The Baptism of Yeshua

THE TRUTH AND THE NATURE OF CHRIST

There is a premise in physics often called The Fine-Tuned Universe.

Scientists have long recognized that there are certain physical constants in the universe that are so precise—so delicately balanced—that even the slightest alteration would make life impossible.

For example, physicist Paul Davies notes that if the strong nuclear force were just 2% stronger, hydrogen would not form as it does, stars wouldn’t burn the same way, and life on earth would never exist.

Or consider something as simple as bubbles.

Noah and I use to love blowing bubbles together.

And every bubble—every single one—is round.

You never see a square bubble or a triangular bubble because of something called surface tension.

Water has an unchangeable property that forces it into a sphere.

You cannot alter its nature without altering what water is.

THE TRUTH AND THE NATURE OF CHRIST

This morning we need to talk about theological surface tension—the fixed, unalterable nature of Jesus Christ.

Just as the universe collapses if you modify certain constants, the entire gospel collapses if you alter the divine nature of Christ in even the smallest way.

Jesus is fully God and fully man.

If you weaken His divinity or diminish His humanity, you redefine salvation, distort the incarnation, and destroy the cross.

This matters because heresies—then and now—try to modify the nature of Christ.

Some teach He became divine at baptism.

Others deny the Trinity altogether.

But theological “surface tension” must remain intact.

You must be able to see this in Scripture, and today’s text—the baptism of Jesus—is one of the clearest displays of the unbroken, eternal Trinity in all of Scripture.

THE TRUTH AND THE NATURE OF CHRIST

We have spent a couple of weeks studying John the Baptist—his wilderness ministry, his call to repentance, his announcement of Messiah.

Now we finally arrive at the only moment in Luke’s Gospel where John the Baptist and Jesus stand together.

The forerunner meets the King.

The voice crying in the wilderness meets the Word made flesh.

And at this moment, the heavens open, the Spirit descends, and the Father speaks.

Let us step reverently into this holy scene.

Luke 3:21–22 ESV

21 Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heavens were opened, 22 and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form, like a dove; and a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”

THE TRUTH AND THE NATURE OF CHRIST

This is the inauguration of Jesus’ public ministry. From here He will be driven into the wilderness to be tempted, and then into Galilee to preach, heal, proclaim, and ultimately redeem.

Let’s walk through this deeply significant passage under three headings:

Jesus’ Baptism Identifies Himself With Your Baptism

Jesus’ Baptism Announces the Spirit’s Empowerment

Jesus’ Baptism Affirms the Father’s Blessing

1. JESUS’ BAPTISM IDENTIFIES HIMSELF WITH YOUR BAPTISM

Luke begins: “When all the people were baptized…”

Crowds were flocking to John. Matthew says, “all Jerusalem” was coming (Matt. 3:5).

People were hungry, broken, convicted, and desperate for Messiah.

And Jesus comes with them.

Not in glory. Not with a halo. No royal robe. No radiance.

As one commentator said, “He comes as one of the crowd.”

Jesus stands in line with sinners— but not as a sinner.

Matthew elaborates:

Matthew 3:14 ESV

14 John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?”

John recognizes the reversal: “I preach repentance. I preach cleansing. I need cleansing. I need repentance. I need You.”

Matthew 3:15 ESV

15 But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented.

Jesus is baptized not because He is sinful, but because He is righteous.

This is crucial. In the early church—and today—some falsely claimed Jesus was sinful until this moment and became divine when the Spirit descended.

Heresies like this collapse the gospel.

How do you answer them? You go to Scripture:

Luke 1:35 ESV

35 And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God.

Matthew 1:23 ESV

23 “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us).

John 1:1 ESV

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

John 1:14 ESV

14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Jesus is baptized not because He is sinful, but because He is righteous.

Scripture is perfectly clear. Christ did not become divine.

Christ has always been divine.

He is eternal with no beginning or end, nor has he ever been devoid of Divine glory.

So why would Jesus need to be baptized by John?

Jesus was not baptized because He needed cleansing from sin, but because perfectly righteous people do everything the Father commands.

Jesus is baptized not because He is sinful, but because He is righteous.

In stepping into the water, He wasn’t confessing personal guilt;

He was publicly aligning Himself with guilty people.

He came to stand where sinners stand, to enter our story so fully that there would be no place we have been that He has not willingly gone for us.

At the Jordan, the sinless Son joins the line of the broken—not as one who needs forgiveness, but as the One who will purchase it. His baptism is the holy declaration that He has come to identify with you, to take your place in obedience now so He can take your place in judgment at the cross, fulfilling all righteousness on your behalf.

Hebrews 4:15 ESV

15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.

His baptism is His declaration of solidarity with fallen humanity.

Your baptism is rooted in His righteousness.

2 Corinthians 5:21 ESV

21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Your baptism is rooted in His righteousness.

On the cross, God treated Jesus as if He Himself had committed every one of your sins—pouring out the judgment your guilt deserved.

And at salvation, God turns and treats you as if you had lived the flawless, obedient, God-honoring life that Jesus actually lived.

This great exchange is only possible because Christ’s righteousness is whole and unbroken—from His sinless conception in Mary’s womb, to His sinless childhood, through His sinless adolescence, and into His sinless adulthood.

Every moment of His perfect humanity becomes the righteousness credited to your account.

Without His lifelong, unblemished obedience, there would be no basis for your justification—no perfect life to receive, no perfect sacrifice to trust, and no perfect Savior to stand in your place.

If Jesus were not perfectly righteous, your salvation would not be secure.

His baptism is the opening scene of His obedience— obedience that will crescendo at the cross.

2. JESUS’ BAPTISM ANNOUNCES THE SPIRIT’S EMPOWERMENT

Luke tells us, “The Holy Spirit descended on Him in bodily form like a dove,” but this descent was not the Spirit beginning His relationship with Jesus.

It was the Spirit publicly affirming the One with whom He has been eternally united.

The Son did not “receive” the Spirit as though He had ever been without Him, for the Trinity has never existed in parts or phases.

From eternity past, Father, Son, and Spirit have dwelt in perfect, unbroken communion.

There has never been a moment when the Son was separated from the Spirit, nor the Spirit from the Son.

What we witness at the Jordan is not the start of a relationship within the Godhead, but the revelation of that eternal relationship to the world.

Romans 8:9 (ESV) You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.

The Spirit conceived Christ

Luke 1:35 ESV

35 And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God.

The Spirit led Him.

The Spirit empowered His ministry.

Here, however, the Spirit publicly anoints Him.

This fulfills Old Testament prophecy.

Isaiah 11:2 ESV

2 And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.

Isaiah 42:1 ESV

1 Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my Spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations.

Isaiah 61:1 ESV

1 The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;

This fulfills Old Testament prophecy.

This is Jesus’ royal coronation. Not with oil—but with the very Spirit of God.

Why a dove?

Because God is preaching a message through the symbol.

In the days of Noah, the dove returned with an olive leaf, signaling that judgment had passed and a new world was beginning.

In the same way, the Spirit’s descent “like a dove” announces that in Jesus, a greater judgment will be satisfied and a greater new creation will dawn.

Noah’s dove marked the end of wrath; the Spirit’s dove marks the beginning of redemption.

It is God’s visual declaration that in Christ, the long-promised renewal of all things has begun.

This same Spirit is given to every believer.

Scripture calls this:

Regeneration

Adoption

Sanctification

Sealing

Filling

Empowerment

This same Spirit is given to every believer.

Because Jesus was anointed, we are empowered.

Philip Graham Ryken says: “We can baptize with water. Only God can baptize with the Holy Spirit.”

John said: “He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” (Luke 3:16)

Jesus echoed: “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you…” (Acts 1:8)

This is why opposition to the Church is spiritual.

Programs, technology, emotional hype can never replace the Spirit. In a culture driven by deception, rage, and darkness, we need more than human strength.

And don’t miss Luke’s detail: “Jesus also had been baptized and was praying…” (Luke 3:21)

The Spirit’s anointing rests on a praying people.

If Jesus prayed at the moment of His anointing, how much more must we?

3. JESUS’ BAPTISM AFFIRMS THE FATHER’S BLESSING

This is the climax.

The heavens open and the Father speaks:

“You are My beloved Son; with You I am well pleased.”

No greater affirmation has ever been spoken and through faith in Jesus, that affirmation rests on you too.

A. The Father declares His affection.

When the Father calls Jesus “Beloved”—agapētos—He is saying far more than that He loves the Son deeply.

In the Greek, when this word is applied to a child, it also carries the meaning of “only,” signaling uniqueness, exclusivity, and singular affection.

With this one word, the Father is declaring that Jesus is His unique Son, unlike any other;

His eternal Son, who has existed with Him forever;

His only begotten Son, sharing His very nature; and the One whom He has eternally loved with infinite delight.

This is not merely affirmation—it is revelation.

The Father is unveiling the incomparable identity of the Son.

B. The Father declares His approval.

When the Father declares, “With You I am well pleased,”

He speaks a pleasure rooted not in performance but in personhood.

Jesus receives the Father’s delight before He performs a single miracle, before He preaches His first sermon, before He calls His first disciple.

The Father’s pleasure rests on Him not because of what He will accomplish, but because of who He eternally is—the flawless, obedient, beloved Son.

Christ’s identity precedes His activity, and His worth is not earned but intrinsic.

C. The Trinity is fully revealed.

Now let’s add some holy hot sauce: this passage absolutely destroys modalism and every anti-Trinitarian counterfeit

At the Jordan, the Son is baptized, the Spirit descends, and the Father speaks—all at the same time.

Three distinct Persons.

One eternal God. Perfect unity. Perfect harmony. Perfect mission.

There is no switching, no alternating masks, no divine costume changes, no “modes” of God taking turns.

What we witness here is the full, simultaneous, glorious revelation of the Triune God.

And hear this clearly: to deny the Trinity is to deny the God of Scripture.

D. The Trinity works together for your salvation.

The Father planned it.

The Son accomplished it.

The Spirit applies and seals it.

Look at the beauty of this moment:

The Father sending

The Spirit anointing

The Son submitting

For all who call upon the name of Jesus.

THE JOURNEY TO THE CROSS

At the Jordan River we see:

The humility of Jesus

The righteousness of Jesus

The empowerment of Jesus

The identity of Jesus

The affirmation of the Father

The anointing of the Spirit

The unity of the Trinity

The beginning of redemption’s final chapter

THE JOURNEY TO THE CROSS

The baptism of Jesus is not a sentimental moment by the river—it is the first step on the long, deliberate road to Calvary.

From the waters of the Jordan, Jesus walks straight toward the wilderness, then toward the villages of Galilee, and ultimately toward the hill of Golgotha.

At the cross, the Father would treat the beloved Son as though He were the sinner, so that He might treat the sinner as though he were the beloved Son.

This is the great exchange—your guilt placed on Him, His righteousness placed on you.

And when the day comes that God opens the Book of Life and sees your name, He will not find a list of your failures;

He will see written beside your name the eternal verdict: “Paid in full.”

THE JOURNEY TO THE CROSS

All of this is possible because your righteousness is not your own, nor could it ever be.

It is the righteousness of the One who stepped into the water for you, who walked into the wilderness for you, who stood against temptation for you, and who was nailed to the cross for you.

His baptism is heaven’s public announcement:

“This is the One. Follow Him.”

And because of who He is and what He has done, we gladly do exactly that.