Matthew 3:16

‘And Jesus when he was baptised, went up immediately from the water, and lo, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove, and coming on him,'

Having been baptised by John, Jesus came out of the water, and immediately ‘the Heavens were opened'. Nothing visible would have been seen which was being described in these words. The opening of the Heavens was a way of speaking of God acting from Heaven. God as it were opens the door of Heaven so that Heaven may break through on earth. But the only thing that was actually visible was ‘the Spirit of God' (Luke - ‘the Holy Spirit') coming down from Heaven like a dove and settling on Jesus. Luke makes absolutely clear that what was seen was something ‘physical' with an appearance almost like a dove. While too much dogmatism is ruled out, what is important is that something that appeared physical was actually seen. A phenomenon was actually observed.

The Spirit of God (or the Lord) coming on someone is a common feature in the Old Testament where the Spirit comes on charismatic leaders (the Judges, Saul and David), on prophets, on the coming Righteous King (Isaiah 11:1), on the Servant of YHWH (Isaiah 42:1), and on the Anointed Prophet (Isaiah 61:1). The idea of the Servant of YHWH is most apposite in view of Matthew 12:18, because it is clearly something that Matthew has in mind. On the other hand it is the Coming King Who has been most in view up to this point in Matthew. We can really discount the Spirit coming on the charismatic leaders and the prophets as being too closely associated with what happened, for there was no thought that they would receive the Spirit in order to pass Him on to many as a means of transforming the people of God, (it is true that the Spirit of Moses is passed on from Moses to seventy elders, but that is simply a larger example of what happened when Elijah passed on the Spirit on to Elisha. It was an empowering of men appointed for a particular service, not a general effusion of the Spirit). And mention of the Spirit coming on people ends with David. Thus we may see it here as indicating that the Coming King, Servant and Prophet of Isaiah was being authenticated as the King and Servant by the Voice from Heaven, and as the Prophet by Jesus' words in Luke 4:18. This also ties in with Matthew's continual and pointed emphasis on Isaiah's prophecies from Matthew 3:3 to Matthew 13:17, a passage which then continues through to Matthew 20:28. In other words Jesus is to fill to the full the prophecies concerning the King, the Servant and the Prophet in Isaiah.

That then was a most momentous event. But what is even more startling is the reference to the Spirit visibly descending (in Luke ‘in bodily form'). This is unique in Scripture. The whole pattern of references to the Spirit in the Old Testament point to the fact that He represents the invisible activity of God revealed in its results. The Spirit is never seen. It is the Angel of YHWH Who is seen, but not the Spirit. When the Spirit works something happens and men are aware that it is due to the Spirit of God simply because of the results. But the Spirit is never visibly ‘seen', only His effective working is seen. The same also applies in the New. (The fire at Pentecost is not actually said to be the Spirit. It is God appearing in fire. The Spirit does the filling for the purposes of prophecy and tongues - Acts 2:1). No wonder then that Luke felt that he had to emphasise the unique fact of what happened by calling it ‘bodily'. It was almost incredible for anyone who knew the Scriptures that the Spirit would come visibly. It must here therefore indicate something very special indeed, something that was totally unique, and with a unique significance.

One thing that it does suggest is that for the first time ‘the Spirit of God' is being portrayed as in some way distinctive from the One Who sent Him. He has proceeded from the Father, and yet is in some way distinct from the Father. For here He is in visible form. It also appears to indicate that when Jesus receives the Spirit it is not as a kind of temporary loan from the Father, with Himself as an extension of the Father, (as the war leaders and prophets had been an extension of God's mighty arm, or had been enclothed with Him - for ‘the Spirit of God clothes Himself with Gideon'), but as an outright giving of the Spirit to be under His control. Symbolically the Spirit has, as it were, come from the Father and has come to the earthly Jesus. He Himself can therefore drench men in the Holy Spirit on the basis of His own will precisely because the Holy Spirit now proceeds from Him.

How long it took those closest to Jesus to recognise that this experience indicated this fact we do not know, but it does explain why John the Baptiser was able to declare, ‘I saw and bear witness that this is the Son of God' (John 1:34). He instinctively recognised the significance of what he had seen. None but the true and only beloved Son could receive the Spirit in this completeness, going far beyond anything experienced on earth before.

By this God was indicating, not just that Jesus was filled with the Spirit, but that the Spirit was on earth in bodily form in Jesus, as in no other before or since. In Jesus earth and Heaven had been combined from the beginning through His birth (Matthew 1:18; Matthew 1:20), and now they were uniquely combined for His future task. By it God was indicating what the situation now was. Jesus in His physical presence was the spiritual connection between earth and Heaven (compare John 3:13), with all the resources of God available to Him  on earth. That did not mean, of course, that He acted separately from the Father. Indeed He would go out of His way to emphasise that He and His Father always acted together (John 5:19; John 9:3). But it drew out that He could be compared with no other. All others received the Spirit by measure. He alone received the Spirit in all His fullness (John 3:34). And that was why Matthew saw so clearly that in the presence of the King there was the activity of the Spirit, whether on earth or in Heaven. That was why Jesus could cast out evil spirits by the Spirit of God (Matthew 12:28). It was in this way that the Kingly Rule of Heaven was now on earth in all who enjoyed the Spirit's working as gifted to them by Jesus (Matthew 11:27). (The Apostles would also cast out evil spirits by the Spirit of God as imparted to them by Jesus - Matthew 10:1)

‘Like a dove.' More strictly we should say ‘like a bird', such as a dove or a pigeon. Bird types were not then as strictly differentiated as they are today. This would be a reminder of the Spirit of God hovering over creation when God began His creative work (Genesis 1:2), and may thus be seen as indicating that God was as it were beginning a new creative work. It would also be a reminder of the dove who returned to the ark with the symbol of coming fruitfulness in its beak (Genesis 8:11), the symbol that judgment was at least temporarily put aside and of a new opportunity for creation to begin again. But important too is the idea that it was no eagle Who descended here. Here it was a gentle bird with peaceful intent (compare Matthew 10:16). It symbolised what would lie beneath the activity of ‘the Holy Spirit and fire'. The idea is quite remarkable. No combination of pictures could better express the ministry of Jesus. The dove depicts the One Who is meek and lowly in heart (Matthew 11:29), the One Who does not break the bruised reed or quench the still smoking flax (Matthew 12:20), Who through His Spirit gives life to those who seek Him (John 6:63), producing righteousness within them through the soft refreshing rain of the Holy Spirit (Isaiah 44:1), and yet the fire depicts One Who is harsh with sin, and will if necessary refine it with fire (Matthew 3:12; Malachi 3:3), and Who in the end will be harsher still with those who harden themselves against repentance and must receive the full weight of His fiery judgment (Matthew 3:13; Isaiah 5:24; Isaiah 66:16; Isaiah 66:24; Ezekiel 15:6; Ezekiel 22:21).

‘He saw' almost certainly refers to John, as the voice in the third person in Matthew 3:17 makes clear. This was a manifestation to John as well as to Jesus. Whether anyone else saw it we do not know.

We should recognise that this was the initial true ‘Pentecost'. This was the moment from which the Holy Spirit's mighty work would blossom out from the King and would fan out to those of Israel who were ready to receive Him. What happened at the ‘other' Pentecost (and in the Upper Room - John 20:22) would be a repeating of this on the whole body of Christ (and on the whole band of Apostles) at the time. But there, if the signs are to be seen as indicating the Holy Spirit and not the God of Sinai Himself, the dove was replaced by the wind and fire, possibly based partly on John's symbolism.

The coming of the Holy Spirit on Jesus was like a coronation. It was an anointing of Him (already the Anointed One) as God's Messiah (Acts 4:27; Acts 10:38). It was the revelation that now, from Him, the Holy Spirit would reach out to all around Him, through His words, through His healings, through His casting out of evil spirits, and through His whole life (Luke 4:18; Isaiah 61:1). From now on the rain of the Spirit would fall and the fire of the Spirit would burn, and it would make many responsive and fruitful, would purify many, and would sadly cause others to wither and die. For now that the King was present and operative, men must either enter under His Kingly Rule and obey His words, or they must turn from His Kingly Rule and refuse to acknowledge Him. And sadly even some who professed to come under His Kingly Rule would not in fact do so. They would draw near to Him with their lips and honour Him with their mouths but their hearts would be far from Him. There would even be those who drew back and remained no longer with Him (Matthew 15:8; Matthew 7:21; John 6:66).