Luk 3:2-9 | KingComments | STEP | In the previous scene, we see the Lord when He is twelve years old. Now we are eighteen years further in time. The service of the Lord Jesus is about to begin and will be introduced by John the baptist, just as the prophet Samuel was the predecessor of David. The date of the beginning of John’s performance is given in connection with the heathen dominion over the people of God. Judea is a province under the power of the empire of the nations. The other parts of Canaan are divided among different heads who are subject to that empire. At that moment, the people are in a chaotic state, both externally and in their hearts. It is God’s will that His land should be ruled by His Messiah, the King-Priest ( ). This situation was presented by God in the Old Testament in David and Levi. However, both the kingship and the priesthood are in the hands of people who do not care about God, but only think of themselves. The emperor of the Roman Empire, represented by a governor, Pontius Pilate, reigns over God’s land. Furthermore, there are several tetrarchs reigning. A tetrarch is a prince over a quarter of the land. This means that the empire will be even more fragmented than the two parts in which it was already divided. Two of these four princes belong to the Herod family, i.e. descendants of Esau. They may belong to a brother nation, but this brother nation is one of the greatest haters of God’s people. We read about their hatred in the book of the prophet Obadiah. There is not just the unusual heathen domination, also internally everything is in disorder. There are two high priests. Who ever heard that there were two high priests? Annas is the father-in-law of Caiaphas ( ). In the last chapters of this Gospel we see how all the leaders, political and religious, conspire to bring the Lord Jesus to the cross. In the circumstances just described, the word of God comes to John. This is an event of great importance. For four hundred years no prophet had come to Israel with the word of God. The word of God comes to John in the wilderness and not to the religious leaders in the religious center Jerusalem. God can no longer go there with His word because the leaders determine their own course and have closed themselves off to His calling voice. The wilderness is the place that corresponds to the spiritual condition of the people. This is where the service of the prophet John begins. A prophet is especially sent by God when the people are in decay.

‏ Luke 3:2-9

The Time of the Performance of John the Baptist

In the previous scene, we see the Lord when He is twelve years old. Now we are eighteen years further in time. The service of the Lord Jesus is about to begin and will be introduced by John the baptist, just as the prophet Samuel was the predecessor of David. The date of the beginning of John’s performance is given in connection with the heathen dominion over the people of God.

Judea is a province under the power of the empire of the nations. The other parts of Canaan are divided among different heads who are subject to that empire. At that moment, the people are in a chaotic state, both externally and in their hearts. It is God’s will that His land should be ruled by His Messiah, the King-Priest (Zec 6:13). This situation was presented by God in the Old Testament in David and Levi.

However, both the kingship and the priesthood are in the hands of people who do not care about God, but only think of themselves. The emperor of the Roman Empire, represented by a governor, Pontius Pilate, reigns over God’s land. Furthermore, there are several tetrarchs reigning. A tetrarch is a prince over a quarter of the land. This means that the empire will be even more fragmented than the two parts in which it was already divided. Two of these four princes belong to the Herod family, i.e. descendants of Esau. They may belong to a brother nation, but this brother nation is one of the greatest haters of God’s people. We read about their hatred in the book of the prophet Obadiah.

There is not just the unusual heathen domination, also internally everything is in disorder. There are two high priests. Who ever heard that there were two high priests? Annas is the father-in-law of Caiaphas (Jn 18:13).

In the last chapters of this Gospel we see how all the leaders, political and religious, conspire to bring the Lord Jesus to the cross.

In the circumstances just described, the word of God comes to John. This is an event of great importance. For four hundred years no prophet had come to Israel with the word of God. The word of God comes to John in the wilderness and not to the religious leaders in the religious center Jerusalem. God can no longer go there with His word because the leaders determine their own course and have closed themselves off to His calling voice. The wilderness is the place that corresponds to the spiritual condition of the people. This is where the service of the prophet John begins. A prophet is especially sent by God when the people are in decay.

The Service of John the Baptist

Previous prophets have called for return to the law they have broken. John does not continue with that. He calls for repentance. They must understand that they are hopelessly lost on the basis of the law.

The area of his preaching is not the temple or Jerusalem. He has separated himself from the religious center. He preaches around the Jordan, the symbol of the death and the resurrection of the Christ of Whom he is the forerunner and to Whom he refers in his preaching. In his preaching he calls for repentance to receive forgiveness of sins and to be baptized. Baptism joins someone to Christ, baptism places someone on His side.

There is, however, a difference between the baptism of John and Christian baptism. The baptism of John joins to a living Messiah. Christian baptism joins to a rejected and dead Christ (Rom 6:3). John baptizes in connection with repentance and forgiveness of sins. Only in this way can one be truly joined to Christ. Those who are baptized also distance themselves from the wicked people. They form a remnant that looks forward to Christ. The preaching and baptism of John are aimed at a spiritual preparation of the hearts to meet the Messiah.

John’s action is foretold, not “in the book of Isaiah the prophet”, but “in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet”. By adding “of the words” Luke emphasizes that every word of that book is inspired. It is not just about the big picture, but about every word. We see that in this quotation. This prophecy is fulfilled with the coming of the Lord Jesus. John is just a voice. He disappears completely in relation to Him Whom he announces.

The quotation of Isaiah presents John as “one crying in the wilderness”. And what is John crying? He calls upon the people to make ready the way of the Lord, that is Yahweh, the Name of God as the God of the covenant with His people. The Lord Jesus is Yahweh of the Old Testament. John calls upon the people to make themselves ready to receive Yahweh, Who will come in Christ. This making ready must take place in the heart and be worked out in practice in going straight paths. To this end, he preaches the baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

The coming of Christ has an extensive and far-reaching effect that is not limited to Israel. Luke, through the guidance of the Holy Spirit, speaks of “every ravine” and of “every mountain” and of “all flesh”. In Matthew, Mark and John the quotation does not go that far. But Luke, although he begins with the Jews, does not stop there. Therefore, in Lk 3:5-6 the Holy Spirit adds special expressions of expansiveness and comprehensiveness. He Who comes is none less than God revealed in the flesh. Therefore, the salvation that comes through Him is not limited to Israel, but comes to “all flesh”. This grace for all people is the special subject of Luke.

The Preaching of John the Baptist

There are crowds coming to John, but that does not mean that he sees only a mass and has no eye for the individual. John does not speak to the crowds in general, he speaks to the individual. He makes the gospel a personal matter and guards against individuals being carried away by the mass into a choice that does not come from a true inner conviction.

His performance has nothing to do with the popular entertainment to which the gospel is unfortunately often lowered today. He addresses his non-flattering words to the crowds to make clear to them from whom they are actually descended. They have the devil as father. They do not need to think that they can boast of being descendants of Abraham (Jn 8:39) and that on that basis the coming wrath will pass them by. It is not like that. The clear language of John will not shy away the truly humbled among them, but rather confirm them in their conversion.

John points out that true repentance can be seen in the life that someone leads. Repentance involves fruits in keeping with repentance. Valuable fruits of repentance are speaking truth and doing things that are according to the will of God. Such fruits come from the new life that a person receives when he repents.

There are also people among his audience who want to be baptized because they think they are entitled to it. They are not converted, because they do not need it, they think. They belong to the descendants of Abraham, don’t they? They belong to the chosen people of God, don’t they? Then they are entitled to all blessings.

Such reasoning shows that there is no awareness of being a sinner and deserving hell. Pleading on origin does not give access to the blessing. To boast of superior privileges does not work with God (Jn 8:33 ; 39-40). He seeks truth in the innermost being (Psa 51:6a). Nor is God obliged to bless a man on the basis of what he claims. According to His sovereignty He can raise children from dead stones and credit them to Abraham. He does so in a certain sense with every person who repents (Rom 4:9-12). Not natural descent makes children of God, but only God’s Spirit and God’s Word (Jn 3:5). God raises His children from useless, dead material.

In his preaching, John points to the judgment that is about to come on the people. With the coming of Christ not only blessing, but also judgment is connected. Anyone who rejects Him, and thus produces no good fruit, will be cut off from life and thrown into the fire of hell. The axe is already laid at the root, that is to say, on the cause, the problem of the bad fruits. The root is not good and therefore the fruits are not good. Because the root is spoiled, there is only spoiled fruit or no fruit at all. There is nothing that can be done with the old men.