Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented. And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of G-d descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”
Matthew 3:13–17, ESV
I want to break a “reality” that is religiously-set and irrelevantly calcified about this text.
This text is not merely about obedience alone. Too many dang pastors and believers have made this thing we call water baptism simply about obedience, and then they treat baptism as “must be treated a certain way”.
Baptize people backwards once: irrespective of whether or not they or their spirits have been exposed to water trauma. NO RENUNICATIONS! NO DELIVERANCE! No concern for their vulnerability. No considerations for the nuances of the Father’s heart for the person who is in grave need of a tender embrace. Just straight-as-a-board [censored] obedience to His commandments, as if that was the only thing there was in existence, at the expense of the fullness of what was in this text. One interpretation, slavery to a Master’s will, with zero creative, principled expressions.
I have seen too many of these baptisms where people are lectured on obedience with zero concern for sonship or the creativity that should mark the kingdom. and that galls me.
Too many people are too interested in seeing obedience at the expense of sonship.
And I am done with the preaching of obedience at the expense of the Father’s tender heart, as a father myself, with a tender heart I regained from the King as of August 18th, a heart I had not seen since October of 1984.
Please allow that years of war and prison may change a man.
Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves
Hopefully, as a man or a woman endures years of war or prison or heartache or hardship, they grow in something unshakeable.
In my case, there were hard times that drew questions and bred offense. My first wife cheating on me. My father abandoning me. My twin sister not making it. My second wife dying of cancer. And the prayers of some dear brothers and sisters as well that softened me.
And to that point, we see some of the things that Father may want to deal with in water baptism. As my mother once wrote to me in 1991 in the yellow letter that no longer exists.
Ask Him to soften the heart of a mean person. He works wonders…
G-d may use water baptism to work a miracle or a set of miracles, and we really need to open up the laver of cleansing to the idea that G-d may want to do more than what we are in baptism.
Jesus came to the Jordan because there was a larger picture than mere obedience. There was a fulfillment Jesus was picturing for each of us. Baptism was and is a path to something more, and there is way damn more in water baptism than we appropriate.
Baptism is designed for deliverance. And we just dunk people and send them along without considering the spiritual encounter that the King wishes to give those who seek baptism in the waters.
And we rarely consider the King might want to not only have them buried in obedience, but we also rarely consider the dynamics of what it means to, literally and with the fullness of our spirits, be “raised to walk in the newness of life” (Romans 6:4). And beyond that, too frequently in water baptism we rarely think, ponder, ask, or allow for the possibility that the King might want to tenderly and affectionately show up; manifest His presence, and endue those being baptized…
…with whatever graces and gifts He wishes to clothe them and us.
Yeshua said this curious phrase:
“Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.”
Meaning, there were two dynamics the L-rd wants to impart to us.
- A measure of righteousness.
- Fulfillment
The Presence of the Righteous One: Sonship
Every time in the New Testament the word δικαιοσύνην (righteousness), it parallels the Hebrew word צִדְקָתֽוֹ
There are 10 compound names of Adonai. In order, they are:
- Adonai Eccad: The L-rd Who is One: Parallels The Father
- Adonai Tseva’ot: The L-rd of Hosts: Parallels the Son, Who Leads the Armies of Heaven
- Adonai Makkadesh: The Lord Who Makes You Holy: Parallels the Holy Spirit, Who Transforms Our Nature
- Adonai Yireh: The L-rd Who Provides In Response To Sheer Faith: Parallels the Redemptive Gift of Prophet, who must execute the mandates of the King via Galatians 6:5: Faith that works through love.
- Adonai Rapha: The L-rd Who Heals Us Deeply and Cleanses Us: Parallels the Redemptive Gift of Servant
- Adonai Nissi: The L-rd Who Raises the Banner Of The Word Made Flesh, Himself, Over Us, Through Deep Encounter, Parallels the Redemptive Gift of Teacher, who cannot live in fullness apart from an encounter with the Incarnated Truth.
- Adonai Shalom, The L-rd our Peace, who makes us whole through a series of revelations of His loving nature, which parallels the Redemptive Gift of Exhorter, who MUST embrace not only the positive words and revelations, but the hard stuff that causes the Exhorter to embrace a hell of a lot of pain.
- Adonai Ra’ah: The L-rd Who Is Shepherd: He Provides all we need through leading us in a path that requires we lean on more than just our own understanding. Parallels the stubbornly independent, Redemptive Gift of Giver.
- Adonai Tsidkenu: The L-rd our Righteousness: Parallels the Redemptive Gift of RJD (Rulder/Judge/Deliverer), who, if they walk in righteousness the King provides, and not merely their idea of righteousness, with the three Treasures of the Ark of the Covenant present in their spirits, make the ultimate fathers among the gifts. Manna for the RJD’s provision, The Torah for the RJD’s Moral Authority, and the Staff that Budded for the RJD’s Divine Appointment to Adonai’s Task rather than Self-Appointment to a task of their own choosing
- Adonai Shammah: The L-rd Who is There. Parallels the Redemptive Gift of Mercy, and their Presence and Essence-Based Design.
Yeshua in His baptism, was seeking to execute righteousness, a callback to the RJD, and the dynamic of sonship. What we do with baptism, is not a damned matter of one-side-fits-all, lay back and expose yourself in vulnerability to the command of the L-rd who expects you to just leave yourself feeling unprotected, and there is no mention of the spirit realm.
Rather, the L-rd works with our trust level, and encourages us to seek as much Freedom as can be found. Baptism was designed to be deliverance and healing and exorcism all rolled into one. And an encounter with the Righteous Father. We were made to be creative with water baptism from person-to-person as each has need.
And, the L-rd is willing to work with us, and He is willing to develop trust with us so that we can be increasingly made whole in Him. If we are not comfortable, He will not force us, and those who father us and lead us into the Kingdom, should be completely sensitive to whatever set of needs we have, and be willing to work with us.
Father is not a tyrant in water baptism. He is so creative, and tender, and loving, and His heart is so incredibly full of desire, and His Father’s heart is rich in affection toward us as his sons. Baptism is meant to be tailor-made to each person’s walk, past, present, future, spirit, soul, body, birthright, and offices. In this, the fullest expressions of liberating and affectionate righteousness are made known.
Fulfillment
Water Baptism is more than a blasted ritual of roteness that takes five minutes, and is celebrated by something silly like “and in obedience to his commandments”. Not that obedience is not important, but it takes a backseat to reconciliation and fulfillment and deepening intimacy and affection between the One Who Ordains Water Baptism, and the one being baptized.
We were made to take the season of baptism and move with Father, seeking Him for what He wants in our own particular case for the Baptism. There is a cleansing He wants to work in water baptism that is the opposite spirit of futility.
So, if we have some broken places in our past, He actually can use the baptism as a moment where he manifests to us and in us to heal or to make right something that was made wrong years before. Such as the time when a man was being water baptized and wanted to be rid of his tattoos, and as he went under the water, and then came up, he went under tattooed and then emerged from the waters with the tattoo ink having disappeared from his skin.
Or my friend Amy Dudley who wrote a renunciation and reminded the kingdom of darkness who she was and whose she was. And she dealt with a number of spiritual attacks and asked the L-rd in the baptism, which was a forward-facing triune immersion, to remove those attacks and junk from her life, and in response, the baptism became a time of healing and deliverance and impartation.
Baptism is meant to be more than obedience, gang. Way more. I would even go so far as to emphasize that baptism is not about obedience. Rather it is the first step full of potential toward us becoming imbued with the flow of sonship.
Indeed, the Father of Heavenly Lights, did not express His desire, or ours, by saying, “yay, you obeyed.”. No!
He did not celebrate the Son by saying, “this is my servant who was good and faithful and dotted every I and crossed every T in perfect obedience (though he did obey)”. Perish that thought.
Rather He responded to Yeshua’s water baptism by saying, “this is MY BELOVED….”
“this is MY SON”
“I take immense PLEASURE IN WHAT HE HAS DONE”
Love, affection, and pleasure marked the baptism.
Desire and fulfillment, and the expression of sonship which is the major expression of righteousness.
Just some thoughts, gang.