Mk.1:9-11 – In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 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. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”

Jesus was literally being baptized that day in His Father’s love. This intimacy with His Father was what Jesus had known in eternity and this is what Jesus gave up by becoming a man. Now of course Jesus walked in fellowship with the Father as a man but it wasn’t the same as what He had enjoyed at the Father’s side in heaven. When Jesus was baptized in the Jordan River the heavens were torn open and the Father’s love fell mightily upon Jesus. This reminds me of what Paul said about the Father’s love in Ephesians; he prayed that we would know the height, length, depth, and breadth of God’s love. That’s what the baptism in the Spirit does, it is literally a baptism in love, a baptism into God’s love Who is the Holy Spirit. Here is how Jonathan Edwards describes this moment.

“This bird (the Dove), God is pleased to choose as the special symbol of his Holy Spirit in the greatest office or work of the Spirit that ever it has or will exert, viz. in anointing Christ, the great head of the whole church of saints; from which head this holy oil descends to all the members, and the skirts of his garments, as the sweet and precious ointment that was poured on Aaron’s head, that great type of Christ. As God the Father thus poured forth his Holy Spirit of love upon the Son without measure, so that which was then seen with the eye—viz. a dove descending and lighting upon Christ—signified the same thing to the eye as what was at the same time proclaimed to the ear, viz. “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” This is the Son on whom I pour forth all my love, towards whom my essence entirely flows out in love.”

It is impossible to grasp the magnitude of the infinite love the Father has for His Son. It is impossible to describe but we can taste the edge of it through our own personal baptism in the Holy Spirit. I know the Spirit baptism is for power but the first thing that happens when we are immersed into God’s presence is that we are saturated with God’s love. It is His love that transforms our lives. So come on, let’s join Jesus in the River, this is the place where we are lost in the love of God.