When John
baptized Jesus, God expressed His pleasure: the
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit manifested themselves
simultaneously as Jesus emerged from the baptism
waters.
Six centuries later, the
faith of Islam would continue the prophetic
tradition in this land, proclaiming righteousness
as the divinely inspired and proper life for all
humankind. Moses, Elijah, John the Baptist, and
Jesus would all be revered in the Koran, the
Islamic holy book, as divinely inspired prophets,
or messengers of God. The Koran calls Jesus "God's
messenger" and says that God "gave Jesus son of
Mary the clear signs, and confirmed him with the
Holy Spirit" (2:80). It says that God designated
John the Baptist and his mother Elizabeth as "a
sign for everyone in the universe" (21:91), and
says that Elijah was "a messenger" of God of whom
"we left mention among later men" (37:130) a
reference to Elijah's associations with John the
Baptist and Jesus.
The
Prophet Mohammad himself would cross the Jordan
River on his night journey to Jerusalem and
heaven. This enduring continuity of faith among
the three Abrahamic religions of Judaism,
Christianity and Islam --testament to God's
merciful love for all humankind --is nowhere
experienced or preserved as fully as in the region
of the Baptism Archaeological Park, where so many
Abrahamic prophets passed and left their mark.
The pathways of salvation
and revelation in the Holy Land that pilgrims
retrace today were initiated by a lone figure
--John the Baptist. He suddenly appeared in the
wilderness in fulfilment of the prophecies of
Isaiah and Malachi that a forerunner would prepare
the way for the Messiah. Isaiah 40:3 said:
" A voice cries, 'Prepare in the wilderness
a way for Yahweh. Make a straight highway
for our Lord across the desert...'. " In Malachi
4:5-6, God says that "I
am going to send my messenger
to prepare a way before me."
by him in the river Jordan" (Matthew
3:5). Jesus came to the Jordan River, specifically
to John at Bethany beyond the Jordan. John 1:28
explicitly speaks of "...Bethany beyond the
Jordan, where John was baptizing." (The site of
this Bethany beyond the Jordan River is not to be
confused with the Bethany near Jerusalem, which
was the home town of Lazarus.) 
