Latest / Reformed Thinking / To Fulfill All Righteousness: The Baptism of Jesus and the Triune Testimony (Matthew 3:13–17)

Transcript

To Fulfill All Righteousness: The Baptism of Jesus and the Triune Testimony (Matthew 3:13–17) · Reformed Thinking

• 0:00
  Welcome back to Reform thinking. Today we're opening up Matthew
• 0:02
  chapter 3, verses 13 to 17. It's it's really one of the most
• 0:07
  packed scenes in the gospels when you say the baptism of
• 0:10
  Jesus. We've got our sources lined up
• 0:12
  and our goal, our mission, if you like, for you listening is
• 0:15
  to see this not just as well something Jesus did, but as this
• 0:19
  huge public announcement about who he is, about his mission.
• 0:23
  We really want to pull out the key insights here about his
• 0:26
  identity, why he picked this particular way to start his
• 0:29
  public work, and importantly, what it shows us about the
• 0:32
  Father, Son and Holy Spirit working together.
• 0:34
  Absolutely. It's like the official kickoff.
• 0:36
  You know these few verses, they set the stage for everything
• 0:39
  that follows. You see the Son submitting, the
• 0:41
  Spirit anointing him, the Father giving this explicit thumbs up.
• 0:44
  It's all right there, framing his whole public ministry.
• 0:47
  So if you grasp the scene, you really get the foundation for
• 0:49
  his miracles, his teaching, everything.
• 0:51
  It connects his obedience right back to Old Testament hopes.
• 0:54
  And the thing that grabs you straight away, I think is the
• 0:56
  tension, the well, the irony of it all.
• 0:58
  Here comes the Messiah, the one John's been saying we'll bring
• 1:01
  fire and judgment. And he asked for a baptism
• 1:04
  linked to repentance. It's a confessing sin.
• 1:06
  And John the Baptist, the great forerunner, he just box at it
• 1:09
  immediately. That really sets up the core
• 1:11
  question right there by the Jordan Why?
• 1:14
  Why would the sinless one need or even want a baptism for
• 1:19
  sinners? OK, OK, so to really get why
• 1:22
  Jesus submitting is such a big deal, we first need to
• 1:24
  understand who John the Baptist is in this story.
• 1:26
  Matthew is really clear as indeed John isn't just some
• 1:28
  random desert preacher. He's the guy, the Old Testament
• 1:32
  promise, the climax of the prophets.
• 1:34
  He's breaking, what, like 400 years of prophetic silence?
• 1:37
  And he's doing it loudly. Oh yeah, that silence was, well,
• 1:40
  significant. And John shatters it.
• 1:42
  Everything about him, it seems, was deliberate.
• 1:44
  His whole look, his presentation.
• 1:46
  The sources really point this out.
• 1:47
  The camel's hair cloak, the leather belt, his very basic
• 1:51
  diet. It was all meant to make people
• 1:54
  think of one person. Elijah.
• 1:56
  And that link to Elijah is critical right for that 1st
• 1:59
  century audience. Why Elijah specifically?
• 2:02
  He wasn't just another prophet. No, far from it.
• 2:05
  Elijah was seen as well, maybe the greatest prophet, the one
• 2:09
  who went up to heaven without dying.
• 2:11
  And Malachi explicitly promised his return before the the great
• 2:15
  day of the Lord. You look at 2 Kings 1.8 and the
• 2:19
  description, it's almost identical to Matthew's
• 2:21
  description of John. So by dressing like that, John
• 2:24
  was basically a walking billboard saying the time is
• 2:26
  now. The messenger Malachi promised
• 2:28
  he's here. It signaled a massive shift in
• 2:31
  God's plan. So his appearance itself was
• 2:33
  part of the message. Exactly, His ministry was the
• 2:36
  fulfillment of specific promises.
• 2:37
  Malachi 3.1 I send my messenger and Malachi 4 verses 5 and 6
• 2:42
  about Elijah coming back. He was that voice, crying in the
• 2:45
  wilderness, using Isaiah's words, calling Israel the whole
• 2:48
  nation to prepare the way for the Lord.
• 2:50
  And that preparation meant repentance, a real turning back
• 2:53
  to God. And this wasn't the suggestion,
• 2:54
  was it? It demanded action, visible
• 2:56
  change. Definitely.
• 2:57
  That baptism, the plunging people under the Jordan's water,
• 3:01
  It was tied directly to saying sorry, to confessing sins and
• 3:04
  getting ready for the Kingdom that was about to break in.
• 3:07
  Matthew even calls John's whole operation the way of
• 3:10
  righteousness. Later on in Matthew 21.
• 3:12
  That phrase means essentially the path of lining up with God's
• 3:15
  will, the faithful response required right then.
• 3:18
  And his preaching matched his role as this final climactic
• 3:21
  prophet. It had teeth, a real sense of
• 3:25
  urgency, of imminent judgment. Oh, absolutely.
• 3:27
  It was sharp. It divided people.
• 3:28
  He warned them, didn't he? The axe is already at the root
• 3:31
  of the trees. Time's up for just messing
• 3:33
  around. Judgment wasn't some far off
• 3:34
  idea. It was right there, ready to
• 3:36
  fall. And he said the one coming after
• 3:38
  him, the Messiah, he'd have the winnowing fork to separate the
• 3:41
  wheat, the truly repentant from the chaff, the useless stuff.
• 3:45
  So the Messiah brings purification, yes, but also
• 3:48
  final, decisive judgment. It's that very intensity, that
• 3:52
  message of fire and sorting things out, that makes John's
• 3:55
  own words about the Messiah so striking.
• 3:57
  Even while he's delivering this heavy message, he says he's
• 4:00
  totally unworthy. Yeah, he felt the gap
• 4:02
  profoundly. Said he wasn't even fit to untie
• 4:05
  the Messiah. Sandals, You know, a job for the
• 4:07
  lowest slave. John knew his place.
• 4:10
  He was just the announcer, the one coming next.
• 4:12
  He was on a completely different level, divine.
• 4:15
  And he promised this one mightier than him would bring a
• 4:19
  different kind of baptism, not just water, but with the Holy
• 4:22
  Spirit and fire. John's baptism was symbolic,
• 4:25
  temporary, the Messiah's baptism that would bring God's final
• 4:29
  reign, real cleansing power, lasting change.
• 4:32
  And it's that knowledge that only Jesus has, this ultimate
• 4:35
  cleansing power, that makes him so shocked when Jesus shows up
• 4:37
  wanting his water baptism. The stage is perfectly set for
• 4:40
  this divine figure. Right now, the narrative shifts
• 4:43
  abruptly. Jesus Rise, Matthew 3.13 is
• 4:45
  short but packed. Jesus comes from Galilee to the
• 4:48
  Jordan and the purpose is stated clearly to be baptized by him.
• 4:52
  This wasn't a casual stroll. He came intending this specific
• 4:55
  action. It's already an act of humility,
• 4:56
  isn't it? The greater coming to the
• 4:58
  lesser. And that purposeful arrival just
• 5:00
  brings all the tension John's been building right to the
• 5:02
  surface. John's reaction is instant.
• 5:05
  He recoils. I need to be baptized by you,
• 5:08
  and do you come to me? It's a flat out refusal born
• 5:12
  from recognizing who's standing in front of him.
• 5:15
  Let's dig into that resistance a bit more.
• 5:17
  The sources mentioned the specific Greek verb Matthew uses
• 5:19
  for John's refusal is quite telling, yes.
• 5:22
  Addictalian in verse 14. It's in the imperfect tense, and
• 5:26
  that's important. It doesn't mean John just said
• 5:28
  no once the imperfect suggests he kept trying to prevent him,
• 5:31
  he tried to hinder him thoroughly.
• 5:34
  It shows this wasn't just a moment of surprise, it was a
• 5:36
  strong, settled conviction. This isn't right.
• 5:38
  The roles are reversed here. So why does do you make a point
• 5:41
  of showing John trying repeatedly to stop Jesus?
• 5:44
  It's a crucial narrative move. By highlighting John's strong
• 5:47
  resistance, the prophet himself saying this shouldn't happen,
• 5:50
  Matthew makes it impossible for the reader to think Jesus is
• 5:53
  getting baptized for the same reasons as everyone else.
• 5:55
  You know, for personal sin. John's protest acts like a
• 5:58
  safeguard. It forces you to ask, OK, if
• 6:01
  it's not for repentance, then why?
• 6:03
  Makes sense. And John's resistance really
• 6:05
  boils down to two things. First, just recognizing Jesus's
• 6:08
  status. His outburst I need by you puts
• 6:12
  himself squarely in the crowd needing cleansing.
• 6:14
  He knows Jesus is the source of that real spiritual washing.
• 6:18
  His water baptism only pointed to the pronouns he uses.
• 6:21
  IUU me. They just emphasize the huge
• 6:25
  mismatch he sees. So his resistance can affirms he
• 6:27
  understood the hierarchy, the roles should be swapped.
• 6:30
  Exactly. And second, he understood his
• 6:32
  own right. He knew his baptism was about
• 6:34
  turning from sin, confessing it publicly.
• 6:35
  But Jesus scripture affirms he's sinless.
• 6:39
  So the sinless one just didn't fit the criteria for John's
• 6:42
  baptism. John felt the deep
• 6:44
  appropriateness of it. Which makes Jesus's response the
• 6:46
  absolute turning point, the hinge, his sources call it in
• 6:49
  verse 15. Jesus has to override John's
• 6:52
  valid objection without undermining his authority.
• 6:54
  He says let it be so now. Yeah, that phrase is key.
• 6:57
  Let it be so ace. It's a command to permit it.
• 7:00
  But then he adds RDS now or at this moment, it's like he's
• 7:03
  saying, John, your objection is right in principle, but just for
• 7:05
  this specific moment, allow it. Suspend your judgement for now.
• 7:08
  But then comes the reason, the core explanation for thus it is
• 7:13
  fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.
• 7:16
  This is the statement that changes everything, isn't it?
• 7:18
  It shifts the focus away from any need in Jesus towards a
• 7:21
  divine plan He's starting. Oh.
• 7:24
  Absolutely. That phrase to fulfill all
• 7:26
  righteousness is probably the theological heart of the whole
• 7:29
  scene. We have to unpack Matthew's idea
• 7:31
  of the Caseino righteousness. For Matthew, consistently, it
• 7:36
  means living in complete alignment with God's revealed
• 7:38
  will. It's that perfect moral standard
• 7:40
  his followers are supposed to seek.
• 7:42
  Right, it's not just rule keeping his whole life
• 7:44
  conformity to God's character and command.
• 7:46
  Exactly. And the Word all pass on is huge
• 7:49
  here. Jesus isn't just ticking 1 box.
• 7:52
  He's embracing the entirety of God's plan, God's will for the
• 7:55
  obedient Son at this precise, pivotal moment in salvation
• 7:58
  history. He's signing up for every single
• 8:01
  duty the Messiah had to perform. And that word fitting creep on
• 8:05
  underlines that it was necessary.
• 8:07
  It wasn't optional. It was morally right,
• 8:09
  appropriate before God for this moment, a required step.
• 8:12
  Absolutely. It was the necessary starting
• 8:15
  point for his public work. So if we understand he wasn't
• 8:18
  confessing sin, what was he achieving by fulfilling
• 8:21
  righteousness? Here the sources point to really
• 8:23
  three key things. OK, let's take them one by one.
• 8:26
  First, Messianic obedience. Right.
• 8:29
  This baptism is the public starting line for Jesus's whole
• 8:32
  life of perfect obedience. You can draw a straight line
• 8:35
  from this moment at the river, through his temptations in the
• 8:38
  wilderness, His teaching, his miracles, all the way to the
• 8:41
  cross. He deliberately chose to start
• 8:43
  not with a big display of power, but with humble submission to
• 8:46
  the Father's plan, the Father's way.
• 8:48
  It showed his perfect alignment from the get go.
• 8:50
  And that perfect obedience is so central to our Reformed
• 8:54
  understanding of how we're made right with God.
• 8:56
  Justification. It truly is this life of
• 8:59
  flawless obedience. Starting right here is what
• 9:01
  theologians call His active obedience.
• 9:04
  It's the righteousness that gets credited or imputed to
• 9:07
  believers, to those united to Him by faith.
• 9:10
  Like Romans 519 says, by the one man's obedience, the many will
• 9:14
  be made righteous. This baptism kicks off the life
• 9:17
  that provides the perfect record we need to stand before God, and
• 9:20
  the Father's voice immediately after confirms it.
• 9:22
  This is acceptable. This is pleasing.
• 9:24
  OK, second aspect, representative identification.
• 9:28
  This feels really crucial for connecting the sinless Jesus
• 9:31
  with sinful people. It is.
• 9:33
  He wasn't confessing his own sin, but he was standing with
• 9:36
  the repentant Israelites. He was identifying himself with
• 9:39
  them as their champion, their representative.
• 9:41
  He chose solidarity, not separation.
• 9:43
  He stepped into the mud, so to speak, with the very people he
• 9:46
  came to save, taking his place alongside them.
• 9:48
  How does this moment at the Jordan foreshadow or connect to
• 9:51
  his later work on the cross, the Atonement?
• 9:54
  Well, the identification here is symbolic.
• 9:56
  It's prophetic. It's like a public declaration.
• 9:58
  I, the sinless One, will take on the consequences associated with
• 10:02
  sin and judgement. It anticipates the substance of
• 10:05
  the atonement later on Golgotha. By undergoing a right meant for
• 10:09
  sinners, He's signaling His intention to take the place of
• 10:12
  sinners, fulfilling prophecies like Isaiah 53 about the Servant
• 10:16
  bearing our griefs and sorrows. He stands with sinners now, so
• 10:20
  He can stand in their place later.
• 10:22
  Powerful connection. And the Third Point, you
• 10:24
  mentioned validating John's ministry.
• 10:25
  Yes. Notice Jesus says it's fitting
• 10:28
  for us. Haman, plural.
• 10:30
  He deliberately links himself and John.
• 10:33
  Righteousness at this specific moment required both things to
• 10:36
  happen. John had to do his job and Jesus
• 10:39
  had to submit to it. They were partners together,
• 10:41
  enacting the single, unified script God had written for that
• 10:44
  phase of His plan. So Jesus wasn't bypassing John
• 10:47
  or correcting him by submitting. He was actually endorsing John's
• 10:51
  mystery, that way of righteousness as the right God
• 10:54
  ordained path for Israel at that time.
• 10:55
  He validated the preparation by participating in.
• 10:58
  It exactly right. He honors the Forerunner and the
• 11:00
  preparatory work. OK, so Jesus obeys.
• 11:03
  He submits to the baptism and the response from heaven is
• 11:07
  instant, isn't it? Matthew 3.1 C kicks off with
• 11:10
  immediately no pause. Heaven answers the sun's
• 11:13
  obedience right away. Yes, it's this perfectly timed
• 11:17
  Trinitarian event. Heaven responds directly to the
• 11:20
  sun's act. And that phrase?
• 11:21
  The heavens were opened on a season.
• 11:23
  It's passive. God himself tore open the
• 11:26
  heavens. It's a divine action, a solemn
• 11:28
  revealing. What would that phrase, The
• 11:30
  heavens were opened mean to someone steeped in the Old
• 11:33
  Testament? Does it carry a specific weight?
• 11:35
  Oh, definitely. It signals the end of that long
• 11:37
  silence we talked about. It echoes language used for
• 11:40
  major prophetic callings like in Ezekiel 1.1.
• 11:43
  And it feels like an answer to that longing prayer in Isaiah
• 11:45
  64.10, that you would run the heavens and come down.
• 11:48
  Yeah. So the open heaven means God is
• 11:50
  breaking in, acting decisively. It's public approval setting the
• 11:53
  stage for everything Jesus is about to do.
• 11:56
  And then through that opening comes the Holy Spirit.
• 11:58
  Right the second part of the response, the spirits action
• 12:01
  anointing and equipping him. Jesus saw the Spirit of God
• 12:04
  descending like a dove. The visible nature of this seems
• 12:07
  important, and the dove image itself is quite striking.
• 12:10
  It is. It's visible, it's gentle, it
• 12:12
  seems deliberate. Luke's account even says it was
• 12:15
  in bodily form, like a dove, really stressing that this was
• 12:18
  something people could see. It wasn't just a feeling Jesus
• 12:20
  had. And the Spirit descending and
• 12:22
  resting on him or coming to rest signifies a permanent endowment.
• 12:27
  This wasn't a temporary visitation.
• 12:29
  This fulfills those promises in Isaiah, like Isaiah 11.2 and
• 12:33
  42.1 about the Spirit resting upon the Messiah.
• 12:37
  Can we clarify the theology here?
• 12:38
  This anointing is specifically for the Son as Incarnate for his
• 12:42
  messianic office, right? Not something the Eternal Son
• 12:45
  lacked. Exactly.
• 12:46
  That's a crucial distinction. This anointing confirms him as
• 12:49
  the Christos, the Messiah, the Anointed One.
• 12:52
  It signifies that his entire ministry, His teaching, healing,
• 12:55
  miracles, will be done in the power of the Spirit, in perfect
• 12:58
  sync with the Father's will. We absolutely have to reject any
• 13:01
  idea that the Spirit's descent fix some deficiency in the
• 13:04
  Eternal Son. No, it equipped the God Man, the
• 13:06
  Incarnate Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth, for the public
• 13:09
  mission. He was now starting power for
• 13:11
  the task. And then the climax of the
• 13:13
  scene, the father speaks. Public authorization.
• 13:18
  Delight. A voice from heaven.
• 13:19
  The sources are clear. This is the Father himself
• 13:21
  identifying his Son. Yes, the third person of the
• 13:23
  Trinity makes his presence known audibly, and the content of that
• 13:27
  voice is just this perfect summary statement.
• 13:30
  This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.
• 13:33
  That word, beloved hoaga peros. It points to a unique, singular,
• 13:37
  deeply loved relationship. It's stressing this isn't just a
• 13:41
  Son, but the Son in an eternal, intrinsic way.
• 13:44
  It's a public declaration of the Father's existing love, which
• 13:46
  totally refutes any notion of adoptionism, the heresy that
• 13:49
  Jesus became God's Son at this point.
• 13:50
  Right, He is the Son and the second part with whom I am well
• 13:53
  pleased in Hudu Kakosa. That's a divine stamp of
• 13:56
  approval. It's the comprehensive verdict.
• 13:58
  It covers everything. It affirms the Son's identity,
• 14:00
  it affirms his perfect obedience and submitting to baptism to
• 14:04
  fulfill righteousness, and it officially authorizes his entire
• 14:08
  public ministry. It's the Father essentially
• 14:10
  saying, yes, this is him. He is acting perfectly according
• 14:14
  to my will. The mission is a go.
• 14:17
  This divine pleasure is the rock solid foundation for all that
• 14:20
  follows. What's really fascinating about
• 14:22
  the Father's words here is how they act like an interpretive
• 14:25
  key. They deliberately fuse together
• 14:27
  two major and sometimes seemingly different lines of Old
• 14:30
  Testament prophecy about the coming Messiah.
• 14:33
  OK, let's spend a moment on that fusion.
• 14:34
  Where's the first line? The royal son aspect.
• 14:37
  That comes through strongly, and this is my beloved Son.
• 14:40
  It echoes Psalm 2, verse 7. You are my son today.
• 14:42
  I have begotten you. Psalm 2 is all about the Davidic
• 14:45
  King, the anointed ruler who inherits the nations.
• 14:48
  It speaks of royal authority, power, divine appointment to
• 14:51
  rule. So this part confirms Jesus's
• 14:53
  kingship. OK, the king and the second
• 14:55
  strand, the obedient servant. What does that commit?
• 14:57
  That's clearly echoed in the second phrase, with whom I am
• 15:00
  well pleased. This points directly to Isaiah
• 15:03
  42, verse one, the very beginning of the Servant songs.
• 15:07
  Behold my Servant whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul
• 15:10
  delights. And Isaiah's servant, especially
• 15:14
  as you read through the songs, is characterized by gentleness,
• 15:17
  by a quiet faithfulness, but critically also by suffering and
• 15:21
  sacrifice leading up to Isaiah 53.
• 15:23
  Wow, so combining royal authority with the path of the
• 15:26
  Suffering Servant? Yeah, that must have been
• 15:28
  jarring for anyone expecting a purely political, conquering
• 15:32
  Messiah to step out of that water.
• 15:34
  Absolutely revolutionary. It fundamentally redefines what
• 15:37
  kind of Messiah Jesus will be. The Father is announcing right
• 15:39
  at the start. Yes, he's the King, but his path
• 15:41
  to glory is the Servant's path. Victory comes not through
• 15:44
  immediate force, but through perfect, humble, self giving
• 15:47
  obedience, even leading to suffering.
• 15:50
  This is the righteous way forward.
• 15:51
  So the Father's words themselves interpret the mission.
• 15:55
  And beyond the voice, the imagery in the scene is also
• 15:57
  loaded with Old Testament echoes, creation themes that
• 16:00
  dove, for instance. It makes you think of the very
• 16:02
  beginning, doesn't it? Genesis 1.
• 16:04
  It does. It recalls the Spirit hovering
• 16:06
  over the waters at creation, and it also brings to mind the dove
• 16:10
  Noah sent out after the flood, signaling the end of judgement
• 16:14
  and a fresh start for the world. So the Spirit descending like a
• 16:17
  dove suggests Jesus's work is about cleansing, about new
• 16:20
  beginnings, maybe even inaugurating a new creation
• 16:23
  under God's renewed favor. And the location, the Jordan
• 16:27
  River itself, wasn't just any river for Israel.
• 16:29
  Not at all. The Jordan was the boundary they
• 16:32
  crossed under Joshua to finally enter the Promised Land after
• 16:35
  wandering in the wilderness. So by starting his mission
• 16:39
  there, Jesus connects himself to that national story.
• 16:43
  He's signaling, perhaps, that he is the true Joshua who will lead
• 16:47
  God's people into the real promised rest, the ultimate
• 16:50
  inheritance. It seems the whole sequence
• 16:52
  here, the water of the Spirit and then immediately being LED
• 16:54
  into the wilderness for testing, is setting up something huge.
• 16:57
  It really is. The sources strongly suggest
• 16:59
  this whole sequence marks Jesus out as the true Israel and the
• 17:03
  second Adam. How does the baptism sequence
• 17:05
  connect specifically to him being the second Adam succeeding
• 17:09
  where the first Adam failed? Look at the pattern.
• 17:12
  Jesus passes through the water like a new beginning.
• 17:14
  He's anointed by the Spirit, divine equipping.
• 17:17
  And then immediately, Matthew 4 tells us he's driven into the
• 17:20
  wilderness to be tempted for 40 days.
• 17:23
  This mirrors but reverses the failures of the past.
• 17:26
  The first Adam failed his test in a perfect garden.
• 17:29
  Israel, God's first son, failed their 40 years of testing in the
• 17:33
  wilderness, as Deuteronomy 6 or 8 recounts.
• 17:36
  But Jesus, the true son, goes into the wilderness and
• 17:39
  succeeds. He overcomes the temptation.
• 17:41
  His obedience starts right where they failed.
• 17:43
  So the baptism doesn't just Commission him.
• 17:45
  It demonstrates his perfect fitness to be the representative
• 17:48
  head of a new humanity, the true Israel, the one who will obey
• 17:52
  perfectly. OK, pulling back a bit, this
• 17:55
  scene gives us such a clear window into the Trinity, doesn't
• 17:57
  it? How the Father, Son and Spirit
• 17:59
  relate and work together. It's a public display of the try
• 18:02
  and God acting in perfect unity for salvation.
• 18:05
  It's incredibly valuable for that.
• 18:07
  The clear distinction between the persons is vital theology.
• 18:10
  You have the Father speaking from heaven, the Son being
• 18:13
  baptized in the water, the Spirit descending upon him.
• 18:16
  Their simultaneous presence and interaction makes something like
• 18:19
  modalism impossible. Can you maybe unpack that a bit?
• 18:23
  Yeah. How does this scene directly
• 18:25
  counter modalism? Sure, modalism is the old heresy
• 18:29
  that says there's only one divine person who just shows up
• 18:33
  in different modes or masks, sometimes fathers, sometimes
• 18:37
  sons, sometimes spirit, but never all at once.
• 18:40
  Well this scene just blows that out of the water, doesn't it?
• 18:42
  You can't have one person simultaneously being the voice
• 18:45
  from heaven, the one in the water receiving the voice and
• 18:47
  the dove like form descending onto the one in the water.
• 18:50
  The actions are distinct and reciprocal.
• 18:52
  The Father approves the Son, the Spirit anoints the Son, the Son
• 18:55
  receives the approval and the anointing.
• 18:57
  You need 3 distinct persons interacting to make sense of the
• 19:00
  scene. It confirms distinction of
• 19:02
  persons within the Godhead. That's very clear.
• 19:05
  And because they're all working towards the one unified purpose,
• 19:08
  the Father's plan of salvation, it also guards against the
• 19:11
  opposite error, tritheism, the idea of three separate gods.
• 19:15
  They are distinct persons, yes, but one God, unified in essence
• 19:18
  and will. You see the economy of
• 19:20
  redemption beautifully laid out. The Father plans and sins.
• 19:24
  The Son willingly obeys and accomplishes.
• 19:26
  The Spirit empowers and applies. And thinking about that Father's
• 19:30
  voice, his declaration of pleasure, for those of us in the
• 19:34
  Reformed tradition holding to justification by faith alone,
• 19:37
  this provides such deep gospel assurance.
• 19:40
  It's absolutely foundational for our confidence that public
• 19:42
  declaration. This is my beloved Son, in whom
• 19:44
  I am well pleased. That delight rests on Christ.
• 19:47
  And because believers are united to Christ by faith adopted in
• 19:51
  the beloved, as Paul puts it, we actually share in that favor.
• 19:54
  The Father's pleasure in his Son becomes the ground of our
• 19:56
  acceptance when doubts or accusations come.
• 19:59
  The verdict spoken over Jesus at the Jordan is our defense.
• 20:02
  That's huge. And remember that life of all
• 20:05
  righteousness? Jesus started right there, His
• 20:08
  perfect act of obedience. That's the very righteousness
• 20:11
  credited to us. We're accepted not because we
• 20:14
  are perfectly pleasing, but because He is, and we are found
• 20:16
  in Him. Our standing depends entirely on
• 20:19
  His performance, which the Father publicly validated right
• 20:21
  at the start. Shifting towards how this
• 20:23
  applies to us today pastorally, the scene really highlights
• 20:27
  humility, doesn't it? Submission comes before service.
• 20:30
  Absolutely. Jesus, who is infinitely greater
• 20:32
  than John, comes to John to receive the right.
• 20:35
  It's a powerful lesson. Before we seek platforms or
• 20:38
  influence or big ministries, the first step is always submission
• 20:42
  to God's revealed will. Real God honoring service flows
• 20:46
  out of that humble obedience to Scripture, not out of our own
• 20:49
  ambitions or desires. And the scene obviously points
• 20:52
  forward to Christian baptism, too.
• 20:53
  It does. John's baptism was unique.
• 20:55
  Preparatory Christian baptism, which comes after faith in
• 20:58
  Christ, is different. It pictures our union with
• 21:01
  Christ, specifically in his death and resurrection, as
• 21:04
  Romans 6 explains. But the link is there,
• 21:07
  especially in the Trinitarian formula.
• 21:09
  The pattern we see at the Jordan, Father, Son, and Spirit,
• 21:12
  all present and active, becomes the name into which believers
• 21:15
  are baptized in the Great Commission in the name of the
• 21:17
  Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
• 21:19
  Matthew 28.19. The triune reality revealed at
• 21:24
  the river becomes central to the Church's ongoing practice.
• 21:27
  OK, and just to be crystal clear, let's quickly recap the
• 21:30
  potential errors we need to steer clear of when reading this
• 21:33
  passage. 1st, we absolutely reject the idea that Jesus was
• 21:36
  confessing personal sin. Unequivocally, he was sinless.
• 21:40
  His baptism was about identification and obedience,
• 21:43
  not personal repentance. His sinlessness is essential for
• 21:46
  him to be our Savior. 2nd, we reject adoptionism.
• 21:49
  Correct. The Father's voice didn't make
• 21:51
  Jesus the Son. It publicly declared who He
• 21:54
  eternally is. The language points to an
• 21:57
  existing, unique, beloved relationship.
• 21:59
  And 3rd, the Spirit's descent wasn't fixing a flaw in Jesus.
• 22:03
  Right. The eternal Son lacked nothing.
• 22:05
  The Spirit equipped the Incarnate Son, Jesus the
• 22:08
  Messiah, empowering his human nature for the specific public
• 22:11
  ministry he was undertaking. It was an anointing for office,
• 22:15
  not a correction of deficiency. So when we step back and look at
• 22:18
  Matthew 3.3 out 317 again, the big picture is this incredible
• 22:23
  moment of alignment and obedience.
• 22:25
  Jesus's baptism wasn't about him needing something.
• 22:28
  It was his public enlistment, choosing the path of humility,
• 22:32
  showing total dedication to the Father's saving plan.
• 22:35
  A coronation, really, but for a servant king.
• 22:38
  That's well put, and the Father's pleasure rests squarely
• 22:40
  on that obedience, Son. He stood in solidarity with
• 22:43
  sinners, then identifying with them so he could ultimately
• 22:46
  stand in their place on the cross, securing their
• 22:48
  righteousness. Our hope, our assurance, it all
• 22:50
  rests on Him and the Father's verdict over him.
• 22:53
  So maybe a final thought for you listening.
• 22:55
  Just consider the depth of humility it took for the Eternal
• 22:57
  Son, the King of the universe, to choose solidarity with us
• 23:00
  over separation. Step into the Jordan and think
• 23:04
  about how that single choice really defines the whole
• 23:06
  character of his Kingdom. A Kingdom built on service,
• 23:09
  obedience, and love that goes all the way to the cross.
• 23:12
  Thanks for joining us for this deep dive into Matthew's gospel.
• 23:15
  We hope you'll join us again soon for more reformed thinking.