The Testimony of Jesus in Baptism

.... Water baptism is a very important step for every new believer, but we should especially understand God’s own perspective, beginning with the baptism of Jesus Himself. As John the Baptist said: "I did not know Him; but that He should be revealed to Israel, therefore I came baptizing with water." (John 1:31). So water baptism carries an important testimony of who Jesus is.

.... The baptism of Jesus was one of the most heavily prophesied events in the Old Testament, and to help us explore it's meaning Peter used some extensive ‘picture prophecy’ in an allegory:.

.... ". . . when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah, during the construction of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through the water. And corresponding to that, baptism now saves you-- not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience-- through the resurrection of Jesus Christ."

(1 Peter 3:18-21 NAS)

.... In the days of Noah, the wickedness of man was very great on the earth, and the world was full of violence. And the Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men and saw that the way of all flesh had corrupted itself, for every intent of the thoughts of their heart was only evil continually. And the Lord said:

.... "I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them."

(Genesis 6:5-12)

.... Yet in His mercy, God spoke to Noah and warned him. Noah and his family would be spared from the wrath to come because they'd found grace in the eyes of the Lord – just as we ourselves would one day be saved by grace in Christ (Genesis 6:8; Ephesians 2:8).

.... God provided Noah with instructions for building the ark, the great vessel of His deliverance, which would represent Jesus Himself (see Joel 2:32). Their lives would be sealed within to separate them from the world by death, and to bring them safely through to a new beginning (Genesis 7:16; see 2 Corinthians 5:17; Ephesians 1:13; Colossians 2:11-12).

.... "In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened."

(Gen 7:11)

.... At this point it is important to understand the meaning of the flood waters in our parable. The Bible declares that ‘the wages of sin is death,’ and the destructive waters were the result of man’s sin (Romans 6:23). As they prevailed and rose, they represented the destruction of sin that had filled the whole earth, as in this very similar passage from the Prophet Isaiah:

.... ". . . for the windows from on high are open, and the foundations of the earth are shaken. The earth is violently broken, the earth is split open, the earth is shaken exceedingly. The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall totter like a hut; its transgression shall be heavy upon it, and it will fall, and not rise again."

(Isaiah 24:18-20)

.... As the flood waters -- the destruction of sin -- mounted higher than the highest mountains, let us perceive this allegorically as the great weight of man’s transgressions on the earth, enveloping all and sinking all life within it. Yet the ark prevailed, bouying higher, and preserved their souls alive, till the end of many days when it rested on the mountains of Ararat:

.... "Then God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the animals that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters subsided."

(Genesis 8:1)

.... And it came to pass that Noah opened the window of the ark and sent forth a raven, which flew about continually and never returned to him. The raven represented the world that had been, which would not return but would also, in another sense, remain.

.... Again, Noah sent forth a dove, to see if the waters had receded from the ground. But the dove found no resting place for the sole of her foot and returned to him in the ark, for the waters still remained on the face of the earth. In this very sad passage, Noah put out his hand again and took her, and drew her into the ark to himself – The Lord signifying by this that the destruction of sin remained in the earth, and that true rest would not be found in Noah’s own days.

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.... After seven days, Noah sent forth the dove again. This time it came back to him in the evening, having a freshly plucked olive leaf in her mouth. And when Noah saw the dove, he knew that the waters had receded, that the destruction of sin had abated from the face of the earth:

.... Now, when Jesus was baptized, the Holy Spirit descended in the bodily form of a dove, and the meaning in our parable is the same. For in Jesus Christ, the destruction of sin has abated from off the face of the whole earth (John 1:29-33). For He is that true and great vessel of God’s deliverance, and in Him the sign of the prophet Noah was fulfilled.
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.... Yet seven days more, and Noah sent out the dove again, and this time it did not return to him. The Lord signifying by this that one day He would return to take us away forever.

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Daily Bible Reading: Matthew 20