SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/26/2022 9:48 AM
My Worship Time
Focus: “Commissioned
by the Holy Spirit”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matthew
12:18b
Message of the
verse: “I will put My Spirit upon
Him.”
It is good to remember that Matthew is quoting the
prophet Isaiah in verses 18-21 of this 12th chapter of the book of
Matthew, and so it is through Isaiah, God promised that He would put His Spirit
upon the Messiah in a very unique way.
It was at the baptism of our Lord Jesus Christ that the Holy Spirit
descended upon Him as a dove as seen in Matthew 3:16 where we read “After being baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the
water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God
descending as a dove
and lighting on Him.” Now notice
the highlighted portion of this verse “as a dove” and the words as and like are
similes, so this means that the Spirit of God came down on our Lord in the same
way that a dove lands, which is very slowly, and it does not mean that the Holy
Spirit was in the form of a dove. John
MacArthur writes “But that was not when He was indwelt by the Spirit. Unique to all mankind, Jesus was conceived by
the Holy Spirit (Matt. 1:20); and if John the Baptist was filled with the
Spirit from His mother’s womb (Luke 1:15), how much more so was Jesus.
“Yet, if Jesus was the preexistent
Son, eternally one with the Father and the Holy Spirit, in what way could the
Spirit have come upon Him during His humanity?
First of all, the coming of the Spirit upon Jesus was a bestowing of
power to His human nature. His divine
nature was already one with the Spirit and did not require special assistance,
but His human nature did. Jesus was
fully human, even to the point of being tempted in the same way every human
being is, yet without sinning (Heb. 4:15).
As a child, He grew in wisdom, stature, and in favor with God and man
(Luke 2:52). He had human feelings and
human emotions. He was hungry and
thirsty, and He became tired and felt pain and sorrow. His humanness received the indwelling power
of the Holy Spirit in order for it to function in concert with His deity. Therefore ‘God anointed Him with the Holy
Spirit and with power’ (Acts 10:38).” “You
know of Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and
with power, and how He went about doing good and healing all who were
oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.”
There
is something more and that is that Jesus required the anointing of the Spirit
in order to attest to His royal service as Messiah. There is not much said about the early years
of our Lord with the exception of His birth and circumcision, and then a little
bit of information while He was 12 years old, but other than that He lived in
obscurity. However when His ministry
began He was given a special confirmation of authority and approval by the
Father. Let us look at Luke 4:18-19 to
show us that there was a prophecy about the Messiah that Jesus applied to
Himself at a synagogue in Nazareth: “18 “THE
SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS UPON ME, BECAUSE HE ANOINTED ME TO PREACH THE GOSPEL TO
THE POOR. HE HAS SENT ME TO PROCLAIM RELEASE TO THE CAPTIVES, AND RECOVERY OF
SIGHT TO THE BLIND, TO SET FREE THOSE WHO ARE OPPRESSED, 19 TO PROCLAIM THE
FAVORABLE YEAR OF THE LORD.’” Now
remember when I quote Scripture from the NASB and the NASB95 versions of the
Bible the passages in the Old Testament when quoted in the New Testament are always
in all caps. I want to also add verse 21
to our quotation from Luke chapter four.
“21 And He began to say to them, "Today
this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.’”
MacArthur
concludes by writing “As the perfect submissive Servant, Jesus functioned not
only in the Father’s will and by the Father’s commendation but in the power of
the Father’s Spirit.”
Spiritual meaning for my life today: As I look at this very short portion of
Matthew chapter 12 I can see that my Lord was under the power of the Holy
Spirit to accomplish what His Father desired for Him to accomplish, and so in
order for me to accomplish what the Father has planned for me to do in my life
(Eph. 2:10) I also must be filled with the Holy Spirit too. He is the key for me to live out the
Christian life, as He was the key for Christ to accomplish what the Father’s
will was for Him.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Live my life with agape love to those around
me.
1/26/2022 10:18 AM
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