This Is My Son Whom I Love (Luke 3:21-22)

“When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. And as he was praying, heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” (Luke 3:21-22)

Why was Jesus baptized by John the Baptizer? The baptism of water is the symbol of death, burial, and resurrection. It pictures of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The word of God came to John in the wilderness who began preaching the baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. In fact, Jesus never needed of the water baptism by John because he was sinless according to the Scripture. Matthew’s account tells that John was reluctant to baptize Jesus because he knew well of Him as a cousin. Being a close relative to Him in the early childhood must have given ample opportunities of knowing each other well enough to tell what kind of person was.

So, John tried to deter him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” (Matthew 3:14) Jesus replied, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.” (Matthew 3:15) The coming of Jesus Christ on the earth was to die in our place. He came to release mankind from the bondage of futility and confusion and to give true life. It is not easy and simple to solve the problem of mankind as many intellectuals suggest. Even God cannot simply say, “Okay, I forgive you and from now on live freely.” It is against the law of God. God is love and light. He is unbending and unchanging by any degree and in any circumstance. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever, says the Scripture.

The wages of sin is death and so mankind must die once and then face the judgment of God. Despite the phenomenal improvement regarding human health, the death rate of mankind remains without fail 100%. God cannot simply lift up the death sentence on mankind without any cause. Hence, in order to save the world, God sent His begotten Son Jesus in the likeness of man that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. What does it mean to believe in Him? It means to believe in His death, burial, and resurrection to bring us the forgiveness of sins and most of all eternal life.

Christ Jesus was a perfect man with one exception that He was sinless. He came in the world as the Second Adam whom God intended man to be before the creation of the world. So, when He stood before John the Baptizer, He was baptized as man in our place. Although He was completely free from being baptized as John testified, He stood up before the Father as a condemned man in our place. Apostle Paul reveals the true humility and obedience of Jesus Christ in the Epistle to the Philippians, saying “Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!” (Philippians 2:6-8)

It was the willful choice of Jesus Christ to be baptized by John the Prophet. When He obeyed the Father to fulfill the righteousness of God, the heaven opened and a voice came to Him. “And as he was praying, heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: ‘You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.’” (Luke 4:21b-22) In this way, God ordained the Son as the Promised Messiah by the Holy Spirit, saying “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” The Father was so pleased with the Son who emptied Himself and obeyed to take the stand of sinner’s position unto death, even death on the cross that He exalted the Son above every name in heaven and on earth.

“Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Philippians 2:9-11).