When John the Baptist was confronted with the query, "Who art thou?" by the priests and Levites sent from Jerusalem to question him, he readily confessed, "I am not the Christ" (John 1:20). They again asked: "What then? Art thou Elias?... Art thou that prophet? And he answered, No." He said to them furthermore, "I baptize with water: but there stand the one among you, whom ye know not; he it is, who coming after me is preferred before me." John's preaching was that of repentance, or moral cleansing, and his baptism was symbolized by a human rite which prepared the way for that spiritual baptism which Jesus taught, the purification from all error through submergence in Spirit, God.
When Jesus was baptized by John, the "Spirit like a dove" descended upon him, and the declaration came (Mark 1:11), "Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." How true it is that only when we have experienced the purification from the claims of material sense are we ready to be baptized of Spirit and to discern our true spiritual selfhood. Then the dove, God's blessing, descends upon us individually, and God's declaration is heard, "Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."
Our Master took the human footsteps, made a concession to John's baptism, seeing mankind's need of moral purification. The following day John told the people (John 1:33), "He that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and remaining on him, the same is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost."
