Jesus in the Jordan - the removal of sin. Part 1

The world's sin was place in Jesus at His baptism, and paid for at the cross.


Have you ever wondered when exactly our sin was placed on Jesus body?
Perhaps you haven't, and have just assumed that it was at the cross....
Well, yes, our sin was paid for at the cross. The punishment of the sin of the world was paid for in full at the cross, but Jesus "became our sin" (2 Cor 5) at His baptism.


Now, we all know very well that the Old Testament was a shadow of the reality of Jesus.... Check these few things:


"And Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, and confess over it all the iniquities of the people of Israel, and all their transgressions, all their sins. And he shall put them on the head of the goat and send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a man who is in readiness. The goat shall bear all their iniquities on itself to a remote area, and he shall let the goat go free in the wilderness." (Lev 16:22)


He was the spotless Lamb of God (a sheep), being offered as a goat... a scape goat.
Remember the separating of the sheep and goats:
"Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." (Mat 25:32-34)
But here Jesus the Lamb of God is identified with sinners... with goats!!
He was "was numbered with the transgressors;" (Isa 53:12)
And is baptised a "baptism of repentance for the removal of sin" (Mark 1:4) - not His sin, but ours!!
Scripture says (2 Cor 5) that he BECAME Sin, but not in and of himself.... it was our sin that He became. Now, if He became our sin, then we no longer had it.... He took it upon himself! Thats Good News!



This act by Jesus caused His Father to be heard saying, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased." (Mat 3:17)
Why was Father well pleased? Because without Jesus having been baptised for Him to become our sin, the cross would have been meaningless. We could never be made righteous without Him being baptised for us..... even if He went to the cross.
But the Father said that what Jesus had just done was "pleasing" to Him.
So, now that He had been baptised, Gods intended righteousness for man could now be made completely, freely available:
"But Jesus answered him, "Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness." (Mat 3:15)
This was done to fulfill all righteousness.... Again, unless He was baptised, righteousness could not be fulfilled. If He went to the cross without having being baptised for OUR sins - as He had none of his own..., then there would have been no sin in Him to be paid for!

No baptism = No Righteousness/Right-standing before God because we would all still be in our sins!


So, as per the Leviticus shadow, All sin is placed onto the goat via the laying on of hands and, "And he shall put them on the head of the goat and send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a man who is in readiness. The goat shall bear all their iniquities on itself to a remote area, and he shall let the goat go free in the wilderness."

What's the next thing that happens to Jesus after John the Baptist has laid hands on him and baptised him?
He is then led into the wilderness by Holy Spirit!! (Mat 4:1)



The eternal difference between this act and the yearly shadow revealed in the Old Covenant is that Hebrews tells us that Jesus' sacrifice was a once off, for ALL time sacrifice, and needed NOT to be offered yearly because having once been cleansed, the believers now no longer need to have a sin-consciousness!! (Hebrews 10:1-22)




**side note: "But Andrew, we must confess our sins??.... how does that fit with this??"
Simple... It doesn't! Confession of sin to regain favour with Abba is a "doctrine of Devils" preached by man, designed to keep you in bondage to a different "gospel".
Whilst the hermeneutics principle of "plane meaning" is an important one, the principle of "historic context" is probably more important. 1 John 1:9 is the only place in the New Testament where any of the apostles mention confession of sins to God in order to be forgiven. John wrote this into that specific context. If you miss 1 John 1:7 (and the Good News of the New Covenant for that matter!), you will be conned by preachers taking that verse out of its "Historic context".
More on this at:
http://thesoundofreign.blogspot.com/2010/01/jesus-blood-keeps-on-cleansing-you.html



Back to sin being removed from the world at His baptism:
This is further evidenced during the ministry of Jesus. It's the reason why he could say things like.... "your sins ARE forgiven (removed/separated/divorced from you)" (Mat 9:2), before the cross!!
Its why He did not condemn the guilty woman caught in adultery - as He only did and said what the Father did and said, He said, "neither do I condemn you..." (John 8:11)
Or at Simon the Pharisees house with the weeping woman, saying, "Your sins are forgiven" (Luke 7:48)







We will look at this further in part 2. For now, just let Him convince you that He is NOT counting you sin against you, and He is NOT reminding you of your sin! Man!! that's the Gospel!!

"He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us." (Psa 103:10-12)

With one sacrifice he accomplished the work of setting them apart for God forever. The Holy Spirit tells us the same thing: "This is the promise that I will make to them after those days, says the Lord: 'I will put my teachings in their hearts and write them in their minds." Then he adds, "I will no longer hold their sins and their disobedience against them." When sins are forgiven, there is no longer any need to sacrifice for sins. (Heb 10:14-18)


Jesus Loves you so much and will NEVER leave or Forsake you!!
Love
Andrew