Scripture Matthew 3:8-17
JOHN’S BIRTH
Luke 1:13-15
But the angel said to him: "Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to give him the name John. He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from birth. The next closest thing to Jesus is Zechariah and Elizabeth’s son John. Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit – meaning he was God in the flesh being the very Spirit of God. John was filled with the Holy Spirit from birth.
PRE-BIRTH JOY ENCOUTER WITH JESUS
Luke 1:39-45
At that
time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, where
she entered Zechariah's home and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary's
greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the
Holy Spirit. In a loud voice she exclaimed: "Blessed
are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! But why am I so
favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? As soon as the sound of
your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy.
Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be
accomplished!"
John had the ability to express joy – at 6 months developed, his body felt joy – of course he could not understand or intellectually know why he was leaping inside his mother – it just happened. How do we know it wasn’t just ordinary movement - Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. the baby in my womb leaped for joy. Remember, not only was Elizabeth filled with the Holy Spirit to recognize what was happening – but John was also already filled with the Holy Spirit and before he was born John loved Jesus with all his heart, soul and strength.
Unlike Jesus, we have no 12-year-old glimpse of John the Baptist. We next see him performing his ministry as a 30 year old man in the Judean wilderness at the Jordan river.
JOHN PREACHING IN THE WILDERNESS
Isaiah 40:3-5
A
voice of one calling: "In the desert prepare the way for the Lord; make straight
in the wilderness a highway for our God. Every valley shall be raised up, every
mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged
places a plain. And the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all mankind
together will see it. For the mouth of the Lord has spoken." Matt
3:8-10 Produce fruit in keeping with
repentance. 9 And do not think you can say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as
our father.' I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for
Abraham. 10 The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that
does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.
You snakes, you vipers
brood…
Matt 3:11-17 "I baptize you with water for repentance. But after
me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to
carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. His winnowing
fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat
into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire."
When I look at the only person who was filled with the Holy Spirit from birth, that gives me a very different picture of the Holy Spirit then the song says: “There’s a sweet, sweet spirit in this place…” I love the sign of the dove for the Holy Spirit, but that may not be the best – or at least not the only symbol of the Holy Spirit.
JOHN (filled with the HS) baptizes JESUS (born of the
HS)
Never has there been more HS present in two people
then that moment in the Jordan river.
13 Then
Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. But John tried to
deter him, saying, "I need to be baptized by
you, and do you come to me?"
15 Jesus
replied, "Let it be so now; it is proper for us to
do this to fulfill all righteousness." Then John consented.
16 As
soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven
was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on
him. 17 And a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased."
The HS descended like a sweet cooing dove – but there
is something more here. John just said "I baptize you with water for
repentance. Jesus will baptize you with
the Holy Spirit and with fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he
will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning
up the chaff with unquenchable fire."
Does that sound like a peaceful cooing dove? Absolutely not!
THE WILD GOOSE
Celtic Christians chose, not the dove,
but the wild goose as a symbol represent-ing the Holy
Spirit. It sounds strange to us, but it has a long tradition in Ireland.
While the Roman
Church imagined the Holy Spirit in the form of a peaceful,
graceful dove, the Ancient Celts understood the Holy Spirit
to be like a wild goose. When you hear of the Spirit descending like
a heavenly dove on you, you hear harps and strings softly playing and get a
peaceful feeling. The image of the Holy Spirit as a dove
has become so familiar and domesticated, its an image to which we pay little
attention.
The image of a wild goose
descending upon you is a different matter altogether. A wild goose is a noisy,
bothersome bird. I like this image of the Holy Spirit as a wild goose
because it jars us out of our complacency. We need such an image to correct our
overly safe and overly sweet image of the Spirit.
One preacher asked, "How many times can you sing 'There's a
Sweet, Sweet Spirit in This Place' without your blood sugar reaching diabetic
levels?"
When the Spirit comes
in the Bible, He never seems to be sweet or safe. God's Spirit
called the prophets to speak to Israel in words that were bold and
sometimes dangerous. Ezekiel saw a vision of God's Spirit blowing through a
valley of dry bones and bringing them to life. Paul gave this advice to
young Timothy, "For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift
of God that is within you through the laying on of my hands; for God
did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but rather a spirit of power and of love
and of self-discipline" (2 Timothy 1:6-7) John the Baptist came
dressed in camel's hair and eating wild locusts loudly proclaiming that the
kingdom of God was near and you better hurry up and get ready.
It was this wild Goose that Jesus referred to when he preached his first sermon and quoted Isaiah, saying, "For the Spirit of the Lord is upon me for he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor, to proclaim release to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of God's favor" (Luke 4:18).
Acts
2:1-4
When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together
in one place. 2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from
heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed
to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of
them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as
the Spirit enabled them.
Acts
2:13-21
Some, however, made fun of them and said, "They have had too much wine." Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: "Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. These men are not drunk, as you suppose. It's only nine in the morning! No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: 'In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy. I will show wonders in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord. And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’”
THE DANCE OF DEATH vs THE DEATH OF LIFE
Herod
Antipas (brother Phillip) Herodias and daughter Salome.
COMMENTARY: How John the Baptist got in trouble and how Herod Antipas buckled to peer pressure losing his faith for his fame.
What is “holy” has been defiled. What is carnal has been made an idol. The silver platter is the “golden calf” of the banquet.
CONCLUSION
You and I were not conceived of the HS
like Jesus was nor were we born with the Holy Spirit in us like John the
Baptist. But, if like John the Baptist and like Jesus you are desperate for the
Holy Spirit and recognized that you are lost without the Holy Spirit, then also
like John and Jesus The very air you breathe will be God’s Holy Spirit presence
living in and through you!
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