The Baptism of Jesus

One

The difficulty with living in the first world is that we think we have everything we need, therefore, we don’t need God. 

And if you don’t think you need God then you probably aren’t working on a friendship with God. This is Pride. Pride makes us think we are masters of our universe. We have everything under control. 

We were made to share in the life of God. But pride caused us to turn away from God. We broke that relationship and became enslaved to sin, to self-destructive tendencies, and to death. 

Have you ever wondered why God waited so long to send the Savior? Because in our pride we thought we could save ourselves. We were not ready to accept His saving help. 

So, God waited until we realized our lives had become unmanageable and we were powerless to save ourselves.

God calls Abraham, who had Isaac. Isaac and Rebekah have Jacob. Jacob has twelve sons through four different women. His sons then conspire to kill the youngest son Joseph, which ends with Him in Egypt. Genesis ends with all twelve Tribes in Egypt and Exodus opens four-hundred years later with Israel in slavery. 

We are enslaved to self-destructive tendencies and won’t admit it.

Two

Through Moses God set Israel free. 

Joshua takes them into the Promised Land, and through the time of the Judges, they win and build the Promised Land. 

In 1000 BC David received the promise of an Everlasting Kingdom. But Solomon – The Most Intelligent man who ever lived, was enslaved to pride, power, greed, and lust. He had seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines. He burned his own sons to the demon Molech and so begins the self-destruction of Israel.

His son Rehoboam causes a civil war in Israel, a house divided cannot stand. In 722 BC the ten northern tribes were conquered by the Assyrians and lost forever.

Then in 586 BC, the two southern tribes were exiled to Babylon, or modern-day Iraq, and the Kingdom of Israel is lost.

Seventy years later the Jews return from exile and rebuild the Temple without the ark, the presence of God, or a king.

In 167 BC a Syrian madman named Antiochus Epiphanes conquered Israel and outlaws the Jewish religion until 164 BC when the Maccabees win their religious freedom. But the Maccabees turn on one another and destroy themselves through a lust for power, plotting, intrigues, murder, assassinations, and civil war.

In 67 BC, the death of Queen Alexandra Salome plunged Judea into a civil war between her two sons, Hyrcanus and Aris-tobulus. Rome intervened in 63 BC and the Roman General Pompey enters Jerusalem and the Holy of Holies. What does he find? Nothing. It was empty, just like they were empty.

That is how the Old Testament ends, not with a Glorious Kingdom but with the Jews killing each other in a bloody civil war, the Kingdom lost, the Ark of the Covenant is lost, and the Temple is empty.

They’ve hit Rock Bottom

Three

Maybe the Gentiles fared better?

Rome was the most virtuous of the Gentile Kingdoms. But Rome was constantly at war. From without, against the Greeks, Parthians, and Carthage, and from within, from civil war.

Julius Caesar is assassinated on March 15, 44 BC. However, Julius had named Octavian his successor; even though Mark Antony was Julius Caesar’s top General. They fought each other until 30 BC.

When trapped, both Mark Antony and Cleopatra committed suicide. Octavian did not bring peace to Rome.

Everyone was just utterly exhausted from fighting.

Look at humanity – Jew and Gentile. Wealth, power, pleasure, fighting, killing, intrigue, deceit, seduction, adultery, and assassination, until both hit rock bottom.

Why does God wait so long to come?

We had to learn for ourselves that we are powerless over the effects of sin, our lives had become totally unmanageable, and we can’t save ourselves from our own self-destructive tendencies.

Four

When humanity hit rock bottom God sent John the Baptist.

He invites the whole world (Pharisees, tax collectors, Roman soldiers) out to the Jordan River to admit we are powerless over our addiction to sin.

Our lives had become unmanageable. We can’t save ourselves.

John points out the One who can save us—John 1:29, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.”

Jesus is the One greater than ourselves. Only He can restore us to happiness, sanity, and peace 

We are no different from the Jews and Romans. We are enslaved by self-destructive tendencies that we are powerless to change.

Five

What should we do?

Admit we are powerless over our self-destructive tendencies and our lives have become unmanageable.

Believe there is One greater than ourselves, Jesus, who can restore us to sanity and peace.

Turn your life and your will over to the care of the Good Shepherd.

Make a searching, honest and fearless examination of conscience 

Admit to God the exact nature of our wrongs and Experience the Mercy of Jesus in the sacrament of Reconciliation 

Commit to a deep friendship with Jesus through daily examination of conscience, gratitude, and acknowledging where we have failed in the last twenty-four hours.

Talk to God from the Heart, listening to Him in meditation on God’s Word. Make a simple concrete resolution each day. Mentor someone else.

Because that is the best way to keep you from falling back into the slavery of sin!