s gospel, chapter 1, using the New International Version. Starting in verse 5, Luke tells us that:

⁵ In the time of Herod king of Judea there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah; his wife Elizabeth was also a descendant of Aaron. ⁶ Both of them were righteous in the sight of God, observing all the Lord’s commands and decrees blamelessly. ⁷ But they were childless because Elizabeth was not able to conceive, and they were both very old.

Pausing briefly here, I think it is valuable for us to realize that Zechariah and Elizabeth were both righteous in the sight of God, they were obedient to God’s commands, but they were both childless. In the culture they lived, having children was one of the primary ways that God showed His blessing on a couple, and it seemed that Zechariah and Elizabeth, while being obedient and righteous, appeared to be punished by God because of their lack of children.

This didn’t just happen over a few years. Luke describes both spouses as being very old. This couple’s childlessness had lasted for decades, and they may have even resigned themselves to dying childless.

However, God had not forgotten them. Even when it looked as though God had forgotten them, He was actually setting the stage for something big He was getting ready to do. In our own lives, even though it may seem at times like God has forgotten us, it is possible He is really setting the stage for something big He is getting ready to do.

Continuing reading in verse 8, Luke then tells us:

⁸ Once when Zechariah’s division was on duty and he was serving as priest before God, ⁹ he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to go into the temple of the Lord and burn incense. ¹⁰ And when the time for the burning of incense came, all the assembled worshipers were praying outside.

¹¹ Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. ¹² When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear. ¹³ But the angel said to him: “Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to call him John. ¹⁴ He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, ¹⁵ for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even before he is born. ¹⁶ He will bring back many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God. ¹⁷ And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”

¹⁸ Zechariah asked the angel, “How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years.”

¹⁹ The angel said to him, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news. ²⁰ And now you will be silent and not able to speak until the day this happens, because you did not believe my words, which will come true at their appointed time.”

²¹ Meanwhile, the people were waiting for Zechariah and wondering why he stayed so long in the temple. ²² When he came out, he could not speak to them. They realized he had seen a vision in the temple, for he kept making signs to them but remained unable to speak.

²³ When his time of service was completed, he returned home. ²⁴ After this his wife Elizabeth became pregnant and for five months remained in seclusion. ²⁵ “The Lord has done this for me,” she said. “In these days he has shown his favor and taken away my disgrace among the people.”

In this event, three big things stood out in my mind, and we could also draw two conclusions about John’s life that we don’t often think of.

First, Luke’s gospel describes the very first way that God decided to step back into history. For centuries before this, it had seemed as though God was silent, and with Gabriel’s visit to Zechariah, God’s silence ended. It is powerful in my mind that the first person God chose to break His silence with was a priest serving in the inner room of the temple. While this wasn’t in the Most Holy Place in the temple, it would have been right outside the Most Holy Place, and Zechariah’s task was to burn incense on the alter that was just outside the curtain leading into the Most Holy Place.

While we often think that the first people God breaks the silence to after several centuries are the shepherds in the field on the night of Jesus’ birth, Luke tells us that there is more back story that is worth paying attention to, because the story really begins with John the Baptist.

Also in this event, it is worth noting that Zechariah doubted Gabriel’s message. Perhaps Zechariah simply wanted some additional assurance that this promise would be kept, or maybe Zechariah had hoped for a child for so long that he didn’t want to share the promise with Elizabeth and then be disappointed when something didn’t happen again.

While we often give Zechariah a bad reputation for doubting God, I don’t think it is unreasonable to have some reservations after it appeared as though God had said no to a child for decades of their lives.

The sign that Gabriel gave Zechariah seems like a punishment for Zechariah’s lack of belief, but I wonder if in this sign, we have the seeds of something amazing. After God had been silent for hundreds of years, we see a priest being struck silent for not immediately believing God’s promise. While Zechariah’s silence likely lasted less than a full year, it served as an amazing symbol for God being silent, before stepping into history in a big way through John the Baptist and ultimately through Jesus.

Zechariah’s silence also served as a sign for everyone present that God was doing something in their midst. Knowing Zechariah’s muteness was a sign leading forward to the birth of John, this should have been enough for those present to take note that John the Baptist would be a significant person in history.

Zechariah’s silence also gave Zechariah a clear, easy reminder that the angel Gabriel’s visit actually happened. Often times, it is easy for our brain to trick us into rationalizing or belittling something amazing or special that happens in our lives, and the clear temptation for Zechariah would have been to rationalize this away as a dream or a vision rather than a clear visit with a promise. The sign of muteness served as a reminder to Zechariah that God’s promise to him was real!

I believe God had planned for John to have older parents. With older parents, John may have begun his ministry after both his parents had died. This doesn’t seem very positive, but this detail frees John up to live in the desert and share a more challenging message about repentance than if John’s parents were alive. John’s parents being older and likely having died before John’s ministry also saves them the emotional anguish of their son being imprisoned and beheaded by Herod.

Everything in this event draws our attention onto the amazing truth that God has not forgotten His people, and that God keeps His promises and His Word!

As we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

As I always challenge you to do, continue seeking God first in your life. Choose to accept and believe His promises and His Word. While we don’t always know when God’s promises will happen, we can be certain that they will come to pass.

Also, continue praying and studying the Bible for yourself to learn God’s truth and to grow closer to Him. Through prayer and study, we are able to open our hearts to God and learn the truths He has promised for His children in the world today!

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or abandon where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!