SUBMISSION TO GOD’S WILL FULFILLS ALL RIGHTEOUSNESS

Matthew 3:13-17: 13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John to be baptized by him. 14 But John tried to prevent him, saying, “I have need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” 15 But Jesus answered and said to him, “Permit it now, for in this way IT IS RIGHT FOR US TO FULFILL ALL RIGHTEOUSNESS.” Then he permitted him. 16 Now after he was baptized, Jesus immediately went up from the water, and behold, the heavens opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove coming upon him. 17 And behold, there was a voice from heaven saying, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”

Remember when the lord Messiah Jesus was 12 years old; he told his parents, who had been looking for him, and found him in the Temple: “I must be about my Father’s business.”

WHY DID THE LORD MESSIAH JESUS SUBMIT HIMSELF TO JOHN’S BAPTISM OF REPENTANCE?

These words, “I must be about my Father’s business,” sum up, in essence, the spirit of the Lord Messiah Jesus, his character, and the direction of his ministry; therefore, it contains a very important spiritual principle which indicates the secret of the Lord Messiah Jesus’ power as our redeemer.

THE LORD MESSIAH JESUS’ BAPTISM CHARACTERIZES HIS DISCIPLES' BAPTISM

We have to point out that John’s baptism is not identical to Christian baptism. This distinction is clearly made even in Acts 19:1-6: And it happened that while Apollos was in Corinth, Paul traveled through the inland regions and came down to Ephesus and found some disciples. 2 And he said to them: “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” And they said to him: “But we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit!” 3 And he said, “Into what then were you baptized?” And they said: “Into the baptism of John.” 4 And Paul said: “John baptized with a baptism of repentance, telling the people that they should believe in the one who was to come after him - that is, in Jesus.” 5 And when they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the lord Jesus. 6 And when Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they began to speak in tongues and to prophesy.

That Paul baptized again those who were baptized with John’s baptism in the name of Jesus. He pointed out to them that the baptism of John was of a preliminary character. It was not equivalent to, and not adequate for, Christian baptism.

THE LORD MESSIAH JESUS IDENTIFIED HIMSELF WITH SINFUL MAN.

Why did the Lord Jesus come to John the Baptist to be baptized? It was in order to identify himself with sinful man. It finds its justification in the words of the lord Messiah Jesus’ reply when John the Baptist prevented him: “It is fitting for us.” He did not say, “It is fitting for me,” but “It is fitting for us.” By using the word “us,” he identifies himself with John the Baptist and with mankind generally.

It is quite correct to say that he accepted this baptism as a man. He identified himself with sinful mankind generally, because unless he did identify himself with us, how would he die for our sins? He had to be a man to die for us. “He is not ashamed to call them brethren” (Hebrews 2:11), to be associated with being one of us. Although we are sinners, he identified himself with sinners.

SPIRITUAL REASONS FOR JESUS’ SUBMISSION TO JOHN’S BAPTISM

Jesus submitted to the baptism of repentance to fulfill God’s ordinance.

We see here “the Lamb of God,” at a little over thirty years old, relying totally on the power of God in him to live a life without sin.

John the Baptist was an impressive figure of a man – a prophet of Israel. Israel had not seen a prophet in Israel for over 400 years. No wonder this man caused quite a stir. But he himself confessed that not only was he not the Messiah, but also was unworthy even to be a slave of the Messiah, to untie the leather latches of Jesus’ sandals. He only recognized himself as being a servant who prepared the way for the Messiah. You read this in the passage just before the one we are studying now, where he spoke of his own ministry.

Then, when he saw Jesus, he recognized him as someone whose righteousness was greater than his own. When Jesus came to him, he said, “I should not be baptizing you. You should not be submitting to my baptism, to my ministry. I should be submitting to you, to your ministry.” He recognized that Jesus was far greater than himself when, after he had baptised the lord Messiah Jesus, he witnessed Jesus immediately went up from the water, and behold, the heavens opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove coming upon him. 17 And behold, there was a voice from heaven saying, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” When John the Baptist heard God say, “This is my beloved Son,” he realized Jesus was the Messiah.

The question is: Why does the greater submit to the lesser?

The Lord’s teaching, “Let it be so now for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness,” shows us his character and the spirit in which he was to become the God-sent Savior of the world. If only we can capture the spirit of the lord Messiah Jesus.

When we study the Bible, our focus should be on entering into the spirit of what God- Yehovah wants to reveal to us. The apostle Paul says, “the letter kills (and it can kill), but the Spirit makes alive” (cf. 2 Corinthians 3:5-6: 5 Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God, 6 who also makes us adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit, for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

Can you see the beauty of the Spirit revealed here? The greater submits to the lesser. That is the pattern of Jesus’ ministry all along: the greater submits to the lesser. He could easily have said, “This is a baptism of repentance.” Which of you convicts me of sin? You admit that I have no sin; therefore, I don’t need this baptism.” But Jesus will submit to the baptism of repentance if it is an ordinance of God.

THE CENTRAL DISEASE OF CHRISTENDOM: REFUSAL TO LEARN TO BE SUBMISSIVE

Christians often say: “I believe in God and in Jesus Christ, but why do I need to be baptized? I don’t need baptism.” What a striking contrast! Jesus, who really did not need to be baptized in the sense of a legal obligation, yet committed himself to be baptism. But these sinners don’t feel they need to be baptized because, in their minds, baptism is not essential. The one who [Jesus] does not need to be baptized nonetheless submits to baptism, and those who most urgently need to be baptized do not regard it as important for themselves to be baptized. They have not yet understood the spirit of the Messiah.

There is something like mankind that refuses to submit, that will always argue: “Why is this and that necessary? Why does God make this ordinance? It’s not fair that wives should obey husbands. People who claim to be Christians have not learned or understood the Spirit of God that guided the lord Messiah Jesus in all he said and did.

The lord Messiah Jesus refused to take any glory to himself. Rather, he humbled himself. He did not say to John the Baptist, “I am greater than you. Why should I submit to your baptism?” On the contrary, when John objected, he pleaded with God’s servant, “John, tolerate it now. Even if you don’t like the idea of my submitting to your baptism, please accept it all the same. Allow me to be baptized by you.” Oh, that touches the heart! The greater submits and pleads to be accepted into the ministry of the inferior.

IN SERVING GOD, YOU WILL OFTEN BE MISUNDERSTOOD, AS THE LORD MESSIAH JESUS WAS OFTEN MISUNDERSTOOD.

In serving God, you are going to be misunderstood, time and time again. Your purest motives will be misinterpreted. When you preach from the purest motives, even your preaching will be misinterpreted.

Notice: John 10:2-5: 2 But the one who enters through the door is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 For this one the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 Whenever he sends out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. 5 And they will never follow a stranger, but will flee from him, because they do not know the voice of strangers.”

Our prayer should be: “Lord Messiah Jesus, help me always be your sheep, listening to your voice, following after you, just as you follow after your God and Father Yehovah.”

The lord Messiah Jesus was not afraid to be misunderstood. People will distort what you do or preach out of the purest motives to attack you. Don’t let their actions discourage you.

JESUS SUBMITTED AS THE GREATER TO THE LESSER

The lord Messiah Jesus was concerned with right­eousness. His desire was to fulfill God’s righteous ordinance of repentance, which could only be achieved by submission to John’s baptism of repentance. Have you got this heart of submission? If not, don’t be in God’s work because there is no future whatsoever for you there.

If Jesus had not entered into his ministry with a complete willingness to submit to God and to John the Baptist, who was inferior to him but still a servant of God, he would not have been chosen by God to become the Savior of the world. You must learn this attitude of submission if you are going to serve God and to experience God’s fullness and power in the life of a disciple of the lord Messiah Jesus.

Let us always ask for God’s help to always treat others as better than ourselves. This is the attitude of submission.

GOD CLEARS THE MISUNDERSTANDING OF THE LORD MESSIAH JESUS

What about being misunderstood then? When we walk with God, trust him to work out all the misunderstandings. And that is precisely what God does. Notice what happens when the lord Messiah Jesus comes out of the water after he was baptized. A voice from heaven speaks, “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.” Some people thought it was thundering. It was God speaking! God put his seal upon the lord Messiah Jesus. Why? It’s precisely because he submitted so completely as a servant to the servant of God, John the Baptist.

JESUS HUMILITY: SUBMITTING TO JOHN THE BAPTIST, A SINFUL MAN.

Notice the Lord Jesus’ humility as he came voluntarily to John the Baptist and asked to receive his baptism. That deeply impresses me. The more I ponder the Lamb of God receiving baptism at the hands of a sinful man, the more I am humbled!

John the Baptist was a great servant of God- Yehovah, but he had very serious faults that the Bible points out. In Matthew Chapter 11, we notice that John completely faded in his spiritual courage. It is disappointing to see, but it’s nonetheless true. In Matthew 11:3, you will read that as John the Baptist sat in prison, somehow, he wavered, and he sent a messenger to the lord Messiah Jesus saying, “Are you he who is to come, or do we look for someone else?” Alas! The great servant of God, John the Baptist, wavered! He took offense at Jesus at the critical moment, so that the Lord Jesus had to say in verse 6, “Blessed is he who is not offended by me.”

The Lord Messiah Jesus still held John in esteem even though he wavered (cf. Matthew 21:25). He still spoke of him as that mighty servant of God. Jesus reveals Yahweh God, who lives in him, who does not estimate us according to our weaknesses and failings. God remains constant and unchanging towards us, while we may change in our relationship to him. Isn’t that beautiful!

The Bible tells us frankly, that John the Baptist, great as he was, hesitated towards the end. But still, the Lord Jesus came to this man of God and submitted to his ministry, not because John the Baptist was an incomparably wonderful person with no faults and failings. Not at all! But it was because he was a servant of God, and because God’s ordinance of repentance was being fulfilled through John the Baptist’s baptism. These things are deep for us to understand.

THE LORD MESSIAH JESUS CALLED FOR REPENTANCE AS HE SUBMITTED TO A BAPTISM OF REPENTANCE

The Lord Jesus never asked anyone else to do something that he himself did not do. When Jesus called others to repentance, he himself had submitted to a baptism of repentance. Repentance means a total change of mind.

The lord Messiah Jesus did not change his mind regarding sin, but he did make a change after his baptism and his victorious battle with Satan in the wilderness. From this point on, he gave up his secular job as a carpenter; he left his home and made a very fundamental change – the time had come for him to go forth to preach the gospel, the good news about the Kingdom of God, the message of salvation.

JESUS’ CONSTANT OBEDIENCE TO GOD’S WILL FULFILLS ALL RIGHTEOUSNESS

This is the keynote which marks the whole of the lord Messiah Jesus’ ministry, and he preached it not so much in words as by his life in submitting himself to a servant of God, John the Baptist, far inferior to himself. He submitted all the same to fulfill all righteousness.  Righteousness was his central concern.

How do you fulfill all righteousness? It is fulfilled only through total submission to God and to all his ordinances, to his servants, to his people. That is something we all need to learn because our whole nature rebels against it. We want to stand up for ourselves. We want to be number one. In fact, “number one” is the term for “you” in today’s language. The carnal natural man thinks of himself as number one.

The lord Messiah Jesus submitted himself to every institution and ordinance of God. It has been noticed, for example, that although the lord Messiah Jesus was without sin, he partook of the Passover sacrifice nonetheless; isn’t it remarkable? Although God sent him to be the Redeemer, Mary offered the prescribed offerings for sin: the redemption of the firstborn. He fulfilled every ordinance of God. Although he had no sin, he submitted to the baptism of repentance, but that did not import sin into his life, did it? Of course not! What it shows is his obedience to the will of God. He has given us an example to follow in his footsteps.

OBEY THE WILL OF GOD- YEHOVAH AND GOD WILL BECOME REAL TO YOU

Practice obeying the will of God- Yehovah in your life; We should continuously submit ourselves to every commandment of God, and submit more fully to him. That secret may be hard to practice, but it’s so simple. You will find that if you do this, there will be power in your life, and joy of fellowship with God. God will become real to you. Then you will experience a new joy, a new power, a new fellowship with God- Yehovah.

HE WILL ANSWER YOUR PRAYERS

Try living in submission to God- Yehovah, obeying all the words He gave the lord Messiah Jesus to give to us, and He will answer your prayers beyond all your expectations! He will overwhelm you with His kindness as you live in submission to Him, doing His will in your life.