In the wilderness, Jesus Christ fasted and prayed for forty days. He demonstrated the benefit of spiritual training for acquiring good health in the soul. After His time of preparation, He visited John the Baptist. This John is the prophet who prepared for Christ’s arrival by announcing, “There comes One after me who is mightier than I, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to stoop down and loose” (Mark 1.7, NKJV).
Jesus instructed John to baptize Him and so John did as the Master commanded. When Jesus rose up out of the water, the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in the form of a dove and a voice from heaven proclaimed, “You are my beloved Son in Whom I am well pleased” (Luke 3.21-22). The baptism of Jesus Christ is called the Holy Theophany because through this event the true and living God revealed Himself clearly to humanity as the Holy Trinity – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, One God.
In His Baptism, the Creator Who covered the earth with water was submerged into His creation. Since the water of the earth had been affected by the condition of death, the Son of God renewed the water, restoring it to the pristine state of Paradise. God made the nature of water pure and holy by His Divine Presence so that water could be used a spiritual medicine for healing of the human soul.
Read: Luke 3.21-22; John 1.29-34; Matthew 3.13-17
Text copyright © 2017 by Fr. Symeon D. S. Kees