Matthew 3

John the Baptist comes on the scene to prepare the way for Jesus. Matthew describes him as a prophetic figure, with a similar description to Elijah. John's job was to point the way to Jesus. He prepared the hearts of the people of Israel for a savior, who was on his way. John's message was simple, "Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven has come near." This will also be the message of Jesus. To repent means to return, to turn around. So John's message was to turn your life around, back to the way that you were supposed to be living for God is about to work in a visible way. John's way of giving an outward sign of repentance was through baptism. Jesus comes out one day to receive John's baptism, and John begs him not to let him be baptized. Jesus says that it has to happen to fulfill all righteousness. Righteousness is a major theme in the book of Matthew. As soon as Jesus is baptized, a voice calls out from heaven and says, "This is my Son, whom I love, with him I am well pleased."

I always wondered why Jesus needed baptism. After all, what did he need to repent from? But if you think about it, baptism is a picture of what Jesus came to do. In baptism, we go down into the water as if we were being buried by it, then come up out of the water as if we are resurrected out of it. Jesus dies and is buried because of our sin, and then is resurrected from the dead. Baptism is our public sign that says that we are going to live out the resurrection.

"Dear Lord, thank you for dying for us and raising from the dead. Help us to live out your resurrection with our lives. Amen"