Sent Forth at His Baptism
God sent forth His Son when He anointed him at his baptism, not by sending him down from heaven at his birth.
Three other clusters build on this: Brought Forth, The Way Belongs to the LORD and The Spirit Is God's Own.
Scripture shows this in two steps:
Paul writes that God “sent forth his Son.” Many people hear that and think of the Son leaving heaven to be born as a baby. But the Bible tells us when Jesus was sent, and it was not at his birth. It was at his baptism, when his work began.
Galatians 4:4
“But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law”
Galatians 4:4
Look at what this verse says about the Son. He was “made of a woman.” He was “made under the law.” That is his birth: he came from a woman and was born a Jew, under the law of Moses. And God “sent forth” this Son. The one who is sent is the one who was already born of a woman. So the sending comes after the birth, not at it. When did it happen? Peter tells us.
Acts 10:36-38
“The word which God sent unto the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ: (he is Lord of all:) That word, I say, ye know, which was published throughout all Judaea, and began from Galilee, after the baptism which John preached; How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him.”
Acts 10:36-38
Peter gives the order of events. The word God sent began in Galilee. It began “after the baptism which John preached.” That is when “God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power.” And then Jesus “went about doing good.”
So this is the moment Jesus was sent. He was born first. Then, at his baptism, God anointed him and sent him out to do the work. “The fulness of the time” was the time for his work to begin.
What this means
Two passages, one line. Galatians says the Son was born of a woman, and God sent him. Acts says when: after John’s baptism, when God anointed him with the Holy Spirit and power. So “sent forth” means given a mission by God. It does not mean coming down from heaven. It does not mean he lived before he was born.
The Bible uses the word “sent” this way for others too. John the Baptist was “a man sent from God” (John 1:6). God said, “I will send them prophets” (Luke 11:49). Jesus told his disciples, “as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you” (John 20:21). None of them came down from heaven. They were sent with a task. So was Jesus.
Jesus was born of a woman and under the law. Then God anointed him with His Spirit and with power, and sent him. “God was with him.”
Connected chains
This cluster goes hand in hand with Before Abraham Was, I Am and Authority Given to Men.