THE news reached Galilee, and Jesus with the multitude went down to where the harbinger was preaching at the ford.
2) When Jesus saw the harbinger he said.
Behold the man of God! Behold the greatest of the seers! Behold, Elijah has returned!
3) Behold the messenger whom God has sent to open up the way! The kingdom is at hand.
4) When John saw Jesus standing with the throng he said,
Behold the king who cometh in the name of God!
5) And Jesus said to John,
I would be washed in water as a symbol of the cleansing of the soul.
6) And John replied,
You do not need to wash, for you are pure in thought, and word, and deed. And if you need to wash I am not worthy to perform the rite.
7) And Jesus said,
I come to be a pattern for the sons of men, and what I bid them do, that I must do; and all men must be washed, symbolic of the cleansing of the soul.
8) This washing we establish as a rite – baptism rite we call it now, and so it shall be called.
9) Your work, prophetic harbinger, is to prepare the way, and to reveal the hidden things.
10) The multitudes are ready for the words of life, and I come to be made known by you to all the world, as prophet of the Triune God, and as the chosen one to manifest the Christ to men.
11) Then John led Jesus down into the river at the ford and he baptized him in the sacred name of him who sent him forth to manifest the Christ to men.
12) And as they came out of the stream, the Holy Breath, in form of dove, came down and sat on Jesus' head.
13) A voice from heaven said,
This is the well-beloved son of God, the Christ, the love of God made manifest.
14) John heard the voice, and understood the message of the voice.
15) Now Jesus went his way, and John preached to the multitude.
16) As many as confessed their sins, and turned from evil ways to ways of right, the harbinger baptized, symbolic of the blotting out of sins by righteousness.