13 Then cometh Jesus from ❘ said unto him, Suffer it to be so Galilee to Jordan, unto John, to be baptized of him. 14 But John forbade him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me? 15 And Jesus, answering, now: for thus it becometh us to 16 And Jesus, when he was his threshing floor. The threshing 15. To fulfil all righteousness; quenchable fire; fire that will not be put out, but which will make an utter destruction. In reference to the future punishment of the wicked, which is manifestly here spoken of, this expression cuts off the hope of their ever being relieved from it. As parallel with vs. 10-12, compare Mark 1:7, 8, and Luke 3: 9, 16, 17. Mark expresses the thoughts in a briefer form; Luke, with the same fulness as we find in Matthew. We cannot fail to NOTICE here, that certain and awful destruction awaits the impenitent; while to those who obey Christ and trust in him there will be safety and glory. heaven, to administer baptism. The 16. Out of the water. The prepo- 13. John, having borne such testiemony to the superior dignity of the Messiah, as the Lord of the new dispensation, and as authorized to administer the honors and the punish-river; that the proper meaning of the ments pertaining to this long-expected reign of heaven, was now called to an act at which we cannot be surprised that he should experience unwonted emotion. From Galilee to Jordan. Mark says (1: 9), "from Nazareth of Galilee; the place of the Saviour's abode after the return from Egypt. Matt. 2:23. The precise spot on the banks of the Jordan, where John was now occupied, is not stated. 14. Forbade him; sought to dissuade him. John declined performing this service, from a deep consciousness of his inferiority and unworthiness. John was a truly humble See John 3: 28, 30. man. word baptize is to immerse; and that heavens were opened unto ing of clouds by a flash of lightning. This dove-like manifestation of the chimony 17. My beloved Son. The Son of ✓God was one of the titles belonging to the Messiah, in virtue of his office. See John 1:49. 11:27. Rom. 1: 4. Pure It expresses the intimate relation he dipnipsustains to God, and the consummate dignity of his office. This declaration, then, was an authoritative announcement from heaven, that Jesus, who had just been baptized, and who had been marked out to the by-standers (Luke 3: 21, 22) in so signal manner, by the lighting upon him of a dovelike object, was the long-expected Messiah. Let us INQUIRE of ourselves, Do we receive and obey him as the Son of God, our Redeemer and Lord? مه and lighting upon him: 17 And, lo, a voice from heaven, saying, This is my the same significancy, in all points, as it had when administered to others. Some have said, he received bap-A tism as a ceremony, introducing him Others have represented the Sa-se imun A question has sometimes been as the baptism administered by John is called " the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins" (Ma R1: 4), that is, baptism, which contains in it a declaration of serious purpose to forsake sin, to be holy in heart and life, and that with respect to obtaining the forgiveness of past sins, it is manifest that baptism administered to Jesus, could not have had baler T 17 And, lo, a the same significancy, in all points, as be the high priest of such an intention, The where give any intimate there any prescription 1. Even if such a ceremony presented the Sa-Asc mection with aiz en, which anultitude as the deed answer action of him this thought in the lanas recordhe should herefore water." , how This than mater com We an u h as beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. the phrase "baptizing with water," the Messiah. receive hat principle, then, did Jesus iyon receive baptism from the hands of John? The reply of Jesus to John answers this inquiry - "Thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness; duty that is, it becomes us to fill up the whole circle of our duties. be bent baptized was a part of duty, of holy obedience, which was at that time incumbent on every pious man, on every friend of God; and the neglect of baptism would have been a neglect of divinely-appointed duty. John had come with a commission from mission heaven (John 1: 33, Mark 11: 30), to firmor announce the approach of the Mesferral siah, to call the people to hearty reformation, and to separate, by the rite of baptism, those who should profess a serious purpose to forsake sin and to practise holiness. Baptism was the rite which was then to distinguish those who in holy obedience were professing to hold themselves ready for the coming Messiah; and true friends God were to be found among the baptized. What, then, in these circumstances, was the duty of a man whose whole soul was now, and ever had been, devoted to God in true holiness? In what comought Jesus to place himself? He was known already as a singularly pious man; and John was separating, by the rite of baptism, those who professed a serious determination to lead a life of piety (Luke 3: :10-14); and baptism had been divinely appointed for those who professed to cherish a pious regard for the promises and the commands of God. In this view, though he had no sins to repent of and to abandon, and needed no forgiveness, yet he would not have been Husampany in his proper place, if he had stood conveys the idea of a 4 per-Rentend duty. As confirming this representation, itilgan In the new dispensation, also, bap- But, though Jesus received bap. R tism as a righteous person, and as furnishing an example for his followers, yet it was proper that his baptism should not take place until the suitable time for his being publicly announced as the Messiah should have come, inasmuch as at his baptism a special token was to be given in attestation of his being the Messiah. Besides, Jesus lived at Nazareth, some distance from the principal scene of John's labors; and Jesus may have repaired to John very soon after the proclamation of John had excited attention in the neighborhood of Nazareth. One thought more in regard to baptism. The evangelists represent baptism as administered by John, as the baptism of repentance; that is, baptism, connected with, and implying, repentance. From Acts 19:4, we learn, that, besides enforcing repentance, John directed the minds of his hearers to the Messiah, who was about to appear. Thus, in the baptism of John, there was not only, on the part of those who were baptized, a profession of repentance, but also a CHAPTER IV. 2 And when he had fast THEN was Jesus led up of ed forty days and forty nights, " profession of holding themselves ready bly, a leading design of our Lord in to receive and obey the Messiah, when he should appear. The baptism of John, then, though it was but the commencement of the new dispensation, the twilight of the new day, yet contained substantially the elements of the ordinance as still further developed and carried out by the Messiah himself. After the Messiah had performed all that it was necessary tul ner for him to accomplish on earth, then baptism, still retaining its connection **with repentance, was specially a manifestation of true faith in him hit that had come, and died, and had CAMA risen again. Rom. 6:3, 4. Now, the Lord of this new dispensation knew at first the design of baptism in its full extent. It had not, when he was baptized, been fully developed; but as baptism was intended to contain a reference to his own death, and burial, and resurrection, how suitable that, at the very beginning of his dispensation, he should himself receive the instructive and affecting ordinance; and that, after he had died, and had been raised up from the dead, it should be known that he had received the administration of an ordinance, which, in its full meaning, was to be significant of his death and resurrection, and of the obligation of his followers to become " dead to sin," and to arise to "newness of life"! CHAPTER IV. 1. Jesus, having now been publicly proclaimed by a voice from heaven as the Messiah, may be regarded as entering upon his official work. But before actually engaging in the execution of it, he seems to have sought opportunity for long-continued fasting and devotion, as appropriate to the circumstances in which he then For this purpose, he repaired to some of the solitudes in the wilderness of Judea. Such was, proba was. 八 retiring to the wilderness. The Ho- mk. ly Spirit, under whose influence hee sought this opportunity for religious abstinence and contemplation, had the additional design of permitting him to be tempted by Satan, that he might signally foil the great adversary at the outset, by a triumphant resistance of his suggestions. For Jesus was to be "in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Heb. 4: 15. Led up; influenced, incited to go. || Of the Spirit; by the Holy Spirit. Luke 4:1. || To be tempted of the devil. We need not suppose that Jesus retired to the wilderness for the sake of trying his spiritual strength, by courting temptation, or rushing into it uncalled. His object was materially different: namely, a special preparation for commencing his official work, by uninterrupted communion with his Heavenly Father. But while engaged in his own proper object, Satan took advantage of his situation, to tempt him. It was, however, as has just been intimated, a part of the Holy Spirit's design, that Jesus should be subjected to the special temptations of the evil one, that he might decidedly triumph over the great adversary. Jesus, too, was probably expecting an assault of this nature. 2. Fasted forty fort days and forty! nights. This language does not necessarily imply, that Jesus underwent a ^. total abstinence from food during the space of time mentioned. The expressions are similar to the ordinary method of speaking among the Jews. Jesus was far away from the habitations of men during that space of time, and abstained from ordinary food; he ate no bread, nor any of the articles that were commonly used in families. He might have subsisted upon such articles as he could find in the wilderness - wild fruits, berries, roots, 3 And when the tempter came | Son of God, command that these to him, he said, If thou be the herbs, honey-dew; thus scantily sustaining his animal nature, and giving his soul undisturbed opportunity for contemplation and communion with God, adapted to the extraordinary work which he had undertaken. A comparison of other passages of the Scriptures favors this view. In Esther 4:16, the Jews were directed to fast, and neither eat nor drink, three days, night nor day, on account of their imminent danger. In Matt. 11: 18, John is said to have come neither eating nor drinking; yet we are informed in Matt. 3:4, that he lived in a coarse and unusual manner, denying himself the ordinary comforts of life. By comparing Matt. 11: 18, with Luke 7: 33, we discover, that John's not eating nor drinking, means, not eating nor drinking the ordinary articles of food, living in a very selfdenying way. Just so the fast in Esther's time was probably an abstain ing from the ordinary way of living, so as to have as little time as possible occupied in preparing and eating food, and living in a manner corresponding to the deeply-distressing circumstances of the Jews; so that, in comparison with the usual method of living, they might well be said to be fasting for three days. We may regard our Saviour as feeling all the natural consequences of so long an abstinence from ordinary food, and thus being in a situation that would render the temptation to create food a very powerful one. Luke does indeed say (4:2), that " in those days he did eat nothing." But by comparing this expression with another, recorded by the same writer, in Acts 27: 33, "This is the fourteenth day that ye have tarried, and continued fasting, having taken nothing," we perceive he may have meant, that the Saviour ate nothing in the usual regular manner. He lived most scantily. He ate what came to hand; and with no regular meals, and with none of common food, he passed the forty days stones be made bread. This mode of speaking may be illustrated by the manner in which we might speak of a person in a wasting sickness, or in deep affliction, without a relish for the common enjoyments or business of men, or for ordinary food. In conversation, we might say of such a person, He has eaten nothing for many a day. But while the language does not render it positively certain that our Lord underwent an entire abstinence from food, it cannot, on the other hand, be shown that he did not wholly abstain from food of all kinds. Clearly, he might have been miraculously sustained; and at the end of the forty days, his natural appetite for food might have returned with distressing keenness, so that the temptation to obtain food by a miracle would be peculiarly powerful. || An hungered; the same as our modern word hungry. 3. And when the tempter came to him. Satan came to desus, probably...... in the same way that he comes to us; that is, by suggesting wrong thoughts and proposals to our minds. The language of Mark (1: 13), and particularly that of Luke (4:2), intimate that Satan was tempting Jesus during the forty days. Of all the particular temptations presented, perhaps only the most signal and trying ones are recorded; namely, those which were presented at the close of the forty days. || He said. Matthew's representing Satan as holding a conversation with Jesus, is fully explained by the artless manner in which many honest and pious persons speak of their being tempted, or of Satan's tempting them, to commit sin. The evangelist's manner of speaking respecting Satan, corresponds also with the manner of other sacred writers. See Rom. 16:20. 1 Pet. 5:8. Rev. 2:10. That is, they speak of him as we speak of one another. God, also, is spoken of in the same way, as having eyes, hands, feet, &c., and as speaking to men. || The Son of God; the Messiah. Compare 3:17. In the |