Our study starts in Matthew. However, God is trying to teach us to put all our hopes in the finished work of Jesus Christ. We are learning to trust that this is a completed work of GRACE. In John 19:30 (KJV), we find: “When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, ‘It is finished:’ and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.”
For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. 2 Corinthians 5:21 (KJV).1 John 4:17 says”as he is, so are we in this world.” And when the Holy Spirit see us taking this stand then HE confirms it with signs and wonders, as the Word goes forth. And according to the faith we have in the Word of God, grace is imparted to the same level so that we are changed. In 2 Corinthians 3:18 in the Amplified Bible says “And all of us, as with unveiled face, [because we] continued to behold [in the Word of God] as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are constantly being transfigured into His very own image in ever increasing splendor and from one degree of glory to another; [for this comes] from the Lord [Who is] the Spirit”
Matthew 3:13 (KJV) Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him.
The place where John was baptizing in John 1:28 (KJV) says “These things were done in Bethabara beyond Jordan, where John was baptizing. Bethabara means” the house of passage”, And , Who is our House of passage, Jesus Christ. This was the same place where Joshua led the Israelites across the Jordan.
Why would this be something we would need to know?
Well, glad you ask.
Isn’t it like God to lead his people to a place where we have to trust in HIM only so we know it is All HIM . If you read in Joshua 3, you find that it was at a time when the Jordan had overflowed its banks…To the human eye this was the worst possible time, but as Mark 10:27 states “With men [it is] impossible, but not with God; for all things are possible with God.” . So, we see in Joshua 3:11, the ark is passing over the Jordan. The ark represents the person of Jesus, the gold His person and His glory and the mercy seat the Blood of the new covenant. And as soon as the priest feet touch the Jordan, the waters are backed up all the way to a city, called Adam (verse 16). Which we know that Jesus completed work on the cross, by means of the Blood of His cross has reconciled us to God. So that we may be the Righteousness of God, as in Romans 5:17-21 AMP, “17For if because of one man's trespass (lapse, offense) death reigned through that one, much more surely will those who receive [God's] overflowing grace (unmerited favor) and the free gift of righteousness [putting them into right standing with Himself] reign as kings in life through the one Man Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One). 18Well then, as one man's trespass [one man's false step and falling away led] to condemnation for all men, so one Man's act of righteousness [leads] to acquittal and right standing with God and life for all men. 19For just as by one man's disobedience (failing to hear, [k]heedlessness, and carelessness) the many were constituted sinners, so by one Man's obedience the many will be constituted righteous (made acceptable to God, brought into right standing with Him). 20But then Law came in, [only] to expand and increase the trespass [making it more apparent and exciting opposition]. But where sin increased and abounded, grace (God's unmerited favor) has surpassed it and increased the more and superabounded, 21So that, [just] as sin has reigned in death, [so] grace (His unearned and undeserved favor) might reign also through righteousness (right standing with God) which issues in eternal life through Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One) our Lord.”
So, the baptism here is the place where Jesus took our place. We could not keep the Law of Moses. As you remember, John 1:17 (KJV) says “For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. So Grace is the person of Jesus Christ.
So God intervned as it says in Colossians 1:20 AMP 20And God purposed that through ([a]by the service, the intervention of) Him [the Son] all things should be completely reconciled [b]back to Himself, whether on earth or in heaven, as through Him, [the Father] made peace by means of the blood of His cross.
So, then Jordan represents for us the place of the cross, (condemnation, sickness, death and the curse, so that we can cross over into the Blessing of Grace (Resurrection life). We saw in the illustration of the picture in the Bible. When God see us NOW, He sees no sin, only the blood of his son. That verse was in Romans 6:3 - 6 AMP 3Are you ignorant of the fact that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? 4We were buried therefore with Him by the baptism into death, so that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious [power] of the Father, so we too might [habitually] live and behave in newness of life. 5For if we have become one with Him by sharing a death like His, we shall also be [one with Him in sharing] His resurrection [by a new life lived for God]. 6We know that our old (unrenewed) self was nailed to the cross with Him in order that [our] body [which is the instrument] of sin might be made ineffective and inactive for evil, that we might no longer be the slaves of sin.
May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our loving Lord and Savior! 2. Peter 1:2.
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