What does it mean that the Holy Spirit descended like a dove (Matthew 3:16; Mark 1:10; Luke 3:22; John 1:32)?

Now you get that word which is peculiar to Mark, "straightway," "and straightway coming up out of the water." It is striking how often the word occurs in Mark, and that under various significations: it is characteristic of the gospel. There is one Greek word all through, but various translations of it: "immediately," "straightway," "instantly." "And straightway coming up out of the water," now mark the expression that is used, "he saw the heavens rent asunder," that is the meaning of the word "opened," they were rent asunder. I could not convey to you, beloved friends, the preciousness of that expression to me. It was as if God hasted to proclaim what His heart had found in His own Son; He rends the heavens. I have thought of that word many a time, "O that thou wouldest rend the heavens and come down." But look here, the heavens are rent asunder to let the whole mind of heaven out in its ineffable delight in Jesus Christ. It is one of the most striking and beautiful expressions I know of anywhere in scripture, "the heavens were rent asunder."

And then you have the seal, the Holy Ghost descends on Him. Mark the words, "the Spirit like a dove descending upon upon him," that is the form the descending Spirit took, no doubt expressive of what He was in His own Person. The dove, as you know, was the bird of sorrow and the bird of love, and therefore it was a fitting type of what our Lord Jesus Christ was in His own holy, precious, glorious Person. He is marked off by even the bodily shape that the blessed Spirit was pleased to take. Some one has observed, and I think it is a very precious thought too, that not only was this dove-like form of the Spirit expressive of His Person, but there were in the dove the silver wings, and there was also the sheen of gold there. But I believe most of all and first of all, there was that which our Lord Jesus Christ was personally set forth in the dove-like form the blessed Spirit was pleased to take.

But not only this, but now we have the Father's voice, and that is one of the most beautiful things connected with His coming up out of the Jordan. "There came a voice from heaven saying, Thou art my beloved Son, in whom is all my pleasure." Now, beloved friends, there were two precious realities in that. First of all — and I know nothing more comforting to the heart to dwell upon — there is the intimation which He gives us in that blessed scene, this proclamation that comes from heaven, this utterance of the Father's voice. Could anything be more blessed than that He should be pleased to let us know how that Jesus is everything to Him? Have you the sense of this in your souls, that you and I are privileged in that beautiful scene to be the intimates of the blessed God, that He allows us into that nearness so that we should have communion with Him in His thoughts about His beloved Son, that Jesus is the Father's object, that Jesus is God's delight, that Jesus is all His pleasure, that He finds all in Him. I believe that is the first great thing in that intimation, that God Himself in His grace is pleased to bring us into this place of holy intimacy and holy communion, that we can share the Father's delight and the Father's thoughts about the one in whom the Father found all His pleasure.

Another thing is, that the form He was pleased to take was intended to mark off, as it were, Him upon whom He so rested, as in the truth and blessedness of His own person. The form, observe, was that of a dove. Does not this set before us, in a very striking way, the blessed, gentle, gracious character of Him who was perfect goodness and grace? Assuredly the gentleness, kindness, tenderness of our Lord Jesus Christ is clearly brought before us in the form the blessed Spirit took. How vividly this stands out in contrast with our ungraciousness, roughness, uncouthness, hardness, and severity, of spirit as well as of word. Oh, the contrast of all that is in us to what was in Him!

And so when our Lord was baptized of John in Jordan and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in bodily shape like a dove, the form He took suggests, may we not say, the character and office of our Lord Jesus. The dove is the bird of heaven; so He "came down from heaven" (John 6:38). The dove is the bird that loves and mourns; so He came in love and was the "Man of sorrows." The dove is the bird of gentleness; and He was meek and lowly in heart. It was distinctively a "clean" bird; which fitted it to be used in sacrifice; so was our Lord without spot, and offered Himself thus to God (Heb. 9:14) "through the eternal Spirit." Thus the dove is suggestive both of the Lord and of the Holy Spirit, who came in that form.

Men of this world have adopted the dove as an emblem of peace, but we gather from the record of the dove sent forth from the Ark that Scripture uses it as an emblem of purity. It is well known that the first use of any type in Scripture determines its use throughout the Scriptures. The raven suggests what is impure, but the dove suggests purity. The day had dawned in which God was going to give the Spirit to others, but the One to receive it first, in this way, was the Son of God. We must remember that others would receive the Spirit while still marked by sin within, hence witness is borne that Christ was sinless and pure. With Him therefore the Spirit was seen in the character of a dove, but with others as fire. There was something in all others which was never found in the Son of God, hence the Spirit came upon them in a judicial character, dividing in them between the new nature and the old in view of the testimony.

1909 313 We now come to the testimony rendered to Jesus from heaven in the hour of His baptism. This witness was of a double character, viz. (1) the visible descent of the Spirit upon Him, and (2) the audible voice out of the heavens acknowledging Him. And in this character the witness was to be considered as valid and adequate from a legal standpoint, since, as the Lord reminded the Jews on a subsequent occasion, it was a written axiom of their law that the testimony of two persons is true (John 8:17). Here then the Father and the Spirit attest the Son. Can such witness be exceeded? The Spirit witnessed to the unblemished and impeccable humanity of Jesus, and anointed Him for service. The Father acknowledged the Man, Christ Jesus, to be His dearly-loved Son. Thus we see in this context the Evangelist establishing on divine testimony the titles given to Jesus in the opening sentence of the Gospel, viz. (1) Christ (the "Anointed"), and (2) the Son of God (1:1).

Considering then first of all the outpouring of the Spirit upon Jesus, we may remark how it witnessed (1) to His holy humanity, and (2) to His anointing for service. 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 and carnal hearts think otherwise of Him, misconstruing the act of grace? To check such a hateful imputation, immediately as He emerged from the water the heavens were rent asunder, and the Father, jealous for the glory of the Son, gave the Holy Spirit to abide upon Him. Of all others baptised, though sins were confessed, their consciences were still unpurged from dead works and sinful stains, and must remain so until He came who had power on earth to forgive sins. But Jesus was the Anti-type of the meal-offering of fine flour mingled, and anointed, with oil, apart from the cleansing and atoning blood, and was thus in contrast with the Aaronic priests who received the anointing oil subsequent to an application of the blood. Here was a holy temple in which God the Holy Spirit could and would dwell. He was the Second man, the Lord from heaven, and on Him alone in this polluted earth the dove-like Spirit found a resting-place, as God the Father's seal (John 6:27), altogether apart from atonement.

But the descent of the Spirit had an official as well as a personal significance. The formal induction of kings, priests, and prophets into office was by anointing with oil, and prophecy as well as type indicated that the promised One would be so distinguished. Indeed He was expected in that character. Accordingly, when Andrew heard the testimony of the Baptist that the Holy Spirit had descended upon Jesus, he communicated the good news straightway to Simon, his brother, saying, "We have found the Messiah, which is, being interpreted, the Christ*" (John 1:32, 41). The Samaritans had a similar hope, hence the woman said of Jesus, "Come, see a man who told me all things that ever I did; is not this the Christ? (John 4:29).

Thank God, we can now look up into the opened heavens, and see Him there who is the Object of the heart of God. They were opened upon Him down here on earth long before the work of redemption was finished; because His person, in all the glories that marked it morally, was there under God's eyes and before men. This moment, as we have seen, was that which ushered in His ministry. The heavens open upon Him; the Holy Ghost descends on Him. Oh, what a sight — the opened heavens and the descending Holy Ghost! The Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove, and rested on Him. How blessed to meditate on such a scene! There was One who was not only worthy for the heavens to open unto Him, but that the Spirit of God should descend in a bodily shape, and rest upon Him. The Lord Jesus, according to Acts 10, was anointed "with the Holy Ghost and with power." And this carries back the thoughts at once to the type, even the anointing of Aaron for the ministry, the details of which are given in Exodus 29.

I need not say to you that the Holy Ghost'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. Acts 10, already referred to, explains that as simply as anything could do. "How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with Him." v. 38. This chapter furnishes a divine commentary on what took place in Luke 3.

John the baptist said: ‘I beheld the Spirit descending as a dove from heaven, and it abode upon him’ (John 1:32). The dove is a clean bird. Genesis 8 shows that, unlike the raven, the dove was not comfortable in a surrounding marked by death and uncleanness and hence returned to Noah’s ark until the waters receded (vs. 8–9). But the Spirit could remain[7] on the Lord because He was sinless. The Spirit is pure and holy (Q.7).

John 1:32. Further, John exalts Christ by showing that He was marked out from all others by the great fact of the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove and abiding upon Him. It was no new thing for the Spirit to descend upon a man for a certain purpose; it was an entirely new thing for the Spirit to "abide". Jesus receives the Holy Spirit as Man in virtue of His own perfection, and as being in relationship with the Father as the Son. "We are sealed, being sons by faith in Him in virtue of the redemption that He has accomplished."

John sees Jesus coming to him, and testifies "Behold the Lamb of God which takes away the sin of the world. This is he of whom I said, After me comes a man which is preferred before me for he was before me." And so he proclaims His eternal being. "He was before me; and I knew him not; but that he should be made manifest to Israel, therefore am I come baptizing with water. And John bare record, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him." Mark that word, "It ABODE upon him." In former days it had come "upon," but often it had left man. Moses partly lost it Balaam lost it. Saul lost it. And David feared to lose it, but here is the only sinless Man, out of Eden, that the world, or God, has seen, and He received the Spirit, and "it abode upon him." The abiding Spirit is the Father's testimony to His delight and joy in that perfect Man whom He then, and thereby, owns as His Son. "And I knew him not; but he that sent me to baptize with water, the same said to me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and remaining on him, the same is he which baptizes with the Holy Ghost."

Now mark, God whispered into the ears of the Baptist, Here is the man upon whom the Holy Ghost will come, and will not only come, but coming will abide upon him. Why? Because He was the sinless, perfect, absolutely Holy Man, One in whom God's heart found all its delight. As you know, it was at His baptism that the Spirit descended. The heaven is opened, and the voice of the Father is heard saying, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." The Baptist delightedly adds, "And I saw, and bare record that this is the Son of God." John had his eyes opened to the wonderful truth that that lowly blessed man, who, while praying (see Luke 3:21) receives the Holy Ghost, as the seal of the Father's delight (but not on the ground of redemption), is Himself the Son of God. He receives the Holy Ghost upon the ground of His own personal perfection, and, in this scene, the Holy Spirit is like the dove sent forth from the ark. It has at length a spot upon which it can find a place to rest — to abide. The dove, you remember, went forth from the ark once and again, but returned, as she "found no rest for the sole of her foot," but at last she found a resting-place, she "returned not again any more" (Gen. 8:9, 12). The heavenly Dove, after 4,000 years of vainly seeking a sinless resting-place in man, has found One to rest on in the first of John. It is on the Person of this sinless Holy Man, who is the delight of the Father's heart.

The Spirit's object in thus coming to Him is given elsewhere, as we read, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach the Gospel to the poor, he has sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives and receiving of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them which are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord. … This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears" (Luke 4:18-21). Again, "God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power; who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him" (Acts 10:38). Furthermore, we read, "He whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God gives not the Spirit by measure" (John 3:34). Again, the Lord says to those who were coming after Him, for mere relief from bodily hunger, "Labour not for the meat which perishes, but for that meat which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give to you, for him has God the Father sealed" (John 6:27).

We recall when our Lord was baptized by John the Baptist, as identifying Himself with the repentant remnant that the Holy Spirit in the likeness of a dove rested upon Him. The dove symbol, the bird of peace, shows that there was nothing contrary to the Holy Spirit in our Lord, and therefore the Spirit could come upon Him in that way. In the Levitical type, the oil (symbol of the Holy Spirit) was put upon the blood. Sinful man could only receive the Holy Spirit on the ground of the atoning sacrifice of our Lord, the efficacy of the precious blood that cleanses from all sin. But in the case of our blessed Lord, the Spirit could come upon the flesh of our Lord, because His humanity was perfectly sinless and pleasing to the heart of the Father. But in the case of the believers on the day of Pentecost we read of "cloven tongues like as of fire" descending upon them.