Lay down your sweet and weary head Night has fallen, you've come to journey's end From tent-toting patriarchs greeting promises from afar, to vagabonds and vagrants doomed to wander in a wasteland, God's people never sought final satisfaction in the journey. Traveling is tough going. We seek the promised land, the city with foundations, whose designer and builder is God, aiding you on towards the destination. Welcome to Journey's End. You've come to Journey's End. There's an old joke where a Presbyterian and a Baptist are arguing over the question of baptism, and the Presbyterian says to the Baptist, tell me this, you're a Baptist, if a man goes up into the water up to his knees, is he baptized? And the Baptist says, no, he's not. Well, if he goes up to his waist, is he baptized? No, he's not. If he goes up to his shoulders? No. Well, suppose he goes clear up to the top of his head. Is he baptized then? Yes, the Baptist said. Ah, so the Presbyterian. You see, it's the water on the top of the head that counts. So this joke tells us that we shouldn't really be arguing over baptism. And we know that baptism is something that Christians have been fighting about for a long time. In fact, there was a day and age when Christians would pit each other to death over the issue of baptism. Last week we talked about the flood as baptism, and today we want to get a little bit more into baptism from a perspective that I think will be very interesting to you, maybe something that you've never heard before, and something that's quite practical to the way that we live our Christian lives. Good afternoon, I'm Doug Van Dorn. I'm the pastor of the Reformed Baptist Church of Northern Colorado and with me is Tony Jackson. He's the pastor of Reformation Baptist Church down in South Denver. Tony, today we want to look at baptism and the place that we want to start today is with the baptism of Jesus. Jesus goes to John the Baptist to undergo the waters of baptism and John ends up relenting and he baptizes him. So the first question I want to ask you is, what do you think most people have in their mind when they wonder about why Jesus was baptized. What do you think they think he was doing? Why did he want to be baptized? One of the most common views is that Jesus was baptized for the same reason that he died on the cross. When he died on the cross, he bore the guilt of our sins upon himself. And there are a lot of people who think that his baptism was something like that. It was really a representative baptism. I've done a lot of research on this topic and I came across one source that gave no less than 11 different theories for why Jesus was baptized. Maybe he went into the water to purify them. or, like he said, he did it as a representation for us, or vicariously he had to be identified with sinners, or whatever the case might be. Probably the oldest interpretation is that Jesus' baptism anoints him as Messiah. That comes from Justin Martyr in the beginning of the 2nd century AD. That it was some kind of an anointing. John seems to have been perplexed about why Jesus wanted to go to be baptized. Because when Jesus asked him to baptize him, John says, I need to be baptized by you. You don't need to be baptized by me. Because John was baptizing for the repentance of sins. So Jesus responds to him and he says, no, I need to do this in order to fulfill all righteousness. And as soon as Jesus says this to him, he immediately recognizes something and he says, OK, I'll baptize you. What does this fulfill all righteousness mean? the language in the New Testament and particularly in the Gospel of Matthew. As you said, John recognized it immediately when Jesus said it. When Jesus says, fulfill all righteousness, we believe this is the clue to understanding what Jesus' baptism is all about. Because what Jesus is really saying here is that he came to fulfill the law. And that is absolutely clear throughout the book of Matthew. As you read the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus is always fulfilling the law. And that's precisely what Matthew was talking about here and what Jesus was talking about. And John immediately understood what Jesus was saying. So that, we believe, is the clue to understanding what Jesus' baptism was all about. So that's where I think we need to pick it up. What you're saying then is that if he's fulfilling the law in his baptism, then that would mean there would have to be something in the Old Testament that would be a legal thing that Jesus would be obeying? Is that right? Yeah, so I think to understand this, where we need to go first is to look at the circumstances of Jesus' baptism. Does the New Testament, particularly the Gospels, tell us anything else about the circumstances of Jesus' baptism that would give us a clue to understanding how Jesus is fulfilling the law and what that means not only for Christ but for us as well. Can you think of any other passages? Yes, so I think that there's probably about eight things that are relevant to this legal right that we're going to tell people about here in a minute. Probably the most interesting one is the age that Jesus was baptized at. Luke tells us that he was about 30 years old at his baptism and when Jesus was baptized, immediately after that he goes into the wilderness to be tempted and then he starts his his ministry, his three-year ministry. There's some other circumstances about his baptism. He was called directly by God at his baptism. He was baptized by a Levitical priest, which happened to be his cousin John the Baptist. Jesus is without spot or blemish, we're told several times in the New Testament. He was a male, and his genealogy stems, it's not really a biological genealogy, but it's something we might talk about later in the show, from a priestly line, from the priesthood of Melchizedek. So when we go back to the Old Testament and we compare these things with the Old Testament priests, we start finding that actually they're the very same thing. What does the Old Testament have to say about priests and particularly their age? And how does that relate to Jesus' baptism? So a priest, they couldn't begin their ministry until they were 30 years old. And their ministry lasted for, I think, 20 or 25 years, something like that. But it began when they were 30. They weren't priests when they were 28. They couldn't start the ministry when they were 35. It had to be at age 30, which is exactly what Luke is telling us about Jesus. And then you start finding some other things, too. All priests were male. All priests had to be without physical defect in any way. I mean, they couldn't, you know, be eunuchs or other things like that. There's a whole list of laws that tell them what they had to be like. All the priests were washed by somebody already a priest when they were ordained into their ministry. And that actually kind of hints there when I say they were washed at the law that we have in mind, which comes In the book of Exodus, when the priest is ordained into his ministry, it's found in Exodus 29. Can you read that for us, Tony? Yeah. So in Exodus chapter 29, we have this consecration of the priests. It's a lot like an ordination service. If you've ever been to a church where there was a new pastor, perhaps you graduated from seminary or something like that. He may be ordained into the ministry and have an ordination service, and that's a lot like what's going on here in Exodus 29. The priest is being ordained into the duties of the priesthood. And one of the verses that is really important here, at least for our subject, is verse 4, you shall bring Aaron and his sons to the entrance of the tent of meeting and wash them with water. So the idea here is that the priest is being washed with water. Now, some people might look at that and say, well, that could be a sprinkling. Why would you disagree with that, Doug? Well, for one reason, it's the word that's used the only time that the word baptism is used in the Greek translation of the Old Testament when this guy named Naaman comes to the prophet Elisha and he has his like leprosy and so Elisha says you need to go and wash yourself in the river Jordan and you'll be clean. Well it's the same word that's used there. It's also the same word that's used for Bathsheba when she is bathing on her roof and David sees her. So it's a word that definitely can mean to bathe There's also another reason in the Old Testament in the temple and the tabernacle there was the bowl that held the water. What was that called and how big was that Doug? There was a washing basin in the tabernacle. We don't know exactly how big that was, but there was in the temple that Solomon built, it was replicated after the tabernacle except on a bigger scale. It held something like 10,000 gallons of water. It was a huge thing. They had to have ladders in order to climb up onto the thing and to start washing. They called it the Great Sea. Okay, so what we have here is Jesus' baptism when he's 30 years of age. And when we go back and we look at the Old Testament, we find that priests are consecrated when they're 30 years old. And that consecration includes at least some kind of washing or baptism. And that's the idea that we're trying to get at here. When Jesus says that he needs to be baptized in order to fulfill something, we don't believe that that fulfillment is of nothing at all. It actually comes from somewhere, and this is the most logical place in the text that we can find that it comes from. Would you agree with that? Yeah, and there's something else that happens in his ordination ceremony. There's really kind of three stages. They offer sacrifices, and then he's washed, and then he is clothed with his garments, his priestly garments. So Exodus 28 details all of these priestly garments, tells you all about the breastplate and the ephod and the belt and all these things. And then in chapter 29, he's clothed with those things. So in Galatians 3.27, Paul picks up on this, both the washing and the clothing, and listen to what he says. He says, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourself with Christ. Now that's the language of being in Christ, being in union with Christ, but he's using the very same rituals for the priest in his ordination in order to convey that idea. All of you who are baptized into Christ have clothed yourself with Christ. Yes, he's really taking the language of Exodus 29 from that consecration ceremony and he's applying it to all believers. And that's a theme that in the New Testament is very consistent. If you look, for example, at 1 Peter chapter 2, as you come to him that is Christ, a living stone rejected by men, but in the sight of God, chosen and precious, you yourselves, like living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house." Notice the language there of the temple, that the church is a spiritual house. It's like a living temple that's being built up to be, all of we who are believers, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. So here Peter is using the language of the Old Testament of the priesthood of Exodus chapter 19 and the language of the temple and is saying that we as Christians today are the new priesthood. So what about Christ's age and his ordination would give us some signals or ideas about how that would relate to us as believers, and really as Baptists, what we want to talk about is how would this relate to what we would consider to be a proper baptism. I think that this is where the topic of baptism really can become exciting for people. Anybody who's ever been baptized might sit back and wonder, What was really the point of that and how does it matter for my life today? We're Reformed Christians and we believe that baptism and the Lord's Supper are sacraments and that they actually are means of grace that God uses in our lives to conform us more into the image of Christ and to strengthen our faith and to help us on our journey as we're trying to make it to journey's end. So the language that Paul uses of being identified with Christ here in baptism is so important because what we're saying is that one of the reasons, and I would probably argue that it's the main reason that Jesus was baptized, was to ordain him into his priestly ministry in a legal way. So Jesus, after his baptism, he begins his priestly ministry for the next three years and he starts doing these things that culminate in his sacrifice of himself on the cross. Now who can perform sacrifices Tony? Only priests and that's the big point of it is that we've got to be inducted into the priesthood before we can perform the sacrifices that the New Testament says continue on. Paul says that when we live our lives we are a living sacrifice. We are actually offering up ourselves as a living sacrifice to God. When we perform prayers, that's a sacrifice that we're giving to God in our prayers as they rise up to heaven, as they enter into the throne room of grace. God hears our prayers and receives them as a sacrifice. So we have all of this sacrificial language in the New Testament that's indicative of what it means to be a Christian. It's more than just believing in Jesus, isn't it Doug? Yeah, it's about obedience to God's Word, but it's couched in the language, like you just said, of the priesthood. So Jesus offers himself as a sacrifice on the cross, which means that he had to be a priest. The book of Hebrews tells us that Jesus is a priest, and one of the problems that it raises is, and here it gets back to the Melchizedek question, Melchizedek was the priest of Salem before the Levitical priesthood was ever established. It was in the days of Abraham. And Hebrews has been telling us, when it starts to talk about this, that Jesus is obeying all of these Levitical rites. He's doing all of these priestly things. He's sacrificing himself on a cross. And so the question is naturally raised, well, how can he do this? Because he's not a Levite. He's not a priest. He comes from the tribe of Judah. And so its whole point is, he can do this because he's from another priestly line, which is the line of Melchizedek, without genealogy, without beginning or end. Once you establish that Jesus is a priest and that his priesthood is from this different priestly line, from this one that goes back prior to Aaron and to Levi, the priest of Israel, then you're able to make this connection that anybody who is in Christ is also a priest. And that's where I think a lot of people really don't pick up on the language that you just brought up from the New Testament. I mean, when we hear Romans 12, 1 and 2 offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, Most of us, for some reason, don't really think, well, that's language that comes from the Old Testament, from the priesthood, do we? Yeah, not at all. And yet we need to because, you know, the New Testament is not really new. It's just part two of the whole counsel of God that God has given us, the story of redemption from creation to new creation by way of redemption. And when we understand the scriptures whole, when we understand that the New Testament is really a fulfillment of not only what was prophesied in the Old Testament, but what actually was commanded by God. What God commanded the priests to do, Christ did. What God commanded King David to do, Christ did, and is doing right now. The same thing is true of what Christ commands us, isn't it? In the Great Commission, Jesus said, All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, and then teaching them to do all that I have commanded you." So, we've got this ceremonial continuity even in the Great Commission. When God commands us to go into the nations and proclaim Christ, He combines that with this idea of the priesthood, doesn't He? Exactly, and you know a lot of people I think also have a problem with just the Old Testament in general. They don't understand why in the world Christians should even bother to read it. I mean this is the book for the Jews, right? The Christians book is the New Testament. It's why we make New Testament only Bibles except for with the Psalms and Proverbs. What we really want to help people see is that there is great continuity between the Old and New Testament and that really you're greatly impoverished in your understanding of your Christian walk if you don't see the connections that the New Testament is making to the Old Testament. So we're just happening to be doing that today with the topic of baptism and with the priesthood, but I think that when you can start to see these things, it really makes your Old Testament come alive. Now you brought up some verses that were a minute ago about sacrifice. I'm going to read a couple of these. Just to help people now that we've talked about this again, listen to the language of priestly ministry, of the work of the temple and the tabernacle, and consider that this is what Paul is telling Christians to do. Before we get to that, Doug, let me just encourage our listeners that if this is a subject that you'd like to learn more about, and I want to give a shameless plug here, not for myself, but for Doug, Doug actually has done a lot of research in this area of baptism and has written a book that's very unique that talks about the continuity of the Old Testament and the New Testament as it relates to baptism. There's a whole book, it's called The Waters of Creation. In fact, it really combines a lot of the ideas that we talked about last week with the ideas that we're talking about this week. And I would highly encourage you to read that book. You can go to our website at coloradoreformation.com And you can get a link right there to Amazon to pick up that book. And I would encourage you to, you know, it's not an easy read, but if you'd like to learn more about this subject, I encourage you to go take a look at that book. Well, thanks, Tony. I wasn't expecting that. Let me go back to these verses that I was going to read. Listen to a couple of these. Do good and share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God. Paul says, suffering is a drink offering poured out to the Philippians. He calls the gift of money a fragrant offering, a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God. He calls the gospel ministry a fragrant aroma. He calls the proclamation of the gospel his priestly duty in the Book of Romans. prayers as golden bowls full of incense in the temple of God. This is the language of the New Testament, and you hear in all of those things incense, sacrifices, the things that the priest did in the tabernacle. So now you start to say, well, where does this come from? How does this fit with us? I think this is where we need to kind of conclude and talk about this New Testament priesthood, Tony. A lot of people might think, well, the priesthood has been completely abolished. Or a lot of people might think, well, if you start talking about a New Testament priesthood, you must be Roman Catholic or something. I don't think we're saying either one of those things. But let's talk a little bit about the New Testament priesthood. One of the most beautiful things about the New Testament priesthood is that there is continuity between what actually happened in the Old Testament and what actually happens in our very lives. So, when we think about the temple as being more than just a physical place built with hammers and chisels and saws, And that kind of a thing. When we look at the New Testament, when we see the temple as our body, we see the temple as the body of Christ being built up with spiritual stones, as Peter puts it, what a beautiful thing to consider what Christ is doing right now in building His temple. and that we actually are priests serving in Christ's temple, the significance of that for our lives, for our thinking, how much that encourages us to continue on as faithful stewards of the grace of God that He's given to us. You know, it's even more exciting in my mind than the physical stuff is. I know a lot of people who are involved in various movements, one that is sort of Jewish Christianity, where there's a fascination with the Jewish culture, with the ceremonies, with the feasts, and that kind of a thing. And there have been many cults that have gotten off into that as well. And if you ask me, when I look at that, I say, yeah, I understand their fascination with it, but they're just playing with the shadows. They're playing with toys. rather than the substance of the thing, because the substance is that we actually, having been baptized into Christ, having been clothed with His righteousness, are now serving as living servants in the living temple of God. And to me, Doug, that's a very exciting thing that gives me great hope and encouragement as I live each day in the Christian life. Is that kind of what you had in mind when you were thinking of this? Yeah, exactly. We just need to understand that the New Testament tells us time and again, either through the temple language or through the language of the priesthood of the believer. That was a very popular reformational doctrine. They didn't chuck out the whole priesthood, but they wanted to show that the priesthood is something that belongs to the entire Christian body. It isn't just something for a few elite people. Yeah, so it's not just something that belongs to pastors. You know, many people think that pastors are some super spiritual Christians because they've been to seminary or because, you know, they get up every week and preach from the Bible and exegete the text. But the Bible says that, yes, there is a place for pastors. Yes, there is a place for elders in the church. And there is a place for authority in the church. But all of us as believers are priests. And just that idea gives us such tremendous significance when we think about our lives. Why do you pray? Why do you go to church? Why do you build up one another in the faith? Why do you encourage one another? Why do you fellowship together with other believers? All of these kinds of ideas, right? Yeah, the priesthood gives very concrete, specific meaning and application to a Christian life that I think that they can understand and they can really start to think about and ponder and it can help them as they're trying to get to journeys in. We hope that you found this topic helpful today. You know, we don't want to just talk about theology. It's very important to us that as we're learning theology that It helps us as we walk and it helps us to be able to make it to the end of our journey. It's really what our program is all about, is getting to the journey's end. We think that baptism is a very important way to help Christians learn and think about and do those very things. So thank you for listening to our show today and we look forward to being with you again next time. Journey's End is a production of the Reformed Baptist Church of Serving the Front Range. Our show is dedicated to helping Christians think deeply about their faith and helping them understand that the destination is the purpose of the journey. At www.ColoradoReformation.com you will find an increasing number of helpful tools. We have local churches in the southern and northern metro areas to assist you in understanding both the journey and the journey's end. Our worship services are Christ-centered and driven by the teachings of Scripture. This leads to our people seeking to emulate our Savior through kindness and humility. We are rooted in the historic creeds of Christianity and our traditions arose out of the Protestant Reformation. We invite you to head to our website www.ColoradoReformation.com for more information. That's www.ColoradoReformation.com. We look forward to being with you again next week. Thanks for listening. That was a great show! Into the way