Jesus was baptised in blood

JESUS WAS BAPTISED IN BLOOD
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
Luke 12:50 50But I have a baptismto undergo, and
what constraintI am under until it is completed!
BIBLEHUB RESOURCES
Pulpit Commentary Homiletics
Spiritual Strenuousness
Luke 12:49, 50
W. Clarkson
Our Lord's life deepenedand enlargedas it proceeded, like a greatand
fertilizing river. And as conflict became more frequent and severe, and as the
last scenesdrew on, his own feeling was quickened, his spirit was aflame with
a more ardent and intense emotion. We look at the subject of spiritual
strenuousness -
I. IN VIEW OF OUR LORD'S PERSONALEXPERIENCE. In these two
verses we find him passing through some moments of very intense feeling;he
was powerfully affectedby two considerations.
1. A compassionatedesire onbehalf of the world. He came to the world to
kindle a greatfire which should be a light to illumine, a heat to cleanse,a
flame to consume. Such would be the Divine truth of which he came to be the
Author, especiallyas it was made operative by the Divine Spirit whose coming
should be so intimately associatedwith and should immediately follow his life

work (see Luke 3:16; Acts 2:3). As he lookedupon the gross and saddarkness
which that light was so much neededto dissipate, upon the errors that heat
was so much required to purify, upon the corruption that flame was so
essentialto extinguish, his holy and loving spirit yearned with a profound and
vehement desire for the hour to come when these heavenly forces should be
prepared and be freed to do their sacredand blessedwork.
2. A human lounging to pass through the trial that awaitedhim. "But" - there
was not only an interval of time to elapse, there was a period of solemn
struggle to be gone through, before that fire would be kindled. There was a
baptism of sorrow and of conflict for himself to undergo, and how was he
"straitened" in spirit until that was accomplished!Here was the feeling of a
son of man, but it was the feeling of the noblest of the children of men. He did
not desire that it should be postponed; he longed for it to come that it might
be passedthrough, that the battle might be fought, that the anguish might be
borne. Truly this is none other than a holy human spirit with whom we have
to do; one like unto ourselves, in the depth of whose nature were these very
hopes and fears, these same longings and yearnings which, in the face of a
dread future, stir our own souls with strongestagitations. How solemn, how
great, how fearful, must that future have been which so profoundly and
powerfully affectedhis calm and reverent spirit!
II. IN VIEW OF OUR OWN SPIRITUAL STRUGGLES. We cannotdo
anything of very great accountunless we know something of that spiritual
strenuousness ofwhich our Lord knew so much.
1. We should show this in our concernfor the condition of the world. How
much are we affectedby the savagery, by the barbarism, by the idolatry, by
the vice, by the godlessness, by the selfishness,whichprevail on the right hand
and on the left? How eagerlyand earnestly do we desire that the
enlightenment and the purification of Christian truth should be carried into
the midst of it? Does our desire rise to a holy, Christ-like ardor? Does it
manifest itself in becoming generosity, in appropriate service and sacrifice?
2. We may show this in our anxiety to pass through the trial-hour that awaits
us. Whether it be the hour of approaching service, orsorrow, or persecution,

or death, we may, like our Master, be straitened until it be come and gone. Let
us see that, like him, we
(1) await it in calm trustfulness of spirit; and
(2) prepare for it by faithful witness and close communion with God in the
hours that lead up to it. - C.
Biblical Illustrator
I have a baptism to be baptized with
Luke 12:50
Intensity in Christian service
J. R. Wood.
I. OF THIS INTENSITYCHRIST HIMSELF WAS THE PERFECT
EXAMPLE. Fervour reachedwhite heat in the Sonof Man, and the service of
the kingdom receivedthe whole of it. Do you think these words were spoken

calmly? As we listen to the Speaker, we are consciousofthe strain, the tension
of spirit, the travail of soul! And what was it that moved the Saviour so
profoundly, that made His soul "exceeding sorrowful"? His death on the
cross, and burial in Joseph's tomb; but not these things regardedby
themselves;death and the grave had less terror for Him than for the saintliest
of His followers;but He thought of these in their august and solemn relations
to His redeeming work. In His cross and passion, love to God and love to man
were mysteriously and perfectly blended; His surrender to God was absolute
and entire, wanting nothing; while the appealof His love to man, unsurpassed
in tenderness, maintains to-day its unrivalled influence and power. St. Paul
used Christ's word — "straitened," in another and most significant
connection:"The love of Christ constrainethus." Christ was Himself
"constrained," thatHe might "constrain" His servants by His own greatlove
to the end of time. This revelation of love to God and man in the death of
Christ by no means adequately accounts forthe agitationof the Saviour's
soul. We must go deeper;unless we do so we have no sufficient clue to the
mystery of this hour. The beginning of Christ's passionwas reached;already
He is the Sin-bearer. Our text, then, is not the cry of the hireling, bent only on
accomplishing his day, longing eagerlyfor the last hour and the close of his
task;it is something infinitely nobler, the cry of the "only-begottenof the
Father," shut up, urged, pressed, filled with pain, panting as one oppressedin
breathing, till His Father's will is done. Behold the perfect Example I If we
wish to gauge this intensity, and know how greatit is, let us place it side by
side with our own low aims, calculating love, measuredefforts, and frequently
barren lives. Strangers to devotion, to intense devotion, cannotproperly serve
under such a King.
II. CAN WE. WITH THIS PATTERN BEFOREUS, GET ANY HINTS
RESPECTINGTHE SPRING OF SUCH INTENSITY? HOW is the fire
kindled? What is the secret? WhenChrist spoke, He was in close touch with
His Father. The Baptism was appointed; not self-chosen, notaccidental, but
setdown in the Father's will; recognizedas being there, and acceptedin the
teeth of natural shrinking. Surely this is evidence of fellowship without a
break, high and habitual fellowshipwith God, therefore, is one secretof
intense life in souls. A secondsecretof intense life, then, is familiarity with

Holy Scripture. Men of the Bible may be furnaces, icebergs they can never be.
And the passage,takenas a whole, indicates clearinsight into the sins and
sorrows ofmen, and a true estimate of our needs. The Speaker"knew what
was in man"; was in close contactwith man; saw our ruin, acceptedthe risks,
and rendered at all costs the needed help. A third secretofintense life is, keep
touch with men. We want to kindle the holy fire and keepit burning — then
brethren, we must hold much converse with Christ. The planets getlight and
heat from the sun; we from the Sun of Righteousness.We must look into the
face of Christ and gain power for work by habitual, sustained, and abundant
communion with Him.
III. We are now in a position To APPRECIATE SOME OF THE SALIENT
FEATURES OF THIS INTENSITYIN CHRISTIAN SERVICE. It is not
concernabout our own safety;by the whole diameter of the globe it is divided
from that. How much solicitude we expend on ourselves!Are we God's sons?
Are our evidences clearand bright? Definite answers to such inquiries we
ought to get. Till we getthem this holy passioncan find no sufficient room
within us. The intense spirit, the Christ-spirit, only possessessouls that can
swing out of self. All Christ's anxiety and travail of soul was about others —
about God, His Father, the revelation of His mind, the establishment of His
rule, and the winning of men to obedience — about man, His brother, his
waywardness andmisery; the remedy, how it could be provided and how
applied. We must be like Him I The noblest in us is impossible while we are
occupiedwith ourselves. The mother at the bed-side of her fever-stricken
child forgets self, so does the fireman as through flame and smoke he rushes to
the rescue. Thenheroism grows sublime, and becomes aninspiration. This
intensity is not distinguished by exemption from trial, even the trial of
apparent failure. Certaindiscoursings on earnestnessin Christian work are
depressing. We see how the purest are often most tried, and the best and most
skilful husbandmen have longestto wait for the fruit. "It is enough for the
servant to be as his Lord." What equipment was His — wisdom, stature,
favour with Godand man; and the Holy Spirit without measure. What Divine
patience!The crown of enduring influence and ultimate successintensity like
our Master's will assuredlywear. When Christ spoke, it appearedas if His
was the only soul fired by this passion. Like Pompey's pillar, He was solitary,

conspicuouslyalone I Then the goodsoilreceivedthe precious grain of wheat;
it died, and from that moment was no longeralone!Paul's letters are rich in
passageswhich breathe the intense spirit of our text. The case ofJohn, the
beloved disciple, is, if possible, more remarkable. He caught fire early; the
holy passionwas aglow in him. After the Council at Jerusalemhe disappeared
from view. Forfifty years we hear nothing of him; but in the calm, loving
utterances of his Epistles, and the penetrating light of his profound Gospel, we
have evidence of the strength of a long hidden fire. It glowedtill the century
ended, when other fires were extinguished. Thus Christ reproduced Himself
— the fire-circle enlarged; candidates for this baptism multiplied; and to-day
no power is so fresh, so vigorous, and so aggressive as the powerof Jesus
Christ. Enduring influence and final triumph still lie with intense earnestness.
It brings into line every power we possess, and allies eachwith the power of
God. "Why could not we casthim out?" cried the humiliated disciples.
"Because youdidn't believe you could," was Christ's startling reply. The
intense man ever believes he can; faith in God renders all things possible. The
man of faith "burns his way when he cannotbore it"; and while the
calculating halt in the initial stages oftheir task and cannot succeed, he stands
radiant with the joy of an accomplishedwork. Everywhere we have
machinery; poweris the thing wanted. "I gained no theologyfrom Dr.
Chalmers," saidRobertson, of Irvine, " but I gainedenthusiasm."
(J. R. Wood.)
The Surety's baptism
H. Bonar, D. D.
The baptism of the Sonof God, here spokenof by Himself, was the baptism of
wrath; for He who was made sin for us must be baptized with this baptism. It
is the knowledge ofthis fiery baptism of our Divine Surety that gives to us the
reconciliationand the peace which, as sinners, we need. It was of this fiery
baptism that He Himself spoke when He said, "Now is My soul troubled."
This baptism the Sonof Godmust undergo; and He knew this. It was
appointed Him of the Father, and arranged in the eternal covenant. "I have a

baptism to be baptized with." He knew it; He knew the reasonof it; He knew
the result of it; and He knew that it could not pass awayfrom Him. He had
come to fulfil all righteousness;He had come to be made a curse for us. In this
awful utterance of our Substitute, as He lookedforwardto the cross, we have
—
I. A LONGING FOR THE BAPTISM. He desired its accomplishment. He
knew the results depending on it, and these were so divinely glorious, so
eternally blessed, that He could not but long for it — He could not but be
straitened till it was accomplished. The cup was inexpressibly bitter, but the
recompence for drinking it was so vast, that He could not but long for the
hour when it should be put into His hands.
II. THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF FEAR AND BITTER ANGUISH IN
CONTEMPLATING IT. He was truly man, both in body and soul. His Divine
nature did not relieve Him of one grief, or make His sufferings mere shadows.
It fitted Him for being filled with more sorrow than any man could be. It
conferredon Him an awful, we may say a Divine, capacityof endurance, and
so made him the subject of sharper pain and profounder grief than otherwise
he could have been.
III. THE STRAITENING IN REGARD TO ITS ACCOMPLISHMENT.Like
Paul, He was in a strait betweenthings which pressedin opposite ways, and
which must continue to press till the work was done.
1. He was straitenedbetweenthe anticipated pain, and the thought of the
result of that pain.
2. He was straitenedbetweengrace and righteousness. Tillthe greatsacrifice
was offered, there might be said to be conflict betweenthese two things.
BetweenHis love to the sinner and His love to the Fatherthere was conflict;
betweenHis desire to save the former and His zeal to glorify the latter there
was something wanting to produce harmony. He knew that this something
was at hand, that His baptism of suffering was to be the reconciliation;and He
pressedforward to the cross, as one that could not rest till the discordance
were removed — as one straitened in spirit till the great reconciliationshould
be effected.

(H. Bonar, D. D.)
The sense in which Christ was "straitened
J. Stevens.
The manner in which our Saviour here expresses Himself, fully evinces that
His heart was greatlyset upon this important baptism. He was straitened till it
was accomplished!The word sunechomaia, whichis here translated
"straitened," will admit of the following variations or different readings of
our Lord's words:
1. How am I pressedtogether, and under a ponderous weightof imputed sin,
and its dreadful concomitants!The Lord laid on Him, as the Head of the
Church, and Surety of the covenant — the iniquities of us all. And He bore
our sins in His own body on the tree. To be thus straitened was no way
inconsistentwith the final accomplishmentof the work in which He stood
engaged:for His work of suffering is over, and Jesus ourSaviour is straitened
no more!" His being thus straitened in His human views of the work, and in
the feelings of human nature, does not suppose Him to be merely human,
though it certainly proves Him to have been really human. Each nature
operates in Him, according to its essentialproperties. The Divine nature
knows all things; upholds all things; rules all things; and acts, by its presence,
everywhere. The human nature was born, yielded obedience, died, and rose
again. But it is the same person, the same Christ, that acts all these things; the
one nature being His, no less than the other.
2. How am I straitened, may be read thus — How am I held fast in the grasp
of almighty justice, and bound fast with cords (Psalm 118:27)of legal
authority, and bonds of covenant engagements!Infinite love to His people,
and to the honour of Deity as demanded by the personof the Father, bound
Him fast in bonds, which securedeternal salvation. Justice held fast the
bondsman, till all demands were fully paid. But when His baptism was
accomplished, His person was free, and His people redeemed. Immanuel is
straitened no more; He is held under judgment no more; when He became

innocent (as the mediator of His people) or free from all sin, and had wrought
all righteousness, justice coulddemand no more. He was delivered for our
offences, androse again for our justification. That baptism which so
straitened our Lord, my brethren, hath made us for everfree indeed! O Thou
immortal Deliverer of sin-bound captives, acceptand maintain in Thy free
people, perpetual hallelujahs to Thy redeeming name!
3. Again, How am I straitened, may be understood — how am I afflicted and
distressedin mind. My soul is exceedinglysorrowful, said our agonizing Lord.
O what love is here! He took our sorrows,He bore our stripes, He endured the
curse for us; and thus He made our peace for ever.
4. Once more. How am I urged and constrained. For this sense of the word,
see 2 Corinthians 5:14. Jesus was first bound with His people in union
indissoluble. He could not bat feelthe strongestdesire for their redemption,
whose persons and welfare lay so near His heart. He was urged by the desire
of having the work accomplished. Justice calledupon Him for her right; and
the joy set before Him excited Him to His important baptism, out of which He
knew He should surely emerge, and ascendto the enjoyment of the glory
which He had with the Father before the world was. His baptism is now
accomplished, and He is straitenedno more! Who, then, shall bind the
members, since the Head is free?
(J. Stevens.)
Christ's baptism of suffering
H. Melvill, B. D.
The phraseologyis by no means unusual which represents afflictions and
trials as a baptism with which an individual must be baptized. In addressing
the sons of Zebedee, Christ had asked, "Canye drink of the baptism that I
drink of, and can ye be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?"
In the Old Testament, moreover, the Psalmistspeaks of"entering into deep
water," which is manifestly the same imagery as that employed in the New.
There is a peculiar beauty in this form of expression, when the party to whom

it is applied is a righteous and God-fearing man. Baptism is the being dipped
in the water, the being sprinkled with the water, and not the being drowned or
completely overwhelmed. The form of expressiondenotes that, however
tremendous the affliction may be, it shall not be finally destructive; nay, that
it shall issue in addition to what has alreadybeen attained. For the word
"baptism," in its very essence, has reference to some essentialchange,so that
the man when baptized is presumed to enter on a state from which he had
been previously excluded. It will be needful that you carry with you this
generalview of baptism, as rightly introductory to, and symbolicalof, an
alterationin circumstances orstate, if you would enter fully into our Lord's
meaning when He speaks in our text — "But I have a baptism to be baptized
with; and how am I straitened till it be accomplished!" The whole structure of
the sentence is in exactkeeping with the common notion of baptism, seeing
that a condition of greaterfreedom is evidently lookedforwardto by Christ,
as certain to result from those waves offire through which He had to pass. He
laboured under a species ofbondage prior to His agonyand death; and the
consequence ofthe agonyand death would, He knew, be deliverance from this
bondage. There is, therefore, peculiar fitness in His describing that agonyand
death as a baptism with which He should be baptized. A change was to take
place;and for the bringing about of that change, immersion in a deep oceanof
trouble was actuallyindispensable.
I. CONSIDERCHRIST'S AGONYAS A BAPTISM. Now, it was a
stupendously greatwork which our blessedLord undertook in His mission to
earth. He had assumedhuman nature in union with the Divine, and thus stood
in the attitude of the representative ofmankind. He was no solitary and
isolatedbeing acting out for Himself the duties which, as a creature, He owed
to the Creator;He was the Surety of the whole of our race;and in the very
minutest circumstance of His life we have a close andimportant concern. He
took our transgressions justas well as those of all others living on the earth,
and castthem into the waves, and then they rolled on an immensity of wrath,
and the innocent Surety bowed down, and trembled, and sank beneath the
impetuous torrent. Not, however, that this is the only reasonwhy our Lord's
agonyand passionmay be characterizedas a baptism. We have spokento you
of baptism as introductory to some alteration in state or condition. The word

only applies to casesin which some change is presumed, as the result of
immersion, to have takenplace either literally or symbolically. But, with
respectto the sufferings of Christ, they agree in every point with the
declarationwhich limits the applicability of the phrase. The baptism of our
Lord was such, that length of time was not needful in order to give effectto
endurance. Each instant of our Surety's anguish, seeing that He was Godas
well as man, was equivalent to such countless ages ofhuman punishment, that
it was enough for justice that he should be immersed in the water, and then
quickly emerge. This fallen creation, tottering under the curse, was then
plunged into an abyss of wrath, and sparkledas a renovated thing so soonas
He arose above its surface. The agonyin Gethsemane was only for a brief
season;the ignominy of the crucifixion was soonbrought to a close;the
imprisonment of the grave quickly gave way; and then He who "bore our sins
in His own body on the tree," was literally baptized with the baptism of
bitterness. The woe, infinite in extent, was but finite in duration — "Thouwilt
not leave My soul in hell; neither wilt Thou suffer thine Holy One to see
corruption." He must descendinto darkness, that the waves and the storms
might go over Him. Anguish — He must endure it; contumely — He must
submit to it; the hidings of His Father's face — even this, the bitterest and
most grievous of all, must be encountered. But then this enduring, this
wrestling, they were but for a brief season. He did not tarry in the waters,
though it was needful He should be coveredby them. And thus the emerging
and immersion follow so closelyone on the other, that you cannotbetter
describe the greatwork than by saying of our Lord, that He had "a baptism
to be baptized with."
II. CONSIDERIN WHAT RESPECTSIT WAS THAT THE SAVIOUR WAS
STRAITENEDTILL THIS BAPTISM WAS ACCOMPLISHED. The work of
redemption was not complete, and Christ therefore was "straitened," as
unable to exhibit a finished deliverance. The Spirit was not yet poured out on
His followers;and therefore was He "straitened," inasmuch as He could not
preach the deep mysteries of His gospel. Conflict with Satanwas not
concluded, and therefore was he "straitened" in His human nature, being still
exposedto all his attacks. And, lastly, He had not yet won the headship over
all things, and therefore was He "straitened" by being circumscribed in

Himself, in place of expanding into myriads. These, with like reasons, serve to
explain, in a degree, the expressionof our text; though we frankly confess that
so awful and inscrutable is everything connectedwith the anguish of the
Mediator, that we can only be said to catch glimmerings of a fulness which
would overwhelm us, as we may suppose, with amazementand dread.
III. LET US COMMENDTO YOU, IN CONCLUSION, THE NOBLE
DESIRE OF ST. PAUL. "That I may know Christ, and the power of His
resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable
unto His death." There is to be wonderful analogybetweenthe firstborn and
His people, and we call on you to examine whether you find it realized in your
own experience. Unto eachof us there remains the baptism of death; a
baptism in the truest and most literal sense;for we do but pass through the
Jordan, and not stay in the waters. But are we "straitened?" Do we feel
ourselves "straitened" till this baptism is accomplished? Letus have no
evasionand no subterfuge. We are predestined to be conformed to the image
of God; and as He was" straitened," so, if we belong to Him, shall we also be
"straitened." Who can be a real Christian and not feel"straitened?" It is our
very professionthat we are but strangers and pilgrims below; that our home
is above. There is "a law in our members warring againstthe law of our mind
— the goodthat we would we do not — the evil that we would not we do" —
"we bear about with us a body of sin and death" — "we see only through a
glass darkly" — "it doth not yet appear what we shall be." Are we not then
"straitened?" I would give my soul to heavenly music, to communings with
the glorious beings of the invisible world; but the flesh clogs the spirit, weighs
it, and presses itdown, and thus am I "straitened." I would love God with all
my heart, with all my soul, and with all my strength; abstracting myself from
things that perish in the using, and centring myself on the joys that are laid up
for the faithful; but my affections are seized on by the creature;the visible
prevails over the invisible, and thus I am "straitened." I would mount even
now on the wings of faith, realizing the promise that "they who wait on the
Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount with wings as eagles." I
would walk to and fro through the inheritance of the saints, but the things of
time hang lead on the pinion, and thus I am "straitened." I would have my
thoughts by day and my dreams by night colouredby the pencil of Christian

hope; but indwelling corruption throws a stain on the picture, and thus I am
"straitened."
(H. Melvill, B. D.)
The Lamb of God hastening to the altar
Homiletic Review.
Christ's eagerness forthe consummation of His sacrificialmission sublimely
pathetic and heroic.
I. The cross loomedup in His thought with increasing vividness and more
absorbing interesttoward the last.
II. Eagerfor the suspense to be changedto certainty. For the Father's glory to
be magnified. Forthe ending of the curse, and the beginning of the blessing.
III. Eagerto make the supreme proof of His love to sinners, and to see the
result. "I, if I be lifted up," etc.
IV. Eagerto return by the gatewayofthe cross to the Father's bosom.
(Homiletic Review.)
Christ's longing for the completion of His work
J. Harris, D. D.
The greattruth which the text exhibits, is the entire and intense devotedness
of Christ to the completionof His mediatorial suffering, with a view to its
subsequent and sublime results.
I. We have to show, first, THAT THE SAVIOUR UNIFORMLY EXHIBITED
THE DEEP CONCERNWHICH THE TEXT EXPRESSESFOR THE
COMPLETION OF HIS MEDIATORIALWORK ON EARTH.

1. To say that He had not been beguiled or surprised into the work of our
redemption would be saying but little, He had undertaken it intelligently, and
with the distinct foresight of all the liabilities which it involved. He had looked
into the darkestrecessesofdepravity in the human heart, and had sounded
the lowestdepths of human misery, before He came to expiate the one or
relieve the other.
2. To say that He had not been forced into the greatundertaking, would be
saying but little.
3. To say that the ardour evinced in the text for the completion of His work
was not of new or sudden growth, would be saying but little. A large and
interesting class ofScriptures exist to prove that there never was a moment in
which, even prior to His incarnation, He did not anticipate its completion with
similar intensity of desire.
4. To say that He did not neglectthe work which was given Him to do, would
be saying but little. "My meat," said He, "is to do the will of Him that sent
Me, and to finish His work" — in other words, His devotedness was entire.
"Fortheir sakes," saidHe, "I sanctify Myself" — and He did so.
5. And not only was His devotedness entire, including the consecrationofall
His powers, it was eagerand intense, not allowing the unnecessarydelay of a
moment, nor admitting of the slightestincrease. To saythat four thousand
years were allowedto elapse prior to His advent, is no objectionwhateverto
this statement. It only reminds us that His devotedness, ardentas it was, was
yet regulatedby wisdom — that His zeal was not the zeal of improvident
precipitation — that He did not sacrifice one interest to another.
II. BUT WHY THIS EAGER AND INTENSE DESIRETO REACHTHE
GOAL OF HIS HUMILIATION? Surely He was not in love with suffering!
Let us proceed, secondly, to specifysome of the reasons whichaccountfor it,
and we shall find that it was not only explicable and justifiable, but infinitely
necessary— well for a guilty world that His zeal was not a particle less.
1. Forwhat? He had undertaken to minister to the relief of a world groaning
in its misery — and all that misery was before Him. He did not — by necessity

of nature He could not — contentHimself, as we do, with vague impressions
of human woe. He saw it with a distinctness and felt it with a power which
made it all His own. He felt that its every sigh and its every struggle was, in
effect, a distinct appeal that He would hasten the work of deliverance, and He
was straiteneduntil the work was accomplished.
2. But there was more than misery to be remedied — there was guilt, the
cause ofit all — and that He had undertaken to atone for. He knew the
history of sin.
3. But more still There was more than the misery of man to be remedied —
more than the rights of justice to be satisfied; there was the characterof God
to be embodied and made manifest as the God of love — and He had
undertaken that. And hence the anxiety of Christ to perform the actwhich
should prove it. Forto wipe off every stain from the characterof God, and to
present it in its real glory, infinitely outweighedwith Him every ether
consideration.
4. And this reminds us of another reasonto accountfor His eagernessto reach
the cross — the glory which should accrue to Godin the salvation of mankind.
III. But we have to show, thirdly, THAT THOUGH THE GREAT CRISIS IS
PASSED, THE CONCERNOF CHRIST FOR THE SALVATION OF MAN
IS UNDIMINISHED. True, as far as that concerninvolved suffering it has
ceased.
1. Would you admit that a person discoveredurgency for an objectif he lost
not a moment in arranging for its attainment? No soonerhad the Saviour
emergedfrom the tomb than He summoned His disciples, and began to
prepare them for their missions to the ends of the earth.
2. Does a persondiscoverintense concernfor an object, if he consecrates all
his powerto its attainment? The Saviour did this. As soonas He could say in
His mediatorial capacity, "All power is mine," He added, "Go preachthe
gospelto every creature."
3. Does a persondiscoverintense concernfor an objectif he not only
consecratesallhis own powerto it, but if the first use which he makes ofthat

powerbe to secure and employ the agencyofothers? In the loftiest sense, the
Saviour did this. The first agencywhich He engagedafterHe ascendedthe
mediatorial throne was that of the Holy Spirit — the greatagent of the
universe.
4. Does a persondiscoverintense concernfor an object, if he commands and
lays under tribute the instrumentality of every one belonging to him for its
attainment?
5. But speak we of the fact that Christ has thus laid all the members of His
Church under solemn obligation, as a proof of His unabated solicitude for
human salvation;from the concluding Book ofScripture, the Book ofthe
Revelation, there is reasonto believe that He has engagedthe agencyof every
angelin heaven for the same object.
6. "But why this continued solicitude on the part of Christ?" it may be asked.
Has not His greatsacrifice beennot only offered, but accepted? andis He not
now exalted in consequenceto the right hand of God?" Yes; but His concern
relates now to the proclamation of His atoning sacrifice throughout the world,
and to the salvationof those who rely on it. Having provided the means of
salvation, He is now for pressing on to the end.
IV. Brethren, WHAT SHOULD BE THE PRACTICAL APPLICATION OF
THIS SUBJECT? If the devotedness ofChrist to the salvationof man was
such that He not only agonizedon the cross, but even agonized for it, and if
His Divine solicitude be still undiminished — then, surely, the Christian
cannot render less than entire devotedness to the same object. Accordingly,
the Saviourclaims every Christian here for Himself. Your characteris to be a
reproduction of the characterof Christ. The disinterestedness whichappeared
in Christ is to reappearin you. The tenderness of Christ — His untold
solicitude for human souls — is to live over againin your tones of entreaty,
your wrestling prayers for their salvation. The blood of the cross itselfis, in a
sense, to stream forth againin your tears of anguish, your voluntary and
vicarious self-sacrifice to draw men to Christ.
2. But if we thus sympathize with Christ, we shall see the importance of
everything calculatedto promote the object of His solicitude. Viewedin

connectionwith these objects, nothing we do is insignificant — an act
apparently trivial, a word, a look, acquires a characterof infinite moment.
3. But this reminds us, next, that if we truly sympathize with Christ, we shall
not be satisfiedwith merely providing the means of usefulness, or with putting
them into action— we shall be deeply anxious to see the end of all such means
accomplished. The Saviour was not only straitened till He had reachedthe
cross — till He had provided salvation; all the solicitude which He then felt
for the means, He now feels for the end.
4. But this subject reminds us, brethren, finally, that if we truly sympathize
with Christ, we shall be conscious ofdeep humiliation at our pastapathy, and
of holy impatience and concernto see the designs of His death realized in the
salvationof our fellow-men. And ask we for motives to this? Is it nothing that
Christ expects it? Is it nothing that He has turned His whole self into a
sacrifice, comparedwith which nothing else deserves the name? and that He
has devolved it on us to multiply as far as we canthe copies ofHis characterin
our own? Is it nothing, again, that others have felt this? Yes; the duty is not
only obligatory but practicable, for others have felt it. And should it not urge
our languid movements into zealous activity when we reflect that "the time is
short"?
5. And achievedit shall be. How should the prospectquicken our activity and
inflame our desire!To think that the scene of the Saviour's humiliation shall
be the scene ofHis ultimate triumph.
(J. Harris, D. D.)
The shadow of the coming cross
J. Cuttell.
Those who maintain that the crucifixion was an afterthought in the mind of
Christ: that no vision of it clouded His pathway, and no place was assignedfor
it when He beganfirst to preach and to teach, have read those narratives to
very little purpose. Holman Hunt, the modern " evangelistof art," was much

nearer the truth on this matter when he painted his celebratedpicture, " The
Shadow of Death," in which he clearlyreveals his opinion that, whilst yet a
horny-handed workmanin the obscure carpenter's shop at Nazareth, making
yokes and ploughs for the husbandmen of Galilee, the shadow of the coming
cross fell upon the pathway of Christ, and gave an unwonted solemnity to a
young manhood, in all else so natural.
(J. Cuttell.)
COMMENTARIES
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers
(50) I have a baptism to be baptized with.—Here we have a point of contact
with the words spokento the sons of Zebedee. (See Notes onMatthew 20:22,
and Mark 10:38.)The baptism of which the Lord now speaks is that of one
who is come into deep waters, so that the floods pass over him, over whose
head have passedand are passing the waves and billows of many and great
sorrows. Yethere, too, the Sonof Man does not shrink or draw back. What
He felt most keenly, in His human nature, was the pain, the constraint of
expectation. He was, in that perfecthumanity of His, harassedand oppressed,
as other sufferers have been, by the thought of what was coming, more than
by the actualsuffering when it came.
Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary
12:41-53 All are to take to themselves whatChrist says in his word, and to
inquire concerning it. No one is left so ignorant as not to know many things to
be wrong which he does, and many things to be right which he neglects;
therefore all are without excuse in their sin. The bringing in the gospel
dispensationwould occasiondesolations. Notthat this would be the tendency
of Christ's religion, which is pure, peaceable,and loving; but the effectof its
being contrary to men's pride and lusts. There was to be a wide publication of

the gospel. Butbefore that took place, Christ had a baptism to be baptized
with, far different from that of water and the Holy Spirit. He must endure
sufferings and death. It agreednot with his plan to preach the gospelmore
widely, till this baptism was completed. We should be zealous in making
known the truth, for though divisions will be stirred up, and a man's own
household may be his foes, yet sinners will be converted, and God will be
glorified.
Barnes'Notes on the Bible
A baptism - See the notes at Matthew 20:22.
Am I straitened- How do I earnestly desire that it were passed!Since these
sufferings "must" be endured, how anxious am I that the time should come!
Such were the feelings of the Redeemerin view of his approaching dying hour.
We may learn from this:
1. That it is not improper to "feeldeeply" at the prospectof dying. It is a sad,
awful, terrible event; and it is impossible that we should look at it aright
"without" feeling - scarcelywithout trembling.
2. It is not improper to desire that the time should come, and that the day of
our release shoulddraw nigh, Philippians 1:23. To the Christian, death is but
the entrance to life; and since the pains of death "must" be endured, and since
they lead to heaven, it matters little how soonhe passes through these sorrows,
and rises to his eternal rest.
Jamieson-Fausset-BrownBible Commentary
50. But … a baptism, &c.—clearly, His own bloody baptism, first to take
place.
how … straitened—not, "how do I long for its accomplishment," as many
understand it, thus making it but a repetition of Lu 12:49; but "whata
pressure of spirit is upon Me."
till it be accomplished—tillit be over. Before a promiscuous audience, such
obscure language was fit on a theme like this; but oh, what surges of

mysterious emotion in the view of what was now so near at hand does it
reveal!
Matthew Poole's Commentary
This baptism, spokenof here by our Saviour, is the same mentioned Matthew
20:22,23, andcan be understood of nothing but his passion, the
accomplishmentof which he hints us was to be before the fire (before
mentioned) would blaze up on the earth. Concerning this he saith he was
straitened till it was accomplished:not that he willed the influencing of the
heart of Judas to betray him, the heart of Pilate to condemn him, or the hearts
of the wickedJews to accuse,condemn, and crucify him; but he willed these
events, for the manifestation of the glory of his Father, in the redemption of
the world by him. As the woman big with child heartily wishes that the hour
of her travail were come and over, not for the pain’s sake, whichshe must
endure, but for her own ease’sake, and the joy she should have of a child
born into the world.
Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible
But I have a baptism to be baptized with,.... Notwater baptism, for he had
been baptized with that already; nor the baptism of the Spirit, which he had
also receivedwithout measure;though the Ethiopic version reads it actively,
"with which I shall baptize", referring doubtless to that; but the baptism of
his sufferings is meant, which are compared to a baptism, because ofthe
largeness andabundance of them; he was as it were immersed, or plunged
into them; and which almost all interpreters observe on the text, and by which
they confess the true import and primary significationof the word used; as in
baptism, performed by immersion, the personis plunged into water, is
coveredwith it, and continues awhile under it, and then is raised out of it, and
which being once done, is done no more; so the sufferings of Christ were so
many and large, that he was as it were coveredwith them, and he continued
under them for a time, and under the power of death and the grave, when
being raised from thence, he dies no more, death hath no more dominion over
him. This baptism he "had", there was a necessityofhis being baptized with
it, on his Father's account;it was his will, his decree, and the command he

enjoined him as Mediator; it was the portion he allotted him, and the cup he
gave unto him: and on his own part, he obliged himself unto it, in the counsel
and covenantof peace;for this purpose he came into this world, and had
substituted himself in the room and stead of his people; and it was necessary
on their part, for their sins could not be atonedfor without sufferings, nor
without the sufferings of Christ; moreover, the promises and prophecies of the
Old Testamentconcerning them, made them necessary:
and how am I straitened until it be accomplished:these words express both
the trouble and distress Christ was in, at the apprehension of his sufferings as
man; which were like to the distress of persons, closelybesiegedby an enemy;
or rather of a woman, whose time of travail draws nigh, when she dreads it,
and yet longs to have it over: and likewise they signify, his restless desire to
have them accomplished;not that he desiredthat Judas should betray him, or
the Jews crucifyhim, as these were sins of theirs; nor merely his sufferings as
such; but that thereby the justice of God might be satisfied, the law might be
fulfilled, and the salvationof his people be obtained: and this eagerdesire of
his, he had shown in various instances, and did show afterwards;as in his
ready compliance with his Father's proposalin eternity; in his frequent
appearances in human form before his incarnation; in sending one message
after another, to give notice of his coming; in his willingness to be about his
Father's business, as soonas possible; in rebuking Peter, when he would have
dissuaded him from all thoughts of suffering: in going to Jerusalemon his
own accord, in order to suffer there; in his earnestwish to eat the last
passoverwith his disciples;in the joy that possessedhim, when Judas was
gone out, in order to betray him; in stopping in the midst of his sermon, lest
he should overrun, or outslip the time of meeting him in the garden, John
14:30 in his going thither, and willingly surrendering himself up into the
hands of his enemies;and in cheerfully laying down his life: all which arose
from the entire love he had for the persons he died for; and because it was his
Father's will, and his glory was concernedherein, and his own glory also was
advancedthereby; moreover, his death was the life of others, and the work
required haste.
Geneva Study Bible

But I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how am I straitenedtill it be
accomplished!
EXEGETICAL(ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)
Meyer's NT Commentary
Luke 12:50. δέ] places in face of the εἰ ἤδη ἀνήφθη!just wished for, what is
still to happen first: But I have a baptism, to be baptized with. This baptism is
His deep passionawaiting Him, into which He is to be plunged (comp. on
Mark 10:38); and He has this baptism as the destiny ordained for Him, and
consequentlyappropriated to Him.
καὶ πῶς συνέχομαι κ.τ.λ.] and how am I distressed(comp. Luke 8:37; Dem.
1484. 23, 1472. 18)till the time that it shall be accomplished!A true and vivid
expressionof human shrinking at the presentment of the agonies that were
imminent, similar to what we find in Gethsemane and at John 12:27. It was a
misapprehension of the human feeling of Jesus and of the whole tenor of the
context, to make out of συνέχομαι an urgency of longing (ὡσανεὶ ἀγωνιῶ διὰ
τὴν βραδυτῆτα, Euthymius Zigabenus, comp. Theophylact). So also de Wette
and Bleek, who wrongly appealto Php 1:23. See on the passage,also on2
Corinthians 5:14. Jesus does notlong for and hastento death, but He submits
Himself to and obeys the counselof God (comp. John 12:27;Php 2:8; Romans
5:19, and elsewhere), whenHis hour is come (John 13:1 and elsewhere).
Ewald takes the question as making in sense a negative assertion:I must not
make myself anxious (comp. on πῶς, Luke 12:56), I must in all patience allow
this worstsuffering to befall me. This agrees withEwald’s view of τί θέλω
κ.τ.λ., Luke 12:49;but, according to our view, it does not correspondwith the
parallelism. And Jesus actually experiencedanguish of heart (comp. 2
Corinthians 2:4, συνοχὴ καρδίας)atthe thought of His passion, without
detracting from His patience and submissiveness.
Expositor's Greek Testament
Luke 12:50. βάπτισμα:before the fire canbe effectuallykindled there must
come for the kindler His own baptism of blood, of which therefore Jesus

naturally speaks here with emotion.—πῶς συνέχομαι, how am I pressedon
every side, either with fervent desire (Euthy., Theophy., De Wette, Schanz,
etc.), or with fear, shrinking from the cup (Meyer, J. Weiss, Holtzmann,
Hahn).
Cambridge Bible for Schools andColleges
50. a baptism to be baptized with] Matthew 20:22.
how am I straitened] i.e. How heavy is the burden that rests upon me; how
vast are the obstacles throughwhich I have to press onwards.
It is the same spirit that spoke in “Whatthou doest, do quickly.” The word is
found in 2 Corinthians 5:14; Php 1:23.
till it be accomplished]John 19:28;John 19:30.
Bengel's Gnomen
Luke 12:50. Βάπτισμα δε) But a baptism, and that too a baptism completely
consummated, must precede the fire, and the kindling of it.—ἔχω
βαπτισθῆναι)Comp. Mark 10:38.—πῶς συνέχομαι, how am I straitened
[severelypressed])John 12:27 [“Now is My soul troubled,” etc.]; Matthew
26:37. The nearerHis passionapproached, the greaterwere the emotions by
which He was affected. The preceding formula, What will I? indicates the
mere will and inclination by itself; but the words, How am I straitened(with
which comp. Php 1:23; 2 Corinthians 5:14), implies the will struggling forth
through opposing objects and obstructions.—τελεσθῇ, itshall have been
accomplished[finished, consummated]) Comp. John 19:30 [τετέλεσται, It is
finished or consummated].
Pulpit Commentary

Verse 50. - But I have a baptism to he baptized with; and how am I straitened
till it be accomplished!The baptism he here speaks ofwas the baptism of pain
and suffering and death - what we callthe Passionofthe Lord. He knew it
must all be gone through, to bring about the blessedresult for which he left
his home in heaven; but he lookedon to it, nevertheless, with terror and
shrinking. "He is under pressure," says Godet, "to enterinto this suffering
because he is in haste to get out of it, mournfully impatient to have done with
a painful task." This passageofthe discourse of Jesus here has been called"a
prelude of Gethsemane."
Vincent's Word Studies
Am Istraitened
See on Luke 4:38, and compare 2 Corinthians 5:14; Philippians 1:23. Wyc.,
constrained.
PRECEPTAUSTIN RESOURCES
BRUCE HURT MD
Luke 12:50 "But I have a baptism to undergo, and how distressedI am until
it is accomplished!
KJV Luke 12:50 But I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how am I
straitened till it be accomplished!
But I have a baptism to undergo Mt 20:17-22;Mark 10:32-38
how distressedI am until it is accomplishedPs 40:8; Jn 4:34; 7:6-8,10;10:39-
41; 12:27,28;18:11; 19:30;Acts 20:22
Luke 12 Resources- Multiple Sermons and Commentaries

Luke 12:49-59 The Divisive Jesus - Steven Cole
Luke 12:49-53 Jesus, the GreatDivider - John MacArthur
JESUS DESCRIBES HIS COMING
CRUCIFIXION AS A BAPTISM
Similar passagefound in Mark
Mark 10:38 But Jesus saidto them (James and John, the two sons of Zebedee
Mk 10:35), “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the
cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am
baptized?”
But I have a baptism to undergo - He has already been baptized by John in
the Jordan(Mt 3:13-17), but His crucifixion is the baptism He is describing.
He referred to His crucifixion metaphorically here as a baptism and in
Matthew 20 as drinking a cup...
As Jesus was about to go up to Jerusalem, He took the twelve disciples aside
by themselves, and on the wayHe said to them, 18 “Behold, we are going up to
Jerusalem;and the Son of Man will be delivered to the chief priests and
scribes, and they will condemn Him to death, 19 and will hand Him over to
the Gentiles to mock and scourge andcrucify Him, and on the third day He
will be raisedup.” 20 Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came to Jesus
with her sons, bowing down and making a request of Him. 21 And He said to
her, “What do you wish?” She *said to Him, “Command that in Your
kingdom these two sons of mine may sit one on Your right and one on Your
left.” 22 But Jesus answered, “Youdo not know what you are asking. Are you
able to drink the cup that I am about to drink?” They *saidto Him, “We are
able.” (Mt 20:17-22)
Baptism (908)(baptisma)is the result of the act of dipping, plunging,
immersing, washing. something or someone. The suffix -ma indicates the
result of dipping or sinking or baptizing while baptismos is the actof
baptizing. In the present use the picture is of Jesus being "immersed in" and
overwhelmed by the agony of the Cross. "He will be plunged into the flood of

horrible distress." (Hendriksen)See His praying in the Garden Lk 22:44
"And being in agonyHe was praying very fervently; and His sweatbecame
like drops of blood, falling down upon the ground." (see Luke 22:39-46)
And remember how Jesus opens this sectionwithe the words "I have come to"
and in this baptism we see the consummation of the reasonfor His coming! He
came to die! But not to die in vain, but to die that men might live again!
Stein - The term “baptism” is used in Greek literature to describe being
overwhelmed with catastrophe. Yet the key for understanding this metaphor
is found in the parallel in Mark 10:38–39. Here “baptism” forms a parallelism
with the “cup” Jesus was to drink and refers to Jesus’passionand death. That
this image is found in two different Gospels indicates that it was well-known
and that the early church would have understood both Jesus’baptism and
drinking the cup as references to his death. (Ibid)
To undergo (907)(baptizo from bapto = coverwholly with a fluid; stain or dip
as with dye; used of the smith tempering the red-hot steel, used of dyeing the
hair; of a ship that "dipped" = sank)has a literal and a figurative meaning in
the NT. The literal meaning is to submerge, to dip or immerse as in water. A
study of the 77 NT uses (See below)reveals that most of the uses of baptizo in
the Gospels andActs are associatedwith literal waterbaptism. There is a
similar figurative use in Isaiah21:4 "My mind reels, horror overwhelms (Heb
= baath =to be overtakenby sudden terror,; Lxx = baptizo) me; The twilight I
longed for has been turned for me into trembling."
The psalms use the metaphor of water overwhelming one's soul - Ps. 42:7,
"All Your breakers and Your waves have rolled over me" and Ps. 124:4,
"Then the waters would have engulfed us, The stream would have swept over
our soul."
MacArthur on a baptism to undergo - Baptism refers to His immersion under
divine judgment (cf. Mark 10:38); before He judged unbelievers for their sin,
Christ Himself was judged by God for the sins of believers. That took place at
the cross whenHe “redeemedus from the curse of the Law, having become a
curse for us” (Gal. 3:13; cf. Isa. 53:5–6, 11–12;Rom. 4:25; 2 Cor. 5:21; 1 Peter
2:24). In that verse Paul expressedthe essential, non-negotiable doctrine of

penal substitution, which “states that God gave Himself in the personof his
Son to suffer instead of us the death, punishment and curse due to fallen
humanity as the penalty for sin. This understanding of the cross of Christ
stands at the very heart of the gospel” (Jeffrey, Steve, MichaelOvey, and
Andrew Sach, Piercedfor Our Transgressions[Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway,
2007], 21). (MacArthur NT Commentary - Luke, page 171)
NET Note on baptism - The figure of the baptism is variously interpreted, as
some see a reference (1)to martyrdom or (2) to inundation with God's
judgment. The OT background, however, suggests the latter sense:Jesus is
about to be uniquely inundated with God's judgment as He is rejected,
persecuted, and killed (Ps 18:4, 16;42:7; 69:1–2;Isa 8:7–8;30:27–28;Jonah
2:3–6).
How distressedI am until it is accomplished- John MacArthur paraphrases
Jesus'words - "I have an immersion into divine wrath and how distressedI
am until it's accomplished." (Jesus,the Great Divider") He adds in his
commentary note "Although Gethsemane was the most agonizing time of
anticipation, Jesus lived His life in a perpetual Gethsemane. There was never
a time when He was not aware of the suffering that lay before Him."
Distressed(4912)(sunecho/synechofrom sun = with + echo = hold) literally
means hold together, to press together, to press hard as did the crowd in (Lk
8:45). To hold in custody (Lk 22:63). In Php 1:23 Paul says "hard-pressed
from both directions, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, for that
is very much better." Jesus uses the present tense, indicating that the thought
of Calvary was continuously on His mind! It was an incessantsqueezing, a
relentless pressure, and would be until it was finally accomplished.
MacArthur writes - He is pressedbetweenthe suffering and the purpose,
betweenthe anticipation of the pain and the plan, betweenHis own will and
the Father's will, but He never wavered when He said in the garden, "Father,
if it's your will, let this cup pass from Me." He immediately respondedby
saying, "Nevertheless, notMy will but yours be done." (Mt 26:39)"I've come
to castfire," He said, "and it's going to be kindled by the cross and that's
going to set the fire of judgment." That will be the dividing point. That is

where all men are divided. All men are divided at the cross, both in eternity
and in time.
Accomplished(finished) (5055)(teleofrom telos = a goal, an end, a fulfillment)
means to bring to an end as one brings a process, a course, a task or an
undertaking to the end, not merely by bringing it to end but bringing it to
perfection. The idea is to achieve a goalor to conclude it successfully. This
meaning is especiallypoignant in the context of Jesus'life purpose which was
to die on the Cross, the purpose He pointed to and which He accomplished
(see John 19:30 below). This same meaning of fulfilling or bringing about the
completion or achievementof a goalor objective is also a prominent meaning
in the Revelation(e.g. Re 11:7-note;Re 17:17-note)
In Luke Jesus usedteleo to refer the Cross
Luke 18:31 Then He took the twelve aside and said to them, “Behold, we are
going up to Jerusalem, and all things which are written through the prophets
about the Son of Man will be accomplished.
Luke 22:37 “ForI tell you that this which is written must be fulfilled in Me,
‘AND HE WAS NUMBERED WITHTRANSGRESSORS’;for that which
refers to Me has its fulfillment.”
John 19:28 After this, Jesus, knowing that all things had already been
accomplished, to fulfill the Scripture, *said, “I am thirsty.”
John 19:30 (see commentary) Therefore whenJesus had receivedthe sour
wine, He said, “It is finished!” (tetelestai= perfecttense of teleo) And He
bowed His head and gave up His spirit.
RelatedResource:Devotionalon It Is Finished - Tetelestai.
As MacArthur says "The Lord was hard-pressedbetweenthe suffering and
the purpose; betweenthe pain and the plan; betweenenduring the cross “for
the joy set before Him” (Heb. 12:2) and desiring to be restoredto the glory
that He had had in the Father’s presence before coming into the world (John
17:5); betweenHis own will and the Father’s. Yet He never wavered, and at

the end said in the garden, “NotMy will, but Yours be done” (Luke 22:42)."
(MacArthur NT Commentary- Luke, page 172)
BARCLAY
THE COMING OF THE SWORD (Luke 12:49-53)
12:49-53 Jesus said, "Icame to castfire upon the earth. And what do I wish?
Would that it were alreadykindled! There is an experience through which I
must pass;and now I am under tension until it is accomplished!Do you think
I came to give peace in the earth? Notthat, I tell you, but division! From now
on in one house there will be five people divided--three againsttwo, and two
againstthree. They will be divided, father againstson, and sonagainstfather,
mother againstdaughter, and daughter againstmother, mother-in-law against
her daughter-in-law, and daughter-in-law againsther mother-in-law."
To those who were learning to regardJesus as the Messiah, the anointed one
of God, these words would come as a bleak shock. Theyregardedthe Messiah
as conqueror and king, and the Messianic ageas a golden time.
(i) In Jewishthought fire is almost always the symbol of judgment. So, then,
Jesus regardedthe coming of his kingdom as a time of judgment. The Jews
firmly believed that God would judge other nations by one standard and
themselves by another; that the very factthat a man was a Jew would be
enough to absolve him. However much we may wish to eliminate the element
of judgment from the message ofJesus it remains stubbornly and unalterably
there.
(ii) The King James Version and the RevisedStandard translate Luke 12:50.
"I have a baptism to be baptised with." The Greek verb baptizein (Greek
#907)means to dip. In the passive it means to be submerged. Often it is used
metaphorically. Forinstance, it is used of a ship sunk beneaththe waves. It
can be used of a man submerged in drink and therefore dead-drunk. It canbe

used of a scholarsubmerged (or sunk, as we say) by an examiner's questions.
Above all it is used of a man submerged in some grim and terrible experience-
-someone who can say, "All the waves and billows are gone over me."
That is the way in which Jesus uses it here. "I have," he said, "a terrible
experience through which I must pass;and life is full of tensionuntil I pass
through it and emerge triumphantly from it." The cross was everbefore his
eyes. How different from the Jewishidea of God's King! Jesus came, notwith
avenging armies and flying banners, but to give his life a ransom for many.
There was a Knight of Bethlehem,
Whose wealthwas tears and sorrows,
His men-at-arms were little lambs,
His trumpeters were sparrows.
His castle was a woodenCross
On which he hung so high;
His helmet was a crownof thorns,
Whose crestdid touch the sky.
(iii) His coming would inevitably mean division; in point of fact it did. That
was one of the greatreasons why the Romans hated Christianity--it tore
families in two. Over and over again a man had to decide whether he loved
better his kith and kin or Christ. The essenceofChristianity is that loyalty to
Christ has to take precedence overthe dearestloyalties of this earth. A man
must be prepared to count all things but loss for the excellenceofJesus Christ.
A. B. BRUCE
Verse 50

Luke 12:50. βάπτισμα:before the fire canbe effectuallykindled there must
come for the kindler His own baptism of blood, of which therefore Jesus
naturally speaks here with emotion.— πῶς συνέχομαι, how am I pressedon
every side, either with fervent desire (Euthy., Theophy., De Wette, Schanz,
etc.), or with fear, shrinking from the cup (Meyer, J. Weiss, Holtzmann,
Hahn).
baptism
Luke 12:50
12:50 baptism. The baptism of which He speaks is His own impending
immersion in the sufferings of crucifixion and hell (Matthew 20:18,22).
https://www.icr.org/books/defenders/6173/
DON FORTNER
“How I Am Straitened!”
Text: Luke 12:50
Subject: Our Savior’s Voluntary Obedience
Date: Sunday Evening – January 5, 2003
Tape # X-40a
Readings: Bobbie Estes and Bob Duff
Introduction:

Tonight, I want us to look at Luke 12:50.
Luke 12:50 But I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how am I
straitened till it be accomplished!
· “But I have a baptism to be baptized with.”—Our Savior here compares
that which he was to endure, the pain, the agony, the shame, the ignominy of
the death he must die as a baptism with which he was appointed of God to be
baptized with—Immersed in!—Covered with!—Overwhelmed by!—Be
plunged into!—Rise out of! Then, he says…
“The sufferings of Christ were so many and large, that he was as it were
coveredwith them, and he continued under them for a time, and under the
powerof death and the grave, when being raisedfrom thence, he dies no
more, death hath no more dominion over him. This baptism he "had", there
was a necessityofhis being baptized with it, on his Father’s account;it was
his will, his decree, and the command he enjoined him as Mediator; it was the
portion he allotted him, and the cup he gave unto him: and on his ownpart,
he obliged himself unto it, in the counseland covenantof peace;for this
purpose he came into this world, and had substituted himself in the room and
steadof his people; and it was necessaryon their part, for their sins could not
be atoned for without sufferings, nor without the sufferings of Christ;
moreover, the promises and prophecies of the Old Testamentconcerning
them, made them necessary.”
– (John Gill)
· “How am I straitened till it be accomplished!”— These words express
both the trouble and distress of our Savior’s heart and mind, at the
apprehension of his sufferings and death as our Substitute. He was in distress
like a man with a mighty enemy approaching him, like a woman, whose time

of travail has come. Though she dreads it, yet she longs to have it finished.
These words signify, our Redeemer’s restlessdesire to accomplishhis death at
Calvary as our Substitute, that the justice of God might be satisfied, the law
might be fulfilled, and the salvationof his people be obtained.
This eagerdesire he displayed in many ways.—Inhis ready compliance with
his Father’s proposalin eternity.—In his frequent appearancesin human
form in the Old Testament.—Insending one messengerafteranother, to
announce his coming.—In his willingness ever to be about his Father’s
business.—Inrebuking Peter, when he would have dissuaded him from all
thoughts of suffering.—In setting his face like a flint to go up Jerusalem, in
order to suffer and die there.—In his earnestwish to eatthe last passoverwith
his disciples.—Inthe joy that possessedhim, when Judas was gone out, in
order to betray him.—In going out to Gethsemane.—Inhis prayer there.—In
willingly surrendering himself up into the hands of his enemies.—And in
cheerfully laying down his life. This willingness to suffer and die at Calvary,
this willingness the be made sin for us and bear all the hell of God’s holy
wrath for us is amazing! It arose from his greatlove for us and his concernfor
the glory of God I saving us. For the joy set before him of seeing us savedby
his death, he was straiteneduntil it was accomplished. He would not turn
aside from it, because his heart was in it. His death was our life. Therefore he
willingly took the cup of wrath that we might take the cup of salvation!
Well might the Lord God say to his prophet and to us…
Isaiah42:1-4 Beholdmy servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my
soul delighteth; I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment
to the Gentiles. 2 He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard
in the street. 3 A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall
he not quench: he shall bring forth judgment unto truth. 4 He shall not fail

nor be discouraged, till he have setjudgment in the earth: and the isles shall
wait for his law.
Exodus 21:1-6 "Now these are the judgments which thou shalt setbefore
them. (2) If thou buy an Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve:and in the
seventh he shall go out free for nothing. (3) If he came in by himself, he shall
go out by himself: if he were married, then his wife shall go out with him. (4)
If his masterhave given him a wife, and she have born him sons or daughters;
the wife and her children shall be her master's, and he shall go out by himself.
(5) And if the servant shall plainly say, I love my master, my wife, and my
children; I will not go out free:(6) Then his mastershall bring him unto the
judges; he shall also bring him to the door, or unto the door post; and his
master shall bore his ear through with an awl; and he shall serve him for
ever."
That is exactly what the Lord Jesus Christ, the Sonof God did for us in the
covenantof grace. Christ became Jehovah’s voluntary Servant, that he might
redeem and save his people by his free obedience to God as our Substitute.
This is what Isaiah describes in our text.
Isaiah50:5-7 "The Lord GOD hath opened mine ear, and I was not
rebellious, neither turned away back. (6) I gave my back to the smiters, and
my cheeksto them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame
and spitting. (7) Forthe Lord GOD will help me; therefore shall I not be
confounded: therefore have I setmy face like a flint, and I know that I shall
not be ashamed."
In these verses we have a description of our Lord’s sacrificialobedience unto
death, even the death of the cross as our voluntary Surety and Substitute.

The death of our Lord Jesus Christ is the most wonderful, astounding,
magnificent event in the history of the universe. Nothing that is, has been, or
shall hereafterbe canbe comparedto it. Yet, as he was suffering the wrath of
God, bearing the sins of his people, dying as the voluntary Substitute for
guilty, hell-deserving, hell-bent sinners such as we are, we hear the Son of God
expressing the most woeful, unexplainable lamentation imaginable.
Lamentations 1:12 "Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by? behold, and see if
there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me, wherewith
the LORD hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger."
When I hear those words falling from the lips of the Sonof God, as he hangs
upon the cursedtree, I simply cannot avoid asking a question. Of whom does
the bleeding Lamb of God speak these words? To whom is the death of Christ
meaningless and insignificant?
1. Nothing in all the universe is more wonderful and magnificent in the eyes
of God than the death of his dear Son. The Savior himself declares,
“Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life!”
2. The angels of heavenever look into the mystery and wonder of redemption
by the blood of Christ with astonishment.
Illustration: The Cherubim Facing the Mercy-Seat
3. God’s servants, faithful gospelpreachers are so overwhelmedwith the
wonders of redemption and the glory of the Redeemerthat they never cease to
study, glory in, and preachthe cross ofour Lord Jesus Christ.

Isaiah6:1-6 "In the yearthat king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting
upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. (2) Above it
stoodthe seraphims: eachone had six wings;with twain he coveredhis face,
and with twain he coveredhis feet, and with twain he did fly. (3) And one
cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole
earth is full of his glory. (4) And the posts of the door moved at the voice of
him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke. (5) Then said I, Woe is
me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the
midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seenthe King, the LORD
of hosts. (6) Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coalin his
hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar:"
Galatians 6:14 "But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our
Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the
world."
1 Corinthians 2:2 "ForI determined not to know any thing among you, save
Jesus Christ, and him crucified."
4. Redeemedsinners on the earth cherishnothing, delight in nothing, marvel
at nothing, like we do the death of our Lord Jesus Christ for us.
Galatians 2:20 "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but
Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith
of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me."
1 John 3:16 "Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his
life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren."

1 John 4:10 "Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and
sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins."
5. The ransomedin glory appearto think of nothing and speak ofnothing
exceptthe dying love of the Lamb in the midst of the throne.
Revelation5:9-12 "And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to
take the book, and to open the seals thereof:for thou wastslain, and hast
redeemedus to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and
people, and nation; (10) And hast made us unto our Godkings and priests:
and we shall reign on the earth. (11) And I beheld, and I heard the voice of
many angels round about the throne and the beasts and the elders:and the
number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of
thousands; (12) Saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain
to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and
glory, and blessing."
6. Hell itself looks upon the death of Christ as a wonderful, unexplainable,
mysterious thing. I am certain that this is one thing that Satan himself did not
understand - That Christ would triumph over him and crush his head by his
death upon the cross!Else he would never have put it into the heart of Judas
to betray the Master.
7. Yet, there are some to whom our darling Savior speaks,as it were with
astonishment, to whom his death is meaningless, insignificant, nothing!

Lamentations 1:12 "Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by? behold, and see if
there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me, wherewith
the LORD hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger."
Who are these people to whom the death of Christ is nothing? Who is it that
thinks little of the sin-atoning death of the Lord Jesus Christ? Our Lord is
here addressing himself to everyone who passes by him, passes by his
sacrifice, passes by his death as the sinners’ Substitute.
· O unbelieving, Christless soul, it is you!
· O cold, calculating, heartless, preacher, youwho pass by the crucified
Christ and take to your lips meaningless, insignificantthings, it is you!
Church Incorporation-Abortion-Politics!
· Christ crucified is mundane, meaningless and insignificant only to
unregenerate, unbelieving souls.
It is my heart’s prayer that before you leave here tonight, the death of our
Lord Jesus Christ will be the most important thing in all the world to you. I
pray that you and I may become totally consumedwith the crucified Christ,
that our hearts, our lives, every fiber of our souls may be constantly
dominated by the death of Christ as our sin-atoning Savior. To that end, I ask
your attention, as I endeavorto show you what the Word of God reveals about
free, voluntary, willing obedience to the will of God.—“How am I straitened!”
Proposition:Our Lord Jesus Christ declares plainly that his death at Calvary
was the free, voluntary act of his own obedience to his Father’s will, by which
he won his Father’s love as a man, as our Mediatorand Surety (John 10:17-
18).

John 10:17-18 "Thereforedoth my Father love me, because I lay down my
life, that I might take it again. (18) No man taketh it from me, but I lay it
down of myself. I have powerto lay it down, and I have powerto take it again.
This commandment have I receivedof my Father."
Divisions: Let me show you three things from these words which fell from
him of whom it is written, “grace is poured into thy lips.”
1. The Commandment of the Father
2. The Obedience of the Son
3. The Love of the Fatherto the Son
I. THE COMMANDMENT OF THE FATHER
The Lord Jesus Christ speaks ofhimself here not as the eternalSon of God,
but as the Good Shepherd, the Mediator, the Surety of his people. He says,
“This commandment have I receivedof my Father.” With those words he
declares that his death as our Substitute was arrangedby God before the
world began (Ps. 40:7; Heb. 10:7-10).
Psalms 40:7 "Thensaid I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written
of me,"
Hebrews 10:7-10 "Thensaid I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is
written of me,) to do thy will, O God. (8) Above when he said, Sacrifice and
offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin thou wouldestnot, neither
hadst pleasure therein; which are offered by the law; (9) Then said he, Lo, I

come to do thy will, O God. He taketh awaythe first, that he may establishthe
second. (10)By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the
body of Jesus Christ once for all."
The death of Christ was not accomplishedby the arrangementof men, or by
the arrangementof hell, but by the arrangement of the Triune God (Acts
2:23; 1 Pet. 1:18-20).
Acts 2:23 "Him, being delivered by the determinate counseland
foreknowledgeofGod, ye have taken, and by wickedhands have crucified and
slain:"
1 Peter1:18-20 "Forasmuchas ye know that ye were not redeemedwith
corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversationreceivedby
tradition from your fathers; (19) But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a
lamb without blemish and without spot: (20) Who verily was foreordained
before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these lasttimes for
you,"
The death of Christ at Calvary was accomplishedby…
A. The Arrangement of An EternalCovenant.
B. The Arrangement of SovereignProvidence.
C. The Arrangement of Infinite Love!
John 3:16 "ForGod so loved the world, that he gave his only begottenSon,
that whosoeverbelievethin him should not perish, but have everlasting life."

Romans 5:6-8 "Forwhen we were yet without strength, in due time Christ
died for the ungodly. (7) For scarcelyfora righteous man will one die: yet
peradventure for a goodman some would even dare to die. (8) But God
commendeth his love towardus, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died
for us."
II. THE OBEDIENCEOF CHRIST
John 10:17-18 "Ilay down my life, that I might take it again. (18) No man
taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have powerto lay it down, and
I have powerto take it again. This commandment have I receivedof my
Father."
The Lord Jesus Christ laid down his life voluntarily, as an actof free
obedience to his Father. No man forcedhim to die. God the Father did not
compel him to die, or take his life from him. Oh, No! Our Saviordied
voluntarily, by his own will.
Illustration: Abraham and Isaac (Gen. 22)
Our Redeemer’s deathwas accomplishedby his own will. “He poured out his
soul unto death!”
It is true, as we have seen, “it pleasedthe Father to bruise him.” The Father
cried, “Awake, O sword, againstOne that is my fellow. Smite the Shepherd!”
But Christ took the cup of wrath in his own hands. The Sonof God fell
willingly upon the swordof justice. Our Saviordied by his own will!

Illustration: “Whom seek ye?” (John18)
A. Christ laid down his life for the satisfactionofjustice.
B. Christ laid down his life as the Substitute for chosensinners.
C. Christ laid down his life for the glory of God.
D. Christ laid down his life because of his love for us.
E. Christ laid down his life that he might take it again.
Romans 14:9 "Forto this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he
might be Lord both of the dead and living."
Philippians 2:5-11 "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
(6) Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with
God: (7) But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a
servant, and was made in the likeness ofmen: (8) And being found in fashion
as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the
death of the cross. (9)Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given
him a name which is above every name: (10)That at the name of Jesus every
knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under
the earth; (11) And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christis Lord,
to the glory of God the Father."
III. THE FATHER’S LOVE FOR HIS SON
Look at the his words again. Our Saviorsays, “Therefore doth my Father love
me, because I lay down my life.” I know of nothing in heavenor earth so sweet

to meditate upon and so impossible to preachabout as the Father’s love for
his darling, dying Son. Hear it again. “Therefore doth my Father love me,
because I lay down my life.”
A. The Father loved him for the loveliness of his Godhead.
B. The Father loved him for the beauty of his holy humanity.
C. The Fatherloved him because he laid down his life for us!
D. The Fatherloved him as the glorious, saving, effectualMediatorof his
people.
God himself never saw anything in all the world so lovely, so infinitely worthy
of his love, admiration, and honor, as the death of his dearSon upon the
cursed tree for his people. “Herein is love!” Becauseofthis greatact of love,
because ofthis greatact of Christ’s free obedience to the Fatheras our Surety,
the Fatherhas given his Soneverything!
Isaiah53:4-12 "Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows:yet
we did esteemhim stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. (5) But he was
wounded for our transgressions,he was bruised for our iniquities: the
chastisementof our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
(6) All we like sheephave gone astray; we have turned every one to his own
way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. (7) He was
oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he openednot his mouth: he is brought as
a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheepbefore her shearers is dumb, so he
openeth not his mouth. (8) He was takenfrom prison and from judgment: and
who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the
living: for the transgressionofmy people was he stricken. (9) And he made his
grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no
violence, neither was any deceitin his mouth. (10) Yet it pleasedthe LORD to
bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an

offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the
pleasure of the LORD shall prosperin his hand. (11) He shall see of the travail
of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shallmy righteous servant
justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities. (12) Therefore will I divide him
a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because
he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the
transgressors;and he bare the sin of many, and made intercessionfor the
transgressors."
John 3:35 "The Fatherloveth the Son, and hath given all things into his
hand."
John 17:2 "As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give
eternal life to as many as thou hast given him."
Application: Let us learn from these words of our Lord and Saviorthat…
1. Though God’s child may suffer greatlyin this world, often carrying a
heavy cross and having the Father’s face hidden from him, yet he is the
darling objectof his Father’s love.
Neverdid the Fathermore fully love his Sonthan when he was heaping upon
him the fury of his wrath!
2. God honors those who honor his Son.
The only way a sinner can honor the Sonof God is to trust him.

3. The only way of access to Godis Christ.
4. Our only worthiness of the Father’s love and approval is Christ.
John 17:22-26 "And the glory which thou gavestme I have given them; that
they may be one, even as we are one: (23)I in them, and thou in me, that they
may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent
me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me. (24) Father, I will that they
also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold
my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the
foundation of the world. (25)O righteous Father, the world hath not known
thee: but I have knownthee, and these have knownthat thou hast sent me.
(26) And I have declaredunto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love
wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them."
5. God loves us!
· Godthe Father gave his Son to die for us!
· Godthe Son laid down his life for us.
· Godthe Spirit now sprinkles us with the blood of Christ and declares us
- “Redeemed!”
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 "Ye are not your own? (20) Forye are bought with a
price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are
God's."

AMEN!
The Passion-Baptism
By G. Campbell Morgan
I came to castfire upon the earth; and what do I desire, if it is already
kindled? But I have a baptism to be baptised with; and how am I straitened
till it be accomplished. Luke 12:49, 50
In the calendarof the Christian Church this is spokenof as Passion
Sunday. The day has been devoted to the Church's contemplation of those
sorrows ofour Lord which, in human history and to human observation,
culminated in the Cross.
I propose to ask you to meditate with me through the medium of these
words of Jesus, onour Lord's thought of his Cross, in those days when His
face was stedfastlysettoward Jerusalem.
Perhaps there is no passagein the gospelnarratives which has suffered
more difficulty of translationthan this. It is one in which absolutelyliteral
translation would almost result in misinterpretation. A reverent translation
into our more modern speech, greatlyhelps us. In Weymouth's Testamentthe
text reads thus:
I came to throw fire upon the earth, and what is My desire? Oh that it
were even now kindled! But I have a baptism to undergo; and how am I pent
up till it is accomplished!
These words constitute what I venture to describe as a soliloquy of Jesus.
By that I mean they were not addresseddirectly to the crowd; nor directly,
even to His own disciples. They occurin the midst of a set discourse, but they
stand alone. You can omit them entirely, and that particular discourse is not
interfered with, its meaning is not hampered, it abides. In the midst of it He

broke out into these words. I would venture, very reverently, to describe this
soliloquy of Jesus as a heartburst.
Let us look at the chapter. It opens thus, "In the meantime, when the
many thousands of the multitude were gatheredtogether.... He beganto say
unto His disciples first of all." He was speaking in the presence ofthe
multitudes, but first of all to His disciples. The discourse runs quietly on until
we come to the thirteenth verse where we find the first interruption, "One of
the multitude said unto Him, Master, bid my brother divide the inheritance
with me." The Lord answeredwith a parable. At verse twenty-two He
resumes the discourse to His disciples, "And He said unto His disciples...";
and proceeds quietly, until He is againdisturbed, not this time by one of the
multitude, but by one of the disciples, "Petersaid, Lord, speakestthouthis
parable unto us, or even unto all?" The Lord answeredPeterwith a parable.
Now let us link verse forty-eight with verse fifty-one, and by so doing we find
the true connectionof the discourse. Betweenthose two verses lie the words of
my text.
If all this is somewhattedious, it is absolutelyimportant. It is only as we
can getback into the very atmosphere of the occasionupon which our Lord
uttered these words that we canhope to come into full sympathy with them, or
into anything like intelligent understanding of their meaning.
Earlier in the gospelstoryit is declaredthat He setHis face stedfastlyto go
to Jerusalem. He is on His way to the Cross. He is traversing the Via Dolorosa.
His own soulis filled with sorrow, and He is talking to His disciples. A man in
the multitude interrupts Him, "Master, bid my brother divide the inheritance
with me." He rebukes him for his sordidness and resumes His discourse. Peter
interrupts Him. He answers Peterin a parable; and there breaks in upon His
soul anew His perpetual consciousnessofhow dull His disciples and the
multitudes are. The man who said"Bid my brother divide the inheritance
with me" is typical of the crowd, and they do not understand Him at all. They
imagine He is there to be a divider of property, a mere socialreformer. His
own disciples did not understand. Petersaid, "Is this parable for us, or for the
rest? Is there no difference betweenus?" While patiently instructing their
dullness, the abiding sense of their dullness and of His own limitation, finds

expressionin a greatheartburst; "I came to castfire upon the earth; and
what do I desire, if it is already kindled? But I have a baptism to be baptized
with; and how am I straitened till it be accomplished."
Jesus was straitened, so straitenedthat the disciples could not understand
Him; so straitened that the jostling crowd misinterpreted Him. Reverently, let
me saythe whole thing. He was eagerfor His Cross, because He knew that
apart from that He could not fulfil His mission.
Mark the opening words of this soliloquy. "I came to castfire upon the
earth." In the third chapter of this gospel, Luke tells us how His forerunner,
John the Baptist, had declaredto the multitudes who listened to him, "I
indeed baptize you with water; but there cometh He that is mightier than I,
the latchetof Whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose:He shall baptize you
with the Holy Ghostand with fire." I turn to the secondtreatise of Luke,
which we call the Acts of the Apostles, and I listen to Jesus now on the other
side of His Cross and resurrection, and He says, referring to the very words of
the forerunner, "John indeed baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized
with the Holy Ghostnot many days hence." I turn over the page and come to
the secondchapter, "And when the day of Pentecostwas now come, they were
all togetherin one place. And suddenly, there came from heaven a sound as of
the rushing of a mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were
sitting. And there appeared unto them tongues parting asunder, like as of fire;
and it satupon eachone of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost,
and beganto speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance."
That was the historic fulfilment of the prediction of John; the Holy Ghost
came and they were baptized, and the symbol of His coming was fire.
Betweenthe prophecy of the forerunner and the historic fulfilment
occurredthe soliloquy of Jesus, in which in effectHe said, "I cannotfulfil
John's prediction, I cannotcastthe fire that purifies, energizes, and remakes;
that enlightens the darkenedintellect, enkindles the deadenedemotion,
energizes the degradedwill, until I have been baptized with My own

baptism." Pentecostcannotprecede the Cross. Thatis the theme of the
soliloquy.
Let us reverently tarry in the presence ofthe great words, consciousin
every word that I utter, and to which you in your reverent patience will listen,
that the last things cannever be said about that baptism. Yet, let us listen to
these words of Jesus becausein them there is an unfolding of truth about the
passionand the Cross which is full of value.
This fact of the coming Cross was perpetually present to the mind of
Christ. He never told His disciples about His Cross until after Peter's great
confession;but there are evidences in the early story that He knew of it, and
that He was moving toward it, not as a victim, but as a Victor; not yielding
Himself to an ultimate disasterbecause He was helpless, but moving with
determination towardthe ultimate process, andthe final victory.
John tells us that at the commencementof His public ministry He entered
the temple and cleansedit. They challengedHim; "Whatsign shewestThou
unto us, seeing that Thou doest these things?" His answerwas strange and
mysterious. He said, "Destroythis temple, and in three days I will raise it up."
They, materialized as they were, imagined that He was speaking ofthe temple
in the midst of which men were still worshipping. In the days of Pentecostal
illumination that speechof Jesus was understoodby His disciples, and writing
long afterwards in the light of the spiritual interpretation, John declared"He
spake of the temple of His body." I look back at that scene and I see Him
cleansing the temple; and find that when men askedHim what was His
authority for so doing, He answered, notso that they could then understand,
but out of His own consciousness, Myauthority for cleansing the temple, and
restoring it to its true purpose is the authority of My coming Cross and My
ultimate resurrection.
Again, sitting in the quietness of a starlit night upon the roof of an Eastern
house, He conversedwith Nicodemus. In honestand splendid perplexity, the
inquirer asked, "How canthese things be? How can a man be born when he is
old?" Jesus, borrowing an illustration from the ancient literature of the
religion to which this man belonged, said, "As Moses lifted up the serpent in

the wilderness, evenso must the Son of man be lifted up: that whosoever
believeth may in Him have eternal life." Nicodemus could not understand the
answerthen, but in effectthe Mastersaid, "You as Me, how a man can be
born again, how he can receive new life which shall master and negative all his
old life, and My reply is that only by the way of My death, only by My lifting
up on the Cross shall I ever be able to communicate My life. You cannot see
My life, without My dying. In its truth and grace and glory you never can
share it save as I die." The Cross was in His heart when He talkedwith
Nicodemus.
Passing overthe earlier days, we come to the glorious scene on the mount
of transfiguration; and the theme of His conversationwith the heavenly
visitors, Moses and Elijah, was that of the exodus which He should
accomplish, His Cross and His resurrection.
When the Greeks found Him, and the disciples told Him, "The Greeks
desire to see Thee," He said this strange and startling thing, "Excepta grain
of wheat fall into the earth and die, it abideth by itself alone; but if it die, it
bareth much fruit. He that loveth His life loseth it; and he that hateth his life
in this world shall keepit unto life eternal." That is to say, He had declared
that if the Greeks desiredto see Him and enter into understanding of what He
was they could never do so until He was dead and risen. In newness oflife won
out of death would they behold Him.
These are illustrations takenalmost at haphazard from the ministry of
Jesus showing that the Cross was everpresentin His mind.
In this soliloquy He tells us why it was ever present, as He reveals His own
estimate, first as to its necessity;and secondly, insofaras we are able to grasp
it, as to its nature.
Let us notice first then the teaching of this word of Jesus concerning the
necessityfor His Cross. "I am straitened." The difficulty here is lest, in
attempting exposition, by multiplicity of words one should darken counsel. I
find many expositors teachthat our Lord was here speaking of His own
sorrows. The word "straitened," however, revealsthe reasonofthe sorrows,
which is infinitely more than a declarationof the fact. "I am straitened";that

is I am confined, imprisoned, shut up, limited; or as Dr. Weymouth has it
"pent up."
It was a remarkable thing for Him to say. There He stoodamid His
disciples, a fair and perfect Example; there He stood, the final moral Teacher
of all the centuries, and yet He said, "I am straitened";I cannot do My work,
I cannot complete My work; I am unable to communicate My life, the
dynamic force that will enable men to obey the teaching, and to imitate the
Example.
He was straitened in His teaching. "I have many things to sayunto you,
but ye cannot bear them yet." He was straitenedin His work. "Greaterworks
than these shall ye do, because Igo to My Father." There He stoodin the
midst of a world full of sorrow and sighing and sin, longing to castthat fire on
the earth which should purify and energize and remake, yet unable to do it;
quite able to teach, to present the ideal, but these were not the things for
which He had finally come, for these are quite useless alone.
If I am told today that it is my business to preachthe ethic of Jesus, and
that is enough; if I am told that all the Christian preacherought to do is to call
men to imitation of the greatExample, and that is sufficient; my reply can
only be that such opinion is out of harmony with the opinion of Jesus Himself.
He did here clearly affirm, that while He was a Teacherand an Example, and
only these, He was straitened, unable to do the ultimate thing for which He
had come, unable to accomplishthe greatwork upon which His heart was set.
He came, not merely to give men an example, not merely to enunciate an ethic,
but to castfire, the symbol of purity, the symbol of power; fire for cleansing,
for energy;but He could not do so until He was baptized with His baptism.
When He uttered these words, He was waiting for, setting His face stedfastly
toward, that whelming in darkness, the inner and deepestmystery of which
none of us canever fathom or understand; and He said, "I cannotcomplete
My work, cannotscatterthis purifying, energizing fire, cannot open these
blind eyes, touch these cold hearts, and remake these shrivelled powers, save
by the way of My Cross."In these words we have revealedour Lord's sense of
the necessityfor the Cross.

More reverently still, and with softerfootfall, let us examine the light
which this soliloquy throws on the nature of the Cross. The passionbaptism
was to be a baptism through which it should be possible for Him to open those
blind eyes, and unstop those deaf ears, to make these men understand the
things He could not now make them understand. The word itself is suggestive,
"I have a baptism." There is only one meaning for the word, and that is
immersion or whelming. That toward which He was going was not an
experience in which He would stand by the awful silence of a dead sea, and
taste its brackish waters. Thatto which He was going was an hour in which
He would fathom its depths, and enter into spiritual and profound fulfilment
of that which had been written long before, "All thy waves and thy billows are
gone over me." Apart from that whelming in death and in darkness, He could
not complete His work; but by that way, He was able to scatterfire, and fulfil
His purpose.
If, then, by way of that whelming He was able to fulfil His purpose, we
know this much at least, that it was a baptism in which He was able, in some
mystic mystery of Divine wisdom and power, to deal with the forces that spoil
humanity, to deal with that which, in the spiritual life of man, has produced
blindness and inability.
There they stood about Him; His disciples looking at Him with wide open
eyes of loving human affection, yet never seeing Him; listening to the words
He said with reverent attention, and yet never hearing! The multitudes day by
day listened to His teaching, watchedHim healing, and imagined He had come
to divide property! He said, "Only by the wayof the Cross canI fulfil My
mission, but by wayof the Cross I will open these eyes that they may see, open
these ears that they may hear, touch these hearts that they may understand
the deep spiritual meaning of My mission. I have come for the remaking, not
of accidentals, but of essentials;and through the remaking of the essentials for
the remaking of the accidentals. Ihave not come to divide as betweenhuman
inheritances, but to put men right with God, and right with eachother, that so
they may divide their inheritances upon a spiritual basis."
It was only by the way of the Cross, according to His own estimate, that He
could accomplishthat work. Fire, illuminative, energizing; clarifying the

vision, making the pulses of the soul beat, and making eternity a reality; could
only be given, said Christ, by the way of His Cross. Whateverwe may think
about the Cross, that is what He thought about it. It was only by His Cross;by
His whelming in death; by His immersion in immeasurable and unutterable
anguish and sorrow;that He could take hold of the poisonwhich had spoiled
humanity, and negate it, make it not to be, cancelit, destroyit, and so liberate
the fire and remake humanity.
We cannotend with the text. Our Lord and Masteris no longersaying in
the midst of human history, "I came to castfire upon the earth; and what do I
desire? Would that it were already kindled? But I have a baptism to be
baptized with; and how am I straitened till it be accomplished."
These are not the words of Jesus here and now. In reverence I change his
words, as in His presence I utter them. He is saying now, "I came to castfire
upon the earth, and lo, it is kindled! I have castit because I have been
baptized with My baptism; and therefore, I am no longerstraitened." We
have not to do with the straitenedChrist, but with the unstraitened Christ.
We are not listening to the teaching of Christ under circumstances of
limitation because the Cross was not accomplished. The teaching is the same;
but we are dealing with Christ on the other side of the Cross, so that He is
able not only to teachbut to give powerto obey. We have not to deal with a
Christ, upon the wonder of Whose pure and strong and glorious life we look
with amazement and then become consciousofour own inability to copy Him
or be like Him. We have to do with a Christ Who brings to us an ideal that
captures our admiration; and Who then touches us with powerso that eachof
us says, "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me."
Let us ever bring into our religious thinking the historic sense, and let us
remember that our Lord passedto the passionbaptism, was whelmed beneath
the infinite mystery of those dark waters;and that He emergedfrom them in
Resurrection, ascendedon high, and led captivity captive, and receivedgifts
for men, and scatteredthe fire; and therefore, we may share that gift
immediately, and so enter into all the fulness of the meaning of His mission.
He is straitenedno longer.

Jesus was baptised in blood

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

What's hot

What's hot (20)

Similar to Jesus was baptised in blood

Similar to Jesus was baptised in blood (20)

More from GLENN PEASE

More from GLENN PEASE (20)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

Jesus was baptised in blood