In Mark 1, we read about how Jesus left Nazareth (where he grew up) to be baptized in the Jordan River by the radical John the Baptist to begin his ministry. The events we read about in these few verses give us important details about baptism, Jesus’ identity, as well as our own identity today. We read this in Mark 1:10-11:
“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.”
After John the Baptist dunked Jesus under the water and brought him back up (one of the main reasons why we practice baptism by “full-immersion” today), an ever-so-clear picture of the doctrine of the “Trinity” is painted for us: the Father speaks from heaven, the Son is being baptized, and the Holy Spirit descends down.
While there is much that could be unpacked here, what sticks out the most to me right now is the message that God the Father has for his Son: “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”
1. I Love You
The Father spoke from heaven and declared essentially, “I love you, I am proud of you, and I am pleased with you.” Jesus made his father happy.
Think about when this passage took place: before Jesus’ ministry began, before he taught the people, before he demonstrated his deity with signs and miracles, before he died on the cross before he rose again, and before he began the Church.
This means that what God thought about his Son was not based on his son’s performance but on his identity. The Father loved his Son, was proud of his Son, and was pleased with his Son because of who he was.
2. I Am Proud of You
And it is no coincidence that immediately following this beautiful event, the accuser (named Satan in this passage) tempted Jesus to doubt the very message of the Father. We read in verses 12 and 13 that:
“The Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. And he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. And he was with the wild animals, and the angels were ministering to him.”
We have to read elsewhere to get more details about this time of temptation in the wilderness. For example, in Matthew 4 we find out that the actual temptation took place after Jesus’ body was weakened from 40 days of fasting!
And how did the devil tempt Jesus? Specifically, he tried to get him to selfishly break his fast by turning stones into bread (v. 3), to jump off the pinnacle of the temple so the devil could catch him (v. 5), and to bow down and worship the devil in order to get “all the kingdoms of the world and their glory” (vv. 8-9).
Essentially the devil was trying to get Jesus to doubt his own identity, relinquish his authority, and transfer his glory.
Jesus fought back against the devil’s schemes with what Paul the Apostle in Ephesians 6 would later call the “sword of the Spirit” (which is the Word of God). And the Scripture that Jesus quoted in response declared and confirmed who he was: God in the flesh.
3. I Am Pleased with You
Then following this critical time of declaration from the Father and exercise in the wilderness, Jesus began his ministry. We read in the rest of the passage in Mark 1:
Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” Passing alongside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew the brother of Simon casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men.”
When I first read this, it almost seemed that the phrase about John the Baptist being arrested was out of place. But after I connected the dots from the whole story, I realized its significance. Why was John the Baptist arrested?
We can read in Matthew 14 that King Herod had seized him, bound him, and put him in prison because John had called out Herod’s sin of adultery with his brother’s wife.
And while John was in prison, awaiting whatever Herod was going to do to him, he was struggling with the very thing that the devil had tempted Jesus about identity. How do we know? Read what Luke wrote for us in Luke 7:18-22:
…And John [the Baptist], calling two of his disciples to him, sent them to the Lord, saying, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?” And when the men had come to him, they said, “John the Baptist has sent us to you, saying, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?’”
John was struggling with the identity of Jesus specifically, but because his entire life was based on his belief and who Jesus was, he knew that if Jesus wasn’t really the son of God, then his own identity was lost.
If Jesus wasn’t who he said he was then John would have been the world’s biggest fool. Look how Jesus responded. He didn’t just make a claim, he gave evidence:
In that hour he healed many people of diseases and plagues and evil spirits, and on many who were blind he bestowed sight. And he answered them, “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have good news preached to them.”
Even though John was a man of strong faith (Jesus actually said in Matthew 11:11 that there was no one greater than him), he still had a moment of doubt about his identity. And in response, Jesus reminded him of who he was.
Because while John’s position and performance had changed (he went from a great prophet doing great work to just being stuck in prison awaiting his death), who he was in Christ had not changed because Jesus had not changed.
And it’s the same for us today.
Knowing who we are in Christ is the foundation of an abundant Christian life. And if Satan or his minions can get us to doubt who we are, it will keep us from doing what we ought.
So, then who are we? Well, if you are a son of God then the same affirmative statement that God the Father spoke down from heaven to his Son he says to you: “You are my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased.”
If you are a daughter of God then God is saying to you, “You are my beloved daughter, in whom I am well pleased.”
And that statement can be broken into these three messages that God is sending to you today:
1. I love you.
2. I am proud of you.
3. I am pleased with you.
I hope you are encouraged by that today! If you are “in Christ” as Paul calls Christians in Ephesians 2, then who you are is not based on your position or performance. He no longer sees you as a sinner, condemned to death, but as a saint who has been endorsed by the Father.
For further reading:
What Does it Mean That We Are 'The Pleasing Aroma of Christ'?
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