ESOCS Devotional 26 December 2025 – Thou Art My Beloved Son
MEMORY VERSE: “And the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him and a voice came from heaven, which said, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased.” Luke.3:22 KJV
TEXT: LUKE 3:16-22
John answered, saying to all, “I indeed baptize you with water; but One mightier than I is coming, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 17 His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather the wheat into His barn; but the chaff He will burn with unquenchable fire.”
18 And with many other exhortations he preached to the people. 19 But Herod the tetrarch, being rebuked by him concerning Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, and for all the evils which Herod had done, 20 also added this, above all, that he shut John up in prison.
21 When all the people were baptized, it came to pass that Jesus also was baptized; and while He prayed, the heaven was opened. 22 And the Holy Spirit descended in bodily form like a dove upon Him, and a voice came from heaven which said, “You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased.”
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The baptism of Jesus was no doubt a personal experience. It definitely gave Him an inner assurance that He was the Son of God. It was also a public acknowledgement that in Him God was well pleased. This is also true with Christian baptism.
In our baptism, our identity as sons and daughters of God is established. God declares us to be His children. Baptism is a public declaration that the person who is baptized is a son of God, a daughter of God, to be acknowledged and accepted as such. Henceforth, we belong to God, to the family of God. It is not our physical birth – of flesh and blood – which is primary, but our spiritual birth as Sons and daughters of God.
John the Baptist recognized Him as the Son of God because the Spirit descended on Him. Apostle Paul said, “And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts” (Gal. 4:6). The Spirit is given to the sons and daughters of God.
Baptism is the ordination of every Christian to be a soldier of Christ in the world. At baptism, we are publicly proclaimed as daughters and sons of God and anointed with the Holy Spirit so that we may do the will of God in the world.
The acclamation “well pleased” depicts the Character of Jesus, as His life was centered on the will of the Father; He didn’t have to make excuses for every instruction given to Him by God. Rather, in obedience, He fulfilled the Father’s desires and God was pleased with Him. Likewise, every believer is expected to fulfill the desires of His maker. Because we are also sons of God and joint heirs with Christ, it therefore means that we should be like Christ in obedience to the Father, such that God our Father can also say confidently say that “in us He is well pleased”.
CHALLENGES
- Is fulfilling the will of the Father your drive in life?
PRAYER POINT
- Oh Lord, thy will be done on earth and in my life, as it is done in heaven.
FURTHER READING: Ecclesiastes 2:1-11; 3:14-22; Luke 3:23-38
ESOCS Devotional 26 December 2025
