great work. 1 It was not only II rPsponse to the Father's call to enter upon his peculiar Messianio work, a.a Weise in hie• Leben Jesu' hllS very properly suggested, but als" a deliberate assumption of the responsibilities of sinners. Hence it hBB been suppose,.; that, as the ordinary candidates for baptism confessed their personal sine (Matt. iii. 6), so Jesus most probably confessed the sins of the nation and people who were looking hopefully for hie advent. This dedication, moreover, implied self-sacrifice in du" season, 'l'he Messiah hereby became voluntarily "the Lamb of God" to ta.ke e.way the sins of the world, and John seems to have realized this himself (John i. 29). It was consequently the most sublime dedication which history records. It was not a mere entrance of the " valley of death," like a soldier in a battle-charge, with a fevr momeuts' agony and then all is over; but it wa.s a dedication of himself, three year, and more before he suffered, to a policy which could end only in hie crucifixion. II. IN WHAT WAY DID THE FATHER RESPOND TO THIS SUBLIME DEDICATION Oil' THE SoN? We are told that Jesus was " praying" during the administration of the rite. As Arudt obsijrves, "Instead of John urging Jesus to bring forth fruits meet for repentance, as he had done with others, it is here simply said by Luke, 'And Jesus prayed.'" He prayed with uplifted eye, and for those gifts and graces which bis great work needed, His prayer was for bis rights in the emergency of his sacrificial life. We seek grace from God as a matter of free favour, and for the Saviou/s sake. He sought grace and gift as a matter of simple justice, seeing he was undertaking to perform the Father's good pleasure in the salvation of sinners. And now we have to notice how the Father responded to his appeal. 1. The Father granted him the gije of the opened heaven. When it is said " the heaven was opened," we a.re not to under- 6tand by it merely that a rent took place among the clouds to allow the Divine Dove to come fluttering down, but rather, that the right of Jesus to access to the heavenly light and secrets is recognized, As Godet puts it., it was the guarantee of a perfect revelat<an, of the Father's will in this great work of saving men. .Any clouds which sin may have interposed between man and God were in Christ's case cleared away; and, as a sinless Representative, he is enabled in unclouded light to realize his duty in the matter of man's redemption. It was a splendid assurance that Jesus, at all events, would not want light in the midst of duty. And if we follow the Lord fully, we too aball have such opening of the heavens, and such revelation of duty, as will eoa.ble 118 to seo tha proper path, t1nd to tread it for the benefit of mankind. 2. The Father granted him the Holy Spirit in the organit!form of a dear.ending dove. This symbol is only used in Gen. i. 2, where the Spirit is represented as "brooding dove-like o'er the v&l!t abysa," to use the Milt.onic paraphrase; and here in connection with Christ's baptism. The soul of Christ, upon which the Holy SJJirit on this second occasion descended, was tha scene of a mightier work than the ohaotio abyss at first. The new creation is great~r than the old ; and the sinless material upon which the Divine Dove had to brood guaranteed a more magnificent result than the sensible world affords. The "super- natural evolution" hereby secured has been mightier and more ma.guificent than the evolution in nature.1 Now, regarding the significance of the symbol, we are taught that (1) the Holy Spirit came down in his entirety upon Jesus, Other men receive the Spirit in measure,and hence as oil,as fire,as water,as wind,-thr6e minor symbols sufficing to represent our tiny inspirations; but Jesus receives the Spirit as a dove, an orga.nio whole-the Spirit without measure (John iii. 34). We are also taught (2) that the dove-lilce graces were imparted In ell fulness to Jesus. "As the dove is the symbol of innocence, of purity, of noble simplicity, of gentleness and meekness, of inoffensiven.ess and humility, so Jesus stood there i11 possession of the Holy Ghost, as the complete embodiment of all these perfections." 8 And it is out of his fulness we must all re..-eive, and grace for grace, His is the perfect inspiration, ours is the mediated indpiration, so far as we can receive the Spirit. Let us look prayerfully for the desceut of the Dove, and he will come to abille even with us I Dut yet again (3) the Father granted to Jesw the assurance of Sonship. From the nccouut in Matthew we should euppoee th<l wurda were spoken to John; from this in Luke we should infer that they were spoken ouly 1 God~t, in ltH,.; also hie 'Etudes Bihliquos,' tome ii. p. 104; and his 'Explicatio11s ~
r~p(lnije aux quelquoo Rem11rquea ,le 111. Uarliy,' PJJ· 32-35. 1 Of. Dr, Newnum Smylh'e • Old F,Lithe in Now Light,' AmoriotLu edit., pp. 165--ZSS. 1 Of. Arudt'¥ • Leben Jl'su,' ereter theil, 88. 181 182. 1 84 THE GOSrEL AOOORDING TO ST. LUKE. [on. t'I'. 1-44.