So Jesus was baptized. As soon as he came up out of the water, the sky opened, and he saw God’s Spirit coming down on him like a dove. A voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, the one I love. I am very pleased with him.”
At the outset of Jesus’ ministry, He submitted to the will of His Father and was baptized by His relative, John the Baptist, in the Jordan River. In this event, we see all three persons of the Trinity – Father, Son, and Spirit. Jesus the Son is baptized. The Spirit descends on Jesus like a dove coming down from Heaven. The Father’s voice is heard as He expresses His love for and pride in His Son. Jesus then begins His earthly ministry which ultimately leads to the cross.
To contemplate the role of the Holy Spirit in our lives as followers of Jesus, think about the role of the Spirit in the life of Jesus. Jesus was completely full of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted by the enemy (Matthew 4:1). The Holy Spirit empowered Jesus to do His ministry (Luke 4:14). The Holy Spirit filled Jesus with joy (Luke 10:21). Jesus breathed on His disciples, and they received the Spirit from Him (John 20:22).
What does the Holy Spirit do for the life of a Christ follower? Perhaps you can recall the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5. Galatians 5:22-23a says, “But the fruit that the Spirit produces in a person’s life is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” When you think about Jesus, He was the embodiment of the entirety of the fruit of the Spirit. Jesus was loving, joyful, peace-loving, patient, kind, good, faithful, gentle, and self-controlled. When the Holy Spirit produces His fruit in our lives, we start to look more and more like Jesus. Obviously, we will not look completely like Jesus in this life because of our sinful nature, but we can allow the Spirit to do His work in our lives to conform us to the image of Jesus to the glory of God the Father.
By Shawn Cornett, Bible League International staff, Indiana, US
