Now when all the people were baptized, it came to pass, that Jesus also being baptized, and praying, the heaven was opened. [Luke 3:21]


“...Jesus also being baptized... the heaven was opened”


There is an instruction that the Bible wants to pass across here which we should never miss. At the Jordan river, where multitudes came out to be baptized of John, Jesus also was baptised just like every other person, but one thing was different about Him - His heaven opened. Why? Many people came around to be baptised. In fact, we're told that all the people that came to John were baptised without exception. Why didn't we see the heaven open upon them as well? Is God partial to open heaven only upon Jesus' head and release the Spirit upon Him, while all the rest people who engaged in the same activity were rejected and simply became spectators?

Well, there was something deeper and spiritual that Jesus did, which others failed to do, and that singular thing was what God was expecting before He could release heaven upon a man's head. The Bible says as He was being baptized, He was praying, and that act of praying was what opened the heaven above His head. It was not the water baptism that opened the heaven, it was the praying.

Multitudes were at the Jordan river getting baptized. They engaged in the physical, visible act of water baptism, but they didn't engage their spirits for a spiritual work. Jesus did not just get His body wet and soaked in the Jordan river, He knew that water baptism was simply a symbolic exercise. It was meant to showcase an inner work, it was not an end in itself. Hence, it was the real issue that engaged His Spirit (the praying) that God was mostly interested in, and that was what He responded to.

Many are the physical symbolic things we do that represent a spiritual experience, but we stop at these peripheral issues without allowing ourselves to get deep into the spiritual, which is the real thing. It is good to be baptised in water, but that is just a physical thing that everyone and anyone can be engaged in without a corresponding inner work of grace. Heaven cannot open in response and approval to a man just because he was water baptised, there must be the real spiritual occurrence - the touching God before it can be real.

That you are outwardly dressed sanctimoniously should only be a pointer to a definite inner work of the Spirit, it is not an end in itself to which God gives credence and approval. Heaven never opens on your head because you're dressing fine, God is more interested in your inner dressing, the beauty of the Christian.

Jesus here is our perfect example, He engaged in the same physical exercise that everybody engaged in, but His was from an experience, not just as a duty or a form of religion. His joy was not bound up in the fact that He was baptised, and He never made it an important day-to-day topic in His ministerial preaching. His fellowship, communion and relationship with the Father was the main issue in His life, that was what gave Him joy, and THAT ALONE was what heaven responded to.
Your water baptism is only a nominal duty when that is all you're concerned about without a deep communion with the Father. That you have a baptismal certificate, that you even have a baptismal name and a baptismal date..., these are all forms of religion, and they mean nothing to God when you are an alien in His presence.


...Jesus also being baptised...

Now, it's not that water baptism is wrong..., even Jesus Himself submitted Himself to it. Water baptism must be done, but it is not what God is looking for. It's only a show of a deep inner work of the Spirit. We are not saying that we should jettison water baptism because that is not what opens the heavens, we must do it but as a label upon the bottle, not as the substance inside the bottle. The real substance is already in the bottle, which is what God is interested in, the label (water baptism) is only an information (not for God, but for men who should be told) to tell us what is contained inside the bottled.

That you are baptised...'and so what!', that is not what we are hungry for, what we want is that the heaven should open, and ordinary water baptism cannot open the heaven, let alone descend the Holy Spirit.


...the heaven was opened...

Many times we do things just out of the spur of the moment. Many times we have lost focus on "the why" this should be done. Our focus has shifted from the purpose to just "this is how we do it". When we engage in singing in church, we are more concerned about performance, our laborious practice is because we are interested in blending the parts, polishing the melody and harmony, creating an impression and making a beautiful presentation. The reason why we get all the sophisticated equipments is for melodious presentation, but going into the heart of God, the purpose of singing in church actually is to present a message from The Lord to bless lives. But now, we don't even prepare for souls to be touched and transformed, we don't care if God is glorified by our singing, we are more concerned about expression and presentation. The uniformity of the choir now is no more the uniformity of the pure hearts of singers, but the uniformity of the clothes they're wearing. Beauty of singing is now being measured by outfit, melody, harmony, combination..., which the ordinary judges of a worldly American Idol show can score, the true purpose of worship is dead.

I must begin to ask myself, 'does the heaven open when I sing?', 'am I interested in performance more than glorifying God?', 'am I satisfied with a wet body in the river, a mere baptismal certificate without the heaven opening and the Spirit descending upon my head?'.