Lesson 3359

 (Lesson 3359)(03-15-21) Luke 3:19-22

    “But Herod the tetrarch, being reproved by him for Herodias his brother Philip's wife, and for all the evils which Herod had done, Added yet this above all, that he shut up John in prison. Now when all the people were baptized, it came to pass, that Jesus also being baptized, and praying, the heaven was opened, And the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him, and a voice came from heaven, which said, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased.”

    The Hebrew people (Jews) were, by law, required to be ‘baptized’, or immersed, into flowing water before they could be accepted into any religious exercise. Many of today’s Jews still practice the ritual. That ritual was NEVER intended to remit sins. Only faith in Jesus could do that.

    Today’s quote relates that Jesus was baptized by John the baptist in accordance with the law, and was subsequently recognized as God’s “beloved” Son. Jesus was NOT baptized to become the Son of God, He was born the Son of God. 

    As John so tersely explained, his was NOT the batpism that saves the eternal soul. That baptism was to be an immersion, through faith, into the concept of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost. That baptism to be accomplished through faith in the life, death, burial, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ Himself.~