Matthew 3v6

And were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins.

As we already saw earlier in this chapter, John the Baptist was in the wilderness preaching. Verse five says: “Then went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judaea, and all the region round about Jordan,” so we can see that there was something about John and his preaching that drew people like a magnet from far and wide, from the comfort of their own homes and own lives into the wilderness that John happened to be preaching in. Not only had they come a long way, but they were changed by his preaching to the point where they:

Confessed their sins
Were baptized (in the river Jordan)

Clearly we can see that the public confession of the sinful nature and specific sins was part of the outpouring of the ministry of John the Baptist. This needs to be accepted in the life of the believer – firstly that they are a sinner, and secondly that they are in need of a change – before any change can take place. The ultimate expression of this change of heart was their baptism in the river Jordan.

It is worth pointing out here that the word ‘baptise’ in the original Greek language of the New Testament means to ‘dip, plunge, immerse, (over)whelm, make fully wet, cover fully with a fluid, stain (as with a dye)’ (refer also to Strong’s Greek New Testament Dictionary, numbers 907 to 911). This is why there was a need for the river, rather than perhaps merely a bowl such as the Jews might have previously used for ceremonial washing. Here we are seeing something more than a mere ceremony, but a completely new way of thinking that required a new way of acting, including the new washing of baptism by immersion in the waters of the river.