The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River. (Mark 1:5)
According to verse 4, John the Baptist baptized in the desert region and preached a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And according to verse 5, the place he baptized was the Jordan River. Geographical point of view, the Jordan River is a watercourse that begins from the Galilee Lake located at the northern part of Palestine and flows to the Dead Sea of southern part of Palestine. I haven’t seen the Jordan River yet but I can guess its scale and shape by photo. At the sight of us who are living with big rivers like the Han River or Nakdong River the Jordan River looks like a little big size of creek. Even then it might be connected to several small brooks where people can cross over without touching water on their feet.
The fact “The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem” were baptized at the Jordan River implies that John the Baptist might work near region to Jerusalem. That area is quite different from the surrounding area of the Galilee Lake, Jesus main sphere of activity. Judging by this fact John worked around the Jordan River and Jesus the Galilee Lake. John belonged to the main stream that centered in Jerusalem as the son of the priest while Jesus as the son of carpenter belonged to the non-mainstream that centered in Galilee a remote area. John was a man of desert and Jesus the man of market. Such comparison is not the précised but mere outline. However, we are focusing on the Jordan River where John baptized the gathering people.
We need much time to analyze the story of Bible related to the Jordan River. A book even may not enough to keep all its contents. As we can say the history of Israel has been with the Jordan River, the Bible contains numerous traditions about the Jordan River. The myth of patriarch, the process of Canaan conquering, big and small stories related to the kings and the prophets and furthermore the story related to gentiles also take a quite countable volumes. These all are related to the Jordan River. Laying aside other parts just think about a lyric of a hymn that we used to sing on the funeral ceremony, “We shall meet on that beautiful shore”. Here shore signifies the other side of the Jordan River. Then what does it mean to meet on that beautiful shore? The lyric is related to two texts in the Bible.
One of them is a vision for ‘new heaven and new earth’ in Revelation. Christian is living in not this world where having perfect contentment is by no means impossible but with expectation for new heaven and new earth that begins with perfect satisfied eternal life. We have a hope to go there.
The other is, as written in the book of Joshua, the Canaan entry of Israel people who finished the desert life. At the entry to Canaan God divided the Jordan River for Israel. As the Red Sea was divided at the time of Exodus now at the moment the beginning of Canaan life after Exodus the Jordan River again was divided. Likewise the lyric “We shall meet on that beautiful shore” is singing that we Christian should cross over the Jordan River to enter into the world of eternal life.
The Jordan River was the very place where John the Baptist baptized others. Then at the spiritual point of view couldn’t the baptism be a ferryboat to crossover the Jordan River? If the baptism is given in the name of Jesus Christ then is Jesus the very spiritual ferryboat? Yes. We are crossing over the Jordan River riding on the ferryboat named Jesus through the baptism.
The fact “The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem” were baptized at the Jordan River implies that John the Baptist might work near region to Jerusalem. That area is quite different from the surrounding area of the Galilee Lake, Jesus main sphere of activity. Judging by this fact John worked around the Jordan River and Jesus the Galilee Lake. John belonged to the main stream that centered in Jerusalem as the son of the priest while Jesus as the son of carpenter belonged to the non-mainstream that centered in Galilee a remote area. John was a man of desert and Jesus the man of market. Such comparison is not the précised but mere outline. However, we are focusing on the Jordan River where John baptized the gathering people.
We need much time to analyze the story of Bible related to the Jordan River. A book even may not enough to keep all its contents. As we can say the history of Israel has been with the Jordan River, the Bible contains numerous traditions about the Jordan River. The myth of patriarch, the process of Canaan conquering, big and small stories related to the kings and the prophets and furthermore the story related to gentiles also take a quite countable volumes. These all are related to the Jordan River. Laying aside other parts just think about a lyric of a hymn that we used to sing on the funeral ceremony, “We shall meet on that beautiful shore”. Here shore signifies the other side of the Jordan River. Then what does it mean to meet on that beautiful shore? The lyric is related to two texts in the Bible.
One of them is a vision for ‘new heaven and new earth’ in Revelation. Christian is living in not this world where having perfect contentment is by no means impossible but with expectation for new heaven and new earth that begins with perfect satisfied eternal life. We have a hope to go there.
The other is, as written in the book of Joshua, the Canaan entry of Israel people who finished the desert life. At the entry to Canaan God divided the Jordan River for Israel. As the Red Sea was divided at the time of Exodus now at the moment the beginning of Canaan life after Exodus the Jordan River again was divided. Likewise the lyric “We shall meet on that beautiful shore” is singing that we Christian should cross over the Jordan River to enter into the world of eternal life.
The Jordan River was the very place where John the Baptist baptized others. Then at the spiritual point of view couldn’t the baptism be a ferryboat to crossover the Jordan River? If the baptism is given in the name of Jesus Christ then is Jesus the very spiritual ferryboat? Yes. We are crossing over the Jordan River riding on the ferryboat named Jesus through the baptism.
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