“And the Holy Spirit descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon Him.” Luke 3:22
Dear Ones:
Throughout the life of Christ, from his miraculous birth to the moment that He gave up his spirit, dying on the cross, the key to His success, and the realization of the purpose and will of the Father, was the Spirit of God. On the day that Jesus is baptized by John the Baptist, there occurs something that confirms this, and reveals to us how important the ministry of the Spirit of God is. There is also in this picture the revelation of how this knowledge applies to our lives.
In God’s wisdom, and love, at the moment when Jesus was baptized, and He was praying, Scripture tells us: “the heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon Him.” (Luke 3:22) John the Baptist saw this, and recognized that God the Father had just designated the Lord Jesus, before all of mankind, as the one “…which baptizes with the Holy Spirit,” and was thus, “the Son of God.” (Jn. 1:33,34) Beyond the revelation of WHO Christ was, and is, it was in the coming of the Spirit, and the consequent anointing of Christ by the Spirit, that we begin to see the key to Christ’s life and ministry. The revelation becomes ever clearer that the Spirit of God is essential to His ministry and work, by His enabling…or power. It was love for the Father which was Christ’s highest motive to live, and serve. But it will be the power of the Spirit which will enable Him to go from peaceful the waters of the Jordan River, to the deep and dark waters of the cross on Calvary. There, by the Eternal Spirit, He will become the unique and only sacrifice for sins, and means by which a man can truly be forgiven for his sins, become a new creation, and live by the same power of God, for the glory of God. So, what do we need to grasp specifically concerning the Spirit of God?
The first thing we need to see is that the Spirit of God is NOT a power, or thing. He is a Person who is graciously, and wondrously, related to the Son and the Father. It is the Father who “gives” the Spirit to come upon His beloved Son, and it is the Spirit who graciously comes upon the Son to minister to Him all that He needs to receive from the Father, to accomplish the Father’s work and purpose. The second thing we see is the contrast between how softly the Spirit comes, and yet, how amazingly He possesses the very power of creation. Why do we see Him like this? It is so that we will understand that God loves us, and graciously desires to minister to us, in like manner as He did to the Lord Jesus, our example, our “picture.”
There is one last thing which is so very important in seeing the Spirit come upon the Lord Jesus. It is the permanency of His coming, and provision. He came to provide Christ with all that was in the Father for the doing of the Father’s will. He does so in a permanent manner. This corresponds perfectly with the “promise of the Father” to the disciples of the upper room, and to believers ever since. The promises associated with the Spirit’s coming have to do with His specific ministry to the believer, and the permanency of His presence, never to leave us. As the key to Christ’s life, and His success in the realization of His work on Calvary, to save mankind, is the gracious, ever-present Spirit of God, in all of His power and strength, so is He to be to us…not only a very present help in time of need, but the gracious Comforter who will never leave us. The same gracious Holy Spirit that came upon Christ, lives in our hearts to be to us, in His fullness, all that we need to glorify God.
Dear Father, open our eyes to see the ministry of the Spirit of God in His power and grace. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Love, Dad