Looking Up From Al-Maghtas

Jordanian baptismal site — Al-Maghtas, on the Jordan River, at the border between Israel and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan (Wikimedia Commons)

SL Temple cutaway — In this cutaway model of the Salt Lake Temple, the baptismal font (resting upon the backs of twelve oxen) can be seen to the lower left. (Wikimedia Commons)

A couple of weeks ago, we stood (once more) at al-Maghtas, the traditional site of John’s baptism of Jesus.

I like the site. I think it’s probably the right place or, at least, not far from the right place.

I also like it for its symbolism:

Down in the Jordan River Valley, not far north of the Dead Sea, it’s very near the deepest spot on the surface of Planet Earth. From there, one ascends steeply up through the Judean hills to the city of Jerusalem, where the temple once stood.

I can’t help but think of the principle that “the baptismal font . . . was commanded to be in a place underneath where the living are wont to assemble” (Doctrine 128:13), and of the idea that the temple is the mountain of the Lord’s house, and of the doctrine that baptism is the entryway into the Kingdom while the ordinances of the temple offer the crowning blessings of the gospel.

Posted from Richmond, Virginia

Looking up from al-Maghtas