Jesus, The Empowered One by Larry Sparks

Day 13 of the “What Child is This?” Advent Devotional

And the Holy Spirit descended in bodily form like a dove upon Him (Luke 3:22)

Jesus was empowered by the Holy Spirit at His water baptism. Remember, He did nothing arbitrarily or randomly; everything unveiled the Father’s perfect, strategic plan. Jesus was not being baptized because He needed forgiveness from sin. He was without sin. Hang with me here. From the moment Jesus was baptized, He started to display and model what the normal Christian life should look like for every single believer.

John the Baptist fought Him a little on the baptism issue. If anything, John thought that Jesus should be baptizing him. After all, Jesus was the “The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (Jn. 1:29) There was no debate concerning the sinlessness of Jesus. But nevertheless, the divine Son of God wanted to be baptized. Even though this perplexed John, Jesus did what He could to clarify things—He insisted, “Do it. God’s work, putting things right all these centuries, is coming together right now in this baptism” (Matthew 3:15, Message). Jesus baptism’ inaugurated a whole new dimension of empowered living.

From this moment, Jesus launched out into a three-plus year demonstration of the kind of lifestyle His sacrifice would make available for every single believer. It is fitting that it begins with baptism, as that is typically the ceremony or act that marks the launch of a new believer’s walk with the Lord. Baptism was never meant to be taken lightly. No, it’s not required for salvation, but the problem today is we have reduced our expectation of what should take place at this glorious moment.

I love the fact that in the early church, baptism brought with it the fire and power of God—as it did for Jesus, and as it did on the Day of Pentecost. Francis MacNutt, author, historian, and reputable voice in Christian healing ministry, reminds us that “in the third century when adults were baptized, it was expected that when they rose up out of the baptismal water, they might prophesy or start praying in tongues.”

Why? Because there was an expectation that the same supernatural power that was made available to Jesus was also available to believers throughout the ages. Now, we don’t see Jesus speaking in tongues, prophesying or manifesting any other gift of the Holy Spirit at His baptism. However, we do see from that moment onward, He is described being “filled with the Holy Spirit” (Lk. 4:1). Henceforth, His earthly ministry of power, signs, and wonders begins.

Jesus modeled the empowered Christian life that would be available to anyone cleansed of sin and filled with the Holy Spirit. If you are a believer in Christ, that’s you!

Advent Prayer

Holy Spirit, upgrade my Christian experience to reflect what you made available. Help me not to settle for anything below what You have deposited inside of me.