Jesus Christ: Manifestation of God’s Anointing

The Feast of the Baptism of Our Lord Jesus Christ

January 10, 2010

Isaiah 42:1-9/ Psalm 89:20-29/ Acts 10:34-38/ Luke5:15-16; 21-22

Archbishop Loren Thomas Hines, D. D.

Many marketing firms love to have the wisdom that God has.  We begin the calendar year of the church with events that are so awesome that literally shakes the world to its foundation.  It literally makes statements that cause man’s heart to leap for joy. It gives to us a confidence, an assurance of a tomorrow that is filled not with grief or sorrow, but filled with the joy and the confidence that comes from a God who does not fail or forsake.   I wonder, “Are we prepared to handle such awesome things?”   We are warned, and it is acknowledged to us that which is coming is great.  But we see it and we portray it too many times as something with insignificant value.  We don’t see that star as that light that will never again allow darkness to rule.  We don’t see that tiny baby in a manger as a King that changes the events of humanity.  It takes away the curse, and brings new life to those that will receive.   We don’t comprehend the totality.  We live on the surface of events, but the roots come from the heart of God.   The roots come from an antiquity that is ancient, established before the foundation of the earth, established on stone that cannot be changed; established with that confidence, with that hope, that allowed God to bring forth the creation on earth of man – without fear and without anxiety because He knew the power.  He understood His ability. He is not intimidated, not threatened with things that seemingly go a different direction, but in time, sets a course and a direction to correct, to restore, and to reestablish life.

Today, we look at the baptism of Jesus.  It is an event that reveals God to us.  It is an Epiphany – God with us.  It was not going to be any second guessing because God Himself made the announcement at the baptism in the River Jordan.  The world shook as God spoke.  The forces of evil knew that it was all over. Their time was limited and their power was soon going to be brought to nothing.  The voice caused the angels to rejoice and all nations to establish hope within; that the time would come for the revealing of new life – freedom from the old; the curse broken; the sun to shine once again and that new life to be made manifest.  God spoke very clearly and very powerfully.  John did not want to baptize Christ.  He said that he wasn’t qualified.  But in obedience, he did the work.  He took Jesus into the water; and the power God and the ability of God in that event brought an ability to wash away the sins of the whole world.

It is an event that speaks to us not only of cleansing because in too many cases, Christianity is just being free from sin.  But that is not God’s desire. His desire goes way beyond that.  He wants us to walk in the power of the Spirit to demonstrate the very character that He has implanted upon us.  John says it very clearly, speaking of Jesus, “He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire – power.”  Amazing how the Church has missed this point; how that we have encompassed weakness into our ranks. Failure and defeat is a normal everyday event when in the life of Christ, who was sent to be the witness of God among us and a demonstration of God’s character within us, we do not see failure in His life.  Even in an event which could easily be qualified as failure – His trial, His persecution, His crucifixion, His death, His burial.  We might think that He failed.  No, He did not fail.  With God there is no failure.  With God there is no defeat. It was in that death that Christ brought new life and new hope to mankind.

John said that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.  God sent His own Son to take upon the flesh, to become like man, born of the Virgin Mary.  He came into the world the way man comes into the world – identifying with man, God now becoming one with man.  As He became identified with man, in so doing, because of man’s sin and iniquity, there was this problem that has to be solved.  As He had become flesh, He could not deny the problem of the flesh.  He did not succumb to it Himself, but it wasn’t for Him. He did not come in the flesh because of Him; He came into flesh because of us. He identified with us.  He who knew no sin became sin that we would become the righteousness of God. It was for our benefit.  As He identified with the flesh, He then had to identify with sin.  Even though He was not guilty of the sin, He took the sin because of a choice He made.

I believe that the event of the baptism shows us the proclamation of God and what God is intending to do for the course He is setting.  He said, “I am going to do new things and as I do them, I am going to reveal them to you.”  This is a revelation at the River Jordan that Christ has come to take away the sin.  Christ has come to set man free and to give him a new life.  In the vigil last evening, we were reading from St. Gregory who said, “That dove that descended upon Christ could be compared to the dove that descended upon the ark at the time of Noah coming to say, ‘It is over. Now, you are free. You can be released. There is new life for you.’”  God was setting man’s course and direction with new hope and with new foundations.

At the birth of Christ, He made a declaration.  It was almost a demarcation line - the darkness is gone and now the light has come.  He was saying to us that there is new hope. The failure, the sin, the iniquity – all these things – we are going to put away.  We are going to take away the burdens from your shoulders.  I am going to give you energy, a power that is equal to none.  There will be nothing like it because it will be like that which is of God – the Holy Spirit.  Equipping you to face the issues and the problems and conquer them rather than be defeated by them, even being intimidated by them, to make certain that man understood who this was.  In the River Jordan God speaks, “Thou are My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.”  God has spoken through the prophets in the past but it did not seem to affect man. Man continued to go on in his rebellion. So now, God sends His Son and Hebrews tells us, “an exact representation of the character of the Father,” because they were one.  He sends now His Son. His Son now comes to demonstrate to us, to show us the life that God was giving us.  Jesus did not do these events so that we can write a Bible and we could gloat in the things that He did.  Jesus said, “The things I have done, you shall do, and even greater than this because I go to be with My Father.”

Can we comprehend the events? As we begin this year, the hope that we have as we look forward to the unveiling of the gifts of God and the provisions of God to His people that God is holding back nothing.  He has given us the best. He has given us His Son. He has revealed the workings of the Holy Spirit.  He shared with us how that God Himself comes now to be with man, to strengthen man, to uplift man, and to cause man to rise above the failure and the defeat, and to live out a victorious life.