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The origin of water baptism- v.1

“In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and saying Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying, ‘The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.” Literally, “John the baptizer, came…”Although there were other forms of washings and purifications as rituals among the Jewish religions of the day, here was a new beginning as to how John went about doing the work of the LORD as the forerunner. His baptism was one of the confessing of sins (v 6) and calling upon the hearers to repent (turn from any thoughts of righteousness in themselves) and look to the only One who, as King, was now at hand, and therefore His kingdom at hand.

The reason for water baptism-vv. 2,3

This was not any earthly physical Jewish kingdom that John preached. Even as then, so now, many sought and seek an earthly, physical Jewish kingdom, but the LORD declared that His kingdom at hand is not natural but spiritual (Luke 17:20-21).The spiritual kingdom is revealed only by the Spirit of God, bringing sinners in submission to God’s King, the LORD Jesus (John 3:3) the eternal Son of God, now come in the flesh (Galatians 4:4) to redeem unto God the Father, a people (subjects) unto His name, Luke 1:68-75. This baptism then was new, and unique in its message, different from the religious ceremonies of outward purification of the day, even as Christ’s work was ‘outside the camp’ of all that was man-made religion of His day, and accomplished to the honor and glory of God the Father alone on behalf of that spiritual Israel that He came to save (Hebrews 13:12). John, the forerunner of the LORD Jesus ministered, preached and baptized outside the ‘camp’ of the earthly Jerusalem, separated from the religious ceremonies and works of the day, in the wilderness, where the prophet Isaiah had foretold that he should be THE VOICE crying in THE WILDERNESS (not in the religious centers of the day). The way of the LORD was the way of Christ Jesus, God in the flesh (John 1:14), and making His paths straight, by clearly setting Him forth according to the Scriptures where men have perverted His way, and preach ‘another jesus,’ rather than THE LORD Jesus Christ, Galatians 1:6,7. Jeremiah 1:10- “to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant.”

The subjects of water baptism- v.5

‘Then went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judea, and all the region round about Jordan, and were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins…” Many came out of curiosity to see physically with their own eyes, but those who were baptized were those made to own their sin before the LORD, by the Spirit of grace, and to confess themselves as lost apart from the ONE Redeemer to whom John pointed them, ‘the Lamb of God!’ John 1:29. Therefore, only those are proper subjects of water baptism who are drawn to the LORD Jesus as sinners. Repentance is the gift of God, and is faith toward the LORD Jesus- Acts 20:21

The meaning of water baptism- v.15