Matthew 3:13-17

Messiah Arrives

By Johnny Tatum

 

PART 3: A GREAT DOUBLE TRADE FOR ME!

 

Consider what John said:

And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us… (John 1:14)

The word dwelt means "pitched His tent among us". The tents used were made of animal skin, so there would be a whole encampment of animal skins. That is a picture of the human race:

A bunch of skin.

Messiah Jesus got skin just like ours, and put Himself right in the middle of us and said I am one of them. Since human beings have bodies of flesh, He had one as well -- to identify with them.

 

But there is more:

For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh… (Romans 8:3)

It is great that Paul added the word sinful. Again, it would have been amazing enough if he had said God had sent His own Son in the likeness of flesh. But he says In the likeness of sinful flesh. That means that He identifies with us:

Messiah Jesus identifies with us at our lowest state -- in our natural state as sinners.

Note: He was not ashamed to identify with us, not ashamed to jump in the middle of the picture with sinners and say I am one of them. I have to say very quickly that Messiah Jesus was NOT sinful Himself.

 

Then we read…

He made Him

Meaning God the Father made God the Messiah

who knew no sin

There is the first point; the second point is:

to be sin for us… (2 Corinthians 5:21)

He legally -- positionally -- became sin for us. Now you see the depth to which He identifies with sinners.

This is one [of many] point that is very difficult for me to understand. Let us take a closer look at Messiah Jesus:

And it is not just that He said Okay I have decided I do not want to be around sin, it is that sin could not get near Him. It would be like us trying to go land on the sun. (Although a group of brilliants solved that problem. They are going at night. Sic!) It is not that He would reject sin; it is that by His righteous nature sin could not get near Him without vaporizing.

 

What Attitude Did Messiah Jesus Bring Towards Sinners?

First, we have to rule out two things right away:

  1. He came to earth and He identified with sinners, but He did not condone sin.
  2. He did not condemn the sinner.

So what was His attitude since it was not condoning and it was not condemning?

His attitude was one of compassion.

That explains how He who could not tolerate sin and who hated sin could look at sinners and identify with them.

He saw sin as a burden.

And Messiah would know, because He remembered creating Adam in a perfect world in the Garden of Eden. He saw what it was like to have a world with no sin, the human race without the contamination of sin. Then He saw into what condition the human race had fallen. And He saw it as a burden.

When the God the Father put sin on Messiah Jesus, sin did not ever become part of His person; He carried sin legally. So Messiah Jesus was not able to take it personally to effect His nature.

However, He was able to take the burden and the guilt. That is why He says to John the Baptizer:

Let it be. They are sinners and although I am not a sinner, I am identified with them. Since they need to be baptized, then I need to be baptized too.

Whatever sinners needed, that is what He gave them.

 

What Do Sinners Need?

Think about all of those sinners at the baptism:

However, what do sinners need above everything else?

They need righteousness.

 

It Is Proven:

Sinners Do Not Become Righteous By Improvement

At least 4,000 (maybe many more) years have elapsed since Adam, and what had been proven over these 4,000 years? That sinners could not become righteous by improvement. Billions of people had come and gone since Adam, and not one of them had improved to the point of righteousness.

What had been proven for about 1,500 years? That [even] the perfect Law of God could not make anybody righteous.

What had been proven for about 1,450 years? That religion could not improve anybody. EVEN a religion of biblical Judaism, which was created by God, could not make anybody righteous.

What else had been proven over 4,000 years? That promises to do better did not improve sinners. Look through the Old Testament. How many times did Israel say We know we did not keep Your commandments in the past, but starting now we really will; they tried that for hundreds of years. Then they went off to Babylonian captivity, they returned, and they looked back saying, Our forefathers rejected You. They would not keep Your commands. And in the book of Nehemiah they got a document and signed it, and they said We promise that this time we will keep Your commands. Even their promises to improve did not work.

All of those 4,000 years have proven that people did not have any way to make the Kingdom of God team; there was no way for sinners to become righteous. But that is the problem: righteousness is what sinners need!

 

God Brought Righteousness to Earth

Isaiah 59 is a fascinating chapter. God is looking around the world trying to find somebody righteous. And God says that He was astonished He could not find anybody righteous on the earth, so how did He do it?

With My own hand I brought righteousness. (Isaiah 59:16)

God could not find anybody who was righteous, so He sent righteousness to the earth in a Person, in Messiah Jesus.

Once again, that identification sure seems unbelievable now. Messiah Jesus was the incarnate righteousness of God. He met God's perfect standard, and yet He identified with the lowest of the low. And He says:

That identification is what brought righteousness.

 

What Is the Connection with Being Identified with Messiah Jesus and Righteousness?

There is a double trade here:

A Double Trade

If Messiah was identified with us then what are we?

We are sinners.

If we are sinners and Messiah identified with us then…

He took our sins.

Now if we are identified with Messiah what is He?

He is righteous.

So if Messiah is our substitute then…

We get His righteousness.

 

Let us look again at a verse that we have all ready seen:

God sent His Son in the likeness of sinful flesh.

That is identification. Continuing…

in order that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us… (Romans 8:3-4)

Anybody who has fulfilled the Law is righteous. Do you see what Paul is saying? He is saying that anybody who identifies with Messiah Jesus is righteous.

 

Let us revisit 2 Corinthians:

He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us,

That is in our place; do you see the connection? Identification and righteousness.

He identified with us as sinners. Why?

that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. (2 Corinthians 5:21)

Again, do you see the connection? If you are identified with Messiah Jesus, you get His righteousness.

That is why Messiah Jesus said:

Baptize Me. Let Me be identified with them.

Why?

So they can get My righteousness.

And He says:

Righteousness is fulfilled.

 

We are often told Put off you sin (see Ephesians 4:17-32). That is good, but the only reason we can put off our sin is that Messiah Jesus put it on. So righteousness is fulfilled in us NOT because of our good works, NOT because of our religion, NOT because of our trying, and NOT even because we confess, but because Messiah Jesus put on our sin!

 

What a Trade!

I believe the Pharisees and the Sadducees at the baptism -- the brood of vipers -- could have had righteousness fulfilled in them if they had not identified themselves with Messiah Jesus regardless of whether John the Baptizer immersed them or not. If they had identified with Messiah Jesus the double trade would have taken place:

He would have gotten their sin and they would have gotten His righteousness.

Is that not an unbelievable trade?

 

Illustration:

A Bad Trade

That unbelievable trade reminds me of a baseball trade that happened in the early 1920s when the Boston Red Sox decided that Babe Ruth (an all time great in baseball) was over the hill and would never be successful. So the Red Sox traded Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees. Do you know who they got in return? Elmer Dinkens (snicker, snicker)! I think the Red Sox have never recovered from that. Can you imagine? The Red Sox traded Babe Ruth who goes on to be inducted into the Hall of Fame (an honor bestowed to the persons judged outstanding in a sport, etc.), for a guy named Elmer Dinkens? Dinkens could not play baseball; he was a dud (failure) at the sport. What a trade!

 

Every time I think about a bad trade, I think about his one:

The eternal Word of God gets our sins, and in trade, we get His righteousness.

Is that not ridiculous? It is a horrible trade, but from our perspective it is a great trade. Such a deal!

 

Establishing the Principle of Identification

Messiah Jesus begins His public ministry by establishing the principle of identification. Remember that John the Baptizer has said:

The Kingdom is here.

Messiah Jesus comes saying:

This is not an ordinary Kingdom and I do not impose it on anybody (there had never been a Kingdom like this one). This is a Kingdom where I am bringing righteousness into the world, and not by improving the world through social, religious, political, or any other means.

When God wants to bring righteousness into the world, how does He do it?

One Person at a Time

He begins by sending ONE righteous Person (Messiah Jesus) into the world, and then the world becomes righteous, one person at a time -- as that person identifies himself with Messiah Jesus then that person becomes righteous, and so on. One at a time.

So He establishes this principal right at the beginning of His public ministry.

 

What Is Recognized as His Public Ministry?

Obviously, Messiah Jesus lived 30 sinless years before coming to the Jordan River to be baptized. That would be considered the real beginning of His ministry -- the beginning of His public ministry. However, His baptism meant that all of Israel could see for the next three and one half years (the time span of His public messianic ministry) that:

That was His public ministry; a ministry that everybody could see. And as you continue to view the life of Messiah Jesus while reading the book of Matthew, you too will see that He lived a righteous, sinless life.

 

His Life Cannot Save Anybody

We do NOT want to make the mistake of believing that we can be saved by His life. One of the worst errors in Christendom today is that we can be saved by His sinless life.

His sinless life does have value to us. Why? Because by His living a perfect life on this earth, He was established as God's righteousness. For those individuals who have identified with Him -- who have let Him be their substitute -- it is His sinless life for which they get credit. So His life is of great value to believers, but it remains that His life CANNOT save anybody.

 

Next:

Matthew 3:13-17, PART 4: HEAVEN DESIGNATED

 

Back To: Matthew Series Page

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