January 20

"And praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him." Luke 3:21. 22.

WE may consider this descent three ways: as an answer to prayer, as a miraculous testimony, and as a significant emblem.

He had just been baptized, and was now going to enter on his public office; and we are told he prayed. Whether he prayed vocally or only mentally, we know not; but he prayed really. And if prayer was necessary for him, can it be needless for us? And he prayed exemplarily, and has taught us, like himself, to pray after we have been engaged in any ordinance, and before we enter on any undertaking. Nor did he pray in vain. Indeed, the Father heard him always, because he always prayed according to the will of God. And how prompt was the answer. It reached him in the very act of devotion: "And praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him." It was the same in the transfiguration: "Is he prayed, the fashion of his countenance was altered, and his raiment was white and glistening." The prayer of faith is always immediately heard, and if it be not always immediately answered, it is not from a want of disposition in God to bless us, but because he is a God of judgment, and waits to be gracious. But if we consult the Scripture, and appeal to our own experience, and especially observe not only the benefit we have derived from prayer, but in it, we shall know that he is a God at hand and not afar off, and verify the truth of his own word: "It shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear."

It is to be viewed also as a miracle; and so it was an authentication of his divine mission. Hence the voice that accompanied it, "Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." Hence John was previously informed of this confirmation. For, though his relation, yet, to preclude all thought of collusion and management, John had not seen Jesus before this event; but was taught, when they met, to recognize him by it: "John bare record, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him. And I knew him not; but he that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and remaining on him, the same is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost." John, therefore, could not but be instantly and perfectly convinced. "And I saw," says he, "and bare record, that this is the Son of God." Nothing, therefore, could have been more unsuspicious and decisive. The sign was foretold; its brilliancy, form, and descent, were obvious to sense—it remained on him for a considerable time—and all was in the presence of a multitude of spectators. How different are the miracles of the gospel from the prodigies of heathenism, and the lying wonders of the church of Rome!

In whatever visible form the Holy Ghost had alighted upon the Saviour's head, the miracle would have been the same. But the symbol would not have been the same. His descending in "a bodily shape like a dove," was intended to be an emblem. First, an emblem of the dispensation he had to announce. The law is called a fiery law; and it worketh wrath to every transgressor. The nature of it was intimated even in the very manner of its promulgation. The mount shook and burned with fire. There were blackness and darkness and tempest, and the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words. The people could not endure that which was commanded. And so terrible was the sight, that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake. But grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. And how? The moment he is inaugurated, and is stepping forth to preach the kingdom of heaven, the heaven opens, not for the thunder to roll and the lightnings to flash, but for the Holy Ghost to descend in a bodily shape like a dove upon him!

Did the dove return into the ark with an olive-branch, thereby announcing that the flood had subsided? And has he, with a leaf in his mouth, ever since been viewed as the image of a messenger of peace? Who came and attested deliverance from the wrath to come? Who came and preached peace to them that were afar off, and to them that were nigh? What says the church? "Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away. For lo, the winter is past, the rain is over, and gone; the flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land." But who was the harbinger of another spring, of a nobler renovation? Who cries, "Come, for all things are now ready?"

Secondly, an emblem of his personal character. All the love, tenderness, gentleness, mildness, for which the dove seems always to have been considered as a kind of representative, were to be found in him. So the prophecies going before had described him. And if we observe his miracles, if we enter into his life, his whole life on earth, we shall see him going about doing good. How kind to friends! How merciful to the distressed! How gracious to the guilty! How ready to forgive! How patient under provocation! He was compassion alive and embodied.

Thirdly, an emblem of the temper of his disciples. For there must be a conformity between him and them. In all things he has the preeminence; but if any man has not the spirit of Christ, he is none of his. He that is joined to the Lord is of one spirit; and how did the Holy Ghost descend upon him? As a dove.

Estimate, therefore, your religion by your resemblance of this image. Do not judge of your having the Spirit by opinions, but principles; by impressions, but dispositions; by gifts, but grace. Some fear they are strangers to the Spirit, because they have not received it in a particular way, that is, after great terror and anguish of soul. This is indeed sometimes the case, but it is not always so. In this manner the jailer's religion commenced; but it was not thus with Cornelius, nor with Lydia.

Whatever distress or horror of conviction we have felt, they are nothing if they have not brought us to Christ; and if we have been brought, let us be thankful, and rejoice, "if by any means." The best thing is, to judge, not by the manner of the operation, but the influence itself, and its effects, or by the fruit of the Spirit; and "the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law." "And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God."