The Dove of God Matt 3:16-17

The Dove of God Matt 3:16-17 1 16 After being baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove and lighting on Him, 17 and behold, a voice out of the heavens said, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased." It is interesting when you go through a synoptic study of the Gospels to see the differences between them, and not necessarily in content, because the content is pretty much the same in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, with some exceptions. There are some minor differences, one might expand on a point a little more than the others, but for the most part they are synonymous in their chronicles of the life of Christ here on Earth. The differences I am talking about are in how the events and statements are recorded for us. There is no question that the personality, education, and who their target audience was, colored their narratives. In an excerpt from Easton s Bible Dictionary concerning the book of Matthew, we read The cast of thought and the forms of expression employed by the writer show that this Gospel was written for Jewish Christians of Palestine. His great object is to prove that Jesus of Nazareth was the promised Messiah, and that in him the ancient prophecies had their fulfilment. The Gospel is full of allusions to those passages of the Old Testament in which Christ is predicted and foreshadowed. The one aim pervading the whole book is to show that Jesus is he "of whom Moses in the law and the prophets did write." This Gospel contains no fewer than sixty-five references to the Old Testament, forty-three of these being direct verbal citations, thus greatly outnumbering those found in the other Gospels. The main feature of this Gospel may be expressed in the motto, "I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil." Obviously, the writings of men are nothing more than that, the writings of some man, but I do think that Easton here expresses what seem to be the salient thoughts concerning the writings of Matthew. It sets forth Jesus as the long-promised Messiah, the Son of David. And this conception of Him and of His work, which runs through the whole of the Gospel, seems to influence the description of the events recorded and colors how Matthew and the others present those descriptions. So, the genealogy that he begins the Gospel with, emphasizes Christ s royal descent from David. That s why the story of the wise men of the East is given, who came to do their homage to the newborn King of the Jews, whose innocent poverty and infancy are set in contrast with the court and character of Herod, who had usurped the title. Also, the mission of John the Baptist is summed up in his proclamation: The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. John is the herald that runs before the chariot, if you will, of the coming Monarch, and shouts, The King! the King! In the same vein, I think we see the same type of reference to the royalty of Jesus in His baptism where it would appear that we see His public assumption of His Messianic office. This was when the world at large was introduced to the Son of God, in whom God is well pleased. 2 And that is what is seen in the descent of the Holy Spirit and the resulting anointing 1

or coronation of the King. And, I think, no less important is the fact that the Spirit descended as a dove, the symbol of peace. Christ brought peace between man and God, and did so by shedding His blood for man s sins and establishing the Eternal Kingdom of God. The descending of the Dove proclaimed to the world that He was the Son of God, the Messiah, the one and only King of Spiritual Israel and the world. We are going to have two discussion points in this lesson 3 1) The Coronation of the King 2) The Gifts of the King First then is 4 1) The Coronation of the King There are some who will say that the people gathered there at the river neither saw nor heard the Spirit and what was said. While I don t believe that to be the case, in actuality the point is irrelevant. It doesn t matter whether the bystanders would have seen or heard anything or not. It is more than enough to know that it occurred and that God the Father proclaimed through God the Spirit, that God the Son had come to take away the sins of man and to establish the Kingdom of Prophecy forever. As to all other speculation, maybe they are amusing to some, but they are insoluble, and therefore, unimportant. Looking at the thought that we see in this descent of the Spirit, it is obvious that it is the coronation of Christ as King. We may not see here the establishment of the kingdom or an official crowning, but we do hear the proclamation of the almighty God that this is His Son. A man is a king by heritage before he is ever crowned. Stated simply, coronation is the consequence and not the cause of his royalty, it is just the official announcement of a previous fact. John 1:35-36 5 35 Again the next day John was standing with two of his disciples, 36 and he looked at Jesus as He walked, and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God!" No additional power, no new authority comes because of the crowning. And so, the first purpose seen in this proclamation is what we see stated by John, the divine pointing out of the Messiah to John the Baptist, in order that he might bear witness of the Christ to others. The Spirit descending coupled with the words of God point to Jesus saying, Arise, anoint Him, for this is He. Remember, always, that this was neither the beginning of the divinity of Christ, nor the beginning of His Messianic nature; not even the beginning of His relationship with God, what might called His Sonship. But it was 2

Eph 3:11-12 6 11 This was in accordance with the eternal purpose which He carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord, 12 in whom we have boldness and confident access through faith in Him. There was an eternal purpose that was culminated and manifested in Jesus Christ. God knew that man would need to be saved from his sins and came to Earth to accomplish that. God knew that man would need an eternal kingdom to be a part of and established his kingdom to be eternal and rules over it in heaven. Christ is God incarnate Col 2:9-10 7 9 For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, 10 and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority; Before the baptism of Jesus, there was a promise of the coming of the Messiah. That promise was fulfilled at His baptism and heralded by nothing less than the proclamation of God when the heavens opened and the dove fluttered down upon His head, He who was from everlasting was the Son of God. Jesus baptism was the fulfillment of the promise of God, a milestone in His human journey, inasmuch as it was the public official assumption of His Messianic office. He came out of the obscurity of a small Galilean village and He had now begun the journey that ultimately lead to His death, burial, and resurrection and finally to His ascension into heaven. There is a dynamic of love to be seen in the coronation of Jesus as the Christ. Sinless as He knew Himself to be, He bowed His head to the baptism of repentance, even though He didn t need it for Himself. Just as He afterwards bowed His head to a different, darker, semblance of baptism, which He also had to endure, though it, likewise, He didn t need for Himself, but in both He made Himself one with His brethren. So we see in Christ, baptized with the Spirit of God, the true completion of what a life abiding in God should be. Christ epitomized what it means to give oneself to God through faithful obedience, and He being God and King. Do you see the impact of that? Christ was God, Christ was King, Christ was the Son of God, yet even though He had all power and authority Heb 5:8 8 8 Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered. What a contrast we see in man s all too often limited commitment to doing God s will. Here is the point; Christ gave Himself completely to his Father just as He gave Himself completely to you and me. I see also a thought in the meaning of the symbol of the dove, peace. Think of what John expected in the Messiah he proclaimed. To him, the coming of the King was first and foremost a coming of judgment. Think about the dynamic we see in the book of Judges. The people would fall away from God and God would raise up a Judge to repel the oppressors and to bring the people back 3

into a relationship with God. This is what John and the rest of the people were looking for in their Messiah, a servant of God who would repel the oppression of the Romans and restore the people back into a relationship with God. They didn t understand that what they wanted to happen was going to happen just not in the way they expected. Christ was indeed going to repel the oppressor, only this time it would be Satan and sin and He would prepare the way for man to be restored into a covenant relationship with God, only this time in the purity of forgiveness. This brings us to our next point 9 2) The Gifts of the King I said earlier in this lesson that Christ gave Himself completely to God as well as man. He has nothing which He keeps to Himself. Christ received the Spirit that He might dispense it to the whole world. Whatever He has received from the Father He gives to man. The idea of the gift that Christ has bestowed on man as being the very life, the very spirit, that dwelt in His humanity, and made and kept it pure, is the highest thought that we can have of what the Gospel does for us. You don t understand its meaning if you are content with thinking of it as simply the means of escape from wrath. Yes, that is the first part of its mercy to us, and thank God for that, but if you think of Christ's gift as only pardon by means of His sacrifice on the Cross, you are missing an enormous blessing and joy that can be found in the beauty of what our King and Savior has brought to us. We must rise higher than that; we must feel those blessings in our hearts if we would understand the unspeakable gift, and that it is the gift of Himself to dwell within us through His Spirit as the very spirit of our lives. Assimilation, joining ourselves to Him by reception of the gift of the Holy Spirit is the ultimate teaching of Pentecost. Christ is our life and that means both now and in eternity. It is the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus which makes us free from the law of sin and death. Note the implication of what we have just said, all Christians are spoken of in the New Testament in the same language which is used in reference to Christ. He is the Son of God. Christians are sons through Him. John 1:12 10 12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, He is our High Priest. Christians are priests unto God. Rev 1:5-6 11 5 and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him who loves us and released us from our sins by His blood 6 and He has made us to be a kingdom, priests to His God and Father to Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen. Christ is the Light of the World. Christians are to be the reflection of His light in the world. 4

Matt 5:14-16 12 14 "You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; 15 nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. 16 Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven. Because of the Christians relationship with Christ and through Him, with the Father, we join Him as children of God almighty and as children, heirs with Him. Rom 8:16-17 13 16 The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him. That s what Christ can do for any who will follow Him. He can give them the Spirit. That is something that can be found nowhere else but in Christ. The Christian s attitude should be that of Elisha when Elijah told him to ask whatever he wanted 2 Kings 2:9 14 9 Ask what I shall do for you before I am taken from you. And Elisha said, Please, let a double portion of your spirit be upon me. Elijah, knowing the limits of the human relationship between master and disciple, could only shake his head in doubt and say 2 Kings 2:10 15 10 He said, You have asked a hard thing. Nevertheless, if you see me when I am taken from you, it shall be so for you; but if not, it shall not be so. Elijah understood that sometimes man can do what he says and sometimes he can t, but here is the thing that our Lord and Savior says 1 Thess 4:7-8 16 7 For God has not called us for the purpose of impurity, but in sanctification. 8 So, he who rejects this is not rejecting man but the God who gives His Holy Spirit to you. 5