While God appointed immersion in water to forgive repentant mortals, Mark 1:4, Acts 2:38, Romans 6:1-4, Jesus walked 60 miles to be immersed in order "to fulfill all righteousness" Matthew 3:15. John 1:29-34 reveals the meaning of "all righteousness", as completed in Christ.
With Jesus absent for some seven weeks after the baptism resisting and overcoming Satan's temptations, the Baptist's awareness of Christ's nature grew like a rumor. The Holy Spirit's descent on the baptized Nazarene, coupled with God's VOICE applauding Jesus as his SON, coupled with John's recent description of Christ as God's Lamb taking away the sin of the world, 1:29, clarified Christ's identity in the Baptist's mind. Jesus wasn't merely a good man—like Moses or Elijah—exempt from baptism. Jesus embodied God's Presence as God's Son and God's Lamb: the Son who ruled even as he as God's Lamb sacrificed himself to overcome sin Revelation 5:5-14. He symbolized all the GLORY that resulted. And how does all that reveal God's righteousness to us? Consider: God's Righteousness—his rightness, perfection, holiness, purity—cannot accept, and will not tolerate, any mistake, imperfection or fault, and certainly not any obvious sin that occurs naturally in humanity—Galatians 5;19-21, Ephesians 2:1-3, Colossians 3:5-9 mere samples of all the ways unsaved and saved humanity still offend God. But...far from being the Vengeful "God of righteousness", the God of Sinai—the usual Hollywood portrayal of righteousness—God's righteousness has compassion for sinners, as Isaiah 45:21 states: "a righteous God and a Savior." Far from being negative, his righteousness is positive. Far from using our every fault against us, it uses all his patience finding ways to forgive. Far from sending Jesus to condemn us, he sent him to FORGIVE us John 3:17. We should delight in and embrace his righteousness then, not fear and flee it. Christ's baptism forecast that Righteousness in himself. He spent his entire ministry compassionately CARING for sinners. Far from seeing God's righteousness as the Reason God destroyed sinners, Christ proved God's pleasure in forgiving every sinner who sought it. Read Ephesians 2:4-10 for a similar explanation of God's righteousness. The apostle Paul wrote, in I Corinthians 1:18-31, of the blessings coming to "poor in spirit" people. Jesus as God's wisdom teaches us and as God's righteousness, (holiness, redemption) saves us; that is, makes it possible for us to be righteous. The very message Jesus taught in other words, John 5:24-30. God's righteousness remains a challenge for Christians. We can't embody it as Jesus did. Our discipleship can incrementally increase in his righteousness, giving people a REASON to accept Christ, not an EXCUSE to remain outside Christ.
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