Table Talks, Synoptic Gospels 3
A Voice Out of Heaven
Matthew 3:16–17
After Jesus’ explanation, John permitted him to be baptized. Two extraordinary happenings followed. “And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway from the water: and Look! The heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove, and coming upon him; and Look! A voice out of the heavens, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Matt. 3:16–17).
The particle “Lo,” or more literally: “Look!” appears twice, in each case drawing attention to something remarkable. First, Jesus was Jehovah’s anointed king (cf. Ps. 2:2 & Acts 4:25–28), and as Peter would later explain it, “God anointed him with the Holy Spirit and with power” (Acts 10:38). The descent of the Spirit upon Jesus, John would later testify, was the divinely prearranged sign by which he would recognize Jesus as the Messiah, God’s anointed one. So John explains in John 1:32–34, concluding: “And I have seen, and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.”
The second happening to which attention is directed by the word “Look!” is a voice speaking “out of the heavens.” This voice identifies Jesus as the Christ (= Messiah), God’s anointed one, and it does so in the terms of two Old Testament passages.
According to the accounts in the other synoptic gospels, Jesus was directly addressed by the voice from heaven: “You are my beloved Son” (Mark 1:10f; Luke 3:21f). Matthew reports the words as addressed to a third party or group. The report is interpretative, indicating the significance for anyone hearing or reading the words. But the actual words spoken are reported by Mark and Luke, which makes it all the more evident that the Father is using the words of Psalm 2:7 in which Jehovah’s anointed king is addressed as his Son: “You are my son.” Thus the voice out of the heavens identifies Jesus as Jehovah’s anointed king, whose kingdom was to be divinely established, despite the efforts of world rulers to prevent it and to overthrow the divine government.
The other clause, “in whom I am well pleased,” also alludes to the Old Testament, Isaiah 42:1ff, which is quoted in Matthew 12:18–21. This text is the first of the series of “servant” passages in Isaiah. In it Jehovah addresses his servant as “My beloved in whom my soul is well pleased,” going on to say: “I will put my Spirit upon him, and he shall declare judgment to the Gentiles” (as quoted in Matt. 12). The word “beloved” derives from Isaiah 42, and the words from heaven should read as in the ASV margin: “This is my Son; my beloved in whom I am well pleased,” rather than as the text has it.
So now we see that Jesus is not only identified with the anointed king of Psalm 2, but also with the servant of Jehovah in Isaiah. Already in Isaiah 42 Jehovah’s servant is described as one who will have to persevere through great difficulty in order to accomplish his mission. The idea of difficulty and suffering connected with this figure will be further developed in Isaiah 49:1–7 & 50:4–11, but especially in 52:13–53:12. In this climactic passage the sufferings of Jehovah’s servant are described as being not due to his own sins, but as vicarious and substitutionary. He suffers and even dies for the sins of others. But after receiving the death stroke he emerges in triumph, sees his descendants, prolongs his days, and with the divine purpose prospering in his hand; by his knowledge he makes many righteous and he bears their sins.
After Jesus’ baptism, therefore, the Father in heaven speaks, identifying Jesus as the Christ (or Messiah), but in the special terms of two Old Testament passages, indicating the understanding of the Messiah that is being communicated.
The words are addressed to Jesus and indicate the way in which his mission was understood from the outset. Other passages will develop the idea further, but we see how very early Jesus began to identify his mission with that of the suffering servant in Isaiah. So again we see that his death is not to be understood as a defeat or the final outcome of a failed mission. It was his mission. As Jehovah’s servant, whose sufferings were portrayed by Isaiah so many centuries in advance, he would sacrifice himself in our place, bearing our sins so that we might be righteous.
