Day 3, The Message of John the Baptist, Luke 3:7-20

Lk. 3:2 tells us the word of God came to John.  Lk. 3:3 says John came preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins.  Isaiah’s passage (Lk. 3:4-6) tells us John’s message was to prepare people’s hearts for the coming of the LORD, a coming that would allow all flesh to see the salvation of God.  

John’s preaching did not sound like Paul’s preaching.  Paul pointed to the cross and resurrection of Christ (1 Cor. 15:3-4); John pointed to the anticipated coming of Christ.  Yet they preached salvation in the only way it is ever possible: they preached Christ.  Let us look more closely at John’s message.

·        Lk. 3:7-9: Biblical prophets had a primary purpose: to uncover peoples sins (Lamentations 2:14).  They did not preach a feel good message but called people to acknowledge their sin and repent.  John did this.  He called the crowd a brood of vipers, noting their connection with the serpent in the Garden of Eden (Jesus used similar terminology; Mt. 12:34; 23:33).  He warned of the wrath to come, a reference to the Roman destruction in 70AD.  Even now, he said, the ax was laid to the root of the tree of Israel.  His call to each person was to bear the good fruit of true, from-the-heart repentance.

·        Lk. 3:10-14: Those coming to be baptized asked, what shall we do, which is the right question to ask (cf. Ac. 9:6).  John had an answer for the crowd (be generous, v11), and specific answers for tax collectors and soldiers (v12-14).

·        Lk. 3:15-18: Note that the people were in expectation.  This means John’s message raised their expectation that the Messiah would come, leading some to wonder if John was the Messiah.  Thus John’s message of repentance then led to a message that exalted the Messiah. 

o   3:16a: John said the Messiah would be greater than him, one of Whom, John said, he was not even worthy to be his slave.

o   3:16b-17: John said the Messiah’s baptism would be greater.  Baptism was a means of identifying people with a particular cause or faith.  Baptism in the Jordan identified people with John and his message.  But John said that Jesus would baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire.  The former refers to identification with Christ, as noted in 1 Cor. 12:13 (by or with the Holy Spirit we are baptized into the body of Christ).  The latter refers to the fire of judgment.  As John said, the Messiah would gather the wheat into His barn (baptism with the Holy Spirit) but the chaff He will burn with unquenchable fire (baptism with fire).  John exalted the Messiah as the One that all men must reckon with.

The result of this ministry was that many heard and were baptized.  But it also led to John’s imprisonment by Herod Antipas and his ultimate death.  What a powerful message, one that we need to hear because the call to repentance is still appropriate today (Acts 2:38; 20:21).