John testified, “I saw the Holy Spirit descending like a dove from heaven and resting upon him. I didn’t know he was the one, but when God sent me to baptize with water, he told me, ‘The one on whom you see the Spirit descend and rest is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’ John 1:32-33 [NLT]

John lowered the Lamb of God beneath the waters of the Jordan. What a holy contradiction. The sinless One stepped into a baptism for sinners. But Jesus did not enter the river because He needed to repent. He entered because He had come to identify with the people He would soon redeem. He stood where the guilty stood, long before He would hang where the guilty should have hung.  And when Jesus rose from the water, heaven answered. The Spirit descended and rested upon Him and the Father spoke His pleasure over His Son.

Jesus was not made beloved that day. He had always been beloved. He was not made holy. He had always been holy. But now He was publicly commissioned for the work ahead. The Lamb had stepped into His calling.

John’s baptism with water was a sign. Though He could immerse repentant sinners beneath the river’s surface, Jesus would immerse His people in the power of the Holy Spirit.

At my conversion, no sky opened that I could see. No dove descended before my eyes. No audible voice shook the room. But something no less miraculous happened. The Spirit of God touched my dead spirit and brought it to life. I was joined to Christ. I was sealed for redemption. I was adopted as a child of God.  Heaven knew the full impact of what had happened, even if I only understood it in part. 

Jesus left the holy place in the Jordan and entered the wilderness of temptation, testing, and faith-building.  I left the holy moment of conversion and entered the wilderness of life, too. Daily, I’ve been tempted. Daily, I’ve been tested. Daily, I’ve had opportunities for faith-building. But unlike Jesus, I’ve often doubted the love of the One who anointed me.  I’ve learned how easily fear can question what God has already spoken over me. 

Speak again over every fearful place in me: “You are Mine,” and let that be enough to make me stand. Amen