by Edwin Crozier<\/p>\n
Gabriel told Mary the Holy Spirit would empower her to conceive a child who would be called “Son of the Most High.” Thirty years later, when this infant had grown into a man, He was baptized in the Jordan.\u00a0The heavens were opened. The Holy Spirit descended on Him like a dove. A voice from heaven declared, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased<\/em>” (Luke 3:22 ESV). This was an incredible moment all on its own. But when we recall the promise of the Psalms, this moment becomes absolutely phenomenal.<\/p>\n In Psalm 2, the nations rage and the people plot in vain. They believe they can cast off the Lord and His anointed. They believe they can remove His bonds and cast away His cords. But the Lord laughs and holds them in derision. He declares, “As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill<\/em>” (Psalms 2:6 ESV). Then the psalmist says, “I will tell of the decree: the LORD said to me, ‘You are my Son; today I have begotten you. Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel’<\/em>” (Psalms 2:7-9 ESV).<\/p>\n No doubt, the psalm applied to David and his entire line. Ultimately, however, we find it fulfilled in John’s baptism in the Jordan. Between the time of the promise and the time of Jesus, the nations have fought against Israel. They have tried to destroy him, taken him captive, oppressed him, suppressed him. But the Lord held them in derision, laughed at them, and carried Israel through it all. Israel survived it all until the promised Messiah finally arrived. What a beloved Son!<\/p>\n Let us recall the final instruction of Psalm 2. This Son of God is King. He does rule. He will rule. We who take refuge in Him will be blessed.<\/p>\n Praise the Lord!<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Edwin Crozier Gabriel told Mary the Holy Spirit would empower her to conceive a child who would be called “Son of the Most High.” Thirty years later, when this infant had grown into a man, He was baptized in the Jordan.\u00a0The heavens were opened. The Holy Spirit descended on Him like a dove. A…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[73],"class_list":["post-97865","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-jesus"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":43652,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-does-praying-in-the-spirit-mean\/","url_meta":{"origin":97865,"position":0},"title":"What does “praying in the Spirit” mean?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 15, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Can you please explain to me Jude 20 when it said \"praying in the Spirit\"? Answer: \"I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":93860,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/men-spoke-from-god\/","url_meta":{"origin":97865,"position":1},"title":"Men Spoke from God","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 11, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"by Edwin Crozier Text: II Peter 1:12-21 Peter explains why he so strongly wants to pass on the path to partake in the divine nature and participate in God's glory and excellence. He witnessed it with his own eyes. Calling to mind the Mount of Transfiguration (see Mark 9:2-8), Peter\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":33614,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-can-you-know-you-are-filled-with-the-spirit\/","url_meta":{"origin":97865,"position":2},"title":"How can you know you are filled with the Spirit?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 2, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: How does a person become filled with the Holy Spirit and know they are filled? Does everyone who is filled with the Holy Spirit have the gifts that Acts speaks about? Answer: A Christian receives the Spirit by the hearing of faith. \"This only I want to learn from\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":96691,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/agree-with-the-sound-words-of-jesus-christ\/","url_meta":{"origin":97865,"position":3},"title":"Agree with the Sound Words of Jesus Christ","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 15, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"by Edwin Crozier \"Teach and urge these things,\" Paul tells Timothy. He's already told him the purpose of this letter is so folks will know how to behave as members of the church of the living God, which is the pillar and support of the truth. He's also told Timothy\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":91335,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-do-some-churches-of-christ-not-believe-in-the-holy-spirit\/","url_meta":{"origin":97865,"position":4},"title":"Why do some churches of Christ not believe in the Holy Spirit?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 17, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Howdy! I am reaching out to inquire why some of the churches of Christ do not believe in the Holy Spirit. They think it's just the Bible and that He is not actually with Christians! Seems like a false teaching. It's like they are too afraid to be anything\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":90023,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/meekness-in-the-media-age\/","url_meta":{"origin":97865,"position":5},"title":"Meekness in the Media Age","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 2, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Bubba Garner We live in the age of media. Not just the 24-hour news cycle, but all kinds of social media as well. Just last week, I saw a comic strip of a couple getting married. The preacher said, \"You may now change your relationship status on Facebook.\" That's\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97865","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97865"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97865\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97865"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97865"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97865"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}