Holy Boldness

ing about whether He needed to repent. He was being moved by the Spirit. He was responding to the move of God manifesting through his cousin John. Jesus publicly and deliberately identified with John’s call to Israel to prepare for what was coming. Jesus recognized the one who was operating by the Spirit and also those who were not. John represented the move of God in Israel at that moment and Jesus saw it and became part of the movement. 7. Jesus baptism by John was also significant in that Jesus was not fulfilling something in the law. This is a subtle but highly significant point. There is no place in the Old Testament where Israelites were com manded to be baptized. Baptism however had become a practice when non-Jewish people became proselytes, converts to Judaism. But John’s message was unique in that it called upon Jews to be baptized, not just gentiles. In other words, there was no legal or even traditional precedent for what John was doing. And yet the movement of the Spirit was mani festing through John’s ministry. This was critical to Jesus’ identifying with what John was doing. Jesus came and was baptized by John as “fulfilling all righteousness.” This means that for Jesus “fulfilling all righteousness” was more than just keeping the law. Jesus was responding to the move of the Spirit in John. It was not legalism. It was not radical adherence to the law. It was sensitivity to the Spirit. It was the fear of the Lord that led Jesus to discern who John was and to submit to John’s baptism. 8. “ Fulfilling all righteousness” might also have been a reference to Isaiah 53: 11, 12 where “the Righteous One” is identified as the Servant who would “justify many” and would also be “numbered with the transgres sors.” In this way, Jesus further identified with the people. He became the savior of mankind by becoming one of them. In the future, Jesus would become the Lord of Heaven and earth but first, he emptied himself to become one of the people. He fully identified with them in their plight, in their recognition of the prophetic sound coming from John, in their recognition of the need for change and genuine repentance. He lends his voice to the growing sound that says that things must change in Judea. He does not in any way divorce himself from the people but fully plunges himself into identification with them. He aligns with their need for forgiveness and the need for a savior. Jesus was walking through the process of joining the people so that He might lead them to glory. John’s movement was about preparing for a pivotal time in the life of Israel. In submitting to being baptized, Jesus fully identified with the people of Israel in a time of radical challenge and change. He was one with them in

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