Spotlights on Symbols -- #3

Dove

June 4, 2006 

In the top right corner of the chancel window is a crest bearing the image of a descending dove.  This is an appropriate day to discuss this symbol because this is Pentecost Sunday—the day we celebrate the pouring out of the promised Holy Spirit.   On that day, Christ fulfilled his promise to the Church to send his Spirit who would seal to his people all of the blessings of Christ and make us witnesses to the ends of the earth (Ac 1:8; Ac 2:33). 

The Holy Spirit fulfills many functions as the believer’s advocate and Christ’s vicar on earth. He converts (Jn 3:5) and unites us to the life of Christ (1 Co 6:19); he enlightens us as we read Scripture (Jn 14:17; 16:13; 2 Co 3:16-18); he empowers the preaching of the Word (Ac 4:8); he intercedes for us when we pray (Ro 8:27; Jude 20); he seals the promises of God to us through the celebration of the sacraments (Ro 4:11; 1 Co 12:13); he equips us for service (Ac 1:8; 1 Co 12:6); he provides a response in the hour of testing (Lk 12:12) and he brings assurance of God’s love.  It is this last work that is the focus of the symbol on this crest. 

All four Gospels record that the Spirit came down as a dove on Christ at his baptism (Mt. 3:13; Mk 1:10; Lk 3:22; Jn 1:32).  And at that baptism, the Father declared his approbation of his Son, “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased” (Mt. 3:17).  In other words, the Father declared his absolute delight and love for the Son who would accomplish our salvation.  It was that love sealed to his conscience at baptism that enabled Jesus to rebuff the devil’s temptation to cast himself from the pinnacle of the temple (Mt. 4:5-7).  After forty days of deprivation and testing in the wilderness, Jesus could have been tempted to think that his Father’s love had changed.  So the devil hoped to cause him to sin by doubting that love and forcing the Father to prove it afresh by sending his angels to prevent his suicide.  The idea was to blackmail God into renewing his love by threatening to kill himself and foil God’s plan of redemption.  But Jesus rebuked the devil for suggesting that the Father’s love had changed, “You shall not tempt the Lord your God.”  For Jesus, there was no need to get a second statement from God—he had already pronounced his love and sealed it to him by the Holy Spirit. 

And the same is true for you.  If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, then you are loved by God as much as you will ever be loved.  That cannot change because he loves you in Christ and he cannot un-love his Son.  The Spirit therefore is given to you in order to confirm to your spirit that you are a beloved child of God (Ro 8:16,17).  And such assurance brings everlasting peace (Jn 14:26,27; Ro 8:6).  Let us not share that same peace one with another.