The Gospel of Luke: Inauguration Day

Transcript

JRNT 80
03/23/25
The Gospel of Luke: Inauguration Day
Luke 3:21-22
Jesse Randolph


Well just a couple of months ago the inauguration of the 45th and 47th President of the United States, Donald J. Trump, took place in Washington D.C., and as you might recall there were a few hiccups in President Trump's inauguration day. There was the brutally cold weather which moved the festivities indoors, there was the failure with the sound equipment that led to Carrie Underwood singing “America the Beautiful” in an acapella version, which was beautiful. But there was the fact that President Trump didn't place his hand on the Bible at his swearing in. Well, I did some digging this week and apparently, hiccups and peculiarities are just about par for the course for presidential inaugurations, because when you study the history of that day, every four years in which our nation's presidents have been sworn in, you quickly learn that something always seems to go wrong on inauguration day. Something strange, something unexpected happens typically on inauguration day.

It goes back to George Washington. George Washington arrived for his inauguration in New York City and someone realized, when it came to inauguration time, that they had forgotten a Bible. So someone had to go scramble back to a nearby Masonic Lodge and get him one. Andrew Jackson had his inauguration in 1829, and the festivities devolved into a massive brawl. Furniture was broken, china was smashed, and President Jackson himself had to climb out a window to escape. William Henry Harrison, his inauguration was in 1841. It was a typically cold day in the nation's capital and our nation's new President, a proud war hero, not only refused to wear a coat or a hat, he insisted on riding on horseback exposed to the elements rather than in a covered carriage; and he insisted on giving a lengthy two-hour inaugural address out there in the cold (you thought you had it bad, he went two hours), after which Harrison caught pneumonia, and 31 days after inauguration was dead—our nation's shortest presidential tenure. Then there's Ulysses S. Grant, who in 1873 at his inauguration, it was not only cold outside, it was bitter cold. The wind chill was somewhere near 30 below by most estimates and they still had the inaugural ball that night. And they still held it outdoors, albeit in a tent, and at that gala the guests complained, believe it or not, it was 30 below, the champagne froze. What also froze were the caged songbirds that had been hired to serenade the guests that night. Over a hundred songbirds froze to death at Grant's inauguration. Then you get to Nixon's second inauguration, fast forwarding a hundred years to 1973. A rooster busted loose from an agricultural exhibit and ran into the luxury boxes of some very annoyed attendees. And then at Barack Obama's first inauguration in 2009, Chief Justice John Roberts botched the words of the oath, meaning that President Obama had to be sworn in again in private the next day.

I could rattle off several more examples, but the point of mentioning these is to show that when it comes to the stage of human history involving human players, powerful and prestigious though they may be, there is no protection against something going wrong and something not going according to plan. And as we're about to see, though, in the events surrounding the beginning, the inauguration, the commencement of our Lord's earthly ministry, nothing went wrong. And nothing could have gone wrong because as the Savior of the world had now come into the world that He came to save, everything went according to the perfect and foreordained plan of God in heaven. Turn with me in your Bibles, if you would, to Luke 3. We'll be in verses 21-22 today.

Over the past few Sundays we've studied what Luke's Gospel reveals about the baptism that John the Baptist was performing. You remember that passage in Luke 3:3 that John was going into all the district around the Jordan preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And we saw there that the baptism that John was conducting in the Jordan River was preparatory, it was anticipatory, it pointed forward to and looked forward to the baptism that the Messiah would ultimately bring. Then last Sunday we considered the two-fold baptism that Jesus would offer. Jesus would bring a baptism of the Holy Spirit, placement into Christ, placement into His body, into the church, which anyone who is regenerate, anyone who has put their faith in Him can partake of. Jesus also would bring this baptism of fire, meaning fiery judgment for all who ultimately reject him. And what that means, implication wise, is that everyone who lives on planet earth today, churched or unchurched, civilized or uncivilized, conservative or liberal, clean as a whistle or as filthy as a pig's snout, they all will be baptized one way or another by Jesus Christ. They will either be barned with the wheat as they're baptized with the Spirit, as they bow their knee to Him in repentance and faith, or they'll be burned with the chaff as they're baptized with fire, as they're tormented forever in the blistering flames of hell.

Now today we're going to see how Jesus Himself underwent a baptism, a baptism in the Jordan River, a baptism which marked the beginning, the inauguration of His public ministry. Again, our text is Luke 3:21-22, just two verses today, but plenty to reflect on as the Holy Spirit drives these truths deep into our heart. God's Word reads, “Now it happened that when all the people were being baptized, Jesus was also baptized. And while He was praying, heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in bodily form like a dove, and a voice came out of heaven, ‘You are My beloved Son, in You I am well pleased.’” It's one long sentence, one long sentence in the Greek, one long sentence in the English. It is an elegant sentence, a powerful sentence, a profound sentence. And I've broken this sentence up according to four preaching points. Here are four points for you note takers. First, we have “The Dip.” If you prefer, you can write it out as “The Dunk.” The Dip, The Dunk. This is what Luke reveals about the moment that Jesus was baptized in the Jordan River. And we're going to look at not only what this event entailed, but what it meant, what it accomplished, what it signified. Then we're going to have second, “The Dependence,” where we're going to see as Luke reports on over and over in his Gospel account, that Jesus was in His humanity regularly reliant upon prayer. Third is “The Descent” where we're going to learn what it means that God the Holy Spirit at Jesus's baptism, what it meant that He came upon Him in bodily form like a dove. And then fourth is “The Declaration,” where we're going to see God the Father with that voice thundering from the heavens saying, “You are my beloved Son, in You I am well pleased.”

So let's start with “The Dip,” looking at the first part of verse 21. “Now it happened that when all the people were being baptized, Jesus was also baptized.” We'll stop there for now, and in doing so I'll just mention that compared to the three other Gospel authors, Luke has uncharacteristically given us the shortest account of Jesus's baptism. And note, he starts with this transitional phrase, very familiar to us now, “now it happened.” You've heard me say several times from up here in our study of Luke that Luke is fond of using that phrase, “now it happened” or “and it happened,” but when he uses that phrase, he's not speaking of chance or luck or fate or anything like that. We know as we worship a God who is meticulously sovereign that He doesn't deal in chance or luck or fate. Nothing just happens to happen. No, Luke is using those words, “now it happened” to really switch tracks on his train of thought, to go in a different direction in the narrative. His words here, “now it happened,” is his way to express to Theophilus, I was just now telling you about John and now I'm going to tell you about Jesus, now I'm going to tell you about the Savior of the world., now I'm going to tell you about the One who came to die for your sins and mine. “Now it happened.”

And then look what comes next, “Now it happened that when all the people were being baptized.” Here Luke is alluding to those people who were being baptized in the Jordan River by John that we looked at a couple of sermons ago—the crowds, the tax collectors, the soldiers. We went through that really quickly at the end of a sermon a few weeks ago. Those were those folks who were asking that common question as they saw John performing this baptism in the Jordan River, What should we do? These were those same folks that were earnestly seeking to bear fruit in keeping with repentance. It was those people who were, as it says here in verse 21, “being baptized.” These were first century Jews who had this long deferred hope of meeting their Messiah. And it's at this moment that this monumental event takes place. You see it there right in the middle of verse 21, “Jesus was also baptized.” So as all the other people are being baptized, Jesus was also baptized. I just used the word monumental, that this was a monumental event. And it was. It was a monumental event because it marked the inauguration of our Lord's public ministry.

And it was so monumental that it's mentioned in all four Gospel accounts. In fact, to get our fingers moving and our eyes looking, let's look at the other three recordings of the Lord's baptism. Go with me, if you would, over to Matthew 3. Matthew 3 has a lot of parallels between what we see here in Luke 3. Like the Luke 3 account, the Matthew 3 account has these references to John's baptism being linked to the confession of sins. There's a reference here to the religious leaders of the day being called a brood of vipers. There's the quote of John that he is not fit to remove Christ's sandals. There's a reference to a winnowing fork and a threshing floor and the gathering of wheat into the barn and the burning of chaff.

And then we see this in Matthew 3:13, it says, “Then Jesus arrived from Galilee at the Jordan coming to John to be baptized by him. But John tried to prevent Him saying, ‘I have need to be baptized by You, and do You come to me?’ But Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Permit it at this time, for in this way it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.’ Then He permitted him. And after being baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming upon Him. And behold, there was a voice out of the heavens saying, ‘This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.’” So that's the account in Matthew's Gospel. We'll come back to that.

So put a finger, a pen, a welcome card there, because I want to take you over to Mark's Gospel now, where we see what Mark has to say about this same event. Turn with me, if you would, to Mark 1. And as you're doing so, Mark will have a similar account like Luke, that John the Baptist came “preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.” We see that in Mark 1:4. He notes in verse 5 that “the people of Jerusalem were being baptized by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins.” He has that similar statement of John the Baptist in verse 7 that John recognized that he was not “fit to stoop down and untie the strap of the Lord's sandals.” Interestingly, back in verse 6, that's where we get the reference to John being “clothed in camel's hair and wearing a leather belt, and his diet is locusts and wild honey.”

But then here's the parallel account that we're interested in, in verses 9-11. “Now it happened,” Mark 1:9, “Now it happened that in those days Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And immediately coming up out of the water, He saw the heavens opening, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon Him. And a voice came out of the heavens, ‘You are My beloved Son, in You I am well pleased.’” So in the three synoptic gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, Jesus's baptism is mentioned directly.

And then there's the Gospel of John. Turn with me to the Gospel of John. Now in John's Gospel it doesn't have the direct mention of Jesus being baptized, but I do believe it indirectly alludes to the event. John 1, we'll start in verse 19 just to get some context about John the Apostle's setting up the ministry of John the Baptist. John 1:19, “And this is the witness of John when the Jews sent to him priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, ‘Who are you?’ And he confessed and did not deny, but confessed, ‘I am not the Christ.’ And they asked him, ‘What then? Are you Elijah?’ And he said, ‘I am not.’ ‘Are you the prophet?’ And he answered, ‘No.’ Therefore they said to him, ‘Who are you so that we may give an answer to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself?’ He said, ‘I am a voice of one crying in the wilderness. “Make straight the way of the Lord,” as Isaiah the prophet said.’ Now they had been sent from the Pharisees, and they asked him and said to him, ‘Why then are you baptizing if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the prophet?’ John answered them saying, ‘I baptized with water, but among you stands one whom you do not know. This One is He who comes after me, of whom I am not worthy to untie the strap of His sandal.’ These things took place in Bethany beyond the Jordan where John was baptizing. On the next day, he saw Jesus coming to him and said, ‘Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. This is He of whom I said, “After me comes a Man who has been ahead of me for He existed before me.” I did not know Him, but so that He might be manifested to Israel, I came baptizing with water.’”

And now, starting in verse 32, this is what I would say is that indirect allusion to the baptism of Jesus. Look what it says. “And John bore witness saying, ‘I have beheld the Spirit descending as a dove out of heaven, and He abided on Him. And I did not know him, but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, “The One upon whom you see the Spirit descending and abiding on Him, this is the One who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.” And I myself have seen and have born witness that this is the Son of God.’”

So the One who, as the Messiah, would baptize with the Holy Spirit would be the One who John saw the Spirit descending and abiding upon. And who was it that John saw the Spirit descending and abiding upon? Well, it was Jesus. And where do we see the biblical record of that Spirit abiding and descending upon Jesus? Well, we get that in Matthew and Mark and Luke, when Jesus is baptized in the Jordan River. So those are the three other accounts of Jesus's baptism as recorded by Matthew, Mark, and John.

Now back to our text, back in Luke, we have our passage here in Luke 3:21, which again is the briefest of the four recordings of the baptism of Jesus. Here we have Luke, this otherwise very flowery wordsmith, suddenly becoming more tight lipped. And he just says this, “Now it happened that when all the people were being baptized, Jesus was also baptized.” At the height of John's baptizing activity, as all the people were being baptized, it says, “Jesus was also baptized.” Now those words there where it says, “all the people were being baptized,” that literally reads as “when all the people had been baptized.” So in other words, Jesus waited till the very end. That's how I read this, that other people had their chance, everybody took their turn to be baptized, and then Jesus went. But this is a monumental event. This is that event again that marks the inauguration of our Lord's public ministry. On that point there is consensus, on that point there is unanimity that this is a big event, a major event, an inaugural event.

But the real big question and the question that leaves people scratching their heads and asking the question why, is why did He do it? What was the purpose of His baptism? What was the significance of His baptism? We get that He did it, we get that it's important. But why? Well, it's a deep question. It breeds, I think, a multipart answer, chock full of biblical and theological solutions.

But before I give you that answer, I want to clarify what I hope is one very obvious point, which is that while John's baptism was a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, and though Jesus did go through that baptism, Jesus had no sins to repent of. I want to make sure we make that very clear. To suggest otherwise would run entirely contrary to what God's Word reveals about the spotlessness, the sinlessness of the Savior of the world. 2 Corinthians 5:21 says, “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf.” Hebrews 4:15 says, We do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things like we are, yet without sin.” Hebrews 7:26 says, “It was fitting for us to have a high priest, holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners.” Jesus had no sin. He was and He is the perfect Son of God. He was and He is the spotless Lamb.

So that being so, if John's baptism was a baptism of repentance, why did Jesus undergo that very baptism? Well, there are a number of reasons and purposes, I believe, for Jesus's baptism. I've identified six of them for you here this morning. We'll start with this one. Jesus' baptism was both an affirmation and an expansion of John's ministry of baptism. Our Lord's baptism was an affirmation and expansion of John's ministry of baptism. Recall that John came preaching that baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. What we do know as we go deeper into the Gospel accounts is that Jesus preached a similar message of repentance and forgiveness of sin. In Mark 1:15 He would call on those around Him to repent and believe in the gospel. At His last supper, recorded in Matthew 26, Jesus said that His blood was being poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. So their messages were similar. Now though their messages were similar in terms of the baptism that each would provide, there's no doubt that Jesus' baptism was greater than John's, as Jesus came, we saw last time, baptizing with the Holy Spirit and fire. John's baptism served the purpose of pointing people to the greater baptism that the Messiah would bring, meaning those who got wet through John's baptism would still need to be Spirit baptized through Jesus. But His own baptism and in His own baptism as Jesus Himself went down in the waters of the Jordan, He was acting in solidarity with John's message. He was linking His cause, as He offered forgiveness and called for repentance, to that of John.

In fact, we see that exact thing happening, I think, over in Luke 20. Turn with me to Luke 20, where this is a scene where Jesus is being challenged by the chief priests and the scribes of the day, and they're challenging Him on the basis of the authority by which He was doing His works, His miracles. Look at Luke 20:1, it says, “And it happened that on one of the days while He was teaching the people in the temple and proclaiming the gospel, the chief priests and the scribes with the elders came up to him, and they spoke saying to Him, ‘Tell us by what authority You are doing these things, or who is the One who gave You this authority?’ And Jesus answered and said to them, ‘I will also ask you a question, and you tell me, was the baptism of John from heaven or from men?’ And they reasoned among themselves, saying, ‘If we say, “From heaven,” He will say, “Why did you not believe Him?” But if we say, “From men,” all the people will stone us to death, for they are convinced that John was a prophet.’ So they answered that they did not know where it came from. And Jesus said to them, ‘Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.’”

So the setup here, the context here is they're challenging Jesus's authority, and in answering their question about the basis or the source of His authority He makes this appeal to John's authority. And in doing so, and this is how I'm tying this all back in for you, note that Jesus has no problem in answering the question about where His authority comes from by linking His ministry and His message back to the ministry and the message of John. And back to Luke 3, He has no problem in affirming the ministry of John in being baptized with the baptism of John. He wasn't being baptized by John because He had sinned that He needed to repent of, but He did do so to authenticate John's ministry, to bear witness to John's ministry. So that's our first one, He was affirming and expanding the ministry of John.

Second, Jesus's baptism was a means of identifying who He was as He declared His readiness and His commitment to do God's work. See, before His baptism -- we have to think about this -- Jesus would have just been living this private, ordinary, common life with the other people in His village in Nazareth. He was there in His humanity in Nazareth, “growing in wisdom and stature and favor before both God and men,” Luke 2:52. He would have looked and appeared like any other Jewish man His age. He didn't have this perpetual neon arrow pointing to Him in Nazareth saying, Messiah right here. That's not how it worked. No, He would have looked like your average Jewish man of that similar age, your average carpenter, your average stonemason, whichever position you land on. He would have blended in with the crowd. But now, through His baptism, it was time to leave all that. It was time to leave the ordinary life in Nazareth. It was time to appear in public as the Messiah. It was time to make that transition from being this ordinary or seemingly ordinary Galilean to John saying of Him in John 1:29, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” By undergoing baptism, in other words, Jesus was ending His quiet preparation years and beginning His public ministry in obedience to the will of the Father at this inauguration.

Third, His baptism was a public testimony to His divine credentials. A public testimony to His divine credentials, meaning Jesus's baptism was one of the many ways it would be established that He was and is God. We'll get into this later in verse 22. But the other two persons of the Trinity were there, they were present for Jesus's baptism. God the Holy Spirit descended upon Him and anointed Him for the purpose of His beginning His public ministry. And God the Father declared His approval of and His pleasure with Him as He authenticated Him for His public ministry. So His baptism, in other words, was blessed with this full-orbed trinitarian involvement, with each person of the Godhead being involved with and approving God the Son's baptism.

Fourth, His baptism was a means of identifying Himself with sinners. Our Lord came on a mission to die, to die for sin, to die for sinners. It was prophesied in Isaiah 53:11 that “He will bear their iniquities.” And that He did. 1 Peter 3:18 says, “For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, so that He might bring you to God.” So Jesus' baptism was His public identification with those whose sins He would bear. I mean, we're told here in verse 21 that He's baptized along with the very people that He came to rescue from sin and death. It wasn't just He who was being baptized. “All the people,” it says, “were being baptized.” They were sinners, like you and I are sinners. He was not. He was, He is the sinless One, the spotless Lamb of God who ultimately would bear the sin of the world. He had no need to be cleansed of anything, He had no need to be washed of any sin or iniquity. He wasn't identifying Himself here as having a need for a cleansing, He wasn't identifying a need to be forgiven. But by going into the waters of the Jordan River He was testifying to the fact that He had come to stand in the place of sinners. He was committing Himself to take the place of sinners, ultimately, we know, on the cross.

Fifth, and this relates to what I just said in number four. His baptism, this first public event of His ministry, would actually picture in symbolic anticipation His future death and resurrection. It was prophesied of Him in Isaiah 53:12 that He would pour out His soul to death. And in addressing His disciples later in Luke's Gospel, in Luke 12:50, Jesus would actually refer to His coming death on the cross as baptism. He said, “I have a baptism to undergo, and how distressed I am until it is finished.” He's speaking of His cross work there.

In fact, go with me over to Mark's Gospel, we'll see another reference to Jesus referring to His death, His coming death as His baptism. Look at Mark 10 and we will pick it up in verse 35. We see this account, and of course, we think of the audacity of the question that's asked by James and John here. But I want you to think about this in terms of what Jesus is saying here about His baptism, His coming death. Mark 10:35 says, “Then James and John, the two sons of Zebedee, came up to Jesus saying to Him, ‘Teacher, we want You to do for us whatever we ask of You.’” That's bold. Verse 36, “And He said to them, ‘What do You want Me to do for you?’ And they said to Him, ‘Grant that we may sit, one on Your right and one on Your left, in Your glory.’ But Jesus said to them, ‘You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?’ And they said to Him, ‘We are able.’ And Jesus said to them, ‘The cup that I drink you shall drink, and you shall be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized. But to sit on My right or on My left, this is not Mine to give, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared.’” The Lord here in speaking of His baptism was speaking of His death, that His death was the ultimate baptism that Jesus would undergo. But going back to Jesus's baptism in water at the hand of John in the Jordan River many years before, that baptism involved a pledge and a commitment by our Lord to fulfill His ministry by going to the cross and dying in the place of undeserving sinners like you and me. So it was a pledge, it was a commitment, it was foreshadowing the death that was to come.

Sixth, here's our sixth purpose of Jesus's baptism, it was to fulfill all righteousness. Turn with me back to Matthew. I told you you needed to put a pen or a finger or a welcome card in there. Go to Matthew 3 again, and this time I want us to zero in on Matthew 3:13-15. Matthew 3:13 says, “Then Jesus arrived from Galilee at the Jordan coming to John to be baptized by him. But John tried to prevent Him saying, ‘I have need to be baptized by You, and do You come to me?’ But Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Permit it at this time. For in this way it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.’ Then he permitted Him." There's that language, Jesus was baptized “to fulfill all righteousness.” What does that mean? There have been all sorts of solutions that have been offered, and suggestions over the years. Sometimes a suggestion is made that this “fulfill all righteousness” language has to do with Jesus keeping the Law, the Mosaic Law, which applied to the people of Israel at this time.

And the suggestion is sometimes made that by being baptized, Jesus was, through His perfect Law-keeping, earning or securing perfect righteousness for lawbreakers, not only in Israel, but future lawbreakers like us in the church age. The suggestion is sometimes made that through Christ's obedience to the Law in being baptized, this is one of the means by which His perfect righteousness would be credited to our account. Now that sounds like maybe that could be right, it sounds really smart. And a lot of smart people have articulated that position, people who have lots of books and big publishing ministries and large platforms. But is it right? Is it biblically accurate to say that through His baptism He was securing righteousness by obeying the Law and that that righteousness is now credited to our account? The answer is no. That's not biblically accurate. Jesus was in no sense obeying the Law when He was baptized, He didn't secure righteousness for us by complying with any aspect of the Law pertaining to baptism. And He couldn't have done so for the simple reason that there was no aspect of the Old Testament Law which mandated baptism.

Now as we've seen several times already in Luke's Gospel, there's no doubt that Jesus kept the Law. Jesus came from a family of diligent, devoted Law-keepers. We've seen that over and over through His parents, Joseph and Mary. He also would have kept the Law to make sure that He was that perfect and spotless Lamb. That was part of the requirement, that He be a Lamb without blemish or stain. But there is no suggestion, no connection, made in the Scripture that through baptism, that somehow earned righteousness for us in the church age. And a major flaw in that argument is that there was no requirement to be baptized in the Law to begin with.

So if fulfilling all righteousness doesn't mean complying with the Law by being baptized, what does it mean? Well, it has to mean something other than what I've just articulated. It has to mean something different. I would argue that what it means is that here on His inauguration day, fulfilling all righteousness meant identifying in this moment with the people He had come for and pledging and demonstrating His overall willingness in doing the will of the Father in dying for them, which He did. That's what fulfilling all righteousness means in the context of all that's being portrayed here. So that was all under the heading, by the way, of our number one point, “The Dip,” verse 21, “The Dip,” the baptism of Jesus.

That takes us to our second point, “The Dependence,” where we look at the rest, back to Luke 3, the rest of Luke 3:21, where it says, “Now it happened that when all the people were being baptized, Jesus was also baptized.” And here's the next part of the text, “and while He was praying, heaven was opened.” So we've seen already that Jesus's baptism is mentioned either indirectly or directly in all four Gospel accounts. We just looked at all four of those, but it's only here in Luke's Gospel that mention is made of Him praying at His baptism. And it's really no surprise that of all the Gospel writers it would be Luke who mentions Jesus praying at His baptism. And that's because, going back to some of the earliest messages in this series in the Gospel of Luke where we looked at all four gospels and put them side by side, one of the emphases of Luke's Gospel is the Lord in His humanity, Jesus as the Son of Man.

And a major theme of Luke's Gospel is how prayerful our Lord was in His humanity. Jesus prayed here at the outset of His ministry, at His baptism. He prayed when He was becoming well-known and the crowds began to follow Him. Luke 5:16 says, “He Himself would often slip away to the desolate regions and pray.” He spent a whole night in prayer before He chose His 12 disciples. Luke 6:12 says, “Now it happened that at this time He went off to the mountain to pray, and He was spending the whole night in prayer to God.” He prayed right before the transfiguration in Luke 9:28. It says, “Taking along Peter and John and James, He went up on the mountain to pray. And it happened that while He was praying, the appearance of His face became different, and His clothing became white and gleaming.” He prayed in the presence of His disciples as He gave them a whole lesson, a whole discourse on prayer. Luke 11:1, “And it happened that while Jesus was praying in a certain place after He had finished, one of his disciples said to Him, ‘Lord, teach us to pray just as John also taught his disciples.’ And He said to them, ‘When you pray, say, “Father, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread, and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves also forgive everyone who is indebted to us, and lead us not into temptation.”’” Our Lord prayed for Peter as Peter was beginning to wane in his zeal. Luke 22:32, He says, “I have prayed earnestly for you, that your faith may not fail.” He prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, Luke 22:41, “He withdrew from them about a stone's throw and He knelt down and began to pray saying, ‘Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me. Yet not My will, but Yours be done.’” Indeed to the very end, the Lord prayed. Luke 23:46 says, “And Jesus crying out with a loud voice said, ‘Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit.’ Having said this, He breathed His last” So from the very beginning of His public ministry to the very end, our Lord demonstrated a life of prayer.

Back to this moment we're looking at today, this inauguration of His public ministry at His baptism, as He's accomplishing these six purposes of the baptism, as I alluded to earlier, He's praying. And as He's praying, you note this at the end of verse 21, “heaven was opened.” While He was praying, heaven was opened. In the Old Testament when you see a reference to the heavens being opened, it's an indication that some sort of divine revelation, some sort of divine communication is about to occur, like in Ezekiel. The prophet Ezekiel opens the words of his prophecy in Ezekiel 1:1 this way, he says, “Now it happened in the thirtieth year, on the fifth day of the fourth month, while I was by the River Chebar among the exiles, that the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God.”

There's comparable language in the New Testament. For instance when Stephen experienced his vision in Acts 7, right before being stoned, the scene begins this way. In Acts 7:55 it says, “Being full of the Holy Spirit, he,” Stephen, “gazed intently into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, and he said, ‘Behold, I see the heavens opened up and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.’” And then here in our text, Luke 3:21, we're told that at Jesus' baptism, you see it there, “heaven was opened.” Now in the Gospel of Mark this is described more as a personal vision that Jesus saw. It says, “He saw the heavens opening.” Whoever's vantage point this is being told from, what we know is that when it says here that the heavens were opened or that heaven was opened, this isn't describing a mere feeling or a mere impression. This isn't symbolic language nor is this an experience that could otherwise be described in purely naturalistic terms. By that I mean, when Luke here says “heaven was opened,” he's not creatively describing a heavy thunderstorm or flashes of lightning. No, what's being described here is that as a result of Jesus praying the heavens above physically opened, and some aspect of the divine glory shone through for John and others who were around to actually physically see.

That brings us to verse 22, where we're given these additional details about what happened at the Lord's baptism, at the inauguration of His public ministry. Here's our third point, “The Descent.” Look at the first part of verse 22. After describing His being baptized and His prayer and heaven being opened, then it says, “and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in bodily form like a dove.” So just as the act of baptism marked the beginning, the inauguration, of Jesus' public ministry, so too here did the descent of the Holy Spirit. See, it had long ago been predicted by God through His prophets that the Messiah would have the Spirit of God upon Him.

In fact, that the Spirit of God would anoint Him. And what's being described here in Luke 3 is that messianic prophecy being fulfilled. And the prophecy that's in view here is Isaiah 61. In fact, you could turn with me over to Isaiah 61. The book of Isaiah, of course, right in the middle of your Bibles, is this absolute treasure. I think Dwight Oswald said a month or two ago that this is the Bible in miniature. I think that's a really good, good explanation. You have the original context of what was happening in Judah 750 years before Christ, you have the prophecies related to the first coming of Messiah, and then the prophecies related to the second coming of Messiah all in this grand book. But in Isaiah 61:1 you see these words, “The Spirit of Lord Yahweh is upon me, because Yahweh has anointed me to bring good news to the afflicted. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim release to captives and freedom to prisoners, to proclaim the favorable year of Yahweh.”

I'll stop reading right there because that is recognized as all referring to the first coming of Messiah, this is messianic prophecy related to Christ's first coming. The later words relate to His second coming. But note what it says here, at His first coming the Spirit of Lord Yahweh would be upon His Messiah. The Messiah would be anointed to bring good news to the afflicted. The Messiah would be sent by God “to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim release to captives and freedom to prisoners, to proclaim the favorable year of Yahweh.”

Would Jesus go on to fulfill these prophecies? He sure would. He ministered to both the afflicted and the brokenhearted at His first coming. We think of the Samaritan woman at the well, the woman caught in adultery, those who were stricken with leprosy. We think of the demon possessed, the tax collectors that He came and ministered to. We consider these words of Jesus in Luke 14:12, He says, “When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return, and that will be your repayment. But when you give a reception, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed since they do not have the means to repay you. For it will be repaid to you at the resurrection of the righteous.” Point being, Jesus certainly would in His first coming minister to the afflicted and the brokenhearted.

Back here in Isaiah 61 it says when the Messiah would come He would “proclaim release to captives and freedom to prisoners, to proclaim the favorable year of Yahweh.” See, those to whom He would proclaim the good news were enslaved, they were enslaved to sin, they were enslaved to a system of works-based righteousness, they were enslaved to the idea that they could earn favor with God through their external formulaic law keeping. But Jesus came proclaiming a message of freedom, a message of liberty. John 8:36, “Whom the Son sets free is free indeed.” Free not in the sense that you'll never be under a Roman overlord again, free not in the sense that you can go on living however you want after He sets you free. But “freed from sin,” as it says in Romans 6:18; “released from the Law,” Romans 7:6.

He offers freedom in that sense. In other words, these words in Isaiah 61 and in the first part of verses 1-2 were fulfilled in Jesus Christ at His first coming. We can say that with confidence just through studying the Word, but we can have extra confidence knowing that He Himself said He fulfilled these words. Turn with me back to Luke's Gospel where Jesus Himself embraces His fulfillment of these very words in Isaiah 61. Look at Luke 4:16, we'll start there. We'll be here in a few weeks. Luke 4:16 says, “And He came to Nazareth where He'd been brought up. And as was His custom He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath and stood up to read. And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. And He opened the scroll and found the place where it was written, ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because he anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed, to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.’ And He closed the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him. And He began to say to them, ‘Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.’”

That just about seals the deal, right? Jesus was fully aware that His ministry was in fulfillment of the prophet Isaiah's words in Isaiah 61. “Today,” he says, “this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” He's saying, “I'm the One who God spoke of through the prophet Isaiah, I'm the Messiah, I've arrived.” And going back to our text here in Luke 3:22, it was at Jesus' baptism that His ministry as the Messiah was inaugurated. It was at His baptism that the Spirit descended. It was at His baptism that He was anointed by the Spirit. That's exactly how Peter describes it in Acts 10:38, he says, “You know of Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power.”

And it was at His baptism that as the Spirit descended upon Him, the Spirit did so in a very specific way. You see it there in verse 22, “The Spirit descended upon Him in bodily form like a dove.” Now that “like a dove” language has confounded commentators now for centuries, and I get it. There are coffee mugs and bumper stickers that are riding on what I'm about to say about the Spirit and the dove reference. Some link this dove idea back to creation in Genesis 1:2 where the Spirit of God is said to be hovering over the surface, the face, of the waters. And that could, in some sense, describe the way a dove flies. That's how the creation link is made. Others link this reference to the global flood of Noah's day. And we know that the dove was a symbol of peace, freedom from judgment. We recall how the dove came back to the ark with a freshly plucked olive leaf in its mouth, and Noah knew then that the water had receded from the earth. So some say it's a link back to that. Others say that this dove is a picture of the Messiah's gentleness, since He would, after all, later say to His disciples in Matthew 10:16 that He sent them out as sheep in the midst of wolves to be shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves.

I actually think that in context a better connection to what's going on here with the dove reference is back all the way to Isaiah 11:2 which speaks of the Spirit of Yahweh in Isaiah 11:2 resting on Him, resting on the Messiah to come. The spirit He would give Him would be “of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of Yahweh.” So I think what's more of the idea here is like the Spirit is predicted to rest on Messiah, that's the link here to a dove as it alights on the Messiah, so to speak. The point is the dove here is a simile, it's an expression, it's a literary expression. Luke here is not telling us the Spirit actually took the form of an actual dove. The Spirit didn't become embodied in a dove and the dove landed on Jesus' shoulder, that's what I'm trying to communicate here. Rather, as the Spirit descended upon Christ, He did so like a dove, with the movement of a dove. As the Spirit of God descended upon the Son of God, He did so in the way a dove might float or glide through the air as He landed or rested upon Him.

But also note here that as the Spirit descended upon Christ, Luke here tells us that He did so “in bodily form.” What does that mean? Well, there's actually a great clue for us in Luke's careful word choice here. See, Luke here uses a word “form” that is different than the word that we think of “form” when we go to, for instance, Philippians 2. And Philippians 2 says that “although He was existing in the form of God,” speaking of Jesus there, “He did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself by taking the form of a slave.” That word “form” in Philippians is “morphe,” and it stresses outward appearance, what one looks like on the outside, one's shape even. Luke though, here uses a different word here for “form” in saying that the “Holy Spirit descended upon Him in bodily form like a dove.” And the word that Luke uses here stresses more the idea of visibility. So Luke is describing here that when the Spirit descended, it's not really the shape of the Spirit that he's stressing, whether it was the shape of a dove or the shape of a spirit or of a person, a human being, the point is not about shape, the point is visibility, that the Spirit descended upon Christ in an outwardly visible manner.

And that reading is supported in every Gospel account we have. Matthew 3:16 says, “behold, the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove.” Mark 1:10, “And immediately coming out of the water, he saw the heavens opening and the Spirit like a dove descending.” But I think John's account is the one that really seals the deal because John the Apostle writes this way of John the Baptist, “And John bore witness saying, ‘I have beheld the Spirit descending as a dove out of heaven, and He abided on Him.’” So Matthew, Mark, and Luke record this as the Spirit visibly descending upon Jesus. It was an outwardly visible event for all to see. But John takes it up a notch by saying, “I saw it, I witnessed it, I beheld it.” It was this verifiable event, this objectively provable event with the Spirit descending upon Christ. So that's “The Descent,” the Spirit coming upon Christ, descending upon Christ in bodily form like a dove.

That brings us to our fourth point, “The Declaration” in the last part of verse 22, where it says after the “Spirit descended upon Him in bodily form like a dove,” then it says, “a voice came out of heaven, ‘You are My beloved Son, in You I am well pleased.’” So we've seen that heaven was opened as Jesus was praying. We've seen the Holy Spirit descending upon Jesus, presumably coming from heaven. And now we have this voice which comes out of heaven. And though the source of the voice isn't identified here, isn't named here, there's really no question whose voice this is. It's the voice of the only One who could rightly call Jesus His Son, namely God the Father, the first person of the trinity.

Now what must God's voice have sounded like here? We're not told, but there are great clues for us elsewhere in Scripture, like Psalm 29 describes in very rich, colorful, poetic language, the voice of God. “The voice of God is powerful,” it says, Psalm 29, “The voice of God is full of splendor,” it “breaks the cedars,” it “hews out flames of fire,” it “causes the wilderness to tremble.” Or in Job 37:2, Elihu says, “Listen closely to the thunder of His voice and the rumbling that goes out from His mouth.” So God the Son stood incarnate, dripping wet in the Jordan River, God the Spirit descends upon Him, and God the Father now declares, “You are My beloved Son, in You I am well pleased.” The point is here, He didn't say it in a still small voice, He didn't whisper in Jesus' ear. This was a voice which would have shook the windows, rattled the earth. It would have been loud.

And not only did this voice have a source, it had a meaning. These words, “You are My beloved Son, and in You I am well pleased.” they're actually this amalgamation of two different Old Testament prophecies. You can just jot these down. One is Isaiah 42:1 where God says, “Behold, My Servant, whom I uphold; My chosen One in whom My soul is well pleased.” So the coming Messiah would be the Servant, the Suffering Servant we know. The Son of God would come as the Servant of all. Jesus would say that very thing in Mark 10:45, that “the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give His life a ransom for many.” And then the other passage is Psalm 2:7 where God the Son is pictured as saying, “I will surely tell of the decree of Yahweh: He said to Me, ‘You are My Son, today I have begotten You.’” So the coming Messiah would come not only as Servant, but He would come as God the Son. He had not only a specific mission to accomplish, but He had a special relationship rooted in eternally divine love with God the Father who sent Him on that mission.

Well, in terms of takeaways for this morning, because we're out of time, in terms of 84th Street conversations, just a couple. We serve a Savior who, when He came was aware. He was aware of who He was, what He came to do, what His baptism in the Jordan River was all about, what it signified, not only for all those who are around Him, but for all generations for all time. We serve a Savior who is aware. We serve a Savior who is attentive. As the God/Man who took the form of a slave, as the Son of God who always seeks to do the will of the Father, He was attentive to His reliance upon God the Father, and so He cried out to His Father in prayer. We serve a Savior who is anointed, as God the Holy Spirit at His baptism descended upon Him, alighted upon Him in bodily form like a dove. And we serve a Savior who was approved, as God the Father with that voice that thundered from the heavens said, verse 22, “You are My beloved Son, in You I am well pleased.” And for believers here this morning, I think the application and the thought for us going down 84th is wow, what a Savior we serve, that He is all those things.

But I understand and I recognize that on any given Sunday morning or Sunday evening there might be those among us who don't know Christ as Savior, who don't know Him as Lord. I just want to share with you just something very briefly, and you know, this is not the ultimate point of this text, but I think we can now launch into implication. You know, if you don't know Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, I encourage you to go back to last Sunday's message where we talked about the baptism of fire that will come upon all those who reject Him and don't put their faith in Him. But think about this in a positive sense. If you do put your faith in Jesus Christ today, believing in His death and resurrection, first you'll be baptized. You'll be baptized with the Spirit, you'll be placed into Christ. Not in a river, you'll be placed into Christ. You'll be placed into His church, into His body immediately. You'll have salvation. Second, you'll have access to God who will now not be your enemy, but be your Father. And those prayers up to this point which have just seemingly been hitting the ceiling, will now be heard and responded to according to God's perfect plan and will. God is angry with the wicked every day. He does not hear or listen to the prayers of the unbeliever, but He answers the prayers of His children. If you put your faith in Him today, if you put your faith in Jesus Christ, your prayers will not only be heard, they'll be answered. Third, you'll have the Spirit. Jesus had the Spirit descend upon Him. We're not charismatic Pentecostal types here, that's not what we believe happens when a person puts their faith in Christ. You have something even more incredible. If you put your faith in Jesus, He will indwell you permanently. He is the deposit on the inheritance in heaven that you will now have. You will be sealed with his Spirit, and nothing now can separate you from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus. And then last, you'll have His approval. The Father will now show his smile to you, so to speak, as He looks at you through the work of His Son on the cross. No longer will you be running away from Him, no longer will you be in opposition to Him, but you will be in the family of God, and it has all now been sealed for you by the blood of Jesus Christ, the Savior.

So I know there's a lot of data, a lot of details here this morning about this baptism of Jesus Christ 2,000 years ago in the Jordan River. And as believers in Jesus Christ, we can be encouraged and marvel at the Savior that we serve. But again, if you don't know Christ, my appeal to you, the way I implore you this morning is not that you just learn more about Jesus' baptism and learn more about the details of what color were the stones in the river and that sort of thing, but place your faith in Jesus Christ. Believe in what He did on the cross. Believe in His death and His resurrection. Believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, and you will be saved.

Let's pray. Father, thank You for this chance this morning to study Your Word, to be in Your Word, to gather with the people of God, and proclaim the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. God, I pray that for us who have put our faith in Jesus Christ, that we would be encouraged by the amazing Savior that we do serve, and His inauguration to His public ministry, and what that entailed and what that opened the doors to ultimately, culminating in His cross. And again, if somebody here this morning is not a believer in Jesus Christ, if they've not put their faith in Him and bowed the knee to Him, I pray that today would be the day of salvation, as the scales fall off their eyes, as they turn to Him in repentance and faith and follow Him all the days of their life. We love You, we praise You for Your grace and goodness. In
Christ’s name, amen.