3. Preparation

Hebrews 7:26

It was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens.

Hebrews 2:8-12

At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him. But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering. For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source. That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers, saying,
"I will tell of your name to my brothers;
in the midst of the congregation I will sing your praise."

Liddell, Scott & Jones (LSJ)

πρέπω

1. properly of impressions on the senses:
   • on the eye, to be clearly seen, to be conspicuous among a number; to be distinguished in or by a thing; shine forth, show itself; to be clearly seen as doing or being
   • on the ear, the cry sounds loud and clear
   • on the smell, to be strong or rank
2. to be conspicuously like, resemble; to be like one in form
3. to be conspicuously fitting, beseem
   • that which is seemly, propriety
   • rarely with personal subject, the fit person to...
   • mostly impersonal, it is fitting, both of outward circumstances and moral fitness

The parallels to the creation are abundantly clear in baptism generally and in the baptism of Jesus specifically. (Jesus's baptism is especially marked by the heavens opening, the dove descending, and the voice of the Father--things which indicate he is the son of God.)

Baptism features a person completely covered in water, which is like the creation waiting to make its appearance from beneath the surface: "The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters" (Genesis 1:2).

The Spirit hovering indicates God intended this: a person chooses to be baptized and is genuinely subject to God when fully submerged in the act. "Baptism...now saves you...as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ" (1 Peter 3:21).

The person emerging from the water of baptism is like the earth emerging from the waters of creation, and the New Testament calls this person "a new creation."

Ephesians 4:24

Put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

Ephesians 2:10

We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

2 Corinthians 5:17

If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

Galatians 6:15

Neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation.

The flood of Noah is itself a type of creation. Immediately following the flood, the earth appears formless and void; waters cover the surface. And Noah awaits the emergence of land from the waters, the sign of God's peace.

And baptism is the corresponding type to the flood, and therefore the creation. "In the days of Noah...a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water. Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you...." (1 Peter 3:20-21).

Genesis 8:8-12, 15-17

Then he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters had subsided from the face of the ground. But the dove found no place to set her foot, and she returned to him to the ark, for the waters were still on the face of the whole earth. So he put out his hand and took her and brought her into the ark with him. He waited another seven days, and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark. And the dove came back to him in the evening, and behold, in her mouth was a freshly plucked olive leaf. So Noah knew that the waters had subsided from the earth. Then he waited another seven days and sent forth the dove, and she did not return to him anymore.
Then God said to Noah, "Go out from the ark, you and your wife, and your sons and your sons' wives with you. Bring out with you every living thing that is with you of all flesh--birds and animals and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth--that they may swarm on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply on the earth."

Genesis 1:26-28

Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth."

Matthew 17:2, 5

And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light.
Behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him."

2 Peter 1:16-18

We did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased," we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain.

The chief difference between Matthew's account and Mark's is perspective. Where Matthew describes the events as observed by the crowd, Mark makes it clear Jesus was directly involved above the rest. These perspectives are like those of the people of ancient Israel and Moses.

Exodus 33:7-11

Now Moses used to take the tent and pitch it outside the camp, far off from the camp, and he called it the tent of meeting. And everyone who sought the LORD would go out to the tent of meeting, which was outside the camp. Whenever Moses went out to the tent, all the people would rise up, and each would stand at his tent door, and watch Moses until he had gone into the tent. When Moses entered the tent, the pillar of cloud would descend and stand at the entrance of the tent, and the LORD would speak with Moses. And when all the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance of the tent, all the people would rise up and worship, each at his tent door. Thus the LORD used to speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. When Moses turned again into the camp, his assistant Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, would not depart from the tent.

Especially notable:

• Like the Jordan river, the tent is far from the camp.
• As the people watched Moses enter the tent, so the people watched Jesus enter the water.
• As the cloud descended and the Lord spoke with Moses, so the heavens opening reveal a dove descending, and the voice of God with a considerably stronger proclamation than what was ever said about Moses.
• Where Moses's heavenly sign was a cloud (obscuring the view), Jesus's heavens opened up, exposing Him and us to God's piercing gaze.

Again, we moderns must resist any inclination to see disharmony between Matthew and Mark over whether God spoke directly to Jesus or to the crowd. While we are fond of verbatim recordings, the ancients considered accurate representation to be quotation. And both perspectives are accurate--either one requires the other.

There is no clearer indication of dedication than to submit to God's will in baptism.

Luke 7:28-30

"I tell you, among those born of women none is greater than John. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he." (When all the people heard this, and the tax collectors too, they declared God just, having been baptized with the baptism of John, but the Pharisees and the lawyers rejected the purpose of God for themselves, not having been baptized by him.)

The Greek here (σωμᾰτικός) intends to clarify both that the Spirit was in the body of a dove and that the dove was real.

σωμᾰτικός

1. of or for the body, bodily, as opposed to ψυχικός (of the soul or life, spiritual)
2. bodily, corporeal, as opposed to ἀσώματος (disembodied, incorporeal)

Liddell, Scott, and Jones

In the same way the Spirit had the body of a dove and the Son had the body of a man, so we also must see ourselves as spirits first, who currently inhabit this body. The use of terms related to "bodily" in Scripture shows clearly we are to obey God in the body if we make a claim to be spiritual people.

Colossians 2:9

In him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily.

Romans 8:13

If you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

1 Corinthians 6:19-20

Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

2 Corinthians 5:10

We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.

Hebrews 10:19-22

Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

Jesus as the Lamb is a clear reference to the Passover, in which the people are saved from death by the blood of a lamb and their obedience to God.

Exodus 12:5, 11, 13, 26-27

Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old.
And you shall eat it in haste. It is the LORD's Passover.
The blood shall be a sign for you, on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt.
And when your children say to you, "What do you mean by this service?" you shall say, "It is the sacrifice of the LORD's Passover, for he passed over the houses of the people of Israel in Egypt, when he struck the Egyptians but spared our houses."

Acts 8:28, 32-33, 35-36

He was reading the prophet Isaiah.
Now the passage of the Scripture that he was reading was this:

"Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter
and like a lamb before its shearer is silent,
so he opens not his mouth.
In his humiliation justice was denied him.
Who can describe his generation?
For his life is taken away from the earth." [cited from Isaiah 53:7-8]

Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus. And as they were going along the road they came to some water, and the eunuch said, "See, here is water! What prevents me from being baptized?"

1 Peter 1:17-19

If you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one's deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.

1 John 3:5-8

You know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him. Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.

In other words, despite coming later in the timeline, Jesus outranks His cousin John because He existed before John.

Jesus existed before all, as indicated earlier in this chapter, and later episodes in John's Gospel also confirm this reading.

John 1:1-3

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.

John 8:56-58

"Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad." So the Jews said to him, "You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?" Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM."

Even though they were cousins, John did not realize Jesus was the Christ until God showed him at this baptism.

Although Matthew makes clear that everyone present saw what happened, John's Gospel emphasizes the testimony of the last prophet before The Prophet. John the Baptist from here shifts to pointing his own disciples to Jesus instead.

Acts 1:5

"John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now."

Acts 19:1-5

Paul passed through the inland country and came to Ephesus. There he found some disciples. And he said to them, "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?" And they said, "No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit." And he said, "Into what then were you baptized?" They said, "Into John's baptism." And Paul said, "John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, Jesus." On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.

John's chief purpose is thus fulfilled. He has accomplished what he was sent to do.

John 3:26, 28, 30

And they came to John and said to him, "Rabbi, he who was with you across the Jordan, to whom you bore witness--look, he is baptizing, and all are going to him."
[John replied,] "You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, 'I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before him.'
He must increase, but I must decrease."