“The word of God came to John, the son of Zachariah, in the wilderness. And he came into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for forgiveness of sins” (Luke 3:2-3). Repentance is a matter of changing the mind, of turning the mind to God. Baptism is a matter of burying the repenting people, terminating them and their way of living so that God may regenerate them and make them a new creation (John 3:3, 5-6; 2 Cor. 5:17). Repentance with baptism is for forgiveness of sins, so that the obstacle of man’s fall may be removed and man may be reconciled to God.
To baptize people is to immerse them, to bury them, in water, signifying death. This indicates that he who repents is good for nothing but burial. This also signifies the termination of the old person, that a new beginning may be realized in resurrection, to be brought in by Christ as the Life-giver. Hence, John’s baptism not only terminated those who repented, but also ushered them to Christ for life. Baptism in the Bible implies death and resurrection. To be baptized into the water is to be put into death and buried. To be raised up from the water means to be resurrected from death.
In the Old Testament while the children of Israel were entering into Canaan, they had to cross the Jordan River, in which twelve stones representing the twelve tribes of Israel were buried, and from which another twelve stones representing the twelve tribes of Israel were resurrected and brought up (Josh. 4:1-18). Hence, to baptize people in the Jordan River implied the burial of their old being and the resurrection of the new. Just as the children of Israel’s crossing the Jordan River ushered them into the good land, so to be baptized brings people into Christ, the real good land.
“As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, A voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare the way of the Lord; make His paths straight. Every ravine shall be filled up, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low; and the crooked places shall become straight, and the rough places smooth roads; and all flesh shall see the salvation of God” (Luke 3:4-6). To prepare the way of the Lord and to make His paths straight is to change people’s minds, to turn their minds toward Christ and make their hearts right, to cause every part and avenue of their hearts to be straightened through repentance, thus preparing their hearts to receive Christ that Christ may enter into them to be their life and take possession of them.
Ravine, mountain, crooked places, and rough places are figures of speech describing the condition of men’s hearts toward God and toward each other and the relationships among men, all of which needed to be dealt with for the way to be prepared for the Savior’s coming.
“Now while the people were in expectation and all were reasoning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Christ [that is, the Messiah], John answered and said to all, I indeed baptize you with water, but He who is stronger than I is coming, the thong of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie; He will baptize you in the Holy Spirit and fire; whose winnowing shovel is in His hand to thoroughly cleanse His threshing floor, and to gather the wheat into His barn, but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire” (Luke 3:15-17). Here we see that although John preached a baptism of repentance, the goal of his ministry was a wonderful Person, Jesus Christ, the Son of God. He realized that he was only a messenger sent by Jehovah of hosts (Mal. 3:1) to bring people to Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and exalt Him as the goal of his ministry.
John testified that he baptized with water, but the One coming, Christ, will baptize people in the Holy Spirit and fire. The Holy Spirit, into whom Christ baptizes the regenerated believers, is the Spirit of Christ and the Spirit of God (Rom. 8:9). Hence, to be baptized in the Holy Spirit is to be baptized into Christ (Gal. 3:27; Rom. 6:3), into the Triune God (Matt. 28:19), and even into the Body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:13). It is through baptism in such a water and in such a Spirit that the believers in Christ are regenerated into the kingdom of God, into the realm of the divine life and the divine rule (John 3:3, 5), that they may live by the eternal life of God in His eternal kingdom. Furthermore, Christ will baptize the unrepenting ones in fire. According to the context, the fire here is not the fire in Acts 2:3, which is related to the Holy Spirit; it is the fire of the lake of fire (Rev. 20:15). What John meant was that if people would truly repent and believe in the Lord Jesus, the Lord would baptize them in the Holy Spirit so that they might have eternal life. If they, like the Pharisees and Sadducees, would not repent, the Lord would baptize them in fire, putting them into the lake of fire for eternal punishment. John’s baptism was only for repentance, to usher people to faith in Christ. The Lord’s baptism either causes the believers to have life in the Holy Spirit, or causes the unbelievers to perish for eternity in the fire.