Baptism of Jesus - Matthew 3:1-17

The Story in a Nutshell

The Story continues…

Now there was a man named John the Baptist who was preaching in the wilderness of Judea.  John’s was like a frontier man – he wore clothing woven from camel’s hair, a leather belt, and he ate locust and wild honey.

John was preaching a message to people from all over the region.  His message was “Turn from your sin and turn to God, because the Kingdom of Heaven is near.”  This was not surprising since it had been prophesized many years before by the prophet Isaiah that this would happen.  When the people confessed their sin, John baptized them in the Jordan River.

Some of the people that came to John were Pharisees and Sadducees.  They were religious leaders that were more interested in their position and influence than seeking and following God.  The Pharisees and Sadducees wanted to be baptized to be safe from the judgment of God, but they didn’t want to change the way they lived.  John denounced them as being hypocrites; he warned them that they needed to change their ways.

Then John made an amazing statement.  “I baptize with water those who turn from their sins and turn to God.  But someone is coming soon who is much greater than me―so much greater that I am not even worthy to be his slave.  He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.”  What did John mean?  What did John know?  Then it happened.

One day Jesus showed up at the Jordan River where John was preaching.  He wanted to be baptized by John, but John didn’t want to do it.  Why not?  John said, “You should be baptizing me, not me baptizing you.”  But Jesus said, “It must be done this way for this is the right way to do it.”  What did Jesus mean?  So, John was obedient and baptized Jesus.

As Jesus came up from the water, the heavens opened up and the Spirit of God descended like a dove, landing on Jesus.  Then a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son who I am completely pleased with.”

To be continued…

What did you learn from the story?

If you want to gain a full understanding of the complete story, and for help in answering some of the questions below, you may want to have the following items as additional resources:  a Bible, a dictionary, and a Bible commentary on the Book of Matthew (optional).

1. What can you tell me about John the Baptist?
2. What message was John preaching to the people?
3. Was this message surprising?  Why or why not?
4. Who were the Pharisees and Sadducees?
5. What did John have to say about the Pharisees and Sadducees?
6. What did John tell them?
7. What statement did John make about baptism?
8. When Jesus met up with John the Baptist, what did he want him to do?
9. What did John say about baptizing Jesus?
10. Why did John finally baptize Jesus?
11. What happened when Jesus came out of the water?
12. What did the voice from heaven say?
13. Who was the voice?
14. What did you learn about God, Jesus, and people from the story?

Have questions about God, Jesus, and the Bible? An excellent source for answers to your questions is gotquestions.org. Check it out. gotquestions.org.

Would you like to know more about God and his plan of salvation? Then Click Here.