Luke 3:21-22
"Now when all the people were baptized, it came to pass, that Jesus also being baptized, and praying, the heaven was opened, And the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him, and a voice came from heaven, which said, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased," Luke 3:21-22.
As we study the Scriptures, there will be certain doctrines that we will not fully grasp. How will we handle this? Will we throw up our hands and say we don't have time to pray and study? Or worse, will we say that we do not care? Some say they will simply believe what they have always believed, even if the bible plainly points out that what they believe is heresy. Others want to be identified with a certain camp, so they just follow along with whatever flag that camp waves. If Scripture refutes what they believe, they blindly follow their camp instead of the Scriptures because they like their camp. These are those who will take Scripture out of context to prove a point they want to believe. These willfully blind themselves to the truth of Scripture. This is a bad place to be because if you willingly blind yourself to the Scriptures in one place, you may very well blind yourself in other places. Willful ignorance binds us, but the truth of Scripture sets us free to serve our Lord and Saviour. Our text of Scripture today is one that clearly shows the Trinity. You have to be willfully ignorant to read Luke 3:21-22 and then deny the Trinity. In our text we see the Eternal Son, Jesus Christ, being baptized by John the Baptist; we see the Holy Ghost descending; and we see the Father speaking from heaven. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost are in our passage of Scripture, at the same time. Not modalism, but Trinitarianism.
What is modalism? Modalism is also known as Sabellianism or Oneness Christology. The terms that are used are closely related to Trinitarian terms. Modalism believes that God is one person who appears in three different forms which are the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Modalists believe that God is always one or the other form, but never all three at the same time. This teaching raises all kinds of theological problems. One problem with this teaching is that it causes God to change. This means He is no longer immutable; but what do the Scriptures teach? "For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed," Malachi 3:6. "Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever," Hebrews 13:8. "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning," James 1:17. Also turn to Psalm 102:25-27. Modalism destroys the immutability of the God of the bible. It also destroys the High Priestly role of Christ as He intercedes for those who belong to Him on this earth. "Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he everliveth to make intercession for them," Hebrews 7:25. "For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus," I Timothy 2:5.
If modalism were true, our God would be extremely limited, and ultimately, He would not be God at all. If modalism were true, God would not be able to keep His promises, and man would be left to himself to try to earn his way to heaven which means no one man would be in heaven. But thanks be unto God that modalism is a false teaching.
The Trinity is clearly seen in Luke 3:21-22, Matthew 3:13-17, and Mark 1:9-11. The Trinity is also seen from Genesis to Revelation. Some would mock us and say that we believe in three gods; but according to the bible, we believe in One True and Living God. "The Lord our God is but one only living and true God; whose subsistence is in and of himself, infinite in being and perfection; whose essence cannot be comprehended by any but himself; a most pure spirit, invisible, without body, parts, or passions, who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; who is immutable, immense, eternal, incomprehensible, almighty, every way infinite, most holy, most wise, most free, most absolute; working all things according to the counsel of his own immutable and most righteous will for his own glory; most loving, gracious, merciful, long-suffering, abundant in goodness and truth, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin; the rewarder of them that diligently seek him, and withal most just and terrible in his judgments, hating all sin, and who will by no means clear the guilty," Chapter 2 Of God and Of the Holy Trinity, The 2nd London Baptist Confession of Faith 1689. Please reference chapter 2 of the 1689 LBCF.
Back to our text in Luke 3:21-22. The Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon Jesus Christ. The Holy Ghost is not a dove, but descended and lighted upon Christ as a dove descends and lights upon a branch. At the same time the Holy Ghost was descending, the Father spoke from heaven, "Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased." We do not understand the infinite pleasure the Father has for His Son. In everything Christ did, the Father had infinite pleasure; this would include His life and His death (Hebrews 10, Isaiah 53). In and through Christ God's law was fulfilled and His justice satisfied. The Father loves the Son with a love that we cannot comprehend, and He loves all who are in Christ the same way. "And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life," I John 5:20. "God is not only well pleased in, and with his Son, but with all his people, as considered in him; in him he loves them, takes delight in them, is pacified towards them, and graciously accepts of them." John Gill.
In our text "the heaven was opened" and what a glorious sight we see in the Scriptures. All the focus here is on the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. As we have been studying the book of Revelation on Wed. nights, we see the same thing. The majority of those on the earth did not see the worth of Jesus Christ; but all whom He saves do. We love Him because He first loved us. We love Him, so we worship Him. Worthy is He who died for me, through eternity I will not understand, why my Lord and Saviour would die for this man. This is a biblical fact, but it is beyond our understanding. "O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!" Romans 11:33.
How wonderful it is to have the assurance of salvation according to the Scriptures! Has Jesus Christ saved your soul? Though there are things we will not understand about God, He has plainly and clearly revealed to us through the Scriptures how to be saved. Trust Jesus Christ alone for salvation. "All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out," John 6:37. Soli Deo Gloria.
