Jesus Becomes the Messiah

John had been preaching: ‘Someone greater than I am is coming.’ When Jesus was about 30 years old, he came from Galilee to the Jordan River, where John was baptizing people. Jesus wanted John to baptize him, but John said: ‘I should not baptize you. You should baptize me.’ Jesus told John: ‘Jehovah wants you to baptize me.’ So they went into the Jordan River, and John dipped Jesus completely under the water.

After Jesus came up from the water, he prayed. At that moment, the heavens opened up, and God’s spirit came down on him like a dove. Then Jehovah spoke from heaven: “You are my Son, the beloved; I have approved you.”

When Jehovah’s spirit came on Jesus, he became the Christ, or Messiah. Now he would start the work that Jehovah had sent him to earth to do.

Immediately after his baptism, Jesus went into the wilderness and spent 40 days there. When he returned, he went to see John. As Jesus came toward him, John said: ‘This is the Lamb of God who will take away the sin of the world.’ By saying this, John let the people know that Jesus was the Messiah. Do you know what happened to Jesus while he was in the wilderness? Let’s find out.