John the
Baptist and the Baptism of Jesus
[Luke chapter
3, verses 15-37]
This week
we will be studying the 2nd half of chapter 3 of the
apostle Luke's gospel, which will include a minor detour into the
gospel of Matthew. I am adding this to today's Biblical teaching
because I think it's necessary in order to better understand why John
the Baptist became the last Old Testament prophet and the very first
martyr for Christ in the New Testament all at once. I will explain
more about this as we go along, so hang in there while we enter into
the remainder of Luke chapter three. We'll begin at verse 15.
“The
people were all waiting expectantly and were all wondering in their
hearts if John might possibly be the Christ. John 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. His 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'. And with
many other words John exhorted the people and preached the good news
to them.” (Luke 3: 15-18)
The
phrase “the Christ” is a Greek word for “messiah”, which
translates into Hebrew as 'salvation' (the Hebrew pronunciation is
“Yeshua”). I find it noteworthy that John could have told the
people he was the Messiah and could have profited greatly. Yet he
chose not to do so. It apparently made a deep impression with those
who came to see him and be baptized by him, and that positive
indication of his character and integrity reverberates throughout
Christianity to this day. But then John mentions two different
baptisms, which is explained in the gospel of John chapter 3, where
Jesus was responding to Nicodemus, and I quote: “...'I tell you
the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born
again.' 'How can a man be born again when he is old?', Nicodemus
asked. 'Surely a man cannot enter his mother's womb a second time to
be born!' Jesus answered, 'I tell you the truth ,no one can enter the
kingdom of God unless they are born of the water and of the spirit.
Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.'”
(John 3: 3-6)
Further
down in this same chapter, Jesus clarifies what he was trying to
explain to Nicodemus, who held a high-ranking position as a religious
leader of that day. “For God did not send his Son into the world
to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever
believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands
condemned already because he has not believed in God's one and only
Son.” (John 3: 17-18) I see no way this passage of Scripture
could be misunderstood! If you truly and sincerely believe that Jesus
Christ is the Son of God, you will be saved, or more explicitly your
soul will be redeemed, when your physical or temporal life is over.
Anyone who refuses to believe, or who places their faith in something
other than Jesus Christ for their soul's salvation, will be condemned
at the end of their physical or temporal lives. Period, end of story,
and there will be no exceptions! So, everyone who reads this has been
warned! Belief in Jesus, combined with the practicing of our faith,
is very serious business!
In
the same way John warned all the people, “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.” John was talking about the conversation
I mentioned between Jesus and Nicodemus, who was a Jewish rabbi. The
only thing is, that conversation had not yet taken place. Talk about
being spot-on with prophecy! This is one way we can tell that John
the Baptist was an authentic prophet. There was nothing phony about
him! John baptized with water, but Jesus baptized with fire on the
day of Pentecost, which is not mentioned in the Bible until much
later in Acts chapter two. John prophesied this more than 3 decades
before the fact!
But
what did he mean by “the thongs of his sandals”? Someone reading
the Bible from beginning to end would not have that question answered
until that individual gets to the story of the Last Supper, where
Jesus washed the feet of his apostles as an act of humility, and to
set a good example for all generations to come. Back then people wore
sandals because there were no shoes like we have today. That
technology had not been invented yet as far as I know. So people's
feet got really dirty, and foot washing was a sign of being welcoming
and accommodating for visitors. This was work that was usually done
by slaves, a clear indication of John's awareness that Jesus, the one
to follow him in prophecy, was the true Messiah. It is also further
evidence of John's humility and of his reverence for his cousin,
Jesus Christ.
“'His
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'. And with many other words John exhorted the
people and preached the good news to them.” A winnowing fork is
similar to a pitch fork except it's shaped a little different, and it
was used for wheat rather than for straw, although it may have been
used for both. 'Chaff', of course, is the byproduct of wheat
processing as we would call it today. John describes the chaff being
burned up with 'unquenchable fire', which is a metaphor for those who
are condemned like Jesus mentioned in John chapter three. “And
with many other words John exhorted the people and preached the good
news to them.” John exhorted and encouraged those he baptized
to live their lives as those who were being saved by the Messiah,
like a good coach, while warning them of the consequences if they did
not. Bearing that in mind, let's move on to the second part of
today's lesson.
“But
when John rebuked Herod the tetrarch because of Herodius, his
brother' wife, and all the other evil things he had done, Herod added
this to them all: He had John locked up in prison. When all the
people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. And as he was
praying, heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended on him in
bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: 'You are my
Son whom I love; with you I am well pleased.' Now Jesus himself was
about thirty years old when he began his ministry. He was the son, or
so it was thought, of Joseph....” (Luke 3: 19-37)
What
was the apostle Luke referring to here? As I explained back in
chapter one, Herod the tetrarch was the ruler of what was then called
Judea, which is in the general area of Israel's West Bank territory
today. Herod has an affair with Herodius, his sister-in-law, as it is
documented further in Matthew's gospel chapter 14, verses 1 through
12, and I quote: “At that time Herod the tetrarch heard the
reports about Jesus, and he said to his attendants, 'This is John the
baptist; he has risen from the dead! That is why miraculous powers
are at work in him.' Now Herod had arrested John and bound him and
put him in prison because of Herodius, his brother Philip's wife, for
John had been saying to him: 'It is not lawful for you to have her'.
Herod wanted to kill John, but he was afraid of the people, because
they considered him a prophet. On Herod's birthday the daughter of
Herodius danced for them and pleased Herod so much that he promised
with an oath to give him whatever she asked. Prompted by her mother,
she said, 'Give me here on a platter the head of John the Baptist'.
The king was distressed, but because of his oaths and his dinner
guests, he ordered that his request be granted and had John beheaded
in the prison. His head was brought in on a platter and given to the
girl, who carried it to her mother. John's disciples came and took
his body and buried it. Then they went and told Jesus.”
As
you can see by reading in between the lines, this was a really sick
and despicable bunch of people who were in charge of ruling Judea.
When king Herod heard about Jesus, he thought people were seeing John
the Baptist, and that he had risen from the dead. Why did Herod think
this? He had a guilty conscience because he had John beheaded. Like
any good prophet, John had pointed out the evil that Herod was
engaged in, which was his affair with his sister-in-law. This
ultimately cost John his life. One night while John was languishing
in prison, king Herod had a birthday party. I can only speculate on
how much everyone had had to drink, but you can be sure it was quite
a bit, and Herodius' teenage daughter evidently had helped herself to
no small portion of the wine. At some point she apparently performed
the equivalent of a table dance for the king, except the king soon
found out there was a very high price tag that went along with her
dance that Herod apparently loved so much.
As
you read, when Herod told Herodius' daughter to name whatever gift
she wanted for the lewd dance she had performed for king Herod, the
price was the head of John the Baptist on a platter. As you have
similarly seen, this was a really twisted group of people. The
prophet John gets his head cut off, and the severed head is delivered
to Herodius' daughter, who gives it to her mother (“mommy, here's
the severed human head you wanted”). So there is the background for
this story within a story in Scripture, and this is how John became a
martyr for Christ. I also say that there is a time coming, which for
some has already arrived, when some of us may have to pay the
ultimate price for our own faith. But don't be discouraged, because
that ultimate price is immediately followed by the ultimate payoff
for that investment, which is eternal life with Jesus our Lord and
Savior. The true scope of that payoff is so great as to be beyond our
wildest dreams or our most elaborate imagination!
“When
all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. And as he
was praying, heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended on him
in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: 'You are my
Son whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” There is no
avoiding the symbolism here! The water baptism and Spirit baptism of
Jesus occurred all at once. This can happen with new believers too, I
have met a few of them, although this was not my own experience. My
experience was that there was a 16 year gap between my water baptism
and my Holy Spirit baptism. I can truthfully say here that I don't
know why this was what it was, but God works in different ways with
all who believe so that he can achieve his perfection through those
who become one with him in Spirit!
From
here onward, Luke chapter 3 devotes itself to tracing the genealogy
of Jesus from his earthly father Joseph (“He was the son, or so
it was thought, of Joseph....”) all the way back to Adam, and
so back to God. Since this is rather lengthy, let me just ask the
reader to give these last 13 verses of Luke chapter 3 a quick read on
your own time for the sake of brevity. Along the way, certain people
are mentioned who are prominent in the Old Testament (or the Law of
Moses if you're Jewish), such as the fact that Jesus claims King
David, his son Solomon, and Abraham, Isaac and Jacob from before
that, all the way back to God the Father, as his direct ancestors.
The point Luke is making here is that Jesus is unquestionably and
without a doubt the Son of God. This is an indisputable fact that the
Bible proves right here, right now. And we can all take heart in that
fact, that our worship of Jesus Christ as the Son of God will never
be in vain. On that note, I think we've reached a comfortable place
to close, and next week we'll move on to chapter four.
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