Matthew 3:6

And were baptized of him in Jordan.

Note that the baptism took place not at, but in the Jordan. Mark says "in the river of Jordan." The Jordan, the principal stream of Palestine, rises in the mountains of Lebanon, runs south into the sea of Galilee, leaves it and descends southward along Galilee, Samaria and Judea, to the Dead Sea. In many places the stream is fordable, and furnishes good facilities for baptizing.

Confessing their sins.

Baptism itself,. burial in water,. "baptism into death,". symbol of the burial of one who dies to the old life, is. confession of sins. The vast concourse is described as submitting to the rite which John administered, not as an empty and unmeaning form, but at the same time confessing their sins, the Greek verb being an intensive compound, which denotes the act of free and full confession or acknowledgment. This is prescribed as. condition of pardon.