Jesus' Baptism

Luke 12:49-51 records Jesus’ statements about His earthly mission, and they do not inspire warm, fuzzy feelings in the reader. Here, Jesus emphasized the division brought by the gospel and the stress of knowing His painful death was quickly approaching. He said, “I have come to cast fire upon the earth; and how I wish it were already kindled! But I have a baptism to undergo, and how distressed I am until it is accomplished! Do you suppose that I came to grant peace on the earth? I tell you, no, but rather division…” The division He was bringing, and the fire He would cast upon the earth, came in the form of the gospel message that divides the saved from the lost; those who make peace with God from those who continue warring against Him.

The baptism that so distressed Jesus did not concern water or John the Baptist. Instead, this is a figurative baptism that Jesus would undergo to make the gospel real. Baptism is an immersion. In this case, Jesus would be immersed in suffering and death, would be buried in a tomb, and would be raised from death on the third day. Jesus used immersion figuratively to summarize His death, burial, and resurrection, which are the foundational truths on which the gospel is built (1 Cor. 15:1-4).

During His ministry, Jesus applied the figure of baptism to His coming death, burial, and resurrection, and now all who desire salvation through Him undergo a likeness of His baptism: an immersion in water by the authority of Jesus to have their sins forgiven (Acts 2:38). As He was raised to new life, all who are baptized into Him are also raised to new life, saved from their sins and dedicated to God until death (Rom. 6:1-7). Behold, the wisdom of Jesus as He described His coming sacrifice and the moment any person today receives salvation from their sins: baptism.