"Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him. But John forbad him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me? And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Then he suffered him. And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."
We should make note in this lesson that until Jesus completed His sacrificial mission on the cross and ascended back to heaven to be with God, the Old Testament laws of the Hebrew people were still in full effect. To violate those laws was considered a sin. Jesus, being a Jew Himself, in order to fulfill all the commandments of God, was bound to obey those laws just as were all the Jews of that day.
As today's quote affirms, Jesus came to John the Baptist for water baptism so as to fulfill the law that required Him to be ritually bathed, or cleansed before He could enter into His ultimate redeeming mission as a perfect sacrifice the sins of the world. Had Jesus not been baptized in water according to Hebrew law, he would have been a sinner because of His disobedience of the law.
Jesus was not baptized in water to become the Son of God, He was baptized in water to confirm that He IS the Son of God. That fact was confirmed when God said, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."~
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