The Lord Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. As a man, the Lord Jesus came to be baptized by John the Baptist according to God’s New Testament way. Of the four Gospels only John’s does not give a record of the Lord being baptized, because he testifies that the Lord is God. Verse 13 does not say that Jesus came to John to be sanctified; it says that He came to be baptized. Although every Christian likes to be sanctified, no one likes to be baptized in the sense of being terminated and buried. To be baptized is to be terminated. If I told you that the church will not sanctify you, but rather terminate you, you would turn away from the church and say, “I don’t want to stay here. I want to be sanctified. I want the church to make me more holy.” But the church will not firstly make you more holy; it will terminate you again and again. The church is not firstly a sanctifying church, but a baptizing church. Consider the case of the Lord Jesus. He was the true Shepherd. A shepherd always takes the lead. As the Shepherd-King, the Lord Jesus took the lead to walk from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized. He did not come to the Jordan to be enthroned, but to be put to death, to be buried.
Verses 14 and 15 say, “But John would have prevented Him, saying, I have need to be baptized by You, and You are coming to me? But Jesus answering said to him, Permit it now, for in this way it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness. Then he permitted Him.” John did not understand very well, He wondered how Jesus could be baptized by him, and he thought that he should have been baptized by Jesus. This indicates that John was still somewhat in his natural life. Although he had been soaked in the Holy Spirit for more than thirty years, some natural element still remained. His word in verse 14 was uttered according to his natural concept. Thus, in answering him the Lord seemed to say, “You must permit Me to be baptized. Don’t frustrate Me by your natural concept. Do not think that because I am mightier than you I don’t need to be baptized by you. Permit Me to be baptized so that we may fulfill all righteousness.”
Righteousness is to be right by living, walking, and doing things in the way God has ordained. In the Old Testament, to keep the law that God had given was righteousness. Now God had sent John the Baptist to ordain baptism. To be baptized is also to fulfill righteousness before God, that is, to fulfill the requirement of God. The Lord Jesus came to John, not as God, but as a typical man, a real Israelite. Hence, He must be baptized to keep this dispensational practice of God; otherwise, He would not be right with God.
Righteousness is a matter of being right with God. Suppose God opens a door in the ceiling of a room and says that this is the proper way to enter the room. Anyone who does not enter the room through that door is not right with God. Perhaps you would say, “I don’t agree with entering the room through that door. According to my concept, this door is not right. The front door or the side door is the right door.” Your way may be right in your eyes, but not in God’s eyes. Righteousness is not a matter of your opinion; it is a matter of God’s ordination.
At the time of John the Baptist, God ordained baptism as the way. Anyone who wanted to enter the kingdom of the heavens had to pass through the gateway of John’s baptism. Not even Jesus Christ could be an exception. Even He had to pass through this gateway. Otherwise, He would have lacked the righteousness of passing through this doorway. After the Lord answered him in such a way, John understood and baptized Him.
To be baptized is to be righteous in the eyes of God. The termination and germination of our being is righteousness before God. One who has been baptized, who has been terminated and germinated, is right with God. God’s economy is to terminate our natural man and germinate us with a new life. If we would be right with God, we must be terminated in our natural life and germinated with His divine life. Termination and germination is the highest righteousness. The Lord Jesus, as the King of the heavenly kingdom, took the lead to be terminated. In this way He fulfilled righteousness in the eyes of God. Thus, He was the right person to establish the kingdom of the heavens.
The Lord was baptized not only to fulfill righteousness according to God’s ordination, but also to allow Himself to be put into death and resurrection that He might minister, not in a natural way, but in the way of resurrection. By being baptized He lived and ministered in resurrection even before His actual death and resurrection three and a half years later. According to our understanding, the Lord Jesus was put to death on the cross and resurrected on the third day. But in the eyes of God and according to the Lord’s realization, He was put to death three and a half years before His crucifixion. Before He began His ministry, He was already put to death and resurrected. Thus, He did not minister in a natural way. His ministry was absolutely in His resurrection life. Thus, He entered into the gateway of righteousness and walked along the pathway of righteousness. Whatever He did on this pathway was righteous.
When the Lord Jesus comes back, many will say to Him, “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name do many works of power?” (7:22). The Lord will say to them, “I never knew you; depart from Me, workers of lawlessness” (7:23). The Lord will seem to say, “You are a lawless person. I never approved of you nor agreed with what you did, because you did not do things in resurrection. All the good things you did were done in your natural way and in your natural life. You are not righteous; you are lawless.” Through baptism the Lord Jesus entered into the gateway of righteousness, and then He walked continually along the pathway of righteousness. Therefore, He was the just One, the righteous One (Acts 3:14; 7:52; 22:14).