When Jesus was baptised, three major things happened in the same moment.
- The heavens were opened
- The Holy Spirit descended and rested on Jesus
- Father God spoke from heaven – “you are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”
How is that for affirmation? Wouldn’t that just give you confidence in your purpose, in your calling, in your relationship with God?
You can read about this in Luke Chapter 3, but it is mentioned in all four gospels.
We need to look at these events one by one…..
Let’s start with the heavens opening: Luke says the heavens were opened, but Mark uses a much stronger word which literally means the heavens were torn asunder; ripped open. Isaiah once said to God in desperation “won’t you rend (tear apart) the heavens and come down?” What he meant was “it’s all very well you being up in heaven, but we really could do with an explosion of your power down here where we are, to sort things out a bit.” Well, here we have the heavens torn open at the beginning of Jesus ministry. He now had unrestricted access to all of heaven’s resources.
The next event is when the Holy Spirit came down and rested on Jesus, “like a dove”. Some people have taken it to mean that Holy Spirit looks like a white bird. What it really means is that Holy Spirit came down gently, and alighted on Jesus just as a dove might do. Holy Spirit came to fill and empower Jesus for the years that lay ahead. He came gently, but the effect was tumultuous as the blind saw, the deaf heard, the lame walked and the dead were raised.
Finally, Father God spoke from heaven in a voice audible to those present. He said “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” Before Jesus had done anything, before he had opened His mouth and begun talking about the new Kingdom, before he had opened a blind eye or unstopped a deaf ear, before He had raised someone from the dead; before He had done anything at all, the Father’s verdict was “I am well pleased with you, my Son.”
So what’s all this mean for us?
Let’s start with the open heaven shall we? Sometimes believers say that we need an ‘open heaven’ in order to see the power of God work in our situations, not realising that we already have an open heaven. The heavens we are told, were “torn asunder” at Jesus baptism.There is nowhere in the New Testament that says the heavens were sealed up again. We live in now in a period of grace and God’s favour which started on the day of Jesus’ baptism – we too have unrestricted access to all of heaven’s resources.
Next comes Holy Spirit. He alights on us too; gently but His purpose is the same as it was with Jesus. His purpose is to stay on us and in us, to be the One who connects us in communication with Father God, and to be the One who anoints us with the presence and power of God. He may have come gently, but His intention is that the effect as far as the world around us is concerned will be tumultuous.
Finally think about the approval of Father God. Jesus had His Father’s unreserved approval before He had done anything. For some strange reason we can often fall into the trap (and it is a trap – laid very carefully by Satan) of thinking that we only have the approval of Father God after we have done something. How wrong! We start with His approval and there is nothing we can do to earn it. We already have it. You already have His approval now. He approves of you so much that He thought it a brilliant idea for you and Jesus to be united, joined together. He is in you, and you are in Him. You are united to Him (Romans 6 v 5)
So, have confidence! You are not insignificant. Everything Father God did for Jesus, He has done for you. You have full access to all of Heaven’s resources. Holy Spirit is with you, on you and in you. You have Father God’s full approval.
So what is all this for? Why is all of the favour of heaven focussed down on me, you might wonder. Because Father God loves you. Because He also loves the world. Because He wants you to love the world too. He wants you and me to carry on where Jesus left off…
In the words of John 14 v 12 He invites us to do the same things that Jesus did, and even greater things too. And in the following verse He says that if we accept that invitation, we can ask Him for anything and He will do it to enable us to love the world as Jesus did.
We have a Direct Line open, we have Holy Spirit working with us and we have Father’s stamp of approval. What’s not to like?
Church is out there 