Chapter 3
16. And Jesus, when
he was baptized, went up straightway out of the
water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto
him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending
like a dove, and lighting upon him:
17. And
lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my
beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
In verses 1-15
of this chapter you will read of John the
Baptist coming to Christ to be baptized of the
water. Christ surprised John, his cousin, and
stated that it was He who need the baptism.
Christ does not deny that John had need to be
baptized of him, yet declares he will now be
baptized of John. Christ is now in a state of
humiliation. Our Lord Jesus looked upon it as
well becoming Him to fulfill all righteousness,
to own every Divine institution, and to show His
readiness to comply with all God's righteous
precepts. In and through Christ, and Christ
alone, the heavens are opened to the children of
men.
This descent of
the Spirit upon Christ, showed that Christ was
endued with His sacred influences without
measure or limitations. The fruit of the Spirit
is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness,
goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. At
Christ's baptism there was a manifestation of
the three Persons in the sacred Trinity. The
Father confirming the Son to be Mediator; the
Son solemnly entering upon the work; the Holy
Spirit descending on him, to be through his
mediation communicated to his people. In Him
our spiritual sacrifices are acceptable, for He
is the altar that sanctifies every gift, 1 Pet.
ii. 5. Out of Christ, God is a consuming fire,
but in Christ, a reconciled Father. This is the
sum of the gospel, which we must by faith
cheerfully embrace.
From the Book
of Luke
Chapter 3
21. Now when all the people were baptized, it
came to pass, that Jesus also being baptized,
and praying, the heaven was opened,
22. And
the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like
a dove upon him, and a voice came from heaven,
which said, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I
am well pleased.
Jesus until the time of His baptism by John
the Baptist, His cousin, had led a plain "human
life" with no form of blessing upon Him...He did
no miracles. He had spent His time growing in
the things of the Father, but had not been
"Spirit Filled."
In Luke, Chapter 4 Vs 1, we find "And Jesus
being full of the Holy Ghost returned from
Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the
wilderness." At this time being equipped with
the Spirit to lead Him and guide Him, He was now
ready to face the evil one. Jesus spent 40 days
in the wilderness fasting and fighting the
offerings of satan. Without the Holy Spirit
being upon Him, He would not have succeeded.
In 1948, when Israel again became a nation,
fulfilling prophecy, the symbol they used to
their unity and strength was the dove with the
olive branch in its mouth. This was symbolic of
the time Noah kept sending out the dove to see
if the ground was dry after the 40 days of the
flood. ( Note: The flood lasted 40 days...and
Jesus was led into the desert and tempted 40
days.)
The dove has long symbolized "peace and
strength." The Father used it at the baptism of
Jesus to show that now He was well pleased with
His Son and He gave Him the gift of the Holy
Spirit to guide, lead and strengthen Him. He
will also give it to anyone that seeks the
Father and diligently asks Him for this
marvelous gift that will bring peace, guidance
and strength.
"Won't you
seek Him today?"
This beautiful picture at the top was
the idea of Peter and Rebekah Laue of Colorado.
Peter says, when we read your page about the
symbolism of the dove we "thought you needed to
see a sandblasted sign we made on a piece of
cedar.(The top picture) It is about two feet
tall. Even before we decided what to put on that
special piece of wood, I knew it had a special
destiny. We loaned it about for quite a few
years and lent it to different folks to enjoy;
but finally we called it back home."
The design has
subsequently been made into a stained glass
window, on a large piece of granite and also on
a large piece of flagstone for our backyard
prayer garden area. The boy in the picture is
John Luke Laue – our grandson. He helped to make
the one on granite. The stained glass window is
above the Jacuzzi tub in our guest apartment we
call “The Upper Room.”
Visit
Peter and Rebekah's Wonderful Site
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