December 22, 2024
Luke 3:21-22
“A Declaration of Purpose”
It’s important on this last Sunday before Christmas to nail down the main point. Here it is:
JESUS IS PROCLAIMED THE SON OF GOD BY A HEAVENLY VOICE.
Flowing out of this is that the Holy Spirit rests on him, to empower Jesus to be perfectly obedient to God in fulfilling his ministry.
Luke makes clear something more important is happening than the baptism itself. Bigger than the baptism is what happens after the baptism.
Make no mistake. We know John preached baptism as a sign of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. We know that. We also know that Jesus lived a sinless life. Luke has already told us Jesus increased in wisdom and stature and favor with God and man. What that means is he has lived a perfect, sinless life. Jesus’ baptism wasn’t because he needed forgiveness. It was to
show his obedience to the reason for John’s ministry…preparing the way. Jesus will neither falter nor waver in his perfect pursuit of God’s salvation history. So he joins the people who came to John to be baptized.
Now, here’s an interesting side point. For various reasons, John most likely didn’t recognize Jesus. Obviously, no one among the people who were baptized recognized Jesus. He was a nondescript nobody like the rest of them. Just like us.
Jesus’ baptism is important because of what happens next. Three specific things are pointed out in these two short verses:
THE HEAVENS WERE OPENED.
THE SPIRIT DESCENDED IN BODILY FORM, LIKE A DOVE.
AND GOD SPOKE.
Luke makes a huge point. Who is getting baptized? Jesus. Who descends in bodily form? The Holy Spirit. Who speaks? God. Therefore, what do we have in this short scene? A beautifully simple statement of the Trinity.
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, captured in the moment marking the
beginning of Jesus’ public ministry.
Here's the perfect affirmation for the Sunday before Christmas. In this scene, we see that Jesus Christ is the Incarnate Son of God. In no way, shape, or form does this mark Jesus’ divine adoption. Oh, no…it is an expression of the empowering of his divine nature. YOU ARE MY BELOVED SON; WITH YOU I AM WELL PLEASED.
Make no mistake. The baptism of Jesus isn’t the most important part of these verses. What happens after is. It is nothing less than the full expression of the divine nature of Jesus Christ. That’s what Christmas is all about.
I love the testimony of Psalm 2:1-7:
Why do the nations rage
and the peoples plot in vain?
The kings of the earth set themselves,
and the rulers take counsel together,
against the Lord and against his Anointed, saying,
“Let us burst their bonds apart
and cast away their cords from us.”
He who sits in the heavens laughs;
the Lord holds them in derision.
Then he will speak to them in his wrath,
and terrify them in his fury, saying,
“As for me, I have set my King
on Zion, my holy hill.”
I will tell of the decree:
The Lord said to me, “You are my Son;
today I have begotten you.”
In other words, nothing and no one can stop the trajectory of God’s salvation history. “You are my beloved son; with you I am well pleased.”
I love the testimony of Isaiah 42:1-4:
“Behold my servant, whom I uphold,
my chosen, in whom my soul delights;
I have put my Spirit upon him;
he will bring forth justice to the nations.
He will not cry aloud or lift up his voice,
or make it heard in the street;
a bruised reed he will not break,
and a faintly burning wick he will not quench;
he will faithfully bring forth justice.
He will not grow faint or be discouraged
till he has established justice in the earth;
and the coastlands wait for his law.”
In other words, Jesus is the Servant-Messiah who will perfectly accomplish all the Father has sent him to do.
We’re going to see in Luke the perfect progression of God’s salvation history.
Fix these two moments in your hearts and minds:
At the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, he is praying, the heavens open, the Spirit descends on him, and God announces that he is the beloved Son.
At the end of Jesus’ earthly ministry, Jesus prays, the temple veil
splits, he commits his spirit to his Father, and a centurion acknowledges that he is righteous.
Behold the remarkable symmetry of God’s salvation history:
Luke 23:34…And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” Jesus prays.
Luke 23:45-46…And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” And having said this he breathed his last. Jesus commits his spirit to his Father.
Luke 23:47… Now when the centurion saw what had taken place, he praised God, saying, “Certainly this man was innocent!” The centurion acknowledges that Jesus is righteous.
Again, today’s passage…”Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heavens were opened, and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form, like a dove; and a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.’”
These two pieces, beginning and end, perfectly paint the picture of Christmas. This is salvation history.
What is Jesus doing at his baptism? He is identifying with us. He is holy. He is without sin. And then, when Jesus steps into the water, he is stepping into our broken human condition. Yet he is not becoming like us. In Jesus Christ, at Bethlehem, God took on human flesh so we could be saved from our sin. Jesus identifies with us with one exception…he lives the perfect life so we can be saved.
Here's the majestic simplicity of it all. You might want to write this down:
ON THE CROSS, GOD TREATED JESUS AS IF HE LIVED YOUR LIFE. GOD THEN TURNS AROUND AND TREATS YOU AS IF YOU LIVED HIS.
What a comforting truth to hear three days before Christmas.
Let’s close with two thoughts on Christmas from Charles Spurgeon:
"Sweet Lord Jesus! you whose goings forth were of old, even from everlasting…Oh! that you would go forth this day, to cheer the faint, to help the weary, to bind up our wounds, to comfort our distresses! Go forth, we beseech you, to conquer sinners, to subdue hard hearts, to break the iron gates of sinners' lusts, and
cut the iron bars of their sins in pieces! Oh, Jesus, go forth."
We now join our voices for the second exhortation:
“Trust him, trust him, trust him; and he will go forth to abide in your heart forever."
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