The Holy Spirit Appears

The Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form, as a dove.

* * * At the fords where the River Jordan was shallow, John the Baptist had been baptising those who came to him. After the rush of people there came his cousin, Jesus, who he did not know well. There was some discussion between them. John consented to baptise Jesus, and then it happened….. John's account was, "I saw the Spirit come down like a dove from heaven, and it rested on him." Jesus saw too. While he was praying after his baptism, the heavens were opened, and the Holy Spirit came down upon him in bodily form like a dove, and there was a voice. It said to him, "You are my own dear Son. I am pleased with you." (John 1.32, Luke 3.21-2, Matthew 3.16,17).

For the Holy Spirit to appear as a dove was no surprise. Jewish scholars had supposed that when the Spirit had hovered over the waters at the time of creation, it had been like a dove. That same powerful Spirit now came down, in one spot in all the vast world, upon a newly baptised human being - Jesus.

The Spirit drove him into the wilderness, where he was tested. It was in the Spirit that he returned from the wilderness to begin his work, healing. To the congregation in a synagogue in Nazareth he announced, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.... release to the captives... sight to the blind... liberty to those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord." He quoted the words of Isaiah written in times long ago, back in history.

* * * Three years later, in Jerusalem it is Festival time, the streets are busy with Jews from all parts of the world assembled for the Feast of the Fiftieth Day. Indoors, together in one place a large group of disciples is gathered, praying. There comes the sound of a gale blowing from heaven, filling the house. Tongues of fire appear resting on each one of them. It is the Holy Spirit. They go outside and speak to all the crowds, who without difficulty hear what is said in their own language. The disciples tell the news that Jesus, crucified a few weeks previously, dead and buried, is in fact not dead. He was dead, but he is alive, raised by God's power. The people must repent of his death, and obey him. And lives will change.

* * * A little earlier, Jesus was suddenly present there in a room with his disciples, though the doors had been locked shut. The disciples, frightened, overawed, inspect his damaged body. It is really him, their Master. He eats a piece of fish. He gently breathes on them. "Receive the Holy Spirit." This was what Jesus had told them only four days earlier, they would be given another Helper to be in his place, when he was no longer walking alongside them. They would be guided to use the same authority that Jesus had showed in dealing with the sin of people who they encountered along the way.

* * * It was some time earlier, well before the end of his ministry, that Jesus had been teaching in the temple court. It was the Feast of Tabernacles, the last day, the great day of the feast. The scriptures appropriate to the occasion had been read. Zechariah 14.8 "When that day comes, running waters will issue from Jerusalem, half to the eastern sea, half to the western sea, summer and winter alike." Ezekiel 47 : Ezekiel was brought back to the entrance of the temple. A stream came out from under the temple threshold, and flowed to the east, increasing to become a great river. And now Jesus called out "If any man is thirsty, let him come to me! Let the man come and drink who believes in me. As scripture says, whoever believes in me, streams of life-giving water shall flow from his heart." By streams of water, Jesus really meant the Spirit which those who believed in him were to receive (John 7.39). The water was to flow, bringing life, not from a place but from each person who believed.

* * * Peter was sure that the Spirit came as a gift (Acts 2.38). Jesus had told him, and all the twelve, that the Holy Spirit was a gift they could request from God with full confidence (Luke 11.13). Peter's answer to the guilt felt among the crowds on the day of Pentecost, who asked 'What have we got to do?', was "Each one of you must turn away from his sins and be baptised in the name of Jesus, so that your sins will be forgiven - and you will receive God's gift, the Holy Spirit." The Spirit could not be controlled, or paid for with money. Peter was deeply shocked when Simon Magus tried to buy what was God's sovereign gift (Acts 8.20). Furthermore, Peter knew that when God gave this gift, He was accepting the person who received it. Cornelius and his non-Jewish friends had received it, with the same results as at Pentecost - speaking in strange tongues, praise of God's greatness. Peter explained (Acts 11.17) that this was proof that God was accepting these foreigners.

* * * Again and again we hear of people who are said to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Jesus himself (Luke 4.1), John the Baptist (Luke 1.15), Elizabeth his mother (Luke 1.41), his father Zechariah (Luke 1.67), all the believers (Acts 2.4), Peter (Acts 4.8), Paul (Acts 9.17), Barnabas (Acts 11.24). Each time when they do or say things which are beyond what they might say or do in the ordinary way, it is God's Spirit in action. Whether the expression to describe it is 'filled' or 'anointed' or 'baptised', it is an overwhelming experience. It may be at some special time, or may characterise a whole life. A modern analogy might be a light bulb, or a computer, which comes to life when the electric current surges into it.

* * * * * The time had come, in the working out of God's great purpose, the time for the Word of God to become flesh. Picture a small town among hills. Picture a little province of the Roman empire, a land where a race of people had for a thousand years maintained an intermittent contact with their God. Picture a girl, grown up among a family of believing people. A girl who was ready. Also, try dimly to understand One who was about to exchange the form of God for the form of a servant (Philippians 2), ready to be 'sent forth' to be born of a woman (Galatians 4).

Mary was ready, but she could not understand. How could she be mother to the Son of the Most High? "Spirit Holy will come upon you. Power of the Most High will be like a shadow over you. The child to be born of you will be called holy, the Son of God." And there in her womb was the microscopic seed. It would grow…. and be born, and live, and die…. and so doing, save all the peoples of our world.