And Jesus, when He was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a DOVE, and lighting upon Him:
Mathew 3:16
THE HOLY SPIRIT IS THE OMNIPOTENT GENTLEMAN
The water baptism of Jesus must have been an incredible sight to behold and experience. We see Jesus, the Son of God, humbly standing in total obedience to the command of the Father to be water baptized. Jesus did not need a baptism of repentance for sins like everyone else. This is because He was and is the one and only sinless man. Jesus had to be water baptized in order to identify with us as sinful humans and to be our perfect substitutionary sacrifice. The righteous Messiah was standing in the place of helpless sinners, and they would trust in Him for salvation.
As Jesus came out of the baptismal waters, the heavens were opened over Him. God the Father spoke from above to declare His pleasure and approval for His perfect Son. In that majestic and glorious moment, the Holy Spirit descended like a gentle dove towards Jesus to illuminate and remain upon Him. The Bible shows us this beautiful image of the Triune God working together in rhythmic unison for the eternal purposes of salvation. Also, this verse teaches us about the nature of the Holy Spirit being dovelike. He is extremely gentle yet all powerful and eternal. Can you see the striking contrast here? The Holy Spirit appeared in the form of a gentle and harmless dove. He is on a mission to bring the supernatural power of heaven upon Jesus in order to destroy the works of Satan. He is both a hurricane and a breeze. He is the all powerful yet gentle Spirit of God who is revealed in the likeness of a pure dove. Like Jesus, when the dove of God makes contact with our lives we too will begin to experience the many manifestations of His gentle nature and limitless power.
THE DOVE MAKES US GENTLE, HARMLESS AND ANOINTED
It is the heavenly Father’s greatest intention and desire to make us more and more like Christ Jesus, both in character and in power.
The Holy Spirit living in us makes us gentle, loving and harmless and the Holy Spirit descending upon us makes us anointed, bold and powerful. Children of God are called on Earth to exercise spiritual authority and power with meekness, humility and compassion for others. Our battle is against the kingdom of darkness and our mission field is people everywhere. We must be ruthless with Satan and dovelike with all people.
Anointed gentleness was the only model that Jesus displayed during His earthly ministry. He was kind, patient, and loving with His audience while on a mission to destroy Satanic strongholds against them with the power of God. Not only did Jesus carry heavenly power to evict devils, raise the dead, calm the waves and cure the sick but He had a supernatural gentleness in everything He did. This is because of the dove which rested upon His shoulder.
When Jesus sent the apostles on their ministry missions, He sent them with supernatural power to cure the sick, cast out devils and raise the dead. Yet, they were to remain gentle and harmless as doves as they ministered to others.
Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.
Mathew 10:16
We need the character of Christ to develop the divine nature in us, which is the fruit of the Spirit.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
Galatians 5:22-23
We also need the power of Christ to destroy the works of Satan, which is the anointing of the Spirit.
But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
Acts 1:8
FINAL THOUGHTS
Jesus set a model for us that we can not bypass. Just like Him, we need the dove of God to descend upon our lives with grace and power. If it was imperative for Jesus to receive the Holy Spirit upon Him to fulfill His earthly purpose, then it is without a doubt that we need the Holy Spirit to dwell within and upon us. There is no plan B.
I want you to make a resolved decision today not to proceed another day without being aware of the gentle dove of God resting upon Christ in you. The Holy Spirit is still adding upon Jesus. If we have Jesus in our hearts, then we have everything that the Holy Spirit offers to us through Him.
