Rev.22:1 – Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb
I see this great image given to us by the Apostle John in the book of Revelation pictured in the baptism of Jesus. Jesus went to the Jordan River to be baptized by the prophet John the Baptist. Jesus was not only baptized in the Jordan that day, the heavens were torn open and Jesus was baptized in the Holy Spirit. This intimacy between the Father and the Son is what Jesus had enjoyed in eternity with His Father. When the Holy Spirit was poured out upon Him Jesus became the first man to begin to taste the depths of this love. This is why Jesus became a man, so that all people can taste this infinite love for themselves. Here is how Jonathan Edwards describes this infinite love.
“God’s love is primarily to himself, and his infinite delight is in himself, in the Father and the Son loving and delighting in each other. We often read of the Father loving the Son, and being well-pleased in the Son, and of the Son loving the Father. In the infinite love and delight that is between these two persons consists the infinite happiness of God. Prov. 8:30, “Then I was by him, as one brought up with him: and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him.” And therefore seeing the Scripture signifies that the Spirit of God is the love of God, therefore it follows that the Holy Spirit proceeds from, or is breathed forth from, the Father and the Son in some way or other infinitely above all our conceptions, as the divine essence entirely flows out and is breathed forth in infinitely pure love and sweet delight from the Father and the Son; and this is that pure river of water of life that proceeds out of the throne of the Father and the Son…”
So we must follow Jesus into the baptismal waters. I am not speaking of just the physical H20 that we are baptized into but the River of the Holy Spirit pictured in today’s verse flowing from the Father and the Son. The baptism in the Holy Spirit is not an add on for on fire Christians, it is the basic experience that brings a believer into the love of God. Out of this place of love flows the intimacy and power that characterizes the true Christian life. So let’s wade out into the deep today, Jesus is waiting there for us to bring us into the depths of His love.
