“The Father’s Testimony” (Luke 3:22b)

 

EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/2/2026 8:04 PM

My Worship Time                                                                      Focus:  “The Father’s Testimony”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                                    Reference:  Luke 3:22b

            Message of the verse: “and a voice came out of heaven, “You are My beloved Son, in You I am well-pleased.”

            I have to say that this is going to be a very short SD, but hopefully very meaningful.

            Perhaps the best way for all to understand the things in this SD is for me to again quote from John MacArthur’s commentary.

            “Grammatically, this is the main clause of the passage, and the ones that have preceded it are subordinate to it.  The Father’s testimony to the Son is the primary point of the passage.  The Father’s audible voice from heaven expressed His approval of His beloved Son, in whom He is continually well-pleased.  The Father’s expression of approval protects Jesus from any misunderstanding as to why He was baptized (see the discussion earlier in this chapter).”  You can look at previous SD’s in order to accomplish this.  “If Jesus were not sinless, He would not have had God’s approval, since His ‘eyes are too pure to approve evil and [He] can not look on wickedness with favor’ (Hab. 1:13).

            “As He did here, the Father would once again audibly state His approval of the holy perfection of Jesus at the transfiguration (Matt. 17:1-5).”

(Matt. 17:1-5)

“  1 ¶  And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James, and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. 2  And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light. 3  And behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him. 4  And Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good that we are here. If you wish, I will make three tents here, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.” 5  He was still speaking when, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.’”

“His reference to Jesus as His Son affirms that Jesus is of the same essence as Himself, and thus fully God…It is also the fulfillment of Psalm 2:7, where God says to the Messiah, ‘You are My Son, today I have begotten You.’

            “To have the Spirit descend on Him and the Father express love and approval for Him was the most auspicious way for Jesus to launch His public ministry.  Their public confirmation should have been more than enough to compel belief in Jesus as the Messiah.  Sadly however, such was not to be the case.  In spite of such manifest testimony and all the mighty words and works that followed, most of those there that day, along with the majority of the Jewish people, would ultimately reject Jesus and demand that He be crucified.  But His sinless life and sacrificial death brings salvation to ‘as many as received Him, to [whom] He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in his name’ (John 1:12).”

            Now it has taken me a while to understand the love that God has for His Son, and I suppose that one of the reasons is the relationship that I had with my father, especially when I was growing up, as there were things that were tried to be done to me that were not good at all, but very bad.  My father had a very difficult childhood and was actually on his own when he was very young, and even in children’s home where a couple came in to adopt him, but would not because he wore classes, as my father had very bad eyesight.  With that said it was still difficult for me to look back on some of the things that were done to me.  With all this said that has made it difficult to understand the perfect relationship between Jesus and His Father as His Father, while Jesus was on earth stood by Him as He was doing His ministry.

5/2/2026 8:28 PM

PT-2 “The Spirit’s Anointing” (Luke 3:22a)

 

MORNING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/2/2026 10:30 AM

My Worship Time                                                               Focus:  PT-2 “The Spirit’s Anointing”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                                    Reference:  Luke 3:22a

            Message of the verse:  “and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in bodily form like a dove,”

            I want to continue writing from where I left of in yesterday’s SD, and so if you have not read my SD from yesterday then you probably will want to do that.

            Now the Old Testament also taught that God would give the Spirit to the Messiah.  Isaiah 11:1-2 predicted that “the Spirit of the Lord will rest on Him.”  In Isaiah 42:1, God said of the Messiah, “Behold, My Servant, whom I uphold; My chosen one  in whom My soul delights.  I have put My Spirit upon Him,” while in Isaiah 61:1-2 the Messiah says,

“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the afflicted; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to captives and freedom to prisoners; to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn.”

            MacArthur writes “Throughout Christ’s entire life, including His development (Luke 2:52), sinless obedience, triumph over temptation, preaching, healing, casting out demons, death (cf. Heb. 9:14), and resurrection (cf. Rom. 1:4), His deity was mediated to His humanity by the Holy Spirit.  The Spirit’s power was essential—in His humanity Christ would not have done the miraculous deeds He did, or say the divine words He spoke.  The reason for that is found in Philippians 2::6-7, which says that ‘although [Christ] existed in the form of God, [He] did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.’  Jesus voluntarily surrendered the independent use of His divine power, and submitted Himself completely to the will of the Father.  And though His human nature was sinlessly perfect, it nevertheless did not have supernatural power.  Thus much so that to attribute His works to Satan is to blaspheme the Holy Spirit (Matthew 12:31-32).”

(Matthew 12:31-32)

31  Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. 32  And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.”

            Now let me try to explain a little more about these verses in the context of which they are in.  The 12^th chapter of Matthew is a turning point in the book of Matthew.  In this chapter the Pharisees stated that Jesus was doing His miracles in the power of Satan, “(24  But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, “It is only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, that this man casts out demons.’” As mentioned when they said this, Jesus then began to teach in parables so that no one would be able to understand His teaching, but He explained the parables to His disciples.

“It must be stressed that in no way limits Christ’s full deity and equality with the Father (cf. Col. 2:9).”

(cf. Col. 2:9)

“9  For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily,”

“But in the wonder and mystery of the incarnation, He set aside the independent use of His divine attributes.

            “That the Spirit descended upon Jesus in bodily form like a dove does not, as is commonly assumed, mean that the Spirit appeared in the physical form of a dove.  The phrase does not describe a birdlike visible manifestation of the Spirit’s presence, but rather that visible manifestation’s manner of movement as it descended upon Jesus. ‘What was visible was not a dove, but rather what was seen in compared to a dove,…The manner of the Spirit’s descent was like the way a dove floats gracefully through the air’ (Carrel L. Bock, Luke 1:1-9:50, Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament [Grand Rapids, 1994] , 338).  The visible reality of the Spirit’s presence indicates His approval of and involvement in the Son’s ministry.”

            It was truly a shame that the Pharisees and the other “religious” groups did not understand who they were dealing with when the Messiah, the Lord Jesus came to earth, and because of that in the year 70 A.D the Romans would come into Jerusalem and tear down the beautiful temple that Jesus ministered in from time to time while on earth, and that began the dispersion of the Jewish people which is still going on today.  However they do have a choice now as the Jews are free to move into the state of Israel, which began again, this time on May 14^th, 1948.  God is still watching over Israel and is prospering them, but there will come a time in the “Tribulation Period” that Israel will fall into the hands of the Antichrist as he will make a deal with them for seven years, but will then turn against them half-way through that time period and again the Jews will be persecuted until they all turn to the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord.

Spiritual meaning for my life today:  After the Lord Jesus went back into heaven as seen in Acts chapter one He said that the Holy Spirit would come upon those 125 believers that were gathered.  This happened on the Day of Pentecost and that is when Peter preached that first great sermon of the church age and many came to know Christ as Savior, and Lord.  The Holy Spirit comes on all who accept the forgiveness that Christ offers and that is an amazing power we as believers all possess.  Because we are still sinful people the Spirit cannot do the things He did in the life of Christ, but He can do wonderful things in believer’s lives to cause them to do the things that God has called each believer to do.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Trust the Lord to have His Spirit work in my life so that I can do the things that He has called me to do for the cause and glory of Christ.

5/2/2026 11:07 AM

 

 

 

PT-1 “The Spirit’s Anointing” (Luke 3:22a)

 

EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/1/2026 10:31 PM

My Worship Time                                                               Focus:  PT-1 “The Spirit’s Anointing”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                                    Reference:  Luke 3:22a

            Message of the verse:  “and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in bodily form like a dove,”

            Now as I look through some of the things that John MacArthur writes in his commentary on this verse I see that he has included many Bible References and so I think that it will be important for me to include many of these in this evening’s SD.

            “That the Holy Spirit descended and remained (John 1:32-33) upon Jesus does not imply that up to this point He did not have the Holy Spirit.”

(John 1:32-33)

“32  And John bore witness: "I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. 33  I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’”

            Let me just say that there is no doubt that Jesus had the Holy Spirit in him when John saw Him and baptized Him, but once Jesus was baptized the Holy Spirit came on Him with power in order to be able to work through Christ in order to do His ministry.  MacArthur goes on “The members of the Trinity have been eternally in communion with each other with no breach in their essential unity.  Jesus and the Holy Spirit have always been in perfect communion, so much so that Romans 8:9 calls the Holy Spirit the Spirit of Christ (cf. Acts 16:7; Gal. 4:6; Phil. 1:19; 1 Peter 1:11).”

(cf. Acts 16:7; Gal. 4:6; Phil. 1:19; 1 Peter 1:11)

“7  And when they had come up to Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them.”

“6  And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!’”

“19  for I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my deliverance,”

“11  inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories.”

“The Spirit’s descent here was merely a symbolic act, indicating publicly His empowerment for Jesus’ life and ministry.

            “A way to understand this empowerment is to consider that the Son ‘emptied Himself’ (Phil. 2:7) of the personal prerogative in the use of His divine attributes and allowed Himself to submit to the will of the Father and the power of the Spirit.  In effect, the Spirit mediated between our Lord’s divine and human natures.”

(Phil. 2:7)

“7  but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.”

            “Beginning with His miraculous conception (Luke 1:35; cf. Matt. 1:18-20), the Spirit was involved in every aspect of Christ’s life (cf. 4:1, 14; 10:21; Matt. 4:1; 12:28; Acts 10:38; Heb. 9:14).”

(Luke 1:35; cf. Matt. 1:18-20)

“35  And the angel answered her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God.”

“18 ¶  Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. 19  And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. 20  But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, "Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.”

(cf. 4:1, 14; 10:21; Matt. 4:1; 12:28; Acts 10:38; Heb. 9:14)

“1 ¶  And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness”

“14 ¶  And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and a report about him went out through all the surrounding country.”

“21  In that same hour he rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, "I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will.”

“1 ¶  Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.”

“28  But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.”

“38  how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.”

“14  how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.”

“The Old Testament records many instances of the Spirit coming upon individuals to anoint them for special service, including Moses (Num. 11:25), Joshua (Num. 27:18), the seventy elders of Israel (Num. 11:17), Saul (1 Samuel 10:1, 6), David (1 Samuel 16:13), Elijah (1 Kings 18:12; 2 Kings 2:16), Azariah (2 Chronicles 15:1), Zechariah (2 Chronicles 24:20), Ezekiel (Ezekiel 2:1-2), and Micah (Micah 3:8).  All those men, however, were limited in their ability to be empowered by the Spirit by their sinful, fallen human natures.  But since Jesus was God in human flesh, God gave Him the Spirit without measure (John 3:34).”  Here is how I will look at these verses from above, as I want to quote the name and the verse.

 

Moses (Num. 11:17)

“17  And I will come down and talk with you there. And I will take some of the Spirit that is on you and put it on them, and they shall bear the burden of the people with you, so that you may not bear it yourself alone.”

Joshua (Num. 27:18)

“18  So the LORD said to Moses, "Take Joshua the son of Nun, a man in whom is the Spirit, and lay your hand on him.”

the seventy elders of Israel (Num. 11:17)

“17  And I will come down and talk with you there. And I will take some of the Spirit that is on you and put it on them, and they shall bear the burden of the people with you, so that you may not bear it yourself alone.”

Saul (1 Samuel 10:1, 6)

“1 ¶  Then Samuel took a flask of oil and poured it on his head and kissed him and said, "Has not the LORD anointed you to be prince over his people Israel? And you shall reign over the people of the LORD and you will save them from the hand of their surrounding enemies. And this shall be the sign to you that the LORD has anointed you to be prince over his heritage.”

“6  Then the Spirit of the LORD will rush upon you, and you will prophesy with them and be turned into another man.”

David (1 Samuel 16:13)

“13  Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers. And the Spirit of the LORD rushed upon David from that day forward. And Samuel rose up and went to Ramah.”

Elijah (1 Kings 18:12; 2 Kings 2:16)

“12  And as soon as I have gone from you, the Spirit of the LORD will carry you I know not where. And so, when I come and tell Ahab and he cannot find you, he will kill me, although I your servant have feared the LORD from my youth.”

“16  And they said to him, "Behold now, there are with your servants fifty strong men. Please let them go and seek your master. It may be that the Spirit of the LORD has caught him up and cast him upon some mountain or into some valley." And he said, "You shall not send.’”

Azariah (2 Chronicles 15:1)

“1 ¶  The Spirit of God came upon Azariah the son of Oded,”

Zechariah (2 Chronicles 24:20)

“20  Then the Spirit of God clothed Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest, and he stood above the people, and said to them, "Thus says God, ‘Why do you break the commandments of the LORD, so that you cannot prosper? Because you have forsaken the LORD, he has forsaken you.’”

Ezekiel (Ezekiel 2:1-2)

“1 ¶  And he said to me, "Son of man, stand on your feet, and I will speak with you." 2  And as he spoke to me, the Spirit entered into me and set me on my feet, and I heard him speaking to me.”

Micah (Micah 3:8)

“8 ¶  But as for me, I am filled with power, with the Spirit of the LORD, and with justice and might, to declare to Jacob his transgression and to Israel his sin.”

            Now we will look at John 3:34, and that will be the last verse to look up this evening.

(John 3:34)

“34  For he whom God has sent utters the words of God, for he gives the Spirit without measure.”

5/1/2026 11:22 PM

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PT-2 “The Son’s Baptism” (Luke 3:21)

 

MORNING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/01/2026 8:06 AM

My Worship Time                                                                     Focus:  PT-2 “The Son’s Baptism”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                                       Reference:  Luke 3:21

            Message of the verse:  “Now when all the people were baptized, Jesus was also baptized and while He was praying, heaven opened,”

            I continue looking at this verse in this morning’s SD.

            Now we know that Jesus lived a perfectly righteous life, and that was not only a demonstration of His deity, but it was also absolutely essential for our salvation.” (“ 2 Corinthians 5:21)

(2 Corinthians 5:21)

“21  For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (ESV)

Now the apostle Paul explained is the one who wrote this verse in 2 Corinthians to help us understand this truth.  It was God who imputed the sins of all who would believe in Jesus to Him on the cross, and imputed Jesus’ perfect righteousness to them, and for that we are thankful forever.  In other words, God treated Jesus as if He had lived believers’ sinful lives and treated them as if they had lived His sinlessly perfect life.  So obviously, if He had merely come down from heaven, been crucified, and raised three days later, there would have been no righteous life to impute to believers.  It was because He did live such a life that Paul could speak of “not having a righteousness of [his] own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith” (Phil. 3:9).

            MacArthur writes “Although all three of the Synoptic Gospels record Jesus’ baptism and John refers to it, only Luke notes that Jesus was praying.  During His baptism, as was the case throughout His life, Jesus was in unbroken communion with the Father—except for that moment on the cross when He cried out, ‘My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?’  (Matthew 27:46).  From beginning to end Jesus’ earthly ministry was marked by frequent times of prayer.  He prayed at His baptism (Luke 3:21), during His first preaching tour (Mark 1:35; Luke 5:16), before choosing the twelve apostles (Luke 6:12-13), before feeding the 5000 (Matt 14:19), after feeding the 5000 (Matt. 14:23), before feeding the 4000 (Matt. 15:36), before Peter’s confession of Him as the Christ (Luke 9:18), at the transfiguration (Luke 9:28-29), for some children brought to Him (Matt. 19:13), after the return of the seventy (Luke 10:21), before giving the Lord’s Prayer (Luke 11:1), before raising Lazarus from the dead (John 11:41-42), as He faced the reality of the cross (John 12:28), at the Last Supper (Matt. 26:26-27), for Peter (Luke 22:31-32), in Gethsemane (Matt. 26:36-44), from the cross (Matt. 27:46; Luke 23:34, 46), with the disciples He encountered on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:30), at the ascension (Luke 24:50-51) and, supremely, in His high priestly prayer in John 17.

            “Until this point Jesus’ baptism had been done the same as everyone else’s.  But what happened next was utterly transcendent and unlike anything anyone there that day had ever seen.  While Jesus was coming up out of the water, still praying, heaven was opened.  Whenever that happened in Scripture, either God manifested Himself in some way, spoke, or both.  In Ezekiel 1:1, ‘the heavens were opened and [Ezekiel] saw visions of God.’  Stephen ‘gazed intently into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God’ (Acts 7:55), and cried out, ‘Behold, I see the heavens opened up and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God’ (v. 56).  In Revelation 19:11, the apostle John ‘saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war.’  At Christ’s baptism, as the transfiguration and in John 12:28, God spoke from heaven.  But before He did, another dramatic event occurred.”  In this evening’s SD we will look at what occurred.

Spiritual Meaning for my Life today:  As I see all the different times that Jesus prayed to His Father that are listed above, it makes me ashamed that I do not pray in things that are going on in my life, and believe me much is going on that needs to be bathed in prayer at this time.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Trusting the Lord to give our family peace as we go down to Columbus, Oh. to see another cancer doctor for my wife, that the Lord will answer our many prayers during this first visit to Columbus.

5/1/2026 8:37 AM