Jesus left Galilee and came to the Jordan River, where John the Baptist was calling people to repent and baptizing them. Jesus came to John in order to be baptized.
John tried to prevent him. He said that he needed to be baptized by Jesus and asked why Jesus had come to him. John did not treat Jesus as someone who simply stood in the same place as the crowds coming to the river.
Jesus answered that John should allow it for the present, because this was the fitting way to fulfill all righteousness. John then agreed.
After Jesus had been baptized and came up from the water, heaven opened. He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming upon him. The Spirit came down from the opened heavens and rested upon Jesus.
John’s action in the river was followed by God’s action from heaven. The Spirit’s descent was visible to Jesus, and the voice identified the person on whom the Spirit rested. It did not call him merely a teacher or another person seeking baptism, but God’s own beloved Son.
A voice came from heaven, calling Jesus God’s beloved Son and saying that God was pleased with him.