God the Father’s Endorsement:
After John the Baptist baptized Jesus, God the Father announces that Jesus is His son:
After his baptism, as Jesus came up out of the water, the heavens were opened and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and settling on him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, and I am fully pleased with him” (Matthew 3:16-17)
There are two things to take note of:
- God the Father is identifying Jesus as His Son.
- It reveals the three Persons of the Trinity present in one place at one time: God the Father’s voice is heard, Jesus Christ the Son is being baptized, and the Holy Spirit appears in the form of the dove.
At that Baptism the Holy Spirit came to Jesus and it was made known that He was the Son of God. This is the only time in the life of our Lord that you will see all three of the Godhead manifest at one time.
Jesus’ Humanity
The invisible God had appeared on earth. Even though Jesus declared Himself to be God, the Bible describes Jesus Christ being all man. He referred to Himself as the son of David because He was born into the bloodline of Israel’s famous King David. Jesus referred to Himself as “the Son of Man” (Luke 19:10) and it was revealed in His life:
- Jesus got hungry (Matthew 4:2)
- Jesus got thirsty (John 19:28)
- Jesus grew weary (John 4:6)
- Jesus loved and had compassion (Matthew 9:36)
- Jesus wept (John 11:35)
- Jesus was tempted (Hebrews 4:15)
Everything about Jesus was human. He had all the human emotions and was just like we are…except for one thing: He knew no sin. He never did anything that displeased God or violated the Mosaic Law. He was holy in every way and was declared innocent 11 times:
- Six times by Pilate (Matthew 27:24; Luke 24:14; John 18:38; 19:4,6)
- Once by Herod (Luke 23:15)
- Once by Pilate’s wife (Matthew 27:19)
- Once by the repentant thief (Luke 23:19)
- Once by the Roman centurion (Matthew 27:54)
- Once by Judas (Matthew 27:4)
Jesus was without sin; therefore He was the only acceptable sacrifice and died for our sins. All of Christianity is based on this fact. Those who knew Him better than anyone else would not have been willing to be persecuted and die for their faith if they knew this was not true. (1 Peter 2:22, 1 John 3:5, 2 Corinthians 5:21)
In this piece you mention how at the time of Christ’s Baptism The Holy Spirit made known that Christ was God in the flesh. It is that same Holy Spirit by which we are all saved yet we all too often forget to embrace that very same part of our Triune God each and every day of our earthly lives. With the prompting of the Spirit through people such as Pastor RT Kendall I’ve become alive in the Spirit which strengthens my bond with the one who promised that very part of God would come to us. Please start writing of your faithful walk again. It appears that you’ve gone off to do different things over the past three years.
Thank you for your response. I totally agree. Much of the Christian struggle comes from attempting to move forward without the leading of His Holy Spirit. Life for me is impossible without Him. I do truly appreciate your encouragement. The plan is to publish some more writing in the upcoming weeks. God bless you, and thank you again.