“To Jordan Came the Christ, Our Lord”
Luke 3:21–22; Acts
2:38; Galatians 3:26–27; Matthew 28:19–20
(Lutheran Service Book 406, 407)
Text: Martin Luther
To Jordan came the Christ, our Lord,
To do His
Father’s pleasure;
Baptized by John, the Father’s Word
Was given
us to treasure,
This heav’nly washing now shall be
A cleansing
from transgression
And by His blood and agony
Release
from death’s oppression.
A new life now awaits us.
O hear and mark the message well,
For God
Himself has spoken.
Let faith, not doubt, among us dwell
And so
receive this token.
Our Lord here with His Word endows
Pure water,
freely flowing.
God’s Holy Spirit here avows
Our kinship
while bestowing
The Baptism of His blessing.
These truths on Jordan’s banks were shown
By mighty
word and wonder.
The Father’s voice from heav’n came down,
Which we do
well to ponder:
“This man is My beloved Son,
In whom My
heart has pleasure.
Him you must hear, and Him alone,
And trust
in fullest measure
The word that He has spoken.”
There stood the Son of God in love,
His grace
to us extending;
The Holy Spirit like a dove
Upon the
scene descending;
The triune God assuring us,
With
promises compelling,
That in our Baptism He will thus
Among us
find a dwelling
To comfort and sustain us.
To His disciples spoke the Lord,
“Go out to
ev’ry nation,
And bring to them the living Word
And this My
invitation:
Let ev’ryone abandon sin
And come in
true contrition
To be baptized and thereby win
Full pardon
and remission
And heav’nly bliss inherit.”
But woe to those who cast aside
This grace
so freely given;
They shall in sin and shame abide
And to
despair be driven.
For born in sin, their works must fail,
Their
striving saves them never;
Their pious acts do not avail,
And they
are lost forever,
Eternal death their portion.
All that the mortal eye beholds
Is water as
we pour it.
Before the eye of faith unfolds
The pow’r
of Jesus’ merit.
For here it sees the crimson flood
To all our
ills bring healing;
The wonders of His precious blood
The love of
God revealing,
Assuring His own pardon.
As I have said elsewhere, if Martin Luther had done nothing
but write hymns he would still be remembered today. Of course there was a great
need for new hymns in his day because the Reformation brought an accent on
congregational singing, but songs for the congregation were few and far
between. So Luther, and others, set about writing hymns. The first hymnal for
congregational use was a Lutheran hymnal, published in Luther’s lifetime.
In this hymn, Luther uses Jesus’ Baptism to
show the blessings of our own Baptisms. Jesus, the sinless Son of God, didn’t
need to be baptized, but He was. “For our sake He (the Father) made Him (the
Son) to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness
of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21). Jesus’ Baptism was another way that He identified
with us. Baptism becomes a two-way street. Jesus identifies with us poor
sinners and we are clothed in His righteousness and become God’s children (Galatians
3:26–27).
Jesus began His ministry with His Baptism in
the Jordan River. Some might say that he began his ministry after his
temptation, and a case can be made for that. However his baptism was his first
public action. In Luke 3:21–22 we see that John the Baptist baptized many, not
just Jesus. However there were some key differences, aside from that fact that
Jesus was without sin (Hebrews 4:15). Luke 3:21-22 tells us about one that was
very obvious. At his baptism the Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus like a dove,
and the Father said, “This is My beloved Son; with whom I am well pleased.” Luther
catches this event in verses three and four.
In Matthew 28:1-20 we find the “Great
Commission.” In it, of course, we find Christ’s command to baptize all nations
in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. This command from
our Savior instituted the Sacrament of Baptism, through which God forgives sins
by water and the Word (Ephesians 5:26). This is caught in verse six of Luther’s
hymn. Christian baptism, while not identical with John the Baptist’s baptism,
still has some strong parallels. This is one of them. In Mark 1:4 we read, “John
appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance
for the forgiveness of sins.” Notice that John doesn’t proclaim repentance,
forgiveness of sins and then baptism. Somehow, through a miracle very similar
to Christian baptism, John’s baptism granted and worked repentance and
forgiveness of sins.
Going back to Galatians 3:26-27, we find that, in Christ, we
are all “sons of God.” God removed our sins in baptism and clothed us with “Christ,”
or more specifically, Christ’s righteousness. Our human eyes may only see
water, but we are connected to the death of Jesus, caught in the final verse of
the hymn (Romans 6:3).
Peter confronted the Jews with their role in
crucifying the Messiah. Many were shaken and wanted to know what to do. Peter
answered, Peter said, “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). The saving gift of the Holy Spirit is faith (and
the continuation of that faith), which comes through the Word, Baptism, and the
Lord’s Supper. Notice here that repentance comes before baptism. So we have the
pattern established that the Church follows to this day. If the non-Christian
we are dealing with is an adult, you instruct until they repent and come to
faith in Jesus, then you baptize. However not everyone can receive instruction.
An infant, for example, still needs to be saved by grace through faith, but can’t
understand a sermon. In such a case we baptize first and instruct as the child
grows. The baptism works the repentance and faith. How can baptism do this?
Well look at Peter’s words. Baptism grants the Holy Spirit, and it is the
Spirit who “calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies us in the one true
Christian Faith.” Bottom line, it is always the Holy Spirit who brings us to
faith. It doesn’t matter what age we are when He does this.
Enjoy this recording of “To Jordan Came the
Christ, Our Lord.”
