I’m sure you didn’t think it was possible, but I finished up Matthew 3 today. In the last few verses (13-17), Christ goes down to the waters of Jordan to be baptized by John who, you’ll remember, held the Aaronic priesthood. If Christ, who was perfect, had need to be baptized, what does that say for us?
When Christ approached John about the baptism, John asked how Christ could need to be baptized by him, a mortal man. Obviously, John recognized the divine nature of the Savior. I am sure that, as he grew, Elizabeth testified to him of the conception and birth of the son of Mary. John seemed to have a witness of the Savior. And Christ told John that He must be baptized “to fulfill all righteousness.”
When we are baptized, our sins are washed away from us. We become clean and whole. For a few minutes or maybe even a few hours, we are perfect, even as the Savior was. Because the Savior Himself lived a perfect life, He had no need of the cleansing power of baptism.
In his journal of discourses, President Wilford Woodruff stated, “no man will receive of the celestial glory except it be through the ordinances of the House of God.” We know that we cannot enter the highest degree of glory unless we are sealed in the temple. We cannot be sealed unless – following the chain back in full – we are baptized. Thus, we must be baptized. We must go through the temple ourselves. We must be sealed.
Granted, we cannot be saved by ordinances alone. After all, President Kimball stated, “many Latter-day Saints, having been baptized and confirmed…having received their endowments and having been married and sealed in the holy temple, have felt that they were thus guaranteed the blessings of exaltation and eternal life. But this is not so….He must be faithful, overcoming his weaknesses.” (See Chapter 1 of the manual, and the discussions we had on it a few weeks ago.) Thus, we must walk by faith; baptism alone will not guarantee us celestial glory.
Many outside the church will argue that baptism is not a requirement, that the Lord would not be so exacting, that how you live is what is important. But one only needs to turn to Leviticus to see what law the gospel of Christ replaced. The law of Moses was extremely specific; in comparison, the law of Christ has very little in the way of outward performances. For those who cry that the Lord is almost completely merciful and will forgive the lack of ordinance work, I challenge them to examine the Old Testament again.
Baptism is a necessary part of returning to live with Heavenly Father. If even Christ, who was perfect, needed to be baptized to fulfill all righteousness, how much more so do we, in our imperfect state, need this ordinance? If nothing else, we have been commanded to follow Him. As He has done, even so ought we do.
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