Luk 3:7 | KingComments | STEP | 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 ( ) 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 ( ). He seeks truth in the innermost being ( ). 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 ( ). Not natural descent makes children of God, but only God’s Spirit and God’s Word ( ). 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.

‏ Luke 3:7

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.