And Jesus, having been baptised, went up straightway from the water, and lo, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove, and coming upon him
Jesus steps out of the Jordan, heaven opens, and the Spirit comes down like a dove to rest on Him. The moment raises big questions: why does heaven open here and not before, why a dove, and why does the sinless One receive the Spirit at all?
Heaven Opens on a Man
This had never happened before. Jesus had just gone down into the water beside people confessing their sins. There heaven singled Him out:
He takes His place among us; and note, He was always the same Person all along His path… Heaven opened! Never before had there been a person on whom heaven could open. Never before could a voice — the Father's voice — say, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased." There was nothing in Him but what heaven could delight in.
Another writer gives the reason. Heaven opened because of who was standing in the water:
There lies the explanation. The heavens could now open. At last there was a man on earth who had the good pleasure of God and who, so to speak, drew it down upon Himself. "Heaven" could not remain silent. Christ was the One above all. He stood out from the crowd. Outwardly He was one of many who were baptised, but He had nothing to confess.
Why a Dove
The Spirit took a visible shape, and writers read that shape as a portrait of the Person He came upon.
Notice the words, "the Spirit like a dove descending upon Him" — that is the form the descending Spirit took, no doubt expressing what He was in His own Person. The dove, as you know, was the bird of sorrow and the bird of love. So it was a fitting picture of what our Lord Jesus Christ was in His own holy, precious, glorious Person.
The dove also recalls the bird Noah sent out over the flood, which found nowhere to land:
Noah's dove found no rest for the sole of its foot except on the ark. In the same way, the Holy Spirit found One on whom He could rest, where all around was waste and ruin.
Oil Without Blood
Everyone else at the Jordan came confessing sin. Jesus had nothing to confess. One writer sets two pictures from the law side by side — the priests and the grain offering:
In lowly grace He submitted to the baptism of repentance, but with no need for repentance. He publicly joined those who had confessed their sins, having no sins Himself to confess. Will unbelieving hearts think otherwise of Him, and misread this act of grace? To check such a hateful charge, the heavens were torn open the moment He came out of the water. The Father, jealous for the glory of the Son, gave the Holy Spirit to rest upon Him… He was the fulfilment of the grain offering of fine flour mingled, and anointed, with oil, apart from the cleansing and atoning blood. So He stood in contrast with the priests of Aaron's line, who received the anointing oil after blood had been applied.
Sealed for Service
If He needed nothing, why did the Spirit come down on Him? One writer ties it to the work He was starting:
I need not say to you that the Holy Spirit's coming down on the Lord Jesus did not in any sense add to His perfection. He was as perfect before as afterwards; but it was in connection with His service on earth. It was God, as it were, setting His mark upon Him, and sealing Him for His work.
Anointing was also how Israel marked out its leaders:
Kings, priests and prophets entered their office by anointing with oil. Prophecy and picture alike pointed to the promised One being marked out in the same way. So when Andrew heard John the Baptist say that the Holy Spirit had come down on Jesus, he took the news straight to his brother Simon: "We have found the Messiah" (that is, the Christ).
Father, Son and Spirit — and Our Share
Father, Son and Spirit all act in this one moment. One writer links that scene to the place believers are given:
The veil torn, the heavens opened to us, sealed and anointed by the Father, owned by Him as His sons. When He was here as Man, the heavens opened at His baptism. He was sealed and anointed, and the Father owned Him as His Son. This is the first time that the Trinity was fully revealed. Then He goes to be tempted.
Heaven opened for Him by right. But He did not keep it to Himself:
The heavens were opened to Him. This is a significant word that is often overlooked. For Him alone the heavens are open… In Him the heavens are opened for us, and He has taken all of us who believe into heaven, bringing many sons to glory.
Summary
- Opened — heaven had never opened on a man before. It opened here because there was nothing in Him but what heaven could delight in.
- Rested — like Noah's dove over the flood, the Spirit found in Him the one resting place in a ruined world.
- Anointed — the oil came with no blood first, as with the grain offering, showing He had nothing to be cleansed from; that same anointing named Him Messiah, the Christ.
- Sealed — the Spirit's coming added nothing to His perfection. It marked Him out for the service He was starting.
- Shared — what was His by right becomes ours in Him: the heavens opened, sealed and anointed, owned as sons.