Mark 1:11

a voice from heaven The first of the three heavenly Voices to be heard during our Lord's Ministry, viz., at (i) His Baptism; (ii) His Transfiguration (Mark 9:7); (iii) in the courts of the Temple during Holy Week (John 12:28). This Voice attested in the presence of His Forerunner the Divine Nature of our Lord, and inaugurated His public Ministry. The Baptism was a very important event in our Lord's life:

(1) Needing no purification Himself, He submitted to it as the Head of His Body, the Church (Ephesians 1:22) for all His members;

(2) He was thus by baptism, and the unction of the Holy Ghost which followed (Matthew 3:16; comp. Exodus 29:4-37; Leviticus 8:1-30), solemnly consecrated to His office as Redeemer;

(3) He "sanctified water to the mystical washing away of sin." See the Baptismal Office;

(4) He gave to His Church for all time a striking revelation of the Divine Nature, the Son submitting in all lowliness to every requirement of the Law, the Father approving by a voice from heaven, the Spirit descending and abiding upon the Son. "I ad Jordanem, et videbis Trinitatem."

12, 13. The Temptation