THE SPIRIT WITHOUT LIMIT
On the day he baptized Him, John the Baptist had witnessed the Holy Spirit descending on Jesus “like a dove” (John 1:32). He declared that Jesus was indeed the Messiah since that day. Here, he described the fulness of the Spirit that was given to Jesus. He was not only the One anointed by the Spirit (Both “Messiah” and “Christ” mean “Anointed One”). Jesus was given the Holy Spirit “without limit.” Throughout the Old Testament, men and women had been given the Spirit with limit. Some were given the Spirit to judge, some to lead, and some to prophesy. Even John the Baptist was given the Spirit in a limited way in order to “prepare the way of the Lord.” But Christ was given the Spirit without measure. For, as John went on to say, “the Father loves his Son and has put everything into his hands” (John 3:35). That the Father had given even the Spirit into”His hands” shows both Christ’s complete possession, as well as His sole discretion, to give the Spirit to those who would place their faith in Him.
After Jesus was crucified and raised from the dead, He appeared to His disciples saying, “As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.” Then he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit” (John 20:21-22). And so, the apostle Paul wrote instructing us to “be filled with the Spirit” (Eph. 5:18), and to “walk in the Spirit” (Gal. 5:18).
O how we endure needless pain and struggle while walking in the flesh, when we have available to us in Christ, the Spirit “without limit.”