Coronation of

Matthew 3:13-17

Matthew 3:13-17 Coronation the King.

Matthew 3:13-17, Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him. ¹⁴ And John tried to prevent Him, saying, “I need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?” 15 But Jesus answered and said to him, “Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he allowed Him. ¹⁶ When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. ¹⁷ And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”

Matthew 1:1-17, the ancestry of the King.

Matthew 1:18-25, the arrival of the King, His birth.

Matthew 2:1-12, the adoration of the King, the worship given to Him by the magi.

Matthew 2:13-23, the attestation to the King by the fulfilment of specific prophecy.

Matthew 3:1-12, the messenger of the King, John the Baptist.

Matthew 3:13-17, the coronation/anointing of the King.

Queen Elizabeth II was crowned on 2nd June 1953. This is, as it were, His coronation. This is His commissioning, the beginning of His ministry. The King comes out of 30 years of seclusion, obscurity, and finally to manifest Himself to the world.

John the Baptist, the voice of one crying in the wilderness, has made ready the path. The way is prepared. The path is straight, and from the quiet seclusion of Nazareth, the Lord Jesus comes to inaugurate His work, to assume His office, and He is commissioned.

Three aspects to the commissioning of Jesus Christ. 1. The baptism of the Son. 2. The anointing of the Spirit. 3. The word of the Father. The Trinity is involved! This is a very important passage for instruction on the Trinity because all of them are here synonymously, all acting at the very same time.

1. The baptism of the Son. V 13, Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him.

During the ministry of John the Baptist, there were people from Jerusalem and Judea were coming to get baptised. John must have been doing this ministry for several months. Jesus began His ministry when He was 30.

Luke 3:23, Now Jesus Himself began His ministry at about thirty years of age, being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph, the son of Heli, John also began his ministry when he was 30, that would mean that John had ministered six months prior to when Christ came, because John was born six months before Christ.

Luke 1:26, Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, John the Baptist was Jesus'cousin. John was part of the family. So, if John had begun his ministry at the age of 30, as Jesus did, it would have been going on for about six months.

But on the other hand, we have no reason to believe that he began at 30. There is nothing in the Scripture that tells us that.

Numbers 4:3, from thirty years old and above, even to fifty years old, all who enter the service to do the work in the tabernacle of meeting.

Numbers 4:23; 4:30; 4:35; says the same thing.

David embarked upon certain dimensions of his ministry to the Lord when he was 30, and so that 30 was significant. According to Numbers 4 the time when the priests began to function. But that principle was very temporary because, by the time you get to the 8th chapter of Numbers, the priests'age is lowered to 25.

Numbers 8:24, This is what pertains to the Levites: From twenty-five years old and above one may enter to perform service in the work of the tabernacle of meeting; David lowered the age to ²⁰ for special reasons.

1 Chronicles 23:27, For by the last words of David the Levites were numbered from twenty years old and above; Age of 20, for the beginning of a priest's ministry, was continued through the reign of Hezekiah.

2 Chronicles 31:17, and to the priests who were written in the genealogy according to their father’s house, and to the Levites from twenty years old and up according to their work, by their divisions, Even after the captivity this was continued.

Ezra 3:8, Now in the second month of the second year of their coming to the house of God at Jerusalem, Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and the rest of their

brethren the priests and the Levites, and all those who had come out of the captivity to Jerusalem, began work and appointed the Levites from twenty years old and above to oversee the work of the house of the Lord.

• According to Numbers 4 the age was 30.
• According to Numbers 8 it reduced 25.
• According to 1 Chronicles 23 it becomes 20 and stays.

So, we do not know when Jesus came, and how long John was ministering.

Luke 3:21, When all the people were baptized, it came to pass that Jesus also was baptized; and while He prayed, the heaven was opened. Luke tells us that Jesus came when all the other people were coming. This was no private audience with John. This was no secret commissioning. Jesus just came along with everybody else.

We do not really know exactly where on the Jordan River John was, but it could have been as much as a 60-mile walk for the Lord to get there. Christ waited 30 years in the carpenter's shop in Nazareth, performing the simple duties of the home and the simple duties of the shop.

✓ All the time knowing He was God incarnate, ✓ All the time knowing there was a lost world, ✓ All the time knowing that that world was waiting for Him, Ever being frustrated because it was all in the Father's plan. Thirty years of obscurity, waiting for the Father's timing, patiently, in a complete kind of unquestioning submission to the Father. He waited for 30 years, and now the hour has come.

We know a name, Bethabara, but we do not know where that was. We do not know whether it was way south by the Dead Sea or up a little bit north. We have no way to reconstruct the specifics, but someplace on the southern part of the Jordan River.

He came to John, His cousin, and His forerunner. John is about to pass the baton to Christ. This is the phasing out of the ministry of John and the beginning of the ministry of Jesus. Jesus and John knew each other. We know Jesus knew about John, the forerunner, because He was omniscient.

We also know John knew about Jesus because they were cousins.

Perhaps when they were babies they may have played together. Perhaps when they were little children, they may have spent time together. Then John went his way into the wilderness, and Jesus remained in the seclusion of Nazareth. John staying for his lifetime in that wilderness area.

John knew that Jesus was the Messiah. Elizabeth called Jesus Lord and if she, John the Baptist's mother, believed He was Lord, there is no question that she would have passed that message to her son. John is instantly recognizing Jesus here and recognizes Him for who He is another indication that he knew.

"To be baptized by him," Purpose is to get baptised by John. Now at first this is shocking, and it has really been a problem for a lot of people. It was a problem for John the Baptist, and it is still a problem for people unless you really examine the text carefully. He came to be baptized.

Matthew 3:2, and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!”

Matthew 3:6, and were baptized by him in the Jordan, confessing their sins.

Matthew 3:11, I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, Repentance admits that you are sinner. John's then was a baptism for sinners. John was baptizing people who admitted their sin, who confessed their sin, who repented of their sin, and who desired that God would transform them and prepare them for the coming of the King. His was a baptism for sinners.

This Baptism meant to be an outward sign of an inward transformation. It was to symbolize a conversion, a turning from sin, a repentance, a baptism for sinners. Why does Jesus come to be baptized with a baptism that really belongs to sinners?

Why should He seek this?

Did He need salvation? Why did He desire to join a crowd of sinners, to enter that which was a symbol of conversion? There are many false stories around.

• a. Jesus came to be baptized only because His mother wanted Him to, and His brothers wanted Him to.
• b. The Gnostics taught that Jesus was just a man, that the human Jesus was just a man; and, at His baptism, He got incarnated with the divine Spirit. Jesus did not have any sin.
• If Jesus did not have any sin,
• no need for any confession,
• He was already God,
• He had nothing to repent of,
• He did not need a conversion,
• He did not need to change His life or change His heart,

Then why does Jesus come to take Baptism?

John had the same question? V 14, And John tried to prevent Him, saying, “I need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?” John constantly tried to stop Jesus from getting baptized. This is what means in Greek language.

John was earnestly, strongly, intensely continuing to hinder Jesus from getting baptized. He would not hear of it. John's treatment of Jesus is the very opposite of the way he treated the Pharisees and the Sadducees.

Matthew 3:7, But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? John refused to baptize the Pharisees and the Sadducees because they were not repentant. They were sinful. Here, John refuses to baptize Jesus because He is sinless and has nothing to repent of. The whole idea makes no sense to him. He who towered above the Pharisees and the Sadducees finds himself bowed in deepest humility before Jesus. John recognized Jesus. He recognized who He was. Elizabeth was well-informed about Mary's firstborn, and Elizabeth called Him “my Lord”.

Luke 1:42-43, Then she spoke out with a loud voice and said, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! ⁴³ But why is this granted to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?

John 1:29, The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! John recognized Jesus and John had some information.

John did not ever yet, at this point, have a divine confirmation.

John 1:30-34, This is He of whom I said, ‘After me comes a Man who is preferred before me, for He was before me.’ ³¹ I did not know Him; but that He should be revealed to Israel, therefore I came baptizing with water.” ³² And John bore witness, saying, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and He remained upon Him. ³³ I did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘Upon whom you see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ ³⁴ And I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God.” John had an idea who Jesus was humanly.

God had told John that you will know for sure with divine confirmation. The sign will be the dove descending upon Him. When you see the dove coming out of heaven and abiding on Him, that is the One who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.

✓ He is the King. ✓ He is the Messiah. It is obvious here by John's stopping Jesus from being baptized before Jesus says anything. Before John ever announces, "Behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world"- it is obvious that physically, John perceives Him, he knows this is the Messiah.

The divine confirmation comes immediately in Matthew 3:16, when the Spirit descends. But, even here, John knows that this is, in fact, the Christ. John’s statement is one of the most clear and powerful declarations of the sinlessness of Jesus Christ ever given in the Scripture.

When anybody wants to argue about the sinlessness of Christ, whether Christ was really without sin, this is a great place to start. John is saying that You cannot be baptized with my baptism, because mine is a baptism for sinners. We can clearly see that Jesus is sinless.

On the other hand, I need to be baptized by You. I am a sinner. You and I are opposites. People say, "Jesus was just a prophet." No, here is the only prophet of God alive in His time.

Matthew 11:11, the greatest man who ever lived up until His time. Declare that Jesus is sinless. So, from the very beginning, it is clear that this is the sinless, undefiled, holy Messiah of God.

John the Baptist starts out with the very first thing that he declares the absolute sinlessness of Jesus Christ. He sets Jesus above even the greatest prophet who ever lived. Jesus is not just another prophet. Jesus in a totally unique category. Prophets are sinners. Jesus is sinless.

Hebrews 4:15, For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Jesus and the disciples did do some baptizing. They joined in John's baptism, and they got some people ready for the kingdom.

John 3:22-23, After these things Jesus and His disciples came into the land of Judea, and there He remained with them and baptized. ²³ Now John also was baptizing in Aenon near Salim, because there was much water there. And they came and were baptized.

John 4:1-3, Therefore, when the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John 2 (though Jesus Himself did not baptize, but His disciples), 3 He left Judea and departed again to Galilee.

Jesus and His disciples baptized. Jesus Himself, not doing it, but having His disciples do it but it was the same kind of baptism. It was a baptism of Old Testament saints who were ready to get their hearts right and to repent of their sin, to be converted, to be transformed, to get ready to accept the Messiah and His kingdom.

The Holy Spirit wants it understood, though Jesus desires John's baptism and, though that baptism is a baptism for sinners, let it be made clear, Jesus is no sinner.

What does Jesus have in mind?

Why does Jesus want to get baptized? Why does He want do this if He is no sinner?

• Some suggest His baptism was just an initiatory rite. Numbers chapter 4, the 30-year-old priests were washed. They were bathed as a preparatory kind of initiatory rite for their entering the priesthood.
• Some say this was just an initiation. Christ is washed symbolically as He enters upon His high priestly work.
• Some others say that Jesus knew that this kind of baptism was, in the Old Testament, proselyte baptism. When a Gentile became a Jew and identified himself with Judaism religiously.

He could not become a Jew racially. But if you joined up with Judaism, and he was a proselyte from the Gentiles, he was put through a baptism as a symbol of the transformation.

• Some say that Jesus was then baptized because He wanted to show Gentile acceptance to God. Here was the Messiah taking on the role of a Gentile, and so some say He was simply being initiated to the priesthood.
• Some say He was sort of playing along with this concept of Jew and Gentile being one, and He was taking the place of a Gentile and being initiated into Judaism, which would have been a very shocking thing for them to see their own Messiah taking the place of a Gentile.
• Some say Jesus was simply sort of accrediting John. John was doing a good job, and Jesus wanted everybody to know that John was really doing God's work. So, Jesus just let John do it to Him so everybody would know He approved. It was sort of an accreditation.
• Some have said that Jesus was baptized and, in His baptism, purchased a certain amount of righteousness and pardon for sinners. So that the sin bearing of Jesus is a combination of His baptism and His death on the cross.

Nothing in the Bible says that Jesus was baptized for our sins. He died for our sin.

• If Jesus was being initiated into the priesthood, John wouldn't have argued with that.
• If Jesus was just trying to show a proselyte the identification, John wouldn't have argued with that.
• If Jesus was saying, "John, I just want to be a part of what you are doing, so everybody will know that you are man sent by God.”

John would not have argued with that. And if Jesus was going to bear sin, then John would not have argued with that, either. John only defined his baptism one way. It was a baptism for sinners. John was saying that If you do this, Jesus, you are only saying one thing that is you are sinner. Lord, and I do not know how You can possibly say it when You are sinless.

V 15, But Jesus answered and said to him, “Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he allowed Him. These are the first recorded words of Jesus.

When He was 12 years old and spoke to His mother and told her He had to be about “His Father's business.” This is the first time Jesus said anything other than that in all Holy Scripture since His incarnation, and they are words with royal dignity and humility.

John did not stop hindering Jesus until Jesus told him why. "Permit it to be so now." ➢ Jesus does not deny that He is a superior and John is an inferior. He does not deny that John needs also to be baptized, because John is a sinner.

➢ He does not deny that John needs repentance. ➢ He does not deny that He does not need it. But Jesus says that there is a special reason.

Why? For thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” This is right to do, even though I have no sin, and even though you are a sinner, even though it is a baptism of sinners, it is a baptism of repentance. We have got to do it.

We both have a part. You must do this to Me, and I must have it done. Some people write and ask the pastor who baptised me have gone astray should I need to take again? No!

Why? "To fulfill all righteousness." Does it mean that Jesus wants to do everything that is righteous? Yes. Jesus wants to do all the righteous good deeds.

Is baptism such a good work? Yes. Then perhaps Jesus is simply identifying with it as an act of righteousness. It was repentant sinners who came to that water. It was righteous men and women who came to that water. Jesus simply identifying with all the various acts of righteousness, all the various acts of godliness and holiness.

Fulfilling all righteousness means that if baptism is a righteous thing, Christ will do it.

But that still leaves us with this problem of the sin thing. John looks into Jesus'face. He is conscious of the absolute perfection of Jesus. He is conscious of the sinlessness of Jesus. He does not dare lay a hand on Jesus to baptize Him in the Jordan. As far as the sinless life of Jesus is concerned, John is absolutely right but he misses one great point.

Jesus came into the world to do one thing, and that was to identify with sinners. That is the reason He came. In order for Him to fulfil all of God's righteousness, in order for Him to purchase righteousness for anybody, He had to identify with sinners. In the incarnation, Jesus saw Himself as one with sinful men.

Isaiah 53:12, Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great, And He shall divide the spoil with the strong, Because He poured out His soul unto death, And He was numbered with the transgressors, And He bore the sin of many, And made intercession for the transgressors. In the baptism of Jesus was the identification of the sinless Son of God with sinners.

The first thing Jesus ever did when He stepped out of obscurity and He stepped into the limelight was declare the very primary

reason for which He came, and that was to identify Himself with sinners. He who had no sin took His place among those who had no righteousness. He who was without sin went down into a baptism that was only for sinners. Jesus was saying as loud and clear as ever He could say, "I take My place with sinners."

Let it be clear from the start that this Jesus is the friend of sinners.

2 Corinthians 5:21, For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. His ministry began that way. ✓ He did not come to just teach. ✓ He did not come just to set an example. ✓ He did not come to be a moralist. ✓ He did not come to be a revolutionary. ✓ He came to identify with sinners. ✓ He was numbered with the transgressors. In His baptism He identified with sinners.

• In His birth, He identified with sinners. He was the Child of Mary, who was a sinner.

• In His death, He identified with two robbers, sinners one on each side.
• He bore the sins of every sinner who ever lived.

In order to bring sinners to righteousness, He had to go to the depths of the waters of death. He had to bear sin. He had to identify with sinners. There was no other way to fulfil all righteousness.

Isaiah 53:11, He shall see the labour of His soul, and be satisfied. By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many, For He shall bear their iniquities. Jesus submitted to John's baptism as a symbolic act of identifying with sinners who were seeking salvation. His baptism was a symbol of His death. It was a symbol of His dying as He went into that water, and a symbol of His rising as He came out.

It was the same picture as Christian baptism. Jesus was showing His identification with sinners. Jesus was previewing His death and His resurrection. Only two times in all His speeches, all His discussions, did Jesus ever refer to a personal baptism.

Luke 12:50, But I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how distressed I am till it is accomplished! Jesus was referring to His death. In His mind, His baptism was His death.

When Jesus was baptized by John, He was simply being baptized as a preview of that, a symbol of His identification with sinners that would become a real identification when He died on the cross, bearing the sins of all the world.

Jesus begins His public ministry with a declaration that, though He is absolutely sinless, He has come to identify with sinners, to redeem sinners and the culminating work will be the cross. ✓ He cannot win men by His preaching.

✓ He cannot win men by His example. ✓ He can only win them by His dying. He knows it. So, Jesus goes with sinners down into the waters of death to cancel sin, to fill, fulfil all righteousness. The baptism of Jesus, beloved, has absolutely no application to us at all. It was totally unique.

2. The anointing of the Spirit

V 16, When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. How fitting that He is called Jesus here. The name means “Saviour.” He shall save His people, so that the whole idea of this commissioning, beloved, is to see Jesus as the Saviour, the One who identifies with sinners to save them.

"When He was baptized." The Greek word baptizo. Few denomination have argued all through the years about sprinkling and immersion. The Brethren, who baptize you three times, face forward.

Matthew 3:6, and were baptized by him in the Jordan, confessing their sins. John was baptizing in the Jordan River.

John 3:22-23, After these things Jesus and His disciples came into the land of Judea, and there He remained with them and baptized. 23 Now John also was baptizing in Aenon near Salim, because there was much water there. And they came and were baptized.

Acts 8:38, So he commanded the chariot to stand still. And both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and he baptized him.

There is no reference to sprinkling anywhere in the entire New Testament. The only word we ever have in reference to baptism is baptizo. By the way, Old Testament proselyte baptism was always immersion.

Leviticus 14:8-9, He who is to be cleansed shall wash his clothes, shave off all his hair, and wash himself in water, that he may be clean. After that he shall come into the camp, and shall stay outside his tent seven days. ⁹ But on the seventh day he shall shave all the hair off his head and his beard and his eyebrows— all his hair he shall shave off. He shall wash his clothes and wash his body in water, and he shall be clean. Now, the term baptizo literally means “to dip into water.” By the way, it might be interesting to you to know that immersion was the only mode of baptism until the Middle Ages.

The only one. Even the Roman Catholic Church never did anything but immerse people until the Middle Ages. Thomas Aquinas, the great Catholic theologian who died in 1274: "In immersion, the setting forth of the burial of Christ is more plainly expressed, in which this manner of baptizing is more commendable."

In 1311, the Council of Ravenna declared sprinkling permissible. In 1645, the same thing happened in England as a result of some people who said that's what John Calvin believed. The Eastern church never did accept it and to this very day the Eastern Orthodox Church immerses and only immerses.

V 16, When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. Whatever it was that happened to Ezekiel in chapter 1.

The Lord opened heaven and Ezekiel started talking about things that nobody is ever understood since he wrote it. There was a wheel, and then another wheel, and a wheel within a wheel, and that wheel was within a wheel, and then there were four of those and six of those and was turning and spinning.

Another time it happened with dear Stephen. Stephen was being stoned to death, and he was crushed beneath the stones. At the last moments of his life, heaven opened to him.

Mark 1:10, And immediately, coming up from the water, He saw the heavens parting and the Spirit descending upon Him like a dove.

Why a dove?

This is the only time the Spirit is ever seen as a dove. It has nothing to do with us. It was for Jesus. What would a Jewish person see in his mind when he saw a dove? Sacrifice! Because the dove was the most common sacrificial animal.

A bullock, that is for the rich. A lamb, that is for the upper middle class. A dove, that was the sin offering for almost everybody. Marvellous, wonderful way, the Spirit of God descends in a form that will make people think of only one thing - sacrifice.

Why did the Spirit come? Jesus needed the Holy Spirit. In one sense He did not because He was God. He was one with the Spirit, one with the Father. He was born of the Spirit. He and the Spirit are indivisible. His divine nature needed no special gift. It needed no strengthening.

Jesus set aside His divinity and came as a human being. So we humans can identify with Him.

Here that were taking place in terms of His humanness.

• One, He was being anointed for service.
• Two, He was being granted strength in His humanness.

The Spirit came to anoint Him for kingly service.

Psalm 45:7, You love righteousness and hate wickedness; Therefore God, Your God, has anointed You With the oil of gladness more than Your companions.

Isaiah 61:1, “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, Because the Lord has anointed Me To preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives, And the opening of the prison to those who are bound;

The Spirit of God came upon Him in His humanness to empower Him to preach, to anoint Him as the Prophet of God.

Acts 10:38, how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him. That is His human identification. So, His humanness was anointed. He was inaugurated into His kingly office. He was empowered for ministry.

His humanness needed to be strengthened. ✓ He grew weary. ✓ He grew thirsty. ✓ He grew tired. ✓ He grew hungry. His humanness needed strengthening, so the Spirit of God descended to announce, "This is the King. This is the Anointed,"

and to strengthen Him in His humanness for His ministry. We do not need to pray for the dove to descend on us. When you were saved, you received the Holy Spirit. You already have the power and the resource when the Spirit was given to you at your salvation. This is unique.

The dove is a reminder of the necessity that One be the sacrifice for sin. The One who would bear sin for the commonest, the lowest, the poorest, the humblest of men. He was the sacrifice, and the very symbol was sitting upon Him.

He was anointed for death. He was anointed to be a sacrifice. 3. The word of the Father. V 17, And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”

Whenever a sacrifice is offered to God, it must be the right one. Without spot, without blemish, and that is precisely what God is saying. "This One, who identifies with sinners, this One who is to be the dove of sacrifice. I say in Him I am well pleased. I accept Him as the sacrifice."

Great statement. The Trinity is completed in the picture. "This is my beloved Son." Deep, rich, profound relationship. The Son of My love. "In whom I delighted." Past tense. In other words, the statement flashes back over thirty years and God says, "I have examined this sacrificial dove. I have examined this One who will identify with sinners. Is He without spot? Is He without blemish? Yes, this is My beloved Son, in whom I delighted. I have checked Him out, and I here set the seal of perfection on the Son. The hidden years I have examined, and He is without spot, and I am well pleased."

Jesus is chosen to be a king, but His, but His throne is going to be a cross. He is chosen to be a king, but He's going to die, a sin offering. Jesus is commissioned.

By baptism, He identifies with sinners and pictures His death. By being anointed with the Spirit, He is empowered to minister a ministry that ultimately will make Him a sacrifice. The dove of sacrifice. By the Father's word, He is said to be the worthy sacrifice.

What an introduction. What a beginning. What a ministry was His.