LESSON X.

THE BAPTISM OF OUR LORD.

A.D. 27.-JOHN i. 6-8; MATT. iii. 13– 17.

There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.

The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe.

He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.

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.

COMMENT.—The swift-rushing stream of Jordan, the descender, cleaving his way along the wooded ravine that runs due north and south from Lake Merom to the Dead Sea, can be crossed safely at few places, and these were pretty sure to be called Bethabara, "the house of passage." At one of these John was baptizing those who were willing to pledge themselves to that coming Kingdom which he promised. Most likely it was not that Bethabara where Gideon had his contention with the Ephraimites, but those lower fords of Jordan which King David had crossed and recrossed in his flight from Absalom, since these were close to the wilderness of Judah.

Here the water strikes the eye as being thick and muddy, whereas the water of the Dead Sea is clear as crystal; but to the taste the water of Jordan is deliciously pure and sweet, and the body is infinitely refreshed by bathing in it; while the thirst brought on by one drop of the briny water of the accursed sea cannot be quenched for hours, and the skin tingles and is dry after

contact with it. By the ford of Jordan, then, John baptized, and there he beheld JESUS coming for His baptism from Nazareth. Putting together what he says here with what he afterwards declared, it would seem that he was already aware that JESUS, his Cousin after the flesh, led such a faultless life, of such perfect holiness and purity, that He could have no sin to repent of or to be washed away, though he did not yet know Him as the Messiah. The Messiah-the Anointed, or Christ, as these Greek-speaking Jews now called their Hope-was to be made known to John by the promised sign of the visible descent of the Holy Spirit, which was His true anointing, since it was of the Holy Spirit that the anointing oil of kings, priests, and prophets had been the outward sign.

When John saw one so holy coming to be baptized, he recoiled in humility, feeling that he ought rather to be baptized by JESUS than JESUS by him. But the answer told him that the purpose and office of JESUS required the fulfilment of whatever was appointed for man.

And on his obedience, the promised sign appeared. God the Holy Ghost, made visible in a form like a hovering Dove, descended on God the Son in His manhood, and the voice of God the Father from Heaven proclaimed that JESUS is His beloved Son. No doubt the two were alone, without other spectators of the wonder that revealed the Christ to John. And at the same time began that unction which is continued to us His members.

For as by His circumcision He had taken on Him the Israelite covenant, which none save He could fulfil, so by His Baptism in the river Jordan He established the covenant by which His members should for the future have power given them to fulfil the moral law of the Jews. Then did He sanctify water to the mystical washing away of sin, and thenceforth, such washing in the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, so has made men One with Him that the Father adopts them too as well-beloved children, and the Holy Ghost descends on them to lead them on to share the Inheritance of Heaven.

John's baptism had been only the token of repentance and willingness to accept the kingdom. Baptism in the Name of the Holy Trinity would henceforth really purify and admit to the kingdom,

though as yet the fulness of it was not to be proclaimed until the work of the Saviour had been finished upon earth :

And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness,

Being forty days tempted of the devil.

And in those days he did eat

nothing and when they were ended he afterward hungered.

:

And the devil said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, command this stone that it be made bread.

And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.

And the devil taking him up into an high mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.

And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it.

If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine.

And Jesus answered and said unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan : For it is written, Thou shalt worship the LORD thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.

And he brought him to Jerusalem, and set him on a pinnacle of the temple, and said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down from hence:

For it is written, He shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee: And in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.

And Jesus answering, said unto him, It is said, Thou shalt not tempt the LORD thy God.

And when the devil had ended all the temptation, he departed from him for a season.

O Son of Man, and Son of God,

Becomes us not to know

How spotless soul and body felt
Temptation, pain, and woe.

COMMENT.-The constant belief of the inhabitants of the Holy Land has placed the scene of the Temptation—perhaps one of the greatest wonders that ever befell—or the hilly ground, hence called

Quarentana," or the Forty," which rises above Jericho-a lean, dreary, stony tract, with a wall of rock suddenly descending to the Jordan, and full of caves and grottoes. Here, after His baptism, the Saviour kept His forty days' fast, as Moses and Elijah had done in mourning for the sins of their people. Observe, Moses had just eaten before God at the confirming of the Covenant; Elijah was sustained by the food which the angel brought him. JESUS was supported in His manhood by the Divine power of His Godhead.

St. Mark says He was with wild beasts, as though that had been part of His suffering; and likewise speaks as if Satan had beset Him all the time of His fast; but from St. Luke and St. Matthew it is clear that all the trial came to a crisis at the close of the time.

It has been thought that Satan did not yet know who JESUS was. He only knew that none of the temptations common to man had soiled or tainted that perfect Being, who had grown up to manhood at Nazareth; and now doubting whether this were not indeed the Woman's Seed who should bruise his heel, he came to the assault with all his powers, when the bodily strength of the object of his attack was weakened by fasting.

And the Lord waited to endure that He might conquer in His manhood the three great temptations that had ruined man in Paradise, and to put weapons in our hands for the same conquest. Eve had seen that the tree was good for food. The lust of the flesh had overcome her, even when she wanted for nothing. JESUS, in the extremity of hunger, would not work a miracle at Satan's bidding to satisfy His needs and prove that Divinity which Satan wanted to discover. He answered with a saying suitable to all men when they are tempted to do wrong in the hope of securing bodily sustenance, a saying from the exhortation of Moses-"And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live.” (Deut. viii. 3). It is not food that keeps man alive, but the will of God. He can support those who trust solely in Him, even as He fed Israel with manna in the wilderness.

St. Matthew and St. Luke do not agree in the order in which they

place the other two temptations; but it generally happens that the trials of the "lust of the eye and pride of life "-those of the world and the devil-come to a character that has learnt to care little for mere bodily gratification.

One who heeded not hunger and thirst-who, if he were Christ, was destined to set up a kingdom-might perhaps be won by the promise of all the glories and kingdoms of the earth, which Satan had held ever since Adam and Eve had made him prince of this world. Tiberius and the Herods were the worthy creatures he had given them to now. He, a supernatural being, could bring all their pomp and their splendour before the sight of One who knew them even better than he did, and with them the promise that if he, the prince of this world, received homage, all should be in the hand of JESUS.

Again came the simple reply quoted from Moses-"Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God, and serve him, and shalt swear by his name (Deut. vi. 13). So may be answered all temptations to close with what we cannot approve, that we may obtain gain, or honour, or station. All such compliances are worshipping the god of this world. So the fruit pleasant to the eye was refused.

The pinnacle of the Temple, whither the Lord permitted Himself to be taken by the tempter, was probably the top of the battlement above the cloister, with a deep precipice beneath it. Here Satan bade Him cast Himself down that He might be proved to be God the Son by a miracle in the eyes of the people. "The devil can quote Scripture for his purpose," and he quoted the promise of the 91st Psalm

For he shall give his angels charge over thee,

To keep thee in all thy ways.

They shall bear thee up in their hands,

Lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.

It is well worth observing how he garbled it, leaving out "in all thy ways," namely, the assurance that in all the true right ways of life shall the angels protect, and stopping short of that next verse containing his own doom-" Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder : the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under foot."

Again the reply was from Deut. vi. 16—“Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God as ye tempted him at Massah."