Matthew 3:16

_ _ Matthew 3:16, Matthew 3:17. Descent of the Spirit upon the baptized Redeemer.

_ _ And Jesus when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water — rather, “from the water.” Mark has “out of the water” (Mark 1:10). “and” — adds Luke (Luke 3:21), “while He was praying”; a grand piece of information. Can there be a doubt about the burden of that prayer; a prayer sent up, probably, while yet in the water — His blessed head suffused with the baptismal element; a prayer continued likely as He stepped out of the stream, and again stood upon the dry ground; the work before Him, the needed and expected Spirit to rest upon Him for it, and the glory He would then put upon the Father that sent Him — would not these fill His breast, and find silent vent in such form as this? — “Lo, I come; I delight to do Thy will, O God. Father, glorify Thy name. Show Me a token for good. Let the Spirit of the Lord God come upon Me, and I will preach the Gospel to the poor, and heal the broken-hearted, and send forth judgment unto victory.” While He was yet speaking —

_ _ lo, the heavens were opened — Mark says, sublimely, “He saw the heavens cleaving” (Mark 1:10).

_ _ and he saw the Spirit of God descending — that is, He only, with the exception of His honored servant, as he tells us himself (John 1:32-34); the by-standers apparently seeing nothing.

_ _ like a dove, and lighting upon him — Luke says, “in a bodily shape” (Luke 3:22); that is, the blessed Spirit, assuming the corporeal form of a dove, descended thus upon His sacred head. But why in this form? The Scripture use of this emblem will be our best guide here. “My dove, my undefiled is one,” says the Song of Solomon (Song of Songs 6:9). This is chaste purity. Again, “Be ye harmless as doves,” says Christ Himself (Matthew 10:16). This is the same thing, in the form of inoffensiveness towards men. “A conscience void of offense toward God and toward men” (Acts 24:16) expresses both. Further, when we read in the Song of Solomon (Song of Songs 2:14), “O my dove, that art in the clefts of the rocks, in the secret places of the stairs (see Isaiah 60:8), let me see thy countenance, let me hear thy voice; for sweet is thy voice, and thy countenance is comely” — it is shrinking modesty, meekness, gentleness, that is thus charmingly depicted. In a word — not to allude to the historical emblem of the dove that flew back to the ark, bearing in its mouth the olive leaf of peace (Genesis 8:11) — when we read (Psalms 68:13), “Ye shall be as the wings of a dove covered with silver, and her feathers with yellow gold,” it is beauteousness that is thus held forth. And was not such that “holy, harmless, undefiled One,” the “separate from sinners?” “Thou art fairer than the children of men; grace is poured into Thy lips; therefore God hath blessed Thee for ever!” But the fourth Gospel gives us one more piece of information here, on the authority of one who saw and testified of it: “John bare record, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and IT ABODE UPON HIM.” And lest we should think that this was an accidental thing, he adds that this last particular was expressly given him as part of the sign by which he was to recognize and identify Him as the Son of God: “And I knew Him not: but He that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending AND REMAINING ON HIM, the same is He which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost. And I saw and bare record that this is the Son of God” (John 1:32-34). And when with this we compare the predicted descent of the Spirit upon Messiah (Isaiah 11:2), “And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him,” we cannot doubt that it was this permanent and perfect resting of the Holy Ghost upon the Son of God — now and henceforward in His official capacity — that was here visibly manifested.