The Church of Eleven22 - Lent Devo Episode 3: The Miracle at Jordan

Episode Date: March 4, 2020

Matt 3:16,17; Mark 1:9-12

What is it? Some of the miracles. Jesus has all the words. The Church of 1122 is a movement for all people to discover and deepen a relationship with Jesus Christ. Welcome to our Lent podcast. Good morning. My name is Steph Horner, and I am the Mandarin student minister. So this Lent season, we are working through some of the miracles of Jesus shared with us across the gospel accounts.

We are looking at how each of these miracles point us to the God's. greatest of all miracles, which is the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. The miracle of Jesus we are focused on today is found in Mark 1, 9 through 12, and then in Matthew 3, 16, and 17. Mark 1, 9 through 12 says, in those days, Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 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. The spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. Matthew 3, 16 and 17 says, and when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water and behold, the heavens were open to him. And he saw the spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him. And behold, a voice from heaven said, This is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased. Jesus goes specifically to the Jordan and John the Baptist in order to be baptized and begin perfectly fulfilling all of God's commandments and bring glory to God the Father.

As he comes out of the water, this incredible miracle happens where heaven and earth meet in this spectacular way. All three persons of our one God, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit show up to honor each other, and God from heaven declares that Jesus is his son, in whom he is well pleased. The significance of this miracle, man, it's huge. As the Jewish people, they've been waiting for a Messiah to come

and rescue them for hundreds of years, reading the prophecies and looking for the time and place when God would reveal his Messiah to them. And then, in an obscure place outside of a world, town on a riverbank, the God of the universe declares to all present that this man standing before them was, in fact, the Messiah they had been waiting for. God had not just sent to them a savior, but the perfect savior in God's own son. He would save them from themselves, not from the clutches and yoke of the Roman Empire, but from the clutches and yoke of sin. This miracle would have confirmed,

to all present Jesus' identity as God's son and officially jump-started Christ's ministry. All three persons of the one God being represented in this miracle gives assurance in who Jesus is. By God the Father honoring and recognizing his son Jesus, God the Son honoring the Father by being baptized, and God the Holy Spirit descending on Jesus in the form of a dove, Jesus' identity is clear. he can never go back to being just Joseph's son, just a carpenter, because God in heaven revealed his true identity and the true reason he came to earth, which is to seek and to save the lost.

This miracle points us to the resurrection in showing us that Jesus truly is God's son. Jesus has all of God's favor on him and that all of the Godhead, the one true God, are in perfect unity on this particular point. You see, only a perfectly holy, perfectly innocent, perfectly pure sacrifice can satisfy the payment and penalty of sin against a perfectly holy and pure God. By revealing that Jesus is truly God and perfectly holds God's favor,

then the sacrifice Jesus makes on the cross to pay for our sin can't in fact satisfy God's wrath against a sinful and rebellious way. world. God the Father honors Christ's obedience to his father's will in going to the cross and being our sacrifice for sin and by raising him up and fully and finally defeating sin and death. But Jesus doesn't just defeat sin and death. You see, Jesus also transfers to us the favor that God gives to him. So now not only are we rescued from the clutches and yoke of sin, but we can now stand before God the Father and God can look at us and say, you are my son and you I am well pleased. The favor that rests on Jesus now rests on us because of Jesus's death and resurrection. Only through Jesus can we have favor with God and be welcomed into the family as God's son or daughter.

What an amazing miracle. I mean, praise Jesus our Savior. Father, you are so holy and so worthy of our praise. Thank you for glorifying your son and raising him up to defeat death and sin and transferring the favor that you gave him to us. We could never have a relationship with you without Jesus. Jesus, thank you for being that perfect payment that we need to satisfy. God's wrath. Thank you for forgiving us your righteousness in favor so that God sees what you've done

for us when he looks at us and that we can now have life in you. Just as you were sent to us, you are now sending us to the rest of the world to bring you all the glory and to push back the gates of hell and move your kingdom forward. Man, Holy Spirit, you give us all the power we need to accomplish your mission. Thank you. Remind our hearts today that just as Jesus was sent to us, we are also sent and help us walk in that truth and in your power. We love you so much. Amen. Thanks for listening. Our prayer is that this podcast will help you deepen your relationship it with Jesus. For more resources, go to C-O-E-22.com forward slash lent.