What was going on at Jesus' baptism?

In The Rise and Fall of Movements, I argue that the stories of Jesus’ baptism and wilderness testing are essential to understanding the nature of his mission and the missionary movement he began and continues to lead.

At his baptism the Son demonstrates his love in surrender to his Father’s will, as the Spirit rests on him and the Father declares his love and his pleasure in the Son.

Michael Reeves explains,

The way the Father, Son and Spirit related at Jesus’ baptism was not a one-time-only event; the whole scene is full of echoes of Genesis 1. There at creation, the Spirit also hovered, dovelike, over waters. And just as the Spirit, after Jesus’ baptism, would send him out into the lifeless wilderness, so in Genesis 1 the Spirit appears as the power by which God’s Word goes out into the lifeless void. In the very beginning, God creates by his Word (the Word that would later become flesh), and he does so by sending out his Word in the power of his Spirit or Breath. In both the work of creation (in Genesis 1) and the work of salvation or re-creation (in the Gospels), God’s Word goes out from him by his Spirit. The Father speaks, and on his Breath his Word is heard. It all reveals what this God is truly like. The Spirit is the one through whom the Father loves, blesses and empowers his Son. The Son goes out from the Father by the Spirit. Hence Jesus is known as “the Anointed One.”

Our efforts to multiply disciples and churches to the glory of God must begin with who God is and a knowledge of how he works in the world. Movements rise as they move towards the life and ministry of Jesus, they fall as they move away from the life and ministry of Jesus.