Seventh Day Baptist
Christian Education Council
PO BOX 1678
Janesville, WI 53547
—Matthew 3:13-17
by: Linda Lawton.
When our daughter was young, we did a Bible study to help her understand that the Holy Spirit appeared not just in the New Testament, but multiple times in the Old Testament, inspiring and empowering God’s people. Moreover, we saw in Genesis 1:2 that the Spirit is described as “hovering” over the waters, where the verb translated as “hover” is the same used to describe a bird rapidly fluttering its wings. Thus, in Jesus’ time, Jews associated the dove with the Spirit of God. When God sent the Spirit to rest on Jesus in the form of a dove, He was clearly identifying Jesus for the Jews not only as being empowered by the Spirit, but as the One who brings new creation.