In this message we want to give a word of definition concerning the way of righteousness and concerning the proper and righteous base of Jesus’ baptism. When I was young, I wondered why the Lord Jesus, who was not a sinner, needed to be baptized. This question has been remaining within me for about seventy years. It was not until writing the outlines for these messages that I found the answer.
Also, I would like to point out that to study the first God-man’s living is actually to study all the temptations through which He passed. The four Gospels are a record of His temptations. He was tempted, tested, by the devil Satan, the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Herodians. Even the Lord’s fleshly brothers tested Him. Wherever He went and with whomever He contacted, there were temptations. To be a Christian, in a sense, is not an easy thing. This is because God and we have an opposing party, Satan.
It is not easy to understand why God lets Satan be so free. According to Isaiah 14, God has judged Satan (vv. 12-15). Also, according to Hebrews 2:14, Christ destroyed him on the cross. God condemned him with a strong verdict, and Christ destroyed him, but why is he still so free today? I would answer this by asking another question—without Satan, how could God test us? Satan even tested God, and God even invited Satan to test Him. He said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job?” (Job 1:8, NASB). After Satan challenged the Lord, He gave Satan the permission to test Job, saying, “All that he has is in your power, only do not put forth your hand on him” (v. 12). Job then passed through a time of testing which nearly no one could stand. In God’s economy, He arranged to have an enemy, a testing one, who had been a cherub created by God, appointed by God, and even anointed by God.
Matthew 21:32 says, “John came to you in the way of righteousness.” In the Old Testament, Moses came in the way of condemnation. Second Corinthians 3 says clearly that the Old Testament ministry was a ministry of condemnation and that the New Testament ministry is a ministry of righteousness (v. 9). The entire New Testament is a matter of righteousness. John the Baptist does not belong to the Old Testament. Some have said that John was a transitional person who was neither in the Old Testament nor in the New Testament, but this is wrong. Mark 1 reveals that the gospel of Jesus Christ began from John the Baptist. John’s teaching was the commencement of God’s New Testament economy.
The law of the Old Testament dispensation charged man to do good according to the law that man might be justified by God according to His law (Lev. 18:5), yet men sought to establish their own righteousness, not subject to the righteousness of God (Rom. 10:3, 5).
The outcome of the law was that man was exposed to be sinful before the righteous God (Rom. 4:15; 5:20; Gal. 3:19) and no man of the flesh could be justified by God (Rom. 3:20). The law did not help God’s people become righteous. Instead, it exposed them. No one could do good things to be justified by God. On the contrary, all were exposed. No man of the flesh could be justified by God. The result, the outcome, of the law was absolutely different from what the law expected.
The New Testament dispensation is the dispensation of grace, unlike the dispensation of the Old Testament, which was the dispensation of the law. The entire New Testament is the dispensation of grace, which is the dispensation of the gospel of Jesus Christ. This dispensation began from the preaching of John the Baptist. This is proved by Mark 1:1-4: “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, even as it is written in Isaiah the prophet: ‘Behold, I send My messenger before Your face, who will prepare Your way, a voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord; make straight His paths.’ John came baptizing in the wilderness and preaching a baptism of repentance for forgiveness of sins.” John’s coming out to preach his gospel was counted as the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
John came in the way of righteousness and preached, “Repent, for the kingdom of the heavens has drawn near” (Matt. 3:2). The Israelites who were under the ministry of the law of Moses needed to repent because they were all practicing unrighteousness. The record of the society of Israel in Isaiah 1 shows how evil the people had become. The evils seen in Gentile society could also be seen in Israel’s society.