The Beloved Son | Matthew 3:13-17

It’s hard to believe that we are officially entering the Christmas season. Depending on how you view approaching Christmas, some of you (like in my house) have had your Christmas tree up since the beginning of November, playing Christmas music at all times (the official Christmas album being Andy Williams…), and are excited to turn your full attention to Christmas. But I do think it wise to not rush through Thanksgiving but to linger and acknowledge the tremendous blessings we have received this past year from our Lord. He has been so kind to me, to my family, and to Emmaus Road Church, and we as pastors and leaders at Emmaus want to express our immense gratitude for all of you. Paul opened many of his letters to the churches in the NT with a section of thanksgiving and gratitude. He certainly did not view those sections as something to rush through to get to the good stuff…so, I am grateful for Christ and for his church.

Today marks the first Sunday of advent. This is the traditional custom of the church, every year setting aside the 4 Sundays before Christmas Day to focus our attention on the advent, the arrival, the coming of Christ. It is right that we take time to focus on this, because an argument could be made that the entire OT, beginning in Genesis 3:15 with the promise of the snake-crusher, anticipates the advent, the arrival, the coming of the Messiah. Throughout the entire OT, generation after generation asked the question: “Is he here?” Is it Seth, Adam and Eve’s “child of promise”, is it Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Joshua, or David?

And certainly, all of these men foreshadowed Christ to varying extents, but these men were all clearly flawed. Remember the great Christmas prophecy in Isaiah 9:6–7…

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.

—Isaiah 9:6-7

While all those men listed were godly men, leaders who had unique and unfathomable relationships with God, none of them met the qualifications or the descriptions in Isaiah. So, the OT prophets waited…until, as Paul describes in Galatians 4:4;

When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.

—Galatians 4:4

And so, we now live on the other side of the coming of the Son, so our looking is not forward, but backward. We remember and recall the coming of this promised Son who came to redeem us so that we might be adopted as sons. So, every year, we take time to anticipate. Like Thanksgiving, we don’t want to just get through Christmas, feeling like the holidays just steam-roll us, trying to survive all the parties and the get-togethers and the presents and the travel, and get back to some semblance of normality. We want to linger on this season. 

And we don’t want our lingering to just center around the nostalgia of Christmas—which is great! The songs, the smells, the food, the lights, the family—these are things we love about Christmas, and rightly so! But we want to linger on who this Son is that has come in the fullness of time to redeem us. And in particular, this advent, we are going to explore several texts where the Father directly addresses the Son. What does God the Father say about Christ, the Son incarnate? 

Today, we begin with one of the clearest and most glorious examples of the Father speaking to and about the Son…at Jesus’ baptism. The scene that Matthew describes here in Matthew 3 is easy to overlook, easy to read through, easy to read past without lingering and meditating on what exactly happens here. This text is not one that we should want to just get through…but one that we should digest and savor and see what the Lord means to communicate to us as we anticipate all that the Son is and has come to do. Like the coronation of a king, one wants to take in all the sights and smells, and symbolism, celebrating the arrival of the reign of the rightful king.

It is proper for us to remember that the gospels are first and foremost eyewitness accounts. Furthermore, they are inspired accounts that have different and specific audiences. The gospel of Matthew is often referred to as the “Jewish gospel”, or the most Jewish book in the NT. There is numerous evidence for this within the letter, but for our purposes, it is Matthew, more than any gospel, that links Jesus and his life with the OT. And it is this gospel that shows that Jesus and the church are the fulfillment of God’s promises to Israel. 

We could divide Matthew’s gospel account of Jesus’ ministry into 2 stages: before the cross and after. Before the cross, the Jews are seen as God’s chosen people, the ones who received the announcement of the kingdom of God, and who deserved to hear the gospel first. But after the cross, Christ’s mission and kingdom expand to include the entire world. Our dear friend Jeff Purswell, commenting on the purpose and structure of Matthew’s gospel, says this…

Jesus is the Messiah, the long-awaited son of David, who brings the history of God’s people to a climax, fulfilling all the OT and inaugurating the kingdom of God through his life, death, and resurrection.

—Jeff Purswell

So, when we read the scene of Jesus’ baptism, we need to keep the larger context of Matthew's gospel in mind. And keeping that in mind, here is what I believe is Matthew’s main point in Matthew 3:13–17…

Because Jesus, the Son of God, fulfilled all the promises of God, you can enjoy the fullness of the Spirit and the affection of the Father.

As we examine this scene, we will see 3 particular components that Matthew aims to teach us in Jesus’ baptism. We see the obedience of the Son, the anointing of the Spirit, and the affection of the Father.

The Obedience of the Son

In Matthew’s gospel, this scene, this event is the beginning, the inauguration of Jesus’ ministry on earth. And really, it is this scene in Matthew 3:13 where Jesus himself enters as a character in this story. Yes, Jesus has been present before this event—Matthew documented Jesus’ lineage, described his birth and all the incredible, miraculous, and terrible attending circumstances…his conception and birth, the magi, Herod’s evil plot, and Mary and Joseph’s emergency flight to Egypt. And we have been introduced to John the Baptist, described in Matthew 3 as a prophet, a new Elijah, who comes to declare the word of the Lord to the rebellious and wayward people, calling them to repentance, all in preparation for and in anticipation for the ministry of Jesus the Messiah.

But in Matthew 3:13….enter Jesus. Verse 13 begins with “Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John…” Jesus is introduced for the first time as his own character operating on his own initiative. No longer is he the distant subject of some family tree, or some helpless babe being born in a stable, visited by magi, and then threatened with annihilation and rushed into exile. No, here we see Jesus on the move. He is intentional, he is motivated, and he is on a mission. And what does Matthew say is his mission? Why did he come down all the way from Galilee to this particular spot on the Jordan River to this particular man? Matthew says he has come to John “to be baptized by him.”

But why did Jesus have to be baptized? Place yourselves in John the Baptist’s shoes…you may be the only one who fully understands who this guy is that is coming to you asking to be baptized, and you and I can sympathize with John who resolutely declare that he will not baptize Jesus, he is not fit to baptize Jesus…but Jesus responds with an even firmer resolution (3:15): But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” 

In any story, the first words spoken by any character are important. Often they set the tone of the character and give us an insight into what kind of character they will be. Here is no different. The first words of Jesus indicate what is at the forefront of his mind…he is absolutely resolute, committed, determined to be baptized and thus fulfill his messianic mission. He understands his mission is to “fulfill all righteousness”.  

Now, if you’re familiar with your NT and have spent plenty of time reading Paul (for instance, our last sermon series on Romans…), you may hear the term “righteousness” and think what Paul means by “righteousness”: a legal, forensic, right-standing status before God. And that makes sense given Paul’s chief audience: Greek gentiles. But that is not what Matthew means by righteousness. 

For Matthew, righteousness is not legal, but wholistic. Righteousness is a whole-person behavior that accords with God’s nature, will, and coming kingdom. The righteous person is the whole person who does not just do the will of God externally, but from the heart. Here, Jesus is setting the example to set himself apart from the Pharisees with their construed, legalistic understanding of righteousness, and the world. 

By submitting to baptism, Jesus demonstrates his determination to obey God’s will and fulfill his righteous mission of redemption. Jesus understands why he has come—to represent the people of God before God and to secure for those people righteousness. This is the plan of God—and Jesus willingly submits himself to God the Father in obeying his plan. 

In these opening chapters of Matthew, Jesus is depicted as a new, obedient Israel. He plays out Israel’s exodus story…one we are becoming familiar with as we walk through Exodus. His miraculous birth, rescue from the plot of an evil king, sojourn to and calling out from Egypt, passing through the baptismal water and reception of the Holy Spirit, temptation for forty days (instead of forty years) in the wilderness, obedience when Israel had not obeyed, and the beginning of the conquest of God’s enemies, seen through Jesus’ healings, authority over evil spirits, and more. 

Ultimately, we see Jesus, the son of God incarnate, submitting himself and his will to the Father’s plan of salvation. He is the obedient son that Israel failed to be time and time again in the OT. And it’s one thing to see all these interesting and cool connections between Jesus and the OT…but Matthew’s point here is not just to show how Christ is representing OT Israel…but Christ is obediently submitting himself to the Father in order to represent you and me before the Father. Notice, Jesus is asking to be baptized. John is rightly confused by this because to John, he was baptizing sinners and calling those sinners to repent of their sins. Just a few verses earlier (Matt 3:11), John says to those seeking to be baptized that their baptism was of water for repentance (implying sin). 

But here comes Jesus, one who has no sin and therefore no reason to be baptized. He has no filth needing to be cleansed.  John’s resistance to even the thought of Jesus being baptized by him is hard to capture in English but is clear in the original Greek. John was adamant that he be baptized by Christ, not the other way around. 

But Jesus knew that greater things were afoot than him simply being washed in the Jordan. There were eternal tectonic plates that were about to collide. And by submitting himself to baptism, Jesus is doing more than just fulfilling OT types and shadows…he is identifying himself as a sinner, in the place of sinners, in order that he might redeem sinners.

This is the beginning of the Great Exchange. This is an early picture of Jesus, the Son of God—Immanuel, God with us—beginning to take on his shoulders that which he did not deserve…namely, sin. As Paul puts it in 2 Corinthians 5:21…

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

—2 Cor. 5:21

Jesus’ determination to fulfill the Father’s will centers around him coming to save the people of God. And in Christ, through his death and resurrection, the people of God are no longer the ethnic nation of Israel but are those who have been united to Christ by faith, those for whom Christ represented, are his people. Again, Jeff Purswell describes this well…

It is not that the Gentiles “replace” the Jews, but that the true people of God will no longer depend on membership in a nationalistic grouping or a particular racial heritage. Membership in the new people of God will be on the basis of repentance and faith in the Messiah Jesus.

—Jeff Purswell

So, Christmas reminds us of the coming of Christ who came to save sinners by obediently representing them, identifying with their sin, being baptized, and therefore accomplishing all righteousness. But as Jesus arises from the water, a scene unlike any other is depicted.

The Anointing of the Spirit

Notice, John spends no time describing the actual baptism. The endless debates over the mode or process of baptism do not find much support in this passage. That’s not Matthew’s point. Rather, he blows right through that event and describes what happens immediately after Jesus comes up out of the water.

And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him.

—Matthew 3:16

What a scene! It’s unclear here if this was something that the entire audience saw or if this was an exclusive vision to Jesus’ perspective, but we, through Matthew’s narrative, see what Jesus saw. The heavens opened, unbarred, rent in two. The barrier between the earth and the heavens was temporarily removed and…what would one expect to see next with such a scenario? Lightning? Power and majesty? Something awe-inspiring or breathtaking? 

No. What Matthew describes is the Spirit of God descending, not like a lightning bolt or a beam of blinding light…but as a dove. And it comes down from heaven from God the Father to accomplish something unique—to rest on Jesus. 

What is going on here? Peter in Acts 10 gives us some insight…

You yourselves know what happened throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee after the baptism that John proclaimed: how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power.

—Acts 10:37–38

This is a coronation scene. And like any coronation scene, there is imagery and symbolism everywhere. Like Saul and David, Israelite Kings of Old, the anointing of oil by the prophet-priest Samuel was an image of the Spirit of God resting on them. In fact for both Saul and David, after their anointing, the Bible describes the Spirit of God rushing upon them, and of course, we know what happened to Saul when he continually disobeyed…the Spirit of God tragically departed from him. So the Spirit is intricately involved in anointing, consecrating, ordaining, and empowering the kings and leaders of God’s people.

But in all those previous instances, the anointing is done by some mediator—some representative of God…a prophet, priest, (in England, the Archbishop of Cantebury…). Not so in this coronation. God himself is the one who anoints this king, and he doesn’t anoint him with oil, some substance to act in the place of the Spirit, but with the Spirit himself. This is no ordinary king—this is THE king, the high king of heaven. All three members of the trinity are displayed here. And the reason they are displayed here is to show that all three members are active and present in the mission that is being set off here at the Jordan. JC Ryle gets it exactly right when he poingantly says…

It was the whole Trinity, which at the beginning of the creation said, “Let us make man”; it was the whole Trinity again, which at the beginning of the Gospel seemed to say, “Let us save man.”

—JC Ryle

This activity of the Trinity, these saving works of God, are on display here in all their regality. How often do we think of our salvation as belonging exclusively to the activity of Christ? To be sure—Christ’s work is glorious and our salvation is certainly not less than his work in representing and dying and rising for us! But we must remember that Christ came to accomplish the Father’s will empowered by Spirit. 

The Spirit’s activity here in Matthew 3 isn’t simply just to descend, to rest on Christ, and then move on. No, the Spirit’s presence here is for anointing and empowering. I think it would be a healthy practice for us to at times stop and consider all that the Spirit is and all the Spirit does. 

His very name implies that he is unseen; however, like the wind, we see the effects of his activity. The OT describes him as a powerful agent in creation, bringing order to chaos. He is an agent of revelation, a channel of communication between God and his prophets. He is an agent for empowering leaders and giving strength to judges and kings to execute God’s justice.

In short, the Spirit of God is at work. He is a creator, sustainer, revealer, director, strengthener, and enabler, all so that God’s people might experience God’s presence to know him, worship him, and serve him.

And for Jesus, here at his baptism, the Spirit who for centuries before was preparing for him and for this very moment, here in Matthew 3 descends to crown him as King and as Servant. The original Jewish audience to this scene would have read this scene—the Spirit of God descending onto Jesus—and would have connected him to another of Isaiah’s prophecies. Look at Isaiah 42:1…

Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my Spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations.

—Isaiah 42:1

You see, Isaiah 42 begins the second half of Isaiah’s entire book that is directed to Judah on the eve of their exile. And he introduces to them this messianic figure who he calls the “Servant”. And for the next 12 chapters, the prophet describes all that this Servant would do for his people…namely, in chapters 52–53, die on behalf of his people. But before any of that takes place, the people were to be on the lookout for this coming Servant—and one of the key indicators that he had arrived is when the Spirit of God has been put upon him by God himself. 

And it is this Spirit that would be the constant companion of the Son. He was there at his conception, miraculously bringing life to a virgin womb, he’s here in is baptism, he will immediately lead him into the desert to be tempted, and will be with him to the end, all the way to Calvary.

And this is good not only for Jesus, but also for us. Before the Spirit of God can apply the work of Christ to us, he was active in effectuating and empowering the saving work of Christ. And having done this, when the Spirit comes to us, he comes bringing all the saving work of Christ to us, making it real for us, to the end that he, the Spirit, might even transform us into Christ’s own image. It is the Spirit who opens our eyes to perceive the glory of Christ, it is he who causes Christ and the revelation of God to become our delight! Oh, may we not be neglectful in our worship and affection for the Holy Spirit!

Finally, the scene reaches its climax. A voice from heaven belonging to none other than God the Father himself pronounces his judgment of the scene—it is glorious.

The Affection of the Father

After the Son has been baptized—inaugurating his representation with his people, after the Spirit has descended—anointing and coronating the Servant King…the Father speaks. 

I think at the end of the day, all sons want to do is make their dads proud. Right? How much of our childhood, our short-lived sports career, our hunting, fishing, etc etc etc was done for the goal of making our dads proud of us? And dads, how much do we long for our sons to be proud of us? There’s nothing quite like that feeling of having your dad say, “I’m proud of you, and I love you.” And as a dad, there’s nothing quite like hearing from your son, “Dad, you’re the best, and I love you!”

One of the sweetest moments of my life was finding out that Jami was pregnant with Adeline. Just the massive shift that takes place in us as we anticipate being responsible for another human being. And I believe it was a recommendation of a friend who said to read “Father Hunger” by Doug Wilson. In that wonderful book, Wilson sets out to trace the “rot that is eating away at the modern soul”...fatherlessness. And to call men to fruitful, God-honoring fatherhood. It’s a fantastic book.

But what stood out to me was in the opening chapter, Wilson uses this scene in Matthew 3 to show what archetypal fatherhood is.

There is a world of information about fatherhood in [Matthew 3:16–17]. First, when Jesus was baptized, his Father was there. Second, He made his presence felt by sending his Spirit to descend like a dove in order to rest upon Jesus. Third, he made his presence known by speaking. And so what did he say? His statement correspond with the giving of the Spirit in that the Father identified with his son. He said, “This is my Son.” Fourth, he expressed his pleasure in his Son. The first thing we are told about the relationship of the Father to the Son is that the Father thought his Son was doing a great job.

—Doug Wilson

In this scene, what the Father has shown by deed in the Spirit’s descent is now made explicit through his direct word. Word and deed, deed and word—that’s how God has always worked. It’s how he worked in Genesis in creation, it’s how we have been seeing him work in Exodus, and it’s how Jesus is going to work throughout the gospels—word and deed. And the word given by the Father here is one of communion and association —”This is MY Son.” And not only that, but it is a word of affection…”This is my BELOVED Son, whom I am well pleased.” 

Remember Isaiah 42:1…

Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my Spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations.

—Isaiah 42:1

The affection of the Father to the Son is the climax of this scene. Everything has gone and will go according to the Father’s ultimate and good plan.

But how many of us here today hear this father/son description and say…that’s great, but that’s not how I remember my relationship with my dad or what my current relationship is with my dad. My dad is distant, unloving, absent, cold, gone…texts like these do not bring up warm, nostalgic memories, but grief and pain. Maybe you’re anticipating another Christmas without your dad there…how is this scene of fatherly affection good news for you?

As wonderful and affectionate this scene is—remember, all of this is part of Christ’s mission and path. And that path is leading to only one inevitable destination. And when Christ arrives at that destination, where all his obedience and all the Spirit’s empowering brings him, he will look up to the heavens once again, longing to hear those loving words again, to feel the affection of the Father again…but instead of comfort, he will only hear silence. No more dove, no more love…just cold wrath-filled silence. And he will cry out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” And after this cry, he gives up his spirit, and dies.

What happened? How could this be? How do we get from the miracle of Christmas, to the affection at his baptism, to this cold, dark scene? Like Susan and Lucy at the Stone Table…”we were just feasting together, celebrating the return of Edmund. How did we get to this horrific scene?” The Servant is crushed by the Father—Isaiah 53:4–6 describes the work of the Servant.

Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

—Isaiah 53:4–6

This has always been the mission of the Messiah, of the Servant, of Christ the Son. This is why he came, this is what we celebrate at Christmas! Christ, the beloved Son of God, crushed for our sins. The wrath of God poured out on him, so that you and I might have peace, we might be healed, we might experience the affection of the Father. Christ experienced the wrath of the Father so that we might experience the love of the Father. Christ, the perfectly obedient Son, paid our penalty so that we might be counted as righteous. This is miraculous. 

Through the death and resurrection of Jesus—the mission which was launched at his baptism—you and I are no longer children of wrath, but have been adopted as sons of God. Through our union with Christ, the wayward and the fatherless now find a home and Father who pours out his affection on his children. This is good news for us this Christmas. This is why Jesus came! If you are in Christ, you no longer have to fear the cold, wrathful silence of the Father, but instead hear and experience affection and delight. This is good news and is hope for absent fathers and wayward sons. Regardless of your experience with your father, this Christmas, you can experience the affection of the Father, through the work of the Son, by the power of the Spirit.

And when we doubt how God feels about us, remember that your standing before God, his affection for you is not dependent on you, but on Christ and his final work on the cross. And this is not just temporary. It is eternal. No one says it better than Paul in Romans 8.

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. 

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

—Romans 8:31–38

What a savior! Thank you, Lord, for your Son. Thank you for Christmas. Let’s pray.