The baptism of Jesus in the River Jordan was not a mere ritual—it was a prophetic drama of descent into death and ascent into life. It revealed the crossing from Adam to Christ, from the old man to the new creation, from law to Spirit. This event unveils profound truths concerning identity, judgment, and separation. It declares that true baptism is not merely of water but of death and life in Christ.
“The Jordan does not only divide lands—it divides covenants, races, and identities. Christ is the border.”
The Meaning of Jordan: Descent Into Death #
The Hebrew name Yarden (יָרַד yarad) means “descender”. The River Jordan flows over 251 kilometres, finally emptying into the Dead Sea, the lowest body of water on earth: 1,292 feet below sea level. No life can survive in the Dead Sea due to its excessive salt concentration. Thus, Jordan represents the descent into the domain of death.
This is significant because Jesus identifies Himself in this descent-and-ascent pattern:
John 3:13 — No one has ascended into heaven except the One who descended from heaven – the Son of Man. (NET)
Ephesians 4:9–10 — Now what does “He ascended” mean except that He also descended [first] into the lower parts of the earth? He who descended is the very same as He who also has ascended high above all the heavens, that He [His presence] might fill all things [that is, the whole universe]). (AMP)
Here, the “lower parts of the earth” (κατώτερα μέρη) speaks of the realm of death, not hell, as wrongly interpreted. Jesus went where Adam fell, to redeem what Adam lost. The river Jordan was a prophetic sign of that descent into death and separation.
“Jesus does not reform Adam—He buries him. In Jordan, Adam dies and Christ rises.”
Adam’s Baptism vs. Christ’s Baptism #
Adam’s kind is bound to the dust—to die and return to it. His followers (disciples of religious flesh) try to use law, rituals, or external altars to approach God. The Pharisees, for example, made disciples (Matthew 23:15), but only into systems—external forms without inner life.
Matthew 23:15 — Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel over sea and land to make one convert, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves. (ESV)
Christ’s baptism, however, symbolises the death of Adam and the rising of a new kind of man—one born of the Spirit, not of the flesh.
John 11:25 — Jesus said to her, “I am the Resurrection and the Life. Whoever believes in Me [as Saviour] will live even if he dies…” (AMP)
Christ and the Domain of Death #
Jesus did not just symbolically go into water. He entered the dominion of death itself to destroy the power of the one who held death over humanity:
Hebrews 2:14 — Since the children have flesh and blood, He too shared in their humanity so that by His death He might destroy him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil. (NIV)
This descent was not passive. It was a confrontation—a declaration that life would now rule over death, and Spirit over flesh. Baptism thus becomes a prophetic crossing, much like Israel’s crossing through Jordan.
Jordan as a Border and Divider #
The Jordan River symbolised a boundary. In Joshua 22, we read how the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and half of Manasseh built an altar at the Jordan, causing uproar:
Joshua 22:11 — The Israelites heard that the people of Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh had built an altar at the edge of the land of Canaan, near the Jordan… (NET)
This altar became a cause of division and suspicion. The Jordan here acts as a dividing line—separating tribes, dividing loyalties, revealing where one stands. Jesus, too, becomes that dividing line. In His baptism, He showed that He would be the true boundary between the old and the new. (see also Hebrews 4:12)
“Christ, Himself is the dividing line between life and death, unfaithfulness and faithfulness, body and spirit, and Adam and Christ.”
The Twelve Stones and the New Foundation #
Joshua set up twelve stones in the middle of the Jordan as a memorial:
Joshua 4:9 — Joshua also set up twelve stones in the middle of the Jordan in the very place where the priests stood with the ark of the covenant. (AMP)
These stones, representing each tribe, stayed under the water, while another set of twelve was placed at Gilgal—the place of reproach removed (Joshua 5:9). It’s a picture of the old buried and the new established. Just as the law was buried beneath the flow of Jordan, so too must Adam be buried beneath the flow of Christ’s life.
Galatians 3:27 — For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. (NASB)
The Way of the Spirit vs. the Way of the Flesh #
Pharisees had disciples (Matthew 22:16), but trained them in the old man. They upheld religious laws but lacked the inner transformation. Christ trains us by the Spirit.
Romans 8:14 — For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. (AMP)
Adam’s disciples remain in dead works. Christ’s disciples are led by the living Spirit, conformed not to laws but to His image.
2 Corinthians 3:6 — He has qualified us [making us] sufficient as ministers of a new covenant [of salvation through Christ], not of the letter [of a written code] but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. (AMP)
Christ is the Jordan #
Christ is the Descender, who entered the river of death. He is the boundary stone between two realms. In His baptism, we see the end of Adam and the beginning of the new creation. As we follow Him, we don’t merely repent—we die. We cross over. We rise in union with His Spirit and walk not as disciples of religion but as sons of resurrection.
In Christ,
Shaliach.
