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Baptism of Jesus
65
bly. Christ’s upturned face was glorified as they had never before
seen any human face. From the open heavens, they heard a Voice:
“This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
Endorsed by Heaven
God spoke these words to inspire faith in those who witnessed
the scene and to strengthen the Savior for His mission. Even though
the sins of a guilty world were laid on Christ, and regardless of the
humiliation He accepted by taking our fallen nature on Himself, the
Voice from heaven declared Him to be the Son of the Eternal.
John had been deeply moved. As the glory of God encircled
Jesus and the Voice from heaven was heard, John knew that it was
the world’s Redeemer whom he had baptized. Stretching out his
hand and pointing to Jesus, he called out, “Behold! The Lamb of
God who takes away the sin of the world!”
John 1:29
.
None among the hearers, and not even John himself, grasped the
significance of the words, “the Lamb of God.” Many of the people of
Israel regarded the sacrificial offerings much as the heathen looked
on their sacrifices—gifts to calm the Deity’s anger. God wanted to
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teach them that from His own love comes the gift that reconciles
them to Himself.
The message spoken to Jesus, “This is My beloved Son, in
whom I am well pleased,” embraces humanity. With all our sins and
weaknesses, God does not cast us aside as worthless. “He made us
accepted in the Beloved.”
Ephesians 1:6
. The glory that rested on
Christ is God’s pledge of His love for us. It tells us of the power
of prayer—how the human voice may reach the ear of God and our
requests find acceptance in the courts of heaven. By sin, earth was
cut off from heaven, but Jesus has connected it to the sphere of glory
again. The light that fell on our Savior’s head will fall on us as we
pray for help to resist temptation. The Voice that spoke to Jesus says
to every believing soul, This is My beloved child, in whom I am
well pleased.
Our Redeemer has opened the way so that the most sinful, op-
pressed, and despised people may find access to the Father. All may
have a home in the mansions that Jesus has gone to prepare.
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