This is My Beloved Son

A friend, who with her husband,  has been getting a better understanding of  the true relation of the Father and His Son called me all excited.  She had read something in her devotional from Ellen White that she had never read before.  I was delighted to tell her that I had read the same thing myself that very morning.  It was further confirmation of the Truth as they have been studying in Scripture. I thought I would share what we read with you. It comes from "In Heavenly Places" page 39 and is the account of the baptism of Jesus, originally from the Signs of the Times in 1879. 

"And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Matthew 3:17.  
 
After Christ was baptized of John in Jordan, He came up out of the water, and bowing upon the banks of the river He prayed with fervency to His heavenly Father for strength to endure the conflict with the prince of darkness in which He was about to engage. The heavens were opened to His prayer, and the light of God's glory, brighter than the sun at noonday, came from the throne of the Eternal, and assuming the form of a dove with the appearance of burnished gold, encircled the Son of God, while the clear voice from the excellent glory was heard in terrible majesty, saying, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."  
 
Here was the assurance to the Son of God that His Father accepted the fallen race through their representative and that He had granted them a second trial. The communication between heaven and earth, between God and man, which had been broken by the fall of Adam, was resumed. He who knew no sin became sin for the race, that His righteousness might be imputed to man. Through the perfection of Christ's character, man was elevated in the scale of moral value with God; and through the merits of Christ, finite man was linked to the Infinite. Thus the gulf which sin had made was bridged by the world's Redeemer.  

But few have a true sense of the great privileges which Christ gained for man by thus opening heaven before him. The Son of God was then the representative of our race; and the special power and glory which the Majesty of heaven conferred upon Him, and His words of approval, are the surest pledge of His love and good will to man. As Christ's intercessions in our behalf were heard, the evidence was given to man that God will accept our prayers in our own behalf through the name of Jesus. The continued, earnest prayer of faith will bring us light and strength to withstand the fiercest assaults of Satan. . . . The life of a living Christian is a life of living prayer. . . . Our great Leader points us to the open heavens as the only source of light and strength. "

A few months ago I was wrestling with the account of the baptism of Jesus with the Holy Spirit descending like a dove.  I completely understand how someone could imagine that there is the Father in Heaven, the Son on the earth and a third person Spirit who descended. The picture Mrs. White painted in her words helped me see clearer, so I put together a narrative from her writings and you may read it by clicking on "This Is My Beloved Son."