Twice at least during his life-time Christ Jesus heard the words, "This is my beloved Son." As recorded by Matthew, Mark, and Luke, he first heard them as he was being baptized by John the Baptist. The second time was during his transfiguration.
Of his baptism it is written that, as he was coming up out of the water, "the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him," and heard "a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." What joy and strength, protection and comfort, these words must have afforded Jesus in the experience which followed in the forty days in the wilderness!
The baptism of Jesus takes on new meaning for us all when we contemplate the definition of "baptism" that is given by the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy, in our textbook, as "purification by Spirit; submergence in Spirit" (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 581).
