One mightier than I cometh, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose. Luke 3:16 KJV
One is coming who is mightier than I, and I am not fit to untie the thong of His sandals. Luke 3:16 NASB
Thou art My beloved Son; in Thee I am well pleased. Luke 3:22 KJV
You are My beloved Son, in You I am well-pleased. Luke 3:22 NASB
There was never a day like it, nor has there been once since. The banks of Jordan had seen a nation arrive, cross through on dry land and come up on the other side. It had witnessed that memorable journey of Elijah and Elisha prior to the former’s departure to heaven. Even Naaman had made use of the river Jordan for his cleansing. But this day was unique.
The forerunner and the Father, the herald and heaven joined in acknowledging the worth of the One Who had stepped into its water. Unlike the occasion in Joshua 4, the waters did not roll back to Adam. One reason was that it prefigured, in a small way, that day when all the “waters” of judgment going back to Adam would engulf Him at Calvary.
There was no leprosy to cleanse as with Naaman. He was as pure going in as coming out. This was no prelude to a chariot taking Him to heaven without experiencing death, as it did Elijah. He went into the waters of Jordan and was submerged in baptism. He would go into the deep waters at Calvary and taste death for everything.
If waters could “speak,” I wonder what they would have thought when He entered, and they were not commanded to fall back to Adam? Why they were not commanded to part as they did for Elijah and Elisha?
John owned Him as mightier in His strength, worthier in His person, greater in His work. John gave full testimony to the Lord Jesus both on the banks of the Jordan at His baptism, and later at Jordan when he pointed Him out to the nation as “the Lamb of God which beareth away the sin of the world” (John 1:29).
Matthew, Mark, and Luke, who give us the details of His baptism, also give us the record of the Father’s approval. Heaven joined with the herald to own the worth and value of this unique man. “This is My Son the beloved, in Whom is all My delight.” John’s confession, though true and honoring, pales before what the Father has to say.
Here was a Son Who was giving a Father all He ever desired to find in a man. Here was One Who not only pleased God, but in Whom God found everything that pleased Him. “All My delight” expresses God’s complete satisfaction. No virtue was lacking. No nuance of pleasure was absent or in short supply in Him. The God Who delights in obedience (1 Sam 15:22), just weights or righteousness (Prov 11:1), and loving-kindness, judgment, and righteousness (Jer 9:24), found all this in His Son. He was “full of grace and truth.” There is a beauty in Christ that turns everything else to dross.
The bank of the river Jordan was the stage upon which the testimony of heaven and earth united to own His worth.
Consider:
Notice how Luke brings “two” together in Elizabeth and Mary (chapter 1), Anna and Simeon, Angels and Shepherds (chapter 2).