What did God say when Jesus was baptized?

"And Jesus, when He was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and lo, the heavens were opened unto Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon Him: and lo, a voice from heaven, saying, This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." Does it not seem that this wonderful testimony of God the Father was the consequence of Christ's fulfilling all righteousness in the waters of Jordan? It was the answer of God to the place that Christ, in His grace, had taken. It was God, jealous for the glory of His Son, who would not permit that a suspicion should rest upon this loveliest and lowliest of acts. And therefore, lest the full grace of it should not be felt, how quick is God the Father to say, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased "! Do not think He has sin. But if you are there, He is with you: if the sheep are in the waters, the shepherd must enter them too. The Father at once vindicates His Son: "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." It is not that He was well pleased with that act merely, but it is the retrospective expression of God's delight. It refutes all that the poor mind of man might have — has — gathered out of this transaction. It is always thus in the word of God. If there be, so to speak, a locked door, the key is always beside it. If there is a heart that counts upon God, and knows the perfection of His character, and is jealous over the honour, of His beloved Son, God is always with such. Man has endeavoured to take advantage of the Lord's grace, taking thus His place with the godly in Israel, in order to lower His person and His position even in relation to God Himself. But when we read with chastened spirits, what do we hear? "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." We shall by and by find the importance of this in connection with what follows; but I leave the subject for the present. There is nothing in the whole compass of God's word so full of blessing to the believer as the person of Christ and His ways; but it requires great jealousy over self and the special guidance of the Holy Ghost; for who is sufficient for these things?

He was the only One on whom the heavens opened, and the Father’s voice was heard expressing His delight in Him. At His baptism at the hands of His forerunner, John the Baptist, the voice of the Father was heard, “And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Matt. 3:17).

The Baptism of Christ. — John had witnessed of Christ. He was now to baptise Him. The Lord thus submitting to all the rites and ordinances to which one of Israel had to conform, would get access to the sheep in the fold, after which His ministry could begin. Circumcised, presented to God, and now to be baptised: of all these does Luke tell us. At last the two were to meet, hitherto strangers to each other (John 1:31, 33), and the Lord to be baptised of John in Jordan! When that had taken place, John's great work would be accomplished; so our historian here finishes up the history of John's ministry by the mention of his subsequent imprisonment by Herod the tetrarch (Luke 3:19-20), that he may leave himself free to pursue uninterruptedly his theme of the life of Christ in ministry amongst men. The Lord's baptism is briefly noticed. The address of John to the Lord and His reply when he saw Him coming to be baptised, recorded by Matthew (3:14-15), are wholly omitted by Luke, who, however, tells us what none of the others do — the Lord's occupation when the heavens were opened to Him. He was praying. Who but Himself on earth then knew the blessed results to the sheep in Israel from His baptism that day? He had now entered by the door into the sheepfold (John 10:2), as the Shepherd of the sheep. But who was it who submitted to the rite of baptism to get into intercourse with the sheep? As to His person, He was perfectly holy, differing from every other man, His holiness being demonstrated by the Holy Ghost descending "in a bodily shape like a dove upon Him," and as John records (1:32) abiding on Him. But more, "a voice came out of heaven, Thou art My beloved Son; in Thee I am well pleased" (Luke 3:22). He was then the Father's Son, God as well as man. The voice, our historian tells us, addressed Him. With this Mark (1:11), when rightly read, is of accord; Matthew giving us, it would seem, only the subject of the heavenly communication. But all agree that His baptism had special features connected with it. At His birth the angelic choir was heard praising God. At His baptism the heavens were opened, the Holy Ghost was seen like a dove descending on Him, and the Father's voice was heard proclaiming what He was to Him who is in the heavens. The Father spoke to Him. Son of God, He was also Son of man. For men to know the former, the witness from heaven was vouchsafed. The latter could be proved by genealogical records, tracing up His descent through David and Abraham to Adam. This Luke does, acquainting Theophilus with the age of the Lord at His baptism. He was then about thirty, the age appointed by God for the Levites to commence bearing burdens in the sanctuary (Num. 4). Thirty years old also was Joseph, when he stood before Pharaoh (Gen. 41:46). Thirty years old was David when he began to reign (2 Sam. 5:4). About thirty years old was the Lord when baptised by John in Jordan.

From a comparison of the records of this incident in the first three Gospels, we find that the Father's words were spoken to the Son Himself ("Thou art …"), as well as to those to whom the Son was presented ("This is …"). The three sets of words, as arranged below, are quoted from the New Translation. The variations are not due to any imperfection in the narrative or the narrator, but in each case the Holy Spirit preserves the meaning of the Father's utterance suitable to His purpose in the Gospel where it occurs. The records are not contradictory, but complementary. Matt. 3:17 ——— Mark 1:11 ———— Luke 3:22 This is ————— Thou art ———— Thou art My beloved Son, — My beloved Son, — My beloved Son, in Whom ———— in Thee ————— in Thee I have found ——— I have found ——— I have found My delight ——— My delight ———— My delight

But more than this the voice came from heaven which said, "Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I have found my delight." This voice is of all importance too. It is manifested that Jesus was the delight of God as man, not merely in consequence of a work that was going to be done; it was the Person Who was owned, and His Person too after He had identified Himself with the people who were baptized. They must not mistake nor misinterpret His baptism; it was the baptism of repentance for them, but thoroughly in grace for Him. He had nothing to own. He was about to enter upon a great work, but baptism was in no way the expression of need on His part, nor to fit Him for what He was entering upon. "Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased" — not only I am, but I have been well pleased, "have found my delight." It is retrospective, and not present merely.

Another point is the striking way in which the Father speaks personally to the Son here at the baptism. In Matthew's gospel} the words of the Father have more the character of a testimony. "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased" (Matthew 3:17), whereas in Luke it is the Father addressing the Lord Jesus personally and saying "Thou art My beloved Son". He does so in Mark as well, where the perfect servant is addressed. We have to remember that His baptism, while it looked forward to His public ministry, also referred back to the hidden life of 30 years. We have little record of what took place during those 30 years but we can conclude that the whole of those 30 years were lived in absolute perfection. There was moral worth and beauty from start to finish and it is then that the Father's voice is heard saying, "Thou art My beloved Son; in Thee I am well pleased".

The Son of God. — At the Annunciation the angel Gabriel told the Virgin that her child would be called the Son of God. Son of God, then, He is by incarnation. But Son of God He is as well by eternal generation. Of this already reminded by the Apostle (1:14, 18), we have nevertheless to remark, that the Baptist's testimony to the eternal Sonship preceded in time that of the Apostle's. And how did John the Baptist learn that He was the Son of God? for revelation alone teaches that. Had he not heard the Father's voice addressing His Son, when baptized in Jordan? "Thou art My beloved Son; in Thee I am well pleased" (Luke 3:22). With this Mark 1:11 agrees, when rightly read. That heavenly communication was addressed to the Son, but surely John heard it. So as with certainty John could declare, that he would baptize with the Holy Ghost, learning of that by special revelation, so with certainty could he proclaim the Sonship, hearing of it by the Father's words to His Son.

On only two occasions has the voice of THE FATHER been actually heard by men. In Old Testament days, before the truth of the Trinity stood clearly revealed, we do frequently get God speaking face to face with men, as with Moses, for example. With the advent of Christ, however, everything is changed. At His baptism the Trinity — Father, Son, and Spirit — stood forth in a clear light, and the Father's voice was heard saying, "Thou art My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased" (Mark 1:11). This was a personal declaration to the Son.

The second occasion was at the Transfiguration, when the same voice was not only heard, but evidently addressed itself to men, saying, "This is My beloved Son: hear Him" (Mark 9:7).

Moreover, when the Father said He found His delight or good pleasure in Him, He spoke retrospectively, and not merely in view of the submissive act of baptism. The force of the verb in the original is not only "I am now well pleased," but also "I was well pleased." From everlasting, the Father found His delight in His beloved Son, as also, in another place, we read that Jehovah's soul delights in His beloved Servant (Isa. 42:1; Matt. 12:18); the former in what He is personally, the latter in what He is mediatorially.

But a further astonishing event immediately followed; and, for the first time in scriptural history, the Trinity stood revealed-Father and Son and Holy Spirit. To the Spirit's visible witness, the Father added His audible witness to the Son. How beautiful is this evidence of the interest and care displayed by the Father for the glory of the Son In this lowly place to which the obedient Son had descended, the Father in audible and articulate speech owned Him in the full unimpaired Sonship, which was His eternally.

The heavens, then, were opened, and the Paternal voice addressed the Beloved Son on earth. The voice was sweet and gracious, not like “the voice of words" at Sinai, which "shook the earth," and terrified the hearers (Heb. 12:26). It was the voice of the Father, saying with infinite complacency,