LIVING WATERS
For the proclamation of the Gospel and the edification of the Body of Christ
The Heavens Were Opened for Him
The ministry of the Lord Jesus began with his baptism – a fact that surprised many, including John the Baptist. This, because baptism had been commonly associated with repentance and the washing away of sins. Therefore, if baptism meant that, the Lord Jesus should not have been baptized.
John the Baptist's understanding of baptism only goes so far. But the fullest understanding came from the apostle Paul some years later. In Romans 6, he tells us that baptism means death and resurrection. Not just death to an old life to rise to a new life, but death to self, and resurrection to a walk in the Spirit.
The Lord needed to die to his own, to his will, in order to fully express the will of God. Being a man, he had a human will, which he had to discard. That is why the baptism had to take place – even if he contradicted John. The Lord was to, at the beginning of his career, lay the foundation for a spiritual ministry. And when he did, something remarkable happened: "The heavens were opened to him" (Matt. 3:16). And this "to him" means "for him". It is not that the heavens were simply opened when he was baptized, but that they were opened for him.
And then, the Gospel says, that the Spirit, like a dove, descended "upon him", and that a voice came from heaven bearing witness to him. So to speak, all of Heaven was made available to Christ after his baptism.
In fact, everything that happened there, came through him and for him, because of his acceptance of this basic principle: everything that is human has to die, everything that comes from the human soul has to go to the cross, to that, through the resurrection, there is a new man who can walk and serve God in the Spirit.
At that moment, when John baptized him, Jesus was the only person in whom this principle was fulfilled, and for this reason all of Heaven found contentment in him. But this is also a model for all Christians. Just as this baptism opened heaven for Jesus, so it will open heaven for everyone who accepts this baptism of Christ for themselves.