12 Whose fan is in his hand, | into the garner; but he will and he will thoroughly purge burn up the chaff with unhis floor, and gather his wheat quenchable fire. baptize those who professed repentance, as a preparation for the Messiah, whose coming he announced. But soon the great Lord of the new dispensation would appear, and that with far greater authority than he possessed; HE would come with pow If, now, we turn to Acts 10: 44-47, we shall find that when "the Holy Spirit fell on all them that heard the word" from Peter, they spoke "with tongues," that is, in other languages, "and magnified God"—a striking similarity to what occurred on the day of Pentecost; and clearly show-er to bestow the rewards, and to ining, that to be baptized in the Holy Ghost is, to enjoy a most copious communication of divine influence. There is another passage, which may be brought into comparison with those already produced. It is in 1 Cor. 12: 13. "For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body; "the idea of which words seems to be, that, by our copious partaking of divine influences, we have become closely united together, whatever may be our outward distinctions. Here, no allusion is made to the bestowal of miraculous gifts, but to mutual love, and to the mutual participation of the blissful hope which the gospel inspires. He will baptize you in the Holy Spirit, then, means, he will most copiously impart divine influences, which will be connected with signal bliss on earth, and lead to most distinguished bliss in heaven. And with fire; he will baptize you with fire; that is, he will immerse you in fire. And what is the meaning of this expression? In the verse immediately before this, and in the verse immediately after it, the word fire occurs, as meaning extreme misery. The word in this verse, then, most naturally has the same signification. In other places, fire is used as an emblem of punishment. See Matt. 25: 41. Jude 7. Rev. 20: 14, 15. 21: 8. Mal. 41. To be immersed in fire, then, is to be overwhelmed with misery. The verse thus presents an affecting contrast. John declares, that he himself had a comparatively inferior work to perform; namely, to call the people to repentance, and to flict the punishments, appropriate to the new dispensation; and, as the result of his coming, on some would be most copiously shed tokens of divine favor, while on others would be most copiously poured tokens of divine indignation. A similar instance of contrast, in respect to the Messiah, though in less forcible language, occurs in Luke 2: 34: "This child is set for the full and the rising again of many in Israel:' that is, he will prove an occasion for the ruin of many, and for the exalted bliss of many, in Israel. 12. In still further urging this thought of separation, as to destiny, between the righteous and the wicked, John draws an illustration from the operations of husbandry, with which his hearers were familiar. In the Eastern countries, the grain, when ripe, is deposited upon the threshing floor, and, after being trodden by cattle, or beaten out, is by the winnowing fan separated from the chaff. The pure kernels, separated from the useless mass, are laid up in the granary; the chaff and the stubble are committed to the flames. A similar award will be made by the Messiah. Discriminating between the characters of men, and administering with perfect rectitude the affairs of the divine kingdom, he will welcome some to bliss, and consign others to remediless woe. See Matt. 25: 31-46. Fan; winnowing fan, or shovel, by which the grain, mingled with chaff, was exposed to the wind, so that the chaff was blown away. Thoroughly purge his floor; thoroughly clear off 13 Then cometh Jesus from | said unto him, Suffer it to be so Galilee to Jordan, unto John, now: for thus it becometh us to to be baptized of him. fulfil all righteousness. Then he suffered him. 14 But John forbade him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me? 15 And Jesus, answering, 16 And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heaven, to administer baptism. The question of superiority, or inferiority, must not interfere with appointed duty. JESUS is an example of ready obedience to the divine will. Let us imitate his spirit. his threshing floor. The threshing 15. To fulfil all righteousness; floor was in some elevated part of the fully to perform all our duties, so that field. It was of a circular form, thirty no part of righteous obedience may or forty paces in diameter, having be left unperformed; as much as to the ground beaten down and levelled. say, It becomes us to attend to every Compare Judges 6: 37-40. || Gar- duty. It is my duty to be baptized; ner; granary, storehouse. Un-it is your duty, appointed to you from quenchable fire; fire that will not be put out, but which will make an utter destruction. In reference to the future punishment of the wicked, which is manifestly here spoken of, this expression cuts off the hope of their ever being relieved from it. As parallel with vs. 10-12, compare Mark 1:7, 8, and Luke 3: 9, 16, 17. Mark expresses the thoughts in a briefer form; Luke, with the same fulness as we find in Matthew. We cannot fail to NOTICE here, that certain and awful destruction awaits the impenitent; while to those who obey Christ and trust in him there will be safety and glory. 16. Out of the water. The preposition here translated out of has the more general signification of the word from, and would be suitable, whether the sacred writer meant to say that Jesus came out from the water, that is, from within the river to the shore; or, that he came from the water, that is, retired from the bank of the river to another place. This preposition, then, in itself, furnishes no decision 13. John, having borne such testi- in respect to the manner of the ordimony to the superior dignity of the nance. But that the rendering out Messiah, as the Lord of the new dis- of is correct, appears from the facts, pensation, and as authorized to ad- that persons to be baptized went to a minister the honors and the punish-river; that the proper meaning of the ments pertaining to this long-expected word baptize is to immerse; and that reign of heaven, was now called to in Acts 8: 39, the preposition transan act at which we cannot be sur-lated out of is, in the original, the prised that he should experience unwonted emotion. From Galilee to Jordan. Mark says (19)," from Nazareth of Galilee; the place of the Saviour's abode after the return from Egypt. Matt. 2:23. The precise spot on the banks of the Jordan, where John was now occupied, is not stated. 14. Forbade him; sought to dissuade him. John declined performing this service, from a deep consciousness of his inferiority and unworthiness. John was a truly humble See John 3: 28, 30. man. very one which would be selected to express the coming up out of the water, after a person had been baptized. In the case of Jesus, as in the instance recorded in Acts 8: 39, it was after he had been baptized that he came up out of, or from, the water. || The heavens were opened. Luke (3:21) mentions the additional circumstance, that Jesus was praying. What was the appearance when the heavens opened, cannot with certainty he said. Probably, however, it was such an appearance as the apparent part heavens were opened unto and lighting upon him: him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, ing of clouds by a flash of lightning. Like a dove. Luke says (3:22), " in a bodily shape like a dove;" a fit emblem of the pure and peaceful Spirit, whose influences rested so abundantly on Jesus, and which were to be so conspicuously manifested in the Messiah's dispensation. See Is. 61: 1-3. From John 1: 33, it appears that a visible descent of the Holy Spirit was the appointed token for making the Messiah fully known to John. This dove-like manifestation of the Holy Spirit may well suggest to us the INQUIRY, whether we possess the pure and peaceful temper of mind, which the gospel enjoins and the Holy Spirit produces. 17 And, lo, a voice from heaven, saying, This is my the same significancy, in all points, as it had when administered to others. Some have said, he received baptism as a ceremony, introducing him into the priestly office, since he was to be the high priest of his people. But of such an intention, the Scriptures no where give any intimation; nor is there any prescription in the Mosaic ritual, that high priests, at entering upon their office, should be baptized. Even if such a ceremony had been introduced among the superstitions of the times subsequent to Moses, such an unauthorized observance would form no part of our Lord's righteousness or duty. Besides, "it is evident that our Lord sprang out of Judah; of which tribe Moses spake nothing concerning priesthood." Heb. 7: 14. To him, then, even the prescribed observances respecting priests, would not necessarily be applicable. Others have represented the Sa 17. My beloved Son. The Son of God was one of the titles belonging to the Messiah, in virtue of his office. See John 1: 49. 11: 27. Rom. 1: 4. It expresses the intimate relation he sustains to God, and the consummate dignity of his office. This declaration, then, was an authoritative announce-viour's baptism as being a public inment from heaven, that Jesus, who had just been baptized, and who had been marked out to the by-standers (Luke 3: 21, 22) in so signal manner, by the lighting upon him of a dovelike object, was the long-expected Messiah. Let us INQUIRE of ourselves, Do we receive and obey him as the Son of God, our Redeemer and Lord? auguration into his office as Messiah. Viewed as the first public act of his life in reference to the new dispensation, and viewed in connection with the voice from heaven, which announced him to the multitude as the Son of God, it did indeed answer the purpose of an introduction of him to his official work. And this thought may have been included in the lanA question has sometimes been guage of John the Baptist, as recordraised, as to the design of Jesus, ined by John (1: 31): "That he should receiving baptism from John. As be made manifest to Israel, therefore Jesus was always perfectly holy, and as the baptism administered by John is called "the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins (Mark 1:4), that is, baptism, which contains in it a declaration of serious purpose to forsake sin, to be holy in heart and life, and that with respect to obtaining the forgiveness of past sins, it is manifest that baptism administered to Jesus, could not have had am I come baptizing with water." This public manifestation was, however, rather an incidental matter, than the leading purpose to be accomplished by his being baptized. We would say, that his baptism was an event furnishing a favorable opportunity for a public announcement, rather than that the announcement was the grand object of his being baptized. In the passage of John just quoted, beloved Son, in whom I am | well pleased. the phrase "baptizing with water," signifies the whole office of John the Baptist; as often a part is put for the whole. Thus regarded, this passage entirely harmonizes with all those representations which exhibit John's whole business, as a herald and baptizer, to be, making preparation for the Messiah. On what principle, then, did Jesus receive baptism from the hands of John? The reply of Jesus to John answers this inquiry - "Thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness;" that is, it becomes us to fill up the whole circle of our duties. To be baptized was a part of duty, of holy obedience, which was at that time incumbent on every pious man, on every friend of God; and the neglect of baptism would have been a neglect of divinely-appointed duty. John had come with a commission from heaven (John 1: 33, Mark 11: 30), to announce the approach of the Messiah, to call the people to hearty reformation, and to separate, by the rite of baptism, those who should profess a serious purpose to forsake sin and to practise holiness. Baptism was the rite which was then to distinguish those who in holy obedience were professing to hold themselves ready for the coming Messiah; and the true friends of God were to be found among the baptized. What, then, in these circumstances, was the duty of a man whose whole soul was now, and ever had been, devoted to God in true holiness? In what company ought Jesus to place himself? He was known already as a singularly pious man; and John was separating, by the rite of baptism, those who professed a serious determination to lead a life of piety (Luke 3: 10-14); and baptism had been divinely appointed for those who professed to cherish a pious regard for the promises and the commands of God. In this view, though he had no sins to repent of and to abandon, and needed no forgiveness, yet he would not have been in his proper place, if he had stood aloof from the baptized; and baptism received from John, the authorized administrator, was a part of his personal duty, just as prayer and other holy exercises were a part of his duty. As confirming this representation, it should be observed, that the original word translated repentance, in the expression "baptism of repentance," conveys the idea of a life of piety much more prominently than the idea of sorrow and regret. True reformation of heart and life, true piety, is rather signified by the original word than sorrow. In the new dispensation, also, baptism was to be an ordinance of perpetual obligation. As a part, then, of the example which he was to furnish for his followers, Jesus received the baptism which had respect to the new dispensation. But, though Jesus received baptism as a righteous person, and as furnishing an example for his followers, yet it was proper that his baptism should not take place until the suitable time for his being publicly announced as the Messiah should have come, inasmuch as at his baptism a special token was to be given in attestation of his being the Messiah. Besides, Jesus lived at Nazareth, some distance from the principal scene of John's labors; and Jesus may have repaired to John very soon after the proclamation of John had excited attention in the neighborhood of Nazareth. One thought more in regard to baptism. The evangelists represent baptism as administered by John, as the baptism of repentance; that is, baptism, connected with, and implying, repentance. From Acts 19:4, we learn, that, besides enforcing repentance, John directed the minds of his hearers to the Messiah, who was about to appear. Thus, in the baptism of John, there was not only, on the part of those who were baptized, a profession of repentance, but also a TH CHAPTER IV. 2 And when he had fastHEN was Jesus led up of ed forty days and forty nights, the Spirit into the wilder- he was afterward an hungerness to be tempted of the devil. profession of holding themselves ready to receive and obey the Messiah, when he should appear. The baptism of John, then, though it was but the commencement of the new dispensation, the twilight of the new day, yet contained substantially the elements of the ordinance as still further developed and carried out by the Messiah himself. After the Messiah had performed all that it was necessary for him to accomplish on earth, then baptism, still retaining its connection with repentance, was specially a manifestation of true faith in him that had come, and died, and had risen again. Rom. 6:3, 4. Now, the Lord of this new dispensation knew at first the design of baptism in its full extent. It had not, when he was baptized, been fully developed; but as baptism was intended to contain a reference to his own death, and burial, and resurrection, how suitable that, at the very beginning of his dispensation, he should himself receive the instructive and affecting ordinance; and that, after he had died, and had been raised up from the dead, it should be known that he had received the administration of an ordinance, which, in its full meaning, was to be significant of his death and resurrection, and of the obligation of his followers to become "dead to sin," and to arise to "newness of life"! CHAPTER IV. ed. bly, a leading design of our Lord in retiring to the wilderness. The Holy Spirit, under whose influence he sought this opportunity for religious abstinence and contemplation, had the additional design of permitting him to be tempted by Satan, that he might signally foil the great adversary at the outset, by a triumphant resistance of his suggestions. For Jesus was to be "in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin." Heb. 4: 15. Led up; influenced, incited to go. || Of the Spirit; by the Holy Spirit. Luke 4: 1. || To be tempted of the devil. We need not suppose that Jesus retired to the wilderness for the sake of trying his spiritual strength, by courting temp tation, or rushing into it uncalled. His object was materially different: namely, a special preparation for commencing his official work, by uninterrupted communion with his Heavenly Father. But while engaged in his own proper object, Satan took advantage of his situation, to tempt him. It was, however, as has just been intimated, a part of the Holy Spirit's design, that Jesus should be subjected to the special temptations of the evil one, that he might decidedly triumph over the great adversary. Jesus, too, was probably expecting an assault of this nature. 2. Fasted forty days and forty nights. This language does not necessarily imply, that Jesus underwent a 1. Jesus, having now been publicly total abstinence from food during the proclaimed by a voice from heaven space of time mentioned. The exas the Messiah, may be regarded as pressions are similar to the ordinary entering upon his official work. But method of speaking among the Jews. before actually engaging in the exe- Jesus was far away from the habitacution of it, he seems to have sought tions of men during that space of time, opportunity for long-continued fast- and abstained from ordinary food; he ing and devotion, as appropriate to ate no bread, nor any of the articles the circumstances in which he then that were commonly used in families. For this purpose, he repaired He might have subsisted upon such to some of the solitudes in the wil-articles as he could find in the wilderness of Judea. Such was, proba- derness - wild fruits, berries, roots, was. |