John baptizes Jesus

Matthew 3:13-17, Mark 1:9-11, Luke 3:21-22

All three accounts of this event record these exact words of God.

You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.1

As God's children, does He not speak these words to all of us who are baptized and believe? I think He does--and, as soon as He does, battle lines are drawn. Get ready for Satan.

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As Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove.2

God doesn't spare anything in showing His love for His children. Seek Him, and you will find Him. You'll be dumbstruck by what you find, as I'm sure the man part of Jesus was when He came out of the water to see this.

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Matthew's is the only account that shows John's humility upon meeting Jesus for the first time.

"I need to be baptized by you," John says, "and do you come to me?"

John was right--Jesus, completely blameless before God and men, didn't need baptism for the forgiveness of sins. But Jesus wasn't one to set Himself above anyone else, and so He did what the masses were doing, what all His followers would do: He got baptized.

1. Luke 3:22; Mark 1:11;
2. Mark 1:10