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Let's look at the events that led Yeshua to be immersed under the name of John. I will do this as a narrative, trusting that the readers will be familiar with the details of the story.
There was a man named John who had been filled with the Holy Spirit while in his mother's womb. (Lk 1:41) His father, Zacharias, was a priest, and by tradition, John should have followed in his father's footsteps, which would have seen John become a priest. But God had a different path for John to follow. He had ordained and called John to be a prophet. (Is 49:1, Jer 1:5, Gal 1:15) Zacarias knew that God had ordained John to be the prophet and forerunner of the Messiah (Lk 1:76-77).
Is 40:3-5 The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, "Prepare ye the way of the LORD in the wilderness, make straight in the desert a highway for our God... Mt 3:3, Mk 1:3, Jn 1:23
(Isaiah's prophecy clearly states that Yeshua is God)
John and Jeshua were 2nd cousins, and John had been born six months before Yeshua (Lk 1:36) In the Jewish culture, a man was not considered mature nor be worthy of being listened to until he reached age 30. This was also the age at which a priest could officially begin to serve God in an official capacity. (Num 4:23) At age thirty, the word of God came to John (Lk 3:2) and told John what he was to do, to bear witness to the coming Light, Yeshua. (John 1:6-8)
John immediately departed into the wilderness and began to live off of the land. He dressed as the Old Testament prophet Elijah (Mat 3:4). John represented Elijah in spirit. (Mal 4:5-6, Lk 1:17, Mat 11:14, 17:12, Mk 9:13.) John traveled around the Jordan River. (Mat 3:1) John was furious and disgusted with Jerusalem's corrupt system of religion. He despised the oppressive and abusive way the "leaders" of the "Religious Left," the Pharisees, scribes, and priests, treated the Jews, the Priesthood through their control of the Temple, the Pharisees, with their "oral law," and the scribes with their twisting of Scripture. All three groups ruled the Jewish people with their man-made traditions. All three groups squeezed money from the Jewish people. He had memorized the Torah, as all Jewish boys were required to do, and he recognized the false teachings all three groups were guilty of. Having a burning passion for God, John also had a zeal for God's commands and obeying the Law. While Jehovah had established leadership roles and offices to perform the work of the Tabernacle/Temple, no one Jewish man was "superior" to any other Jewish person. Yet the ranks of the Priesthood, Pharisees, and scribes were filled with arrogant, pride-filled men. The Priesthood looked down on the average Jew. The scribes sneered at the lack of knowledge among the people. The Pharisees despised you if you were poor, diseased or physically handicapped. He knew how badly God's word was being perverted. He completely shunned any association or alliance with the corruption of Jerusalem and true Judaism, Jerusalem, the city of God!
Jehovah had commanded John to preach and immerse around the Jordan River for three reasons:
1. The symbolism associated with the Jordan River points directly back to when Joshua (A type of Christ) led the Jewish people across the Jordan to enter the Promised Land.
2. Being that the Jordan River was 25 miles from Jerusalem, John could do his work without interference from the Religious Left.
3. The physical distance proved that what was happening with John and what Jehovah was accomplishing was in no way connected with the Religious Left in Jerusalem.
God had told John that the Messiah would come to him for immersion but didn't know who the Messiah would be. (John had no clue that his cousin, Yeshua, was the Messiah) Jehovah pointed out two things to John, 1. That John would know who the Messiah was by a sign. 2. With John, the vehicle of immersion was water, but the Messiah would immerse the sheep with the Holy Spirit. (John 1:33)
John had his own disciples (Mat 9:4, 11:2, John 3:22-27), but we don't know if he started off with disciples or gathered them after he started preaching in the wilderness, but this makes it clear that John was a prophet and a rabbi, just as Yeshua was. John's message was succinct, consisting of only two points:
1. Repent, for the kingdom is at hand/near.
2. Confess your sins and be immersed with an immersion of repentance for the remission of sins.
To the Jews, "repent" here meant to "turn back to God, return to God and turn from your old life of not obeying Jehovah, your idolatry and your sinful ways. When John said, "the kingdom was at hand/near, was the Jewish way of saying 'the kingdom is here.' The "remission of sins" was a new concept to the Jews, something not taught in the Torah. Remission means to "remove, do away with." Their confessing their sins opened the door for Jehovah forgiving them of sin, but because they were still living under the Torah, they were still required to sacrifice animals or make a sin offering for Jehovah to forgive them and bring atonement (covering up their sins).
But remission brought an added benefit. Their sins would be removed from them. The Jewish people believed that even though their sins were forgiven and atoned for, they were still attached to them and would always be a burden they had to carry until they passed away. Remission not only removed their sins, it also brought freedom from the guilt of sin. Lk 1:76-77.
(This understanding brings clarity to John 20:23, "Whose sins you remit, they are remitted unto them and those sins you retain (don't remit) remain retained." People believe that Yeshua gave the Apostles the authority to forgive sins, as I also once believed. The Jewish people knew that only God could forgive sins, Mk 2:7, Lk 5:21, Psalm 130:4, Is 43:25, Dan 9:9, Mic 7:8. The thing that infuriated the Religious Left the most was that Yeshua called himself God and, as God, had the authority to forgive sins.
But, when we understand that "remit" in John 20:23 means to "remove, do away with," means that he instructed the Apostles that they could teach the followers that, "Yes, Jehovah has forgiven you such and such sins, and those sins have been removed from you, in other words, there is no longer any guilt attached to you from those sins, or, such and such sins have not been forgiven and you are still guilty of those sins." Only sins that have been forgiven can be taken away.)
How did John compare himself to the coming Messiah? Lk 3:16, "...but one mightier than I cometh, one who the strap of his sandals I am not worth to unloose..." Mat 3:11, John 1:27.
It is taught that the lowest position of a slave was the one who washed the feet. Nope, there was a position lower than that. That position was a slave who took care of the sandals of the master. From the time the master awoke until the master went to bed, this slave was responsible for nothing but the sandals of the master. If the master left and came back, this slave, upon the master returning, removed the sandals at the house, was responsible for ensuring the master could put on his sandals in a split second. If the master walked around the house barefoot, this slave would follow right behind him, carrying the sandals. If the master wanted to switch sandals, the slave would bring the desired pair and put them on the master's feet.
That was the lowest position for a slave/servant. But John makes himself even lower. He said he was not even worthy enough to undo the strap of the master's sandal. John had the right idea of being humble. While what he did was important and crucial, John recognized that he himself was not significant compared to the Messiah, even though Yeshua said of John, Mat 11:9-11 "...Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of woman, there has not risen a greater than John..." Do you understand that Yeshua said that John was the greatest man ever born! That John was greater than Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob! That John was greater than Moses, David, and Solomon! That John was the greatest O.T. prophet!
Beyond that was something far more important John spoke of. He told the people that, "I indeed immerse with water, but he will immerse you with the Holy Spirit." Mat 3:11, Lk 3:16, John 1:27.
This statement is one of the key factors of the New Covenant! The most important aspect of the New Covenant is that everything switches from being based on the physical to the spiritual i.e., The physical kingdom of Israel becomes the spiritual kingdom. Circumcision of the flesh to circumcision of the heart. The physical Temple to believers being the Temple. The physical stones of the Temple to believers are living stones. The sacrifice of animals to believers offering themselves as living sacrifices. Seeing with physical eyes to seeing with the spiritual eyes. Hearing with physical ears to hearing with spiritual ears. The Law written on stone tablets to the Law written on the heart. The letter of the Law to the spirit of the Law. From believers "having" to obey the Law to believers having an inner desire to obey the Law.
From being a physical Jew to being a spiritual Jew. From Gentiles performing physical acts to join the kingdom to being grafted in. From Gentiles being strangers to fellow heirs. From the Holy Spirit only given to a select few to the Holy Spirit being given to all believers.
Jehovah first stated that He would do the necessary work for believers, working in a man's spirit, in Deut 30:6
"And the LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring to love the LORD thy God with all of your heart and soul, so that you will live."
Some in the O.T. recognized the need for God's work on the inside.
1Kings 8:57-58 The LORD our God be with us, as he was with our fathers. Let Him not leave us nor forsake us. That He ma incline our hearts unto Him, to walk in all of His ways, to keep His commandments, statutes and judgements which He commanded to our fathers.
Psalm 80:18-19 So that we will not turn away from You, quicken us and we will call upon your name. Turn us back, O LORD God of hosts, cause your face to shine upon us and we will be saved.
God is sovereign in this matter:
Pro 21:1 The king's heart is in the hand of the LORD. just as He directs the rivers, He turns the heart in the direction He wants it to go.
Pro 16:1 The preparations of the heart (mind) in man, and the answer of the tongue is from the LORD
Pro 19:21 There are many plans in a man's mind, but the purpose of the LORD, that will prevail.
Jeremiah 24:7 And I will give them a mind to know me and know that I am the LORD. They shall be my people and I will be their God. They will return unto me (repent) with all of their heart.
Jer 31:33 But this will be the (renewed) covenant I will make with house of Israel. After those days I will put my law in their inward parts and write it on their hearts. I will be their God and they will be my people.
(Rom 7:22 For I delight in the law of God, after the inward man)
Eze 11:19 And I will give them one heart and I will put a new spirit (mindset) within you. I will remove your heart made of stone and replace it with a heart of flesh, a soft heart.
Eze 36:25-27 Then I will sprinkle clean water (water cleanses) upon you and you will be clean (pure). I will cleanse you from your filthiness and your idols. You wil be clean in my eyes. I will give you a new heart and I will put a new spirit in you. I will remove your heart made of stone and replace it with a heart of flesh. AND I WILL PUT MY SPIRIT IN YOU AND CAUSE YOU TO WALK IN MY STATUTES. YOU WILL KEEP MY ORDINANCES, AND YOU WILL DO THEM.
Eph 2:10 For we are His workmanship...
Heb 8:10, 10:16
End of part 9
There was a man named John who had been filled with the Holy Spirit while in his mother's womb. (Lk 1:41) His father, Zacharias, was a priest, and by tradition, John should have followed in his father's footsteps, which would have seen John become a priest. But God had a different path for John to follow. He had ordained and called John to be a prophet. (Is 49:1, Jer 1:5, Gal 1:15) Zacarias knew that God had ordained John to be the prophet and forerunner of the Messiah (Lk 1:76-77).
Is 40:3-5 The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, "Prepare ye the way of the LORD in the wilderness, make straight in the desert a highway for our God... Mt 3:3, Mk 1:3, Jn 1:23
(Isaiah's prophecy clearly states that Yeshua is God)
John and Jeshua were 2nd cousins, and John had been born six months before Yeshua (Lk 1:36) In the Jewish culture, a man was not considered mature nor be worthy of being listened to until he reached age 30. This was also the age at which a priest could officially begin to serve God in an official capacity. (Num 4:23) At age thirty, the word of God came to John (Lk 3:2) and told John what he was to do, to bear witness to the coming Light, Yeshua. (John 1:6-8)
John immediately departed into the wilderness and began to live off of the land. He dressed as the Old Testament prophet Elijah (Mat 3:4). John represented Elijah in spirit. (Mal 4:5-6, Lk 1:17, Mat 11:14, 17:12, Mk 9:13.) John traveled around the Jordan River. (Mat 3:1) John was furious and disgusted with Jerusalem's corrupt system of religion. He despised the oppressive and abusive way the "leaders" of the "Religious Left," the Pharisees, scribes, and priests, treated the Jews, the Priesthood through their control of the Temple, the Pharisees, with their "oral law," and the scribes with their twisting of Scripture. All three groups ruled the Jewish people with their man-made traditions. All three groups squeezed money from the Jewish people. He had memorized the Torah, as all Jewish boys were required to do, and he recognized the false teachings all three groups were guilty of. Having a burning passion for God, John also had a zeal for God's commands and obeying the Law. While Jehovah had established leadership roles and offices to perform the work of the Tabernacle/Temple, no one Jewish man was "superior" to any other Jewish person. Yet the ranks of the Priesthood, Pharisees, and scribes were filled with arrogant, pride-filled men. The Priesthood looked down on the average Jew. The scribes sneered at the lack of knowledge among the people. The Pharisees despised you if you were poor, diseased or physically handicapped. He knew how badly God's word was being perverted. He completely shunned any association or alliance with the corruption of Jerusalem and true Judaism, Jerusalem, the city of God!
Jehovah had commanded John to preach and immerse around the Jordan River for three reasons:
1. The symbolism associated with the Jordan River points directly back to when Joshua (A type of Christ) led the Jewish people across the Jordan to enter the Promised Land.
2. Being that the Jordan River was 25 miles from Jerusalem, John could do his work without interference from the Religious Left.
3. The physical distance proved that what was happening with John and what Jehovah was accomplishing was in no way connected with the Religious Left in Jerusalem.
God had told John that the Messiah would come to him for immersion but didn't know who the Messiah would be. (John had no clue that his cousin, Yeshua, was the Messiah) Jehovah pointed out two things to John, 1. That John would know who the Messiah was by a sign. 2. With John, the vehicle of immersion was water, but the Messiah would immerse the sheep with the Holy Spirit. (John 1:33)
John had his own disciples (Mat 9:4, 11:2, John 3:22-27), but we don't know if he started off with disciples or gathered them after he started preaching in the wilderness, but this makes it clear that John was a prophet and a rabbi, just as Yeshua was. John's message was succinct, consisting of only two points:
1. Repent, for the kingdom is at hand/near.
2. Confess your sins and be immersed with an immersion of repentance for the remission of sins.
To the Jews, "repent" here meant to "turn back to God, return to God and turn from your old life of not obeying Jehovah, your idolatry and your sinful ways. When John said, "the kingdom was at hand/near, was the Jewish way of saying 'the kingdom is here.' The "remission of sins" was a new concept to the Jews, something not taught in the Torah. Remission means to "remove, do away with." Their confessing their sins opened the door for Jehovah forgiving them of sin, but because they were still living under the Torah, they were still required to sacrifice animals or make a sin offering for Jehovah to forgive them and bring atonement (covering up their sins).
But remission brought an added benefit. Their sins would be removed from them. The Jewish people believed that even though their sins were forgiven and atoned for, they were still attached to them and would always be a burden they had to carry until they passed away. Remission not only removed their sins, it also brought freedom from the guilt of sin. Lk 1:76-77.
(This understanding brings clarity to John 20:23, "Whose sins you remit, they are remitted unto them and those sins you retain (don't remit) remain retained." People believe that Yeshua gave the Apostles the authority to forgive sins, as I also once believed. The Jewish people knew that only God could forgive sins, Mk 2:7, Lk 5:21, Psalm 130:4, Is 43:25, Dan 9:9, Mic 7:8. The thing that infuriated the Religious Left the most was that Yeshua called himself God and, as God, had the authority to forgive sins.
But, when we understand that "remit" in John 20:23 means to "remove, do away with," means that he instructed the Apostles that they could teach the followers that, "Yes, Jehovah has forgiven you such and such sins, and those sins have been removed from you, in other words, there is no longer any guilt attached to you from those sins, or, such and such sins have not been forgiven and you are still guilty of those sins." Only sins that have been forgiven can be taken away.)
How did John compare himself to the coming Messiah? Lk 3:16, "...but one mightier than I cometh, one who the strap of his sandals I am not worth to unloose..." Mat 3:11, John 1:27.
It is taught that the lowest position of a slave was the one who washed the feet. Nope, there was a position lower than that. That position was a slave who took care of the sandals of the master. From the time the master awoke until the master went to bed, this slave was responsible for nothing but the sandals of the master. If the master left and came back, this slave, upon the master returning, removed the sandals at the house, was responsible for ensuring the master could put on his sandals in a split second. If the master walked around the house barefoot, this slave would follow right behind him, carrying the sandals. If the master wanted to switch sandals, the slave would bring the desired pair and put them on the master's feet.
That was the lowest position for a slave/servant. But John makes himself even lower. He said he was not even worthy enough to undo the strap of the master's sandal. John had the right idea of being humble. While what he did was important and crucial, John recognized that he himself was not significant compared to the Messiah, even though Yeshua said of John, Mat 11:9-11 "...Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of woman, there has not risen a greater than John..." Do you understand that Yeshua said that John was the greatest man ever born! That John was greater than Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob! That John was greater than Moses, David, and Solomon! That John was the greatest O.T. prophet!
Beyond that was something far more important John spoke of. He told the people that, "I indeed immerse with water, but he will immerse you with the Holy Spirit." Mat 3:11, Lk 3:16, John 1:27.
This statement is one of the key factors of the New Covenant! The most important aspect of the New Covenant is that everything switches from being based on the physical to the spiritual i.e., The physical kingdom of Israel becomes the spiritual kingdom. Circumcision of the flesh to circumcision of the heart. The physical Temple to believers being the Temple. The physical stones of the Temple to believers are living stones. The sacrifice of animals to believers offering themselves as living sacrifices. Seeing with physical eyes to seeing with the spiritual eyes. Hearing with physical ears to hearing with spiritual ears. The Law written on stone tablets to the Law written on the heart. The letter of the Law to the spirit of the Law. From believers "having" to obey the Law to believers having an inner desire to obey the Law.
From being a physical Jew to being a spiritual Jew. From Gentiles performing physical acts to join the kingdom to being grafted in. From Gentiles being strangers to fellow heirs. From the Holy Spirit only given to a select few to the Holy Spirit being given to all believers.
Jehovah first stated that He would do the necessary work for believers, working in a man's spirit, in Deut 30:6
"And the LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring to love the LORD thy God with all of your heart and soul, so that you will live."
Some in the O.T. recognized the need for God's work on the inside.
1Kings 8:57-58 The LORD our God be with us, as he was with our fathers. Let Him not leave us nor forsake us. That He ma incline our hearts unto Him, to walk in all of His ways, to keep His commandments, statutes and judgements which He commanded to our fathers.
Psalm 80:18-19 So that we will not turn away from You, quicken us and we will call upon your name. Turn us back, O LORD God of hosts, cause your face to shine upon us and we will be saved.
God is sovereign in this matter:
Pro 21:1 The king's heart is in the hand of the LORD. just as He directs the rivers, He turns the heart in the direction He wants it to go.
Pro 16:1 The preparations of the heart (mind) in man, and the answer of the tongue is from the LORD
Pro 19:21 There are many plans in a man's mind, but the purpose of the LORD, that will prevail.
Jeremiah 24:7 And I will give them a mind to know me and know that I am the LORD. They shall be my people and I will be their God. They will return unto me (repent) with all of their heart.
Jer 31:33 But this will be the (renewed) covenant I will make with house of Israel. After those days I will put my law in their inward parts and write it on their hearts. I will be their God and they will be my people.
(Rom 7:22 For I delight in the law of God, after the inward man)
Eze 11:19 And I will give them one heart and I will put a new spirit (mindset) within you. I will remove your heart made of stone and replace it with a heart of flesh, a soft heart.
Eze 36:25-27 Then I will sprinkle clean water (water cleanses) upon you and you will be clean (pure). I will cleanse you from your filthiness and your idols. You wil be clean in my eyes. I will give you a new heart and I will put a new spirit in you. I will remove your heart made of stone and replace it with a heart of flesh. AND I WILL PUT MY SPIRIT IN YOU AND CAUSE YOU TO WALK IN MY STATUTES. YOU WILL KEEP MY ORDINANCES, AND YOU WILL DO THEM.
Eph 2:10 For we are His workmanship...
Heb 8:10, 10:16
End of part 9
