Luke 3:15-22 | Revealing Jesus, Part 2: Baptizer
The Baptism of Our Lord | January 12, 2025
As the people were in expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Christ, John answered them all, saying, “I baptize you with water, but he who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”
So with many other exhortations he preached good news to the people. But Herod the tetrarch, who had been reproved by him for Herodias, his brother's wife, and for all the evil things that Herod had done, added this to them all, that he locked up John in prison.
Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heavens were opened, and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form, like a dove; and a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”
Some of the big news from the Christian world this week was that Wesley Huff was a guest on Joe Rogan’s podcast. For those of you who don’t know, Joe Rogan is an incredibly popular podcaster. He has 19 million YouTube subscribers, to say nothing of his other platforms. He gets 190 million downloads per month, by far the most popular podcast in the world.1 And it’s easy to see why. He has all sorts of interesting guests – many of them he has strong disagreements with – but he likes to listen to their perspectives and learn something. I’ve listened to people talk about their experiences with the cartels in Mexico, doctors talk about current medical issues, among other fascinating topics. Many credit his podcast with Donald Trump as helping to swinging some of the young male vote in Trump’s favor.
Joe Rogan is not a Christian. He has a filthy mouth, and in the past he’s mocked and ridiculed Christians. But it is interesting that over the past few years, Joe Rogan has been shifting. He’s not a Christian, but he’s more open to hearing Christian views than he was. There’s lots of reasons we could talk about for this, the point is that to have a Christian apologist on his podcast – Wesley Huff, an expert in ancient manuscripts – that’s a big deal. I honestly haven’t finished the whole interview yet, but from what I’ve seen Wesley did a great job, and he was able to explain the Christian faith for Rogan. There were a couple things he was weak on,2 but he made Joe Rogan think.
He talked about how Jesus condemned moralism. That we aren’t able live up to God’s perfect standard – that we need to be cleaned. He gave a defense of Jesus’ resurrection – that it was a historical fact.3 And I thought he did this brilliantly – because Joe Rogan had already told him that he believed that our world is more than just physical. Matter and motion are not the only things that exist. Joe Rogan was clear that he doesn’t know what is beyond this world, but he knows it’s something.
That is something where Wesley and Joe agreed strongly. And so when Joe told Wesley that somebody rising from the dead is so hard for a modern secular person to accept, Wesley went back to this point. “We [both] believe that there’s something else going on this world that’s a little bit crazy. … to exclude that … [means] you’re…putting blinders on.” And he gave a defense. The Gospels are written in the lifetime of the eyewitnesses. The disciples were scared and then became bold. It wasn’t possible for Jesus to survive crucifixion. It’s very possible that Jesus did rise from the dead, just as the Christians claim.
Ten years ago, Joe Rogan would have laughed. He would have mocked. But he listened. He didn’t believe it, but he listened. Because he knew that there is more to life than just matter and motion. Maybe the Christians have it right. Maybe. But how would you know? Joe Rogan marveled how we believe the history of an ancient writer like Plutarch, but we don’t believe in the Greek gods he worshipped. The reality is that there are a lot of stories out there. And if the ancient writers were sometimes right and sometimes wrong, how do we know that the gospels are right? That Jesus really rose from the dead? That Jesus really is who he said he was?
It really reminds me of this series we’ve started looking at who Jesus really is. When you look back at all of history, how can you pick out the story that’s really true? The guy who’s really from God?
This was the problem the people in our Gospel reading were facing. They weren’t unbelievers like Joe Rogan, they knew that God was real and that he was going to send a Messiah – but they were questioning in their hearts how they would know him. How could they distinguish him from everybody else?
You can picture every one of them as a lamb. Lambs wandering, unable to see their shepherd. The Bible says that we all like sheep have gone astray. We are not able to see beyond the physical world. And the people of Israel knew it. They were lost.
And so when John the Baptist started baptizing, many people were hopeful. They wondered if he was the Messiah. But he told them that he wasn’t. He was just a prophet, and he was only there to help them to prepare. They would prepare for Jesus by repenting of their sins and receiving God’s forgiveness in baptism.
And so John baptized the people. Lost lambs from all over Israel came to have their sins washed away. And Jesus came with them. He looked like just an ordinary guy. He was just another lost sheep getting his sins forgiven.
But then heaven opened, and everyone could see who he really was. The voice came from the clouds, the spirit descended like a dove, and everybody knew: This was no ordinary lamb. This lamb was special. This was the lamb of God. John bore witness: “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” [John 1:29].
But Jesus’ baptism did not just reveal who he was. It also showed what he was going to do. Because think about it – if Jesus really is sinless spotless lamb of God, why would he be baptized alongside every other sinner? Why would the shepherd of the sheep become a lamb?
It was so that he could stand in our place. Jesus’ baptism was the inauguration of his public ministry. He was not dirty, but he would step into our muddy waters. He was going to stand in our place in order to cleanse all of us from our sins. He would do that a full three years later, when he would go as the lamb of God to sacrifice himself in our place.
Now, God commanded his people to sacrifice lambs by first killing them, and then burning them on an altar as a sacrifice. In the same way, Jesus let himself be killed on the altar of the cross. He would let the other lost lambs, the lambs impersonating shepherds, the lambs eager to keep their own power, he would let all of them nail him to a cross.
But Jesus was not only killed, he was also burned. Jesus said that he came to cast fire on the earth [Luke 12:49]. And as he hung on the cross, the fire of God’s wrath came down from heaven and targeted him. Jesus endured the fire of God, the fire he kindled on himself.
But unlike all the other lambs, Jesus was not consumed. He endured. He burst from the tomb on the third day as the victorious lamb, the lamb who had been slain, but now lives in victory. He comes to us and gives us his salvation. And so he fulfills John’s prophecy. He baptizes us with the Holy Spirit and with fire.
It’s easy for us to see how Jesus baptizes with the Holy Spirit. The Bible says, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. [Acts 2:38]. When you were baptized, Jesus gave you the Holy Spirit. He gave you faith, the ability to say “Jesus is Lord” with confidence [1 Corinthians 12:3]. Sometimes, at least in the book of Acts, people also receive the signs of the Holy Spirit in addition, such as the ability to speak in tongues or prophesy. But even if you don’t get the signs, you most certainly get the Holy Spirit.
Jesus also baptizes you with fire. You might say, “I didn’t feel any fire when I was baptized.” But the fire Jesus is talking about is the fire of God’s holiness. It is the fire of God’s presence. It is who he is. It is the same fire that will burn… up all unbelievers and the whole evil world on the last day [1 Corinthians 3:15].
But here’s the reality: The same thing can do different things to different people. You might eat a peanut and have a bad reaction, but I can eat as many as I want because I’m not allergic. You might be able to sleep through a train passing by your house, while it might totally wake me up because I don’t live near the tracks and I’m not used to it. You might get COVID and have a really rough time, and I might have no more than a cough.
The same event can produce different effects depending on the person. And it’s no different with the fire of God’s holiness. Everyone will be salted with fire [Mark 9:49], but unbelievers will be consumed, while we who believe will be purified. And so when we receive the fire of God in baptism, we are actually strengthened in our faith. We are sanctified and made holy.
You might say, “That’s all great, but does it really solve the problem? I don’t remember the heavens opening for my baptism. I can’t always feel the Holy Spirit. I don’t see the fire beyond the physical world. Joe Rogan is right: there’s a lot of stories out there. How do I know I’ve picked the right one?”
But that is exactly the wrong way of thinking, because you didn’t pick this. Remember what John said: “He will baptize you.” Jesus will baptize you. It’s not about you picking the right religion.
Jesus is the one who baptizes you. If Jesus is the one baptizing you, and if there’s only one baptism like Paul says in Ephesians [4:5], then baptism is not something you are doing. It’s something Jesus does for you. He is forgiving your sins. He is making you his child. He is saving you from death and the devil. He uses the hands of the pastor, that’s true. But it’s ultimately his work.
It’s so easy to think that baptism requires effort on our part. It’s why we’re sometimes reluctant to baptize infants. It’s why Joe Rogan remains skeptical about Christianity: He thinks he has to figure it out himself.
But here’s the reality: You don’t believe because you looked through all of history and picked out the right guy. You believe because Jesus came to you. He gave you the testimony of John. He gave you the testimony of the apostles who saw Jesus risen. He baptized you. Through the washing of water and the word, he poured the Holy Spirit on us, and purified us with the fire of God’s holiness. He’s the baptizer, not you.
And so you can be certain. Jesus’ baptism reveals him as the baptizer. As the only one who could stand in your place and wash your sin away. As the only one who can give you faith. And thanks be to God, he has.
LSB 406/7 fits nicely with this sermon. Unfortunately, it is copyrighted and so I cannot reproduce it here. When you have a chance, look it up it your hymnal.
For example, he opened the door to an old earth and therefore death before sin.
Find the full podcast here:
. If you just want a flavor of the conversation, here’s the excerpt where Wesley defends the resurrection: