Sermon – Dec 6
Text: Luke 3:1-6
Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and the region of Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, 2 while Annas and Caiaphas were high priests, the word of God came to John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness. 3 And he went into all the region around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins, 4 as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, saying: “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; Make His paths straight. 5 Every valley shall be filled And every mountain and hill brought low; The crooked places shall be made straight And the rough ways smooth; 6 And all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’”
Jesus Comes to You
Dear fellow redeemed in Christ,
The second half of our text today is a quote from Isaiah 40. In that chapter, he speaks to God’s people about their release from the Babylonian Captivity. Even though that event had not yet occurred at the time that Isaiah wrote this, God wanted to make sure that with the prediction of their fall into captivity, there would also be the promise of eventual release.
One thing that we want to note is that the way of the Lord being spoken of here was not being built from Babylon back to Israel. This is sometimes seen as the interpretation. The royal highway being prepared was the Lord coming to them. He was moving forward with their rescue. That picture holds true as these words are used by the Holy Spirit to talk about the New Testament voice of John the Baptist preparing the way for the Messiah. We’re not building a road to Him. In love, Jesus comes to us. May the Holy Spirit open our hearts to receive His Word today.
1. In time of need
As we read through the first two verses of our text, you no doubt came across some familiar players from the Passion History. They all indicate a dark period of time in the history of Israel. It was a time of spiritual darkness. We read of Tiberius Caesar who was a different emperor than at the time of Jesus’ birth. Nevertheless, the fact that he is mentioned goes to the fact that Israel was under occupation by a government that did acknowledge the true God. King Herod is mentioned, the one that would later array Jesus in a purple road and demand entertainment from him. Pontius Pilate was the one who could have set Jesus free, but instead washed his hands of the situation. Annas and Caiaphas are mentioned as high priests. They were perverters of justice. Instead of being the religious leaders that they were called to be and honoring Jesus as the Messiah, they plotted to kill him. It had been 400 years since the Lord had spoken to His people through the prophet Malachi. For the people it was indeed a spiritually dark and desperate time.
But God is faithful. He sends faithful proclaimers of His Word to people in need. In the book of Malachi He calls John the Baptist another Elijah. He sent the first Elijah at a time of spiritual desperation for His people. It was at a time when King Ahab was on the throne in Israel. He was the most wicked king in the history of Israel. His wife Jezebel was no better. To those people under that scourge He sent one of the most prolific prophets, Elijah. Through him God gave the people hope.
So when we look at all these ungodly men in charge during the time of Christ, we read in verse 2 that the word of God came to John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness. Jesus was about to start His ministry. There was a need for it to be known that He was on the way. Hearts needed to be prepared for His coming. The second Elijah came to prepare the way for the second Adam.
We find ourselves in a time of spiritual darkness. Evolution dominates the thinking of many even within Christianity. People are willing to give place to any religion but Christianity. Sexual morals have to be near or at an all-time low. Even within the Church we find little regard or care for what God says in the Sixth Commandment. In America there is a general indifference to God’s Word. Still God sends His Word to those in need. He not only sends those in the public ministry, but every one of you who presents God’s Word to another is a prophet of God. Find comfort that God will find you with His Word, and find responsibility in being the one who brings His Word to another. Jesus comes to you in your time of need with His Word.
2. In a baptism of repentance
In this case we’re told that John represented Jesus by preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. With this description we know that this baptism was the same as Jesus would later institute. The only difference is that at the time of John’s baptism, Jesus had not yet completed His work.
A baptism of repentance indicates that there has been a change of heart. Repentance as a biblical term means that 1) there is sorrow over sin and 2) there is faith for the forgiveness of sins in Jesus. We can see how this is complete, not just being sorry that you did something, or being sorry to God, but that there is also a turning around from going on a path without Jesus or contrary to His ways to walking with Him. The power for this new life occurs in the forgiveness of sins.
John the Baptist had a tough assignment with this because there were many who did not feel that repentance was necessary. I suppose that’s the same in any age. It is difficult to point out to somebody that they are sinners in need of a Savior. If you doubt me, try it out. It’s much easier to give the good news of forgiveness, but if people are unaware of their sin, they won’t see a need for a Savior. In the same way, if somebody doesn’t think that he’s sick, he won’t go to the doctor.
This baptism is one-time occurrence. We don’t need to be baptized once a month. It’s like the Old Testament rite of circumcision. It is a seal of a promise that God made to you. Just as the male Jews of the Old Testament would have that reminder that they were God’s people, so also we may recognize in our baptism that we are children of God. We know that in baptism we are connected to Christ and adopted into God’s family. When you are connected to Christ you have the remission of sins. They are expunged from your record. That is a blessing that baptism brings.
But remember, this is a baptism of repentance. The Old Adam in us is drowned in daily contrition and repentance. Just as there were people who were circumcised but became unbelievers, so also it is possible to be baptized and go to hell. Let that sink in. It is possible to be baptized and go to hell. If you live a life of impenitence and abandon your faith, you will abandon Jesus. Repentance then is a continuing part of baptism. It is something to be treasured. By God’s grace Jesus comes to you in a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins.
3. In a way prepared for Him
Now we come to what John was doing as the forerunner of Christ: The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the LORD; Makes His paths straight. Every valley shall be filled And every mountain brought low; The crooked places shall be made straight And the rough ways smooth; And all flesh shall see the salvation of God. Here John is identified simply as the voice. Who he was and what he looked like was not as important as his proclamation. Crying here is proclaiming, preaching. He is announcing that the King is coming and the road needs to be made ready.
We know that when a VIP is on the way, everything is done to make sure that they have smooth ride. Jesus is the ultimate important Person so we hear how the path should be made straight, the valleys filled in and so forth. I don’t know that we can match up these obstacles with a particular problem that needed to be cleared up. But generally we can say that if the Savior is coming then some things need to be fixed up.
Some examples that John dealt with that we’ll hear about next week: self-righteous religious leaders who were full of pride and hypocrisy, tax collectors and others who were in moral gutter and lived in depravity, and soldiers who abused their position of power. John came preaching repentance and showing them the better way. But at the same time he was pointing them to Jesus.
Jesus came with the solution for sin. He didn’t come with a few tweaks here or there. He came to blow things up and start over by giving people a new heart, and by showing forgiveness came through Him. John’s role was to clear spiritual rubble out of the way of the heart. Jesus came to fill the heart and dwell in it Himself.
The result: All flesh shall see the salvation of God. Jesus is the One that people have been waiting for. John was clear that he was just a prophet. Jesus was the Prophet who would repair the relationship between God and man. This would only happen through Jesus. What a blessing not only that God would accomplish this, but also make the effort to find us and reveal it to us.
You have a role as a prophet, to show salvation to others in Christ. We show Him as One who has come and we take delight in His birth. We look ahead with joy to His second coming and point people to that as well. In between His first and second comings, we celebrate that He still comes to us through His Word. Amen.