Luke 3:1-20
John the Baptist Prepares the Way
1In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar—when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and Traconitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene— 2during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the desert. 3He went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 4As is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet:
"A voice of one calling in the desert,
'Prepare the way for the Lord,
make straight paths for him.
5Every valley shall be filled in,
every mountain and hill made low.
The crooked roads shall become straight,
the rough ways smooth.
6And all mankind will see God's salvation.' "
7John said to the crowds coming out to be baptized by him, "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? 8Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. 9The axe is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire."
10"What should we do then?" the crowd asked.
11John answered, "The man with two tunics should share with him who has none, and the one who has food should do the same."
12Tax collectors also came to be baptized. "Teacher," they asked, "what should we do?"
13"Don't collect any more than you are required to," he told
them. 14Then some soldiers asked him, "And what should we do?"
He replied, "Don't extort money and don't accuse people falsely—be content with your pay."
15The people were waiting expectantly and were all wondering in their hearts if John might possibly be the Christ. 16John answered them all, "I baptize you with water. But one more powerful than I will come, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. 17His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire." 18And with many other words John exhorted the people and preached the good news to them.
19But when John rebuked Herod the tetrarch because of Herodias, his brother's wife, and all the other evil things he had done, 20Herod added this to them all: He locked John up in prison.
Many people later would call Jesus teachings and lessons, "The Way"...In the Acts 9:2 we are told Saul, later Paul was looking for followers of The Way...The Way was the group of people who were followers of Jesus...John the Baptist was the messenger for the Messiah, and he prepares The Way for Jesus and His followers...John the Baptist lived in the desert...It was his voice that was calling in the desert...He prepared the way for the LORD...John preached that we should repent for the forgiveness of our sins...John the Baptist baptized many with water...John's water baptism represented our old way of life being washed away...After this baptism, we should now repent...God welcomes a changed heart and a changed life...
John the Baptist had many disciples...He was a prophet...John the Baptist, even though a tough prophet and minister, was a very popular figure...He went into the country all around Jordan, preaching repentance...John the Baptist did not preach softly...His words were tough...He uses words like repent, you blood of vipers, the axe is already at the root...He even objects to the marriage of the tetrarch of Galilee, Herod, who marries his brother's wife...
John tells the crowd, here, that they were a brood of vipers...He warned them (in a prophet's tone and way) that they should flee from the coming wrath...Produce good fruit in keeping with repentance...He furthered warned them that even though that Abraham was their father, that in itself is not a safety net for their actions and beliefs...John warns them that God can take stones and make those stones children of Abraham...Being children of Abraham does not give us faith, or repentance, or any righteousness...We are on our own to seek God...We, not our ancestors, must repent and produce the good fruit...If we don't then the axe is already at the root of our trees, and they will be cut down and thrown into the fire...Then there will be no fruit...Into the fire we go doomed...
The people ask John, what can they do...The Baptist tells them if they have two tunics, give the one who has none, one of them...The one who has food, should do the same...Tax collectors should collect only the amount they are required to (even though the tax collectors were unpopular, he did not tell them to change jobs)...Soldiers should not extort money and not accuse people falsely-and be content with your pay (Roman soldiers with the power they had on the ground locally could abuse that power to the very people they were supposed to be watching and maintaining justice for)...
The people were wondering, if John the Baptist could possibly be the Messiah...John answered them and said, "I baptize you with water...But the One more powerful than I is coming, whose sandals I am not worthy to untie...He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire...He will separate the wheat from the chaff (the good from the bad)."...
John the Baptist during this time rebuked Herod the tetrarch, who had married Herodias, his brother's wife...He also rebuked him for all the other evil things he (Herod) had done...After being rebuked by John, Herod had John locked up in prison...
John the Baptist teaches us to repent and open our hearts to God...If our hearts are not open then we cannot see or feel God's grace...He teaches us that Jesus was to come and did come...Jesus Christ is the Messiah...Jesus baptizes us with the Holy Spirit...
John the Baptist's was a witness to Jesus Christ...His ministry was and is to bring us from sin to repentance...Man is destined to sin...We can only do this with the help of Jesus (the One who John the Baptist prepared The Way for)...Jesus died for our sins, the one thing John wants us to repent from is our sins...