His Heart, My Home

⁹ “In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. ¹⁰ Immediately coming up out of the water, he (John) saw the heavens torn open, and the Spirit like a dove descending on Him (Jesus); ¹¹ and a voice came out of heaven saying: “You are my beloved Son, in you I am well-pleased and delighted!” (Mark 1:9-11, Amplified Bible)

Does this account of Jesus’ baptism stir something in your heart as it does in mine?

Every time I read those words, “You are my beloved son, in you, I am well pleased and delighted”, I long to hear the Father. speak those same words to me personally.

As God’s children, we just naturally want to be assured that we are pleasing our Father.

We know that Jesus lived a perfect sinless life, so we can readily understand and totally agree with the Father’s announcement at the time of His baptism.

But then we look at ourselves. We’re not exactly sinless, and not exactly perfect, are we?

So when we fall or fail, we feel the Father is disappointed in us, and that He’s definitely not pleased with us. We may even begin to believe that He doesn’t love us anymore.

And the enemy is quick to endorse and reinforce those doubts, thoughts, and feelings. He will seek to bury us under a huge load of rejection and defeat, if we allow it.

The Father could have announced His pleasure with Jesus at any time during the 30 years that Jesus had already lived and walked on the earth.

But he chose this particular event and pinpointed this exact moment to make this announcement. And I believe He did it for us!

So let’s carefully examine the events that occurred at Jesus’ baptism, because I believe Holy Spirit is revealing some insights that are very important for us to know.

● INSIGHT 1 – WE ARE SO PRECIOUS TO THE FATHER THAT HE WILL EVEN TEAR THE HEAVENS WIDE OPEN TO SAVE US!

The heavens were “torn open”. Let’s imagine a child who patiently waits for a Christmas morning that seems to take forever to arrive. And when it finally does, he jumps into the pile of gifts, and eagerly rips the package wrappings from the gifts as quickly as his little fingers will tear them open.

It seems the Father couldn’t wait to make His big announcement either. One translation says the heavens were “rent asunder”. I believe the Father excitedly ripped open heaven’s curtain because His Son, the Savior of mankind, was about to step onto the stage of history and initiate the Father’s plan for our salvation!

The Greek word translated as “opened” (schizo)
is also used twice in Matthew 27:51, first to describe the tearing of the temple veil at the time of Jesus’ death on the cross. And secondly, the word describes the nearby rocks that were “torn open” by God’s power, as He exited the temple.

This temple “veil”, was actually a huge curtain, 20′ wide and 60′ long, and 4″ thick! It surrounded the Holy of Holies, behind which God’s presence was enclosed. The curtain was torn open from top to bottom, showing that mankind was no longer separated from God’s presence by sin, because of Jesus’ blood sacrifice.

We also see the heavens “torn open” again at Jesus’ resurrection.

Demonic principalities and powers were operating in the atmospheric heavens when Jesus was crucified. They fiercely opposed Holy Spirit in His mission to raise Jesus from the dead.

Holy Spirit flung these enemy forces away, blasting right through their ranks, and utterly defeated them.

Notice these translations of Colossians 2:15:

“And He disarmed the principalities and the powers which fought against Him and put them to open shame, leading them captive in His triumph.” (Conybeare Translation)

“And He tore the swords from the hands of all the spirit rulers and the powers in the spirit world.” (Laubach Translation)

“…having drawn the sting of all the powers ranged against us, He exposed them, shattered, empty and defeated, in His final glorious triumphant act!” (Phillips Translation)

Wow! What an awesome Champion we have! All the forces of hell arrayed against Him couldn’t prevent Jesus’ resurrection. His resurrection is our resurrection! His victory is our victory! All the forces of hell couldn’t keep us from being born again!

And just to make a final point… there is still one more heaven rending event ahead!

” ³⁰ And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. ³¹ And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.” (Matthew 24:30-31)

● INSIGHT 2 – OUR NEW BIRTH THRILLED AND DELIGHTED THE FATHER-HEART OF GOD!

The announcement of the Father’s pleasure with Jesus came immediately after Jesus came up out of the water. Water baptism, for Jesus, and for us, represents death, burial, and resurrection.

The Bible says that we died with Christ. We were buried with Christ. And we were made alive together with Christ. (Romans 6:4-5)

When we accepted Jesus as our Substitute and Savior, we identified with him by faith. We were born again, resurrected with Him, from spiritual death to spiritual life.

That’s not when God started loving us. That’s when we first became aware of His love!

Our new birth thrilled the Father-heart of God. He saw none of our failures or flaws, only our eternal future as His children. The Father was and still is pleased with us.

Right after we were born again, God, as a proud Papa, voiced His immense pleasure, delight, and joy in us!

Voiced? Yep! We might not have heard it, but…

“The Lord your God is in the midst of you, a Mighty One, a Savior Who saves! He will rejoice over you with joy; He will rest in silent satisfaction and in His love He will be silent and make no mention of past sins, or even recall them; He will exult over you with singing.”
(Zephaniah 3:17, Amplified Bible Classic Edition)

● INSIGHT 3 – THE FATHER’S PLEASURE IN US DOESN’T DEPEND ON OUR PERFORMANCE!

This is one of the hardest things for many of us  to grasp. We feel as though we must earn the Father’s acceptance by our performance, and fear that He really isn’t pleased with us.

The announcement of the Father’s pleasure with Jesus came before Jesus had done anything; before He ever preached, healed the sick, or worked a single miracle. The Father expressed His approval and delight in Jesus before He ever did anything that might have earned that approval.

The truth is, the Father loved us, took pleasure in us, and delighted in us, before we did anything, even before the foundations of the universe were laid. We never earned His love. He just freely gave it.

Before time began, He lovingly cherished us and eagerly anticipated the moment when we would first respond to His love. When that day finally came, He tore open the heavens in excitement to wrap His loving arms around us and welcome us into His family.

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”
(John 3:16)

“And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.”
(1 John 4:16)

“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8)

God’s love is unconditional, unchanging, and eternally unending! And His love is never based on our performance.

God is the Creator, the Master Architect and Builder of the universe. Yet, as our Father,  He is available to spend every second of every day with us, walking with us, talking with us, helping us, and blessing us, as He reveals a love for us that is bigger than creation.