How Deep the Father's Love

Dr. John Clayton's sermon on Luke 3:21-22 from our service on August 11, 2024, the fourteenth in his sermon series The Gospel of Luke.

“Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heavens were opened, [22] and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form, like a dove; and a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased’” (Luke 3:21–22).[1]

The third chapter of Luke’s Gospel reintroduces John, the son of Zechariah, the forerunner of Christ. We learn of his calling, his message, his methods and ministry. And it was at the peak of his ministry that many began to question whether he might in fact be the Messiah, the Christ. But John knew his identity and place, pointing the people away from himself and toward the anticipated One, the Christ to come.

In our passage today, he comes. But he comes not with the fanfare of a king but in the humility of a man among the people, Jesus of Nazareth. You may recall that the last time Luke mentioned Jesus, he had been about his Father’s business for the better part of a week in the temple. He then traveled home to Nazareth with his parents, where we are told that he “increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man” (Luke 2:52). And then we hear nothing, for almost two decades, until as a grown man he waits among the people on Jordan’s banks to be baptized by John the Baptist.

As we consider Jesus’ baptism, it is important to remember that John’s baptism of repentance was the not the same thing as Christian baptism. Christian baptism is “a sacrament in which the washing with water, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, signifies and seals our grafting into Christ, our receiving the benefits of the covenant of grace, and our engagement to be the Lord’s.”[2] John’s baptism, in contrast, was preparatory, calling only Israel to repent of their sins and receive the outward sign of cleansing, the sprinkled waters of baptism, as prophesied by Ezekiel.[3] It was surely a beautiful thing to see the children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the children to whom God gave his law and to whom he sent his prophets, the children who had been given the land of Abraham’s promise and recently been restored to it, repenting of their sins and being baptized in droves. Some, such as the Pharisees and Sadducees, did not participate, but John’s call was to them all, because even Abraham’s natural heirs were sinners by nature. Every one of the children of Israel needed to repent of their sins, all of them except one.

There was one among his people who heeded John’s call, though he had no need to repent. The cleansing water of John’s baptism of repentance could not wash away what was not there. But Jesus was baptized, along with the rest of the people, by John, conveying significance beyond the symbol itself. For, in being baptized, he was identifying himself with the sinners he had come to save. “The shadow of the cross,” Ralph Davis says, “falls across the waters of the Jordan. In His baptism Jesus commits Himself to take the sinner’s place.”[4]

The Prayer of God

When Jesus had been baptized by John, Luke records that Jesus “was praying” (21). This may seem like a passing comment, but let’s remember that this is the second person of the Trinity, the incarnate Son of God. What need has he of praying? And yet, Scripture tells us that he prayed often. Most of his recorded prayers were public, such as his High Priestly Prayer. But we also have his private prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane. Sometimes his prayers were short and sweet, such as his mealtime prayer before fish and loaves. Other times, he prayed all night, such as before he chose his disciples

The point is, he who is in perfect union with God as God, prayed, which tells us much about prayer. Some people only pray out of necessity, when problems escalate to a level beyond self-reliance. Some people primarily pray what I call “Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes Prayers,” as if prayer is reserved only for physical ailments. But when he who prayed often was asked how to pray, this is the prayer he taught:

            Our Father in heaven,

            hallowed be your name.

            Your kingdom come,

            your will be done,

                        on earth as it is in heaven.

            Give us this day our daily bread,

            and forgive us our debts,

                        as we also have forgiven our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation,

                        but deliver us from evil (Matt. 6:9-13).

Most of us have this memorized in a variation of the KJV, but the outline remains the same. As a prayer, it is brilliant in its simplicity and serves as a guide for us all.

Let me encourage you to follow Jesus’ example and pray often and follow his lesson in praying as he taught. The Lord’s Prayer is so simple that anyone can memorize it, and its structure so orderly that you may use it to pray for five minutes or five hours. As we are to be a praying people, let us learn how and dedicate ourselves to it. To this end, let me recommend two helpful resources. First, familiarize yourself with the last eight questions and answers of the Westminster Shorter Catechism (100 to 107). They are pure, practical gold for learning how to use the Lord’s Prayer in your daily prayers. Second, use our church’s Devotional Guide, which includes a reading guide for reading the Bible in a year, as well as daily Scripture-saturated prayers modeled on the outline of the Lord’s Prayer. If you struggle with praying daily and diligently, these two resources will help you.

The Presence of God

We do not know what Jesus prayed, but we can be sure there was sweet fellowship between all three persons of the Trinity. I know this theologically but also by what was witnessed. God the Son prayed as God the Spirit descended as God the Father spoke: “the heavens were opened, and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form, like a dove; and a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased’” (21b-22). The heavens opened, not figuratively but literally, a biblical sign of revelation. And from the heavens the Holy Spirit descended, not in a private experience but a public event, witnessed in bodily form like a dove. Theologically, we refer to this as a “theophany,” “a visible appearance of God’s invisible Spirit.”[5] But the importance of this theophany is not its dove-like descension but its declaration of Jesus, the incarnate Son of God.

To say that the Spirit descended is not to say that the Spirit was absent from Jesus’ life. Jesus was conceived in the virgin’s womb by the Holy Spirit and filled with his wisdom. But on the day of Jesus’ baptism, the Holy Spirit’s descension declared to everyone present Jesus’ identity and signaled the commencement of his ministry. Throughout Jesus’ earthly ministry, we read of the Holy Spirit’s integral role, from persevering under temptation, to preaching the kingdom of God, to performing miracles, to offering himself a sacrificial substitute upon the cross, to his resurrection and victory of eternal life. Jesus’ life and ministry were dependent upon the Holy Spirit’s presence and power, as the Apostle Peter later preached, “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” (Acts 10:38).

Now, it may be easy for you to think of the Holy Spirit’s presence in Jesus and his ministry, but perhaps harder to think of something similar in yourself. And yet, Scripture teaches that the Holy Spirit who descended upon Jesus is the very same Holy Spirit who indwells everyone who believes on Jesus. Every believer has been baptized not by John’s baptism of repentance but Jesus’ baptism of the Holy Spirit. And it is the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Christ, who serves as the authenticator of all who believe. If you are in Christ by faith, then the Apostle Paul explains, you “are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him” (Rom. 8:9). Christian, you and I are not eternally identified by who we are but who we are in Christ, and we are not called to live the Christian life alone or in our own power, but we have been indwelled by the Spirit and so enabled and empowered to live our lives in Christ to the glory of God!

At Jesus’ baptism, he did indeed pray, the Holy Spirit did indeed visibly descend, but the climax of the passage is the audible voice of God the Father, saying, “You are my   beloved Son; with you I am well pleased” (22). God the Father addressed only one, God the Son. The Greek word (agapetos) translated “beloved” is a term of affection, but when used in reference to a son or daughter, it implies singularity.[6] Jesus is the Father’s beloved, only Son. He did not begin in that moment to be his Son but, as we confess in the Nicene Creed, he is “the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of his Father before all worlds, God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father.”

For God the Father then to say, “You are my beloved Son,” is a beautiful declaration of eternal love of God the Father for God the Son. What is both mysterious and glorious is that God loves God. Phil Ryken helpfully explains the mystery this way:

Within the inward relations of the Trinity we see the most perfect of all affections. The one who loves—in this case, the Father—loves with a perfect love. His affection knows no imperfection. And the one who is loved—in this case, the Son—is perfectly worthy to be loved. Thus there can be no more perfect love than the Father’s love for his beloved Son within the Trinity.[7]

And it is this perfect love of God that has been given to us in Christ:

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God (John 3:16-18).

Jesus is the love of God given to all who will believe, and all who believe, the Father receives as his children forever.

The Pleasure of God

Accompanying God the Father’s declaration of love is his declaration of pleasure: he is well pleased in his Son. It is a statement of eternal love for his Son but also a confirmation of his pleasure in Christ’s obedience. Though Jesus was always obedient, we witness it here in his baptism: “Now when all the people were baptized,” Luke says, “Jesus also had been baptized” (21). John’s baptism of repentance rightly called for sinners to repent of their sins. Jesus was baptized like a sinner not for himself but for us.

From the beginning of his ministry, “though he was in the form of God, [Jesus] did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Phil. 2:6-8). This he did in love for the Father, for it is the Father’s pleasure, to save sinners, like you and me. Christ’s death upon the cross was not a mistake or misunderstanding but was, as the Apostle Peter explains, “according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God” (Acts 2:23). It was for love that God sent his only Son. It was for love that he was crucified. “In this is love,” the Apostle John writes, “not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins” (1 John 4:10 NET).

And because God the Father is pleased in his Son, so he is pleased with you, if you believe on him. Through faith, God’s love for us is inseparable from his love for his Son, forever. No matter who you are, no matter what you have done, if you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, you are loved in the everlasting love of God.

            How deep the Father’s love for us,

            How vast beyond all measure,

            That He should give His only Son

            To make a wretch His treasure.

            How great the pain of searing loss -

            The Father turns His face away,

            As wounds which mar the Chosen One

            Bring many sons to glory.[8]

[1] Unless referenced otherwise, all Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (Wheaton: Crossway Bibles, 2001).

[2] Q. 94, Andrew Green, Sasko Nezamutdinov, Ben Preston, The Illustrated Westminster Shorter Catechism (Fearn: Christian Focus Publications, 2022), 75.

[3] Ezek. 36:23-25

[4] Dale Ralph Davis, Luke 1-13: The Year of the Lord’s Favor (Fearn: Christian Focus Publications Ltd., 2024), 70.

[5] Philip Graham Ryken, Luke, Vol. 1 (Phillipsburg: P&R Publishing, 2009), 135.

[6] Ibid., 136.

[7] Ibid, 137.

[8] Stuart Townend, “How Deep the Father’s Love for Us,” https://www.stuarttownend.co.uk/song/how-deep-the-fathers-love-for-us/