Jesus Baptized, Part 2 | Mark 1:10–11
"10 And
when he came up out of the water,
immediately he saw the heavens being torn
open
and the Spirit descending on him like a dove.
11 And a voice came from heaven,
‘You are my
beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.’”
John was certainly a Baptist, for He immerses Jesus—no
sprinkling would do! Yesterday, we noted
that Christ identifies with sinners in His baptism. He himself knew no sin, so He takes the place
of those as a perfect sacrifice for those who have known sin. He is the spotless Lamb of God who takes away
the sins of the world!
In the text this morning, we see Heaven’s affirmation of His
work. First, Christ witnesses the
heavens split open. The next time we
read of a splitting is toward the end of Mark in chapter fifteen, where the
temple curtain is torn top to bottom (15:38).
At the end of His work on the cross, God needs no more sacrifice upon
the altar.
Here, a startling reality forms. The Holy Spirit like a dove alights upon
Christ, a visible sign of His empowerment for ministry (Is 61:1). At the same time, a voice from the Father
echoes for all to hear. What we see here
are all three Persons of the Trinity present as the ministry of Christ is to
begin—Father, Son, and Spirit.
Any faithful Jew present would pick up on
these clues. Psalm 2:7 says, “The Lord
said to me, ‘You are my Son; today I have begotten you.’” Isaiah 42:1 says, “Behold my servant, whom I
uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my Spirit upon him; he
will bring forth justice to the nations.”
Have
you considered that your salvation is sought by all three Members of the Trinity? We must see Jesus as the Son of God, sent by
the Father to pay the penalty for our sins.
We must have faith in the Son of God in Whom the Father delights if we
are to ever be pleasing in His sight. The
Holy Spirit delivers these truths to our hearts and inspired His Word. There’s unity in the Godhead over the sake of
our souls. God in three Persons, blessed
Trinity!
