The Ministry of John
TRANSLATION
(1) In 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 the regions of Iturea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, (2) during the high priesthood of Annas and then Caiaphas, the Word of God came to John, the son of Zechariah, in the wilderness. (3) And he went out into the territory around the Jordan (River) preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. (4) As it is written in the book of Isaiah the prophet, “The voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way of the Lord. Make straight paths for him. (5) Every valley will be filled in and every mountain and hill will be made low. The crooked will be straightened, the rough places will be smoothed, (6) and all people will see the salvation of God.’”
(7) John spoke to the crowds that were coming out to be baptized by him saying, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? (8) Produce fruit in keeping with repentance, and do not begin to say to one another, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you that God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. (9) The ax is already at the root of the trees. Every tree, therefore, that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.” (10) And those in the crowd asked him, “What should we do then?” (11) And he answered them, “The person who has two coats should give to the person who has nothing, and the person who has food should do the same.” (12) Tax collectors also came to be baptized, and they asked him, “Teacher, what should we do?” (13) And he said to them, “Do not collect any more than you are authorized (to collect).” (14) And soldiers also asked him, “And what should we do?” And he told them, “Do not extort money from anyone by threats or false accusations and be content with your wages.”
(15) The people were all waiting expectantly and wondering in their hearts if John could possibly be the Messiah. (16) John answered them all, saying, “I baptize you with water, but there is coming one more powerful than I, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. (17) His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with an unquenchable fire.” (18) With many other exhortations, John preached the good news to the crowds. (19) But Herod, the tetrarch, who had been reproved by him for marrying Herodias, his brother’s wife, in addition to all the evil which he had done (20) added this, namely, confining John in prison.
(21) Now while all the people were being baptized, Jesus also was baptized. While he was praying, the heavens opened, (22) the Holy Spirit descended on him in the form of a dove, and a voice declared from heaven, “You are my beloved Son. In you I am well pleased.”
OBSERVATIONS
In this extended segment, Luke’s first objective was to provide his readers with an introduction to the ministry of John the Baptist by establishing the historical setting in which he ministered (vss. 1 & 2) and by giving them a summary of John’s ministry with the repetition of “baptism of repentance” (vss. 3 & 7). He then sought to demonstrate that John was fulfilling Old Testament prophecy by an extended quote from Isaiah 40 (vss. 4 & 5).
Luke then gave excerpts from messages that John had preached as the crowds flocked out to be baptized by him in the wilderness of Judea. So strong were his words of rebuke that his listeners cried out, “What should we do” (vss. 10, 12, & 13)? While pointing out their need for repentance, John was careful to identify himself as the forerunner, the one who had come to introduce God’s anointed one who would later come with the Holy Spirit and fire (vss. 15-17).
Luke closed this segment by noting that John was eventually imprisoned by Herod for his preaching (vss. 18-20). However, before being shut away, John had the unique privilege of baptizing the one whom he had come to introduce, thereby inaugurating his earthly ministry. John’s identification of Jesus as the one sent by God was confirmed by the descent of the Holy Spirit and the Father’s voice from heaven declaring Jesus to be his beloved Son (vss. 21 & 22).
OUTLINE
I. John’s role was to serve as the forerunner of the Messiah. (1-6)
II. John had a powerful public ministry before he was imprisoned by Herod. (7-20)
III. John’s ministry reached its climax when he baptized Jesus. (21 & 22)
IDEA STATEMENT
The ministry of John the Baptist effectively prepared the way for the coming of God’s Messiah.
APPLICATION
While the word, “trinity,” never appears on the pages of Scripture, the concept of God in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, was repeatedly set forth in both the Old and New Testaments. While references to all three persons of the Godhead in one passage were infrequent, they did occur. One of the most memorable was what happened when Jesus emerged from the water after John had baptized him. At that moment, the heavens opened to reveal the Holy Spirit descending on him in the form of a dove. At the same time, the Father’s voice declared him to be the Son in whom he was well pleased. Both visibly and audibly Jesus’ identity and purpose were clearly proclaimed. A more convincing appearance of the Trinity can hardly be imagined.
There are many reasons why Trinitarian thinking is essential to our understanding of God’s nature. Perhaps of greatest significance is how this teaching helps us grasp what John meant when he said in his epistle, “God is love” (1 Jn. 4:16). If God were a singularity, it would be impossible for him to be characterized as love embodied. However, if he is one God in three persons united in mutual love, it makes perfect sense to say, “God is love.”