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Luke

Luke 3

John the Baptist Prepares the Way
The Genealogy of Jesus Christ

Luke 3:1-6

Luke is savvy enough to know that giving marks for dating would become very important.  He also setting the stage for the political and religious systems that would come into play as John began His ministry.  This is Luke doing the work of a historian.

  1. The 15th year of Tiberius.
    1. Tiberius was the successor of Caesar Augustus.  He ruled from AD14-37.  This puts the start of John's ministry at around AD28.
  2. Pontius Pilate, the governor of Judea.
    1. Pilate ruled from AD 26-36.
  3. Herod (Antipas) was tetrarch of Galilee.
    1. This was a son of Herod the Great (The Herod who killed all the children 2 and under in Bethlehem).  When he died in 4B.C. the kingdom was divided among his sons.  Herod Antipas ruled this area from 4B.C. to A.D.39.
    2. He was a master builder like his father.  He had some semblance of respect for the Jewish religious customs.
    3. He left his mark in the gospel accounts when he beheaded John the Baptist and in his questioning of Jesus before He was crucified.
  4. Herod's brother Phillip is tetrarch of Iturea and Trachonitis.
    1. Iturea was north and east of the Sea of Galilee.  This included Caesarea Philippi, once called Panion.  Phillip made this city the capital of his tetrarch, named it after Caesar and attached his name to it to distinguish it from all the other Caesarea's.  Phillip ruled from 4B.C. to A.D.34.
  5. Lysanias, tetrarch of Abilene.
    1. Not much known about Lysanias.  An inscription was found in ancient Abilene that references him as tetrarch.  It was dated AD15-30.  Josephus also mentions Lysanias in his writing (Antiquities 19.5.1; 20.7.1)
    2. Abilene was a region north of Iturea in Syria, north of Damascus.
  6. Annas and Caiaphas were high priests
    1. The high priest was originally an appointment for life.  However, Rome brought its influence to bear and the priesthood became more of a political appointment. From 37 B.C. to AD 24 there were 28 different high priests. 
    2. Annas was high priest from A.D. 6-15.  It appears the title was permanent even when he was no longer serving at that capacity.  In reality, he seemed to be the power behind Caiaphas, his son in law, who served from A.D. 18-36. It appeared Annas and Rome were using the role to provide favors to others.  Four sons of Annas had also served as high priest.

 

This was the political and religious climate when the word of the Lord came to John.  Zacharias, his father was a priest in the temple.  Normally this meant John would be a priest in the temple.  At thirty years old, the son of a priest would begin his service.  John went a different direction though.  He went to the wilderness, heard from the Lord and began to speak that word to the world.

 

John preached to the people of the baptism of repentance. There were a few baptisms familiar to the people at the time.  If one had a piece of cloth for clothing and you wanted to die it, you would baptize it the die.  It went in one way, came out another.  They also would have associated this with ceremonial washing, a cleansing away of sins. 

 

The word translated to repentance is 'metanoia' and it means to reconsider or reverse course.  This was to have a change of heart and mind, abandoning an old way to begin a new way.  With this we can see this baptism of repentance was a spiritual preparation for Jesus.  No one has ever been saved by Christ that didn't first change their mind.  This was to abandon the old life and old ways, to agree with God and his assessment of my problem and the solution.  The baptism of repentance didn't wash away their sins, baptism didn't save them.  It was a symbolic act of changing direction, of expressing the desire for another to come and do a work. 

 

This was all consistent with the words of Isaiah the prophet, he quotes 40:3.  John is claiming to be that voice that Isaiah spoke of.  When the king was coming, the forerunner to go in advance and announce the kings soon arrival, calling for the making straight the road.  The potholes would be filled in the bumps scraped flat so as to make the kings arrival as smooth as possible.   The preparation John speaks of isn't a physical road but a spiritual path; it is the spiritual preparation to prepare one's self to receive the Lord upon His arrival. 

 

Luke 3:7-9

According to Luke, John spoke to the multitude of people, calling them a brood of vipers.  Matthew says that John was talking to the Pharisees and Sadducees when this was said.  Jesus called these same men a brood of vipers later in His ministry.  The picture is snakes leaving their holes in the ground when the fire of judgment came sweeping through the wilderness. 

 

True repentance will always be evident by the fruit it bears.  John is calling them to obedience that flows from a repentant heart.  Many felt repentance wasn't needed, after all, they were sons of Abraham.  But family heritage wouldn't save anyone any more than the legalism of Pharisees and Sadducees.  John presented the picture of the ax laid to the root of trees that don't bear fruit.  These were worthless trees, good only to be burned to make way for fruitful ones.  The ax is the picture of divine judgment, as the fire is the symbol of God's wrath. 

 

There were those that thought, 'God would never do such a thing!  In doing so, he might place the fulfillment of his covenant promises in jeopardy.  John let them know God was able to raise children of Abraham from stones.  Thinking they were safe and in no need to repent because of who they were was a fallacy.  Everyone needs to repent; in that day and today.  No one is exempt, no not one (Romans 3:23).

 

Luke 3:10-14

John is in the wilderness, along the Jordan, at least a day's travel from Jerusalem (at least 20 miles).  A multitude came out to be baptized by him.  Within that multitude were the Pharisees and Sadducees.  What had John done to draw such a great crowd?  What was John doing that the Pharisees and Sadducees felt they needed to investigate?  We know that John was not intimidated by Rome, nor was he careful about his critique of Herod. 

 

These crowds came from Jerusalem to Jordan to hear him preaching.  This was a long way to go to hear someone speak.  He had got the attention of the religious powers of Jerusalem who felt the need to investigate.  Was it the boldness to speak of the political and religious climate that caused people to listen and be drawn to him?  Was it just the conviction of sin, the call to repentance and offer of the coming salvation that appealed to the multitude?  Or, were they mostly just curious in the same way the multitude would be curious about Jesus?  They would begin to wonder if he was the messiah.  The curious quickly become a multitude.

 

You certainly get the sense that John spoke the same whether his audience were shepherds or the religious elite?  He gave the same unfiltered, untethered message to all.  How refreshing this must have been.  Truth just stands on its own, is strong on its own, as if it lived and breathed.  As the multitude herd his call, they knew something must be done.  They recognized where they stood; they looked at their lives and saw a gap between the truth and themselves.    

 

"What shall we do then?"  The question revealed a willingness to change.  They understood their real spiritual status and desired a change in that status.  Humility is required and it slays pride, clearing the way for agreement with God that I have sinned against Him and need salvation.  They were now the poor in spirit (Matt 5:3) Matthew referred to.  They were those who mourn over their sin.  They are the meek and those hungering and thirsting for righteousness.  God would certainly give grace to the humble.

 

We are given 3 examples of the multitude:

  1. The average person, the vast majority of the multitude summarized by anyone having 2 tunics or anyone having food. 
    1. They should give one tunic to someone who has none.  Anyone having any food should share with those who had none.
    2. Think about this multitude, imagine how it felt to have food, to have an extra tunic.  They were on the spot, right there to respond.  How many were relived they had neither with them and promised to do that later?  Did later ever come?
  2. The tax collectors came.  There must have been more than one and they came to be baptized.  They were despised by the Jews, considered traitors to their countrymen, sellouts to Rome.  All of Israel would have considered them the worst of sinners. 
    1. They must have wondered if this baptism could do anything for them.  These men were typically wealthy.  If a man with a tunic was supposed to give it away, what would they be called to do. 
    2. They were to stop swindling people out of more money than their true taxes.  The tax collectors were contractors; they collected a set amount for Rome, anything over that was theirs to keep.  They were called to be an honest tax collector.
    3. How many heard this?  How many heeded the message and understood, this is what repentance looked like in their life. 
  3. Within the multitude were soldiers.  These soldiers were most likely gentile Roman soldiers, although Herod had some soldiers. 
    1. A Roman soldier could conscript a citizen to carry his load for a mile.   This was a legal intimidation.  We can imagine the solder that made a false accusation and demanded you to pay a fine (or any other number of corrupt actions allowed by military to supplement soldiers pay).
    2. John told the soldiers to be content with their pay, not extorting or intimidating others. 
    3. In Matthew 5:41 Jesus instructed his followers to go two miles if you were conscripted to go one.  You can imagine the soldier asking why when you bore the load past the mile.  This opened a conversation of obedience to Jesus, of kindness and grace.

 

The people of God would then be kind, caring and generous, they would be honest, content and not greedy.  Not oppressing their neighbor or taking advantage of others.  Not lording authority and power over people.  These things weren't to be an all-inclusive list of works.  They were indications that repentance was genuine.  John called for a change of mind, of thinking, which would bring a change in the way life was lived.  The fruit gave the indication of what kind of tree it was.  The fruit of repentance revealed the state of the person, if they had prepared a way for Jesus. 

 

Josephus said this about John and his ministry:

He was a good man and had exhorted the Jews to lead righteous lives, to practice justice towards their fellows and piety towards God, and so doing to join in baptism. In his view this was a necessary preliminary if baptism was to be acceptable to God. They must not employ it to gain pardon for whatever sins they committed, but as a consecration of the body implying that the soul was already thoroughly cleansed by right behavior.

 

Luke 3:15-17

The people were 'in expectation'.  This is to say they were looking for their messiah.  Based on all that John was saying, they thought he might be the one.  John's answer was to say he was simply a herald, announcing the coming.  In the old days before GPS and cell phones, you used to have to stop and ask directions to find what you were looking for.  A good gas station attendant could give direction to about anywhere in town (as he pumped your gas).  John was giving direction, pointing the way to messiah. 

 

John acknowledged his role of preparation, baptizing with water; a symbol of repentance.  However, this was nothing.  Another was coming.  He was the One they were awaiting.  John didn't even feel worthy to act as a slave to serve Him.  Within the multitude, some would be baptized with the Holy Spirit and others fire.  Those baptized with the spirit are those who truly repented and trusted in Jesus.  The Holy Spirit is the authentication of salvation; the presence of Jesus until He comes again.  He is our counselor, teacher, our guide and guard.  He is our friend, but he convicts of sin, righteousness and judgment (John 16:7-8).  Those baptized with fire are those who rejected repentance, seeing no need or allowing their flesh, feelings and emotions to move them.  They would remain in bondage to sin, without forgiveness, they would be cast into the fires of judgment.

 

The winnowing fan is like a scoop shovel to throw grain in the air.  The wind would blow the chaff away and the good grain would fall back to the threshing floor.  This is symbolic of the judgment to come by Messiah, who sorts the goats from sheep, the wheat from tares, the chaff from the grain.  The chaff, the unbeliever, would burn in the unquenchable fire.  John conveys the dire consequence in rejecting his message. 

 

Luke 3:18-20

We get a real glimpse into John's ministry.  He must have been loud, clear and unflinching in his message.  No one walked away wondering.  Each knew they had a decision to make and no decision or postponement of decision was a decision itself.  This was just a sampling of John's ministry; he preached and exhorted the people. 

 

John went so far as to rebuke Herod.  Herod had married his brother's wife, Herodias.  She had been married to Herod Phillip.   It was against Jewish law for him to marry his brother's wife.  Not only that but they both had previous marriages.  Herodias didn't forge this.  She wanted John dead and ended up getting her way.  (Matt 14:3-12; Mark 6:14=29)

 

Herod feared John.  This preacher came out of nowhere and held great sway over the people.  He was drawing a crowd in the wilderness.  It looked like rebellion, an uprising.   This had to be stopped.  Instead of searching his heart, asking why this threatened him and why he feared, Herod did what the proud often do, eliminate the threat.  He put John in prison.

 

Luke 3:21-22

The people stepped forward to be baptized.  As this was happening, Jesus was also baptized.  Matthew tells us that he resisted baptizing Jesus:

"I need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?"

 "Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness."

(Matt 3:14-15)

It wasn't fitting because He had no sin to repent of but fitting in that He was identifying with the Kingdom of God.  It was fitting that he identified with sinful humanity.  It was fitting for all to see Him come from the water, the heavens open and the Holy Spirit came upon Him. 

 

Luke tells us that Jesus was baptized and as He came out of the water He was praying to the Father.  The heavens were opened.  What a moment this must have been; a brief pulling back of the curtain to reveal the heavenly realm.  Every angel must have been present and praising as the Holy Spirit descended on Messiah and His ministry began.  In 1 Peter 1:10 Peter is speaking of the grace and saving work of the Lord that came (and still comes) to mankind by the Holy Spirit.  He referred to these matters of grace and salvation as "things which angels desire to look into."

 

The descending of the Spirit was 'like a dove' but Luke includes a detail the others don't.  The Spirit descends in 'bodily form'.  The bodily form implies a physical shape of some kind, visible but being Spirit we can't assume tangible.  The descent was expedient but peaceful, purposeful and gentle.  This was a sign to all present and to us.

33 I did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, 'Upon whom you see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.' 34 And I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God." (John 1:33-34)

 

By the testimony of 2 or more a thing was established.  The Holy Spirit descending was the testimony of who Jesus was.  The Father spoke, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." (Matthew 3:17)  This was the testimony of the Father  that Jesus  was the son.  The Trinity of God is present, The Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  The Baptizer added His testimony and it was established; the Son of God had come.  As the Son of God, the Father made several associations.

 

He is Beloved

The Father said Jesus was His Son.  This is an allusion to Psalm 2:7.

7           "I will declare the decree:

The Lord has said to Me,

'You are My Son,

Today I have begotten You.

8           Ask of Me, and I will give You

The nations for Your inheritance,

And the ends of the earth for Your possession.

9           You shall break them with a rod of iron;

You shall dash them to pieces like a potter's vessel.' " (Psalm 2:7-9)

This Psalm has a royal sense about it and is linked to 2 Samuel 7:14 regarding God's covenant with David that his son would sit on the throne.  Hebrews 1:5 ties these together.


He is Elect

The love the Father expressed shows the relationship of Jesus to God the Father.  Even though this was established, this very thing stumbled many.  They knew the shema, "the Lord our God, the Lord is one!".  Many had no place for God the Son.  Regardless, He was chose by the Father for His task.  Some see this election as a typology of Isaiah 41:8.

8           "But you, Israel, are My servant,

Jacob whom I have chosen,

The descendants of Abraham My friend.

 

He Pleased God

This part of the statement links Jesus to Isaiah 42:1.

"Behold! My Servant whom I uphold,

My Elect One in whom My soul delights!

I have put My Spirit upon Him;

He will bring forth justice to the Gentiles.

2           He will not cry out, nor raise His voice,

Nor cause His voice to be heard in the street.

3           A bruised reed He will not break,

And smoking flax He will not quench;

He will bring forth justice for truth.

4           He will not fail nor be discouraged,

Till He has established justice in the earth;

And the coastlands shall wait for His law."

            (Isaiah 42:1-4)

 

The multitude saw and heard these things.  It was a day they wouldn't soon forget.  To those who had prepared the way by repentance, all that was required was belief leading to trust.  Jesus would save them from the sin from which they repented; Jesus would wash them clean.   

 

Note: It appears that Paul ran across a group of people who were baptized in repentance but never followed through.  He baptized them into the Lord and they received the Holy Spirit (Acts 19:1-7).

 

Luke 3:23-38

Jesus was about thirty years old, the normal age for a prophet to begin his ministry, around the age a priest would begin to serve.  He was already The King.  Luke gives this age an approximation because he wasn't quite sure either.  Most who knew Jesus and saw him as a child would have assumed he was the child of Joseph. 

 

Matthew's genealogy begins at Abraham, through David to Solomon and multiple generations leading to Joseph.  Luke's genealogy is vastly different; so much so that it raises a lot of eyebrows to wonder what's going on.  But, before we get to that, we should deal with the issue in Matthew's genealogy.  About the time that the southern kingdom was going into exile, the king was carried away to Babylon also.  This was king Jeconiah (also known as Jehoiachin or Coniah).  The Lord had made clear what repentance and obedience looked like for this king; He also made clear what disobedience looked like.  This man could not, and would not change his ways.  The Lord cursed his line, Jeremiah said:

28         "Is this man Coniah a despised, broken idol—

A vessel in which is no pleasure?

Why are they cast out, he and his descendants,

And cast into a land which they do not know?

29         O earth, earth, earth,

Hear the word of the Lord!

30         Thus says the Lord:

'Write this man down as childless,

A man who shall not prosper in his days;

For none of his descendants shall prosper,

Sitting on the throne of David,

And ruling anymore in Judah.' "(Jeremiah 22:28-30)

 

There are three generations missing after Jeconiah is listed, then Shealtiel is listed.  He was an adopted son to daughters of the Jeconiah.  So the bloodline ends at Jeconiah and jumps to Shealtiel. 

 

Matthew's genealogy shows the human and legal bloodlines of a Jewish king, a son of Abraham and son of David..  Luke gives us the spiritual bloodline leading back to the Father of mankind.  While Joseph was the father of the family, Jesus was born of Mary, of her blood line alone.  This fulfills the prophesy from Genesis 3:15 that the messiah would come from 'her seed'.  Luke presents Mary's bloodline and he does so in a very different way.  He begins at Jesus, the second Adam, and works back to the first Adam. 

The first man Adam became a living being." The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.

(1 Corinthians 15:45)

 

The genealogy of Mary's line and Joesph's intersect at Shealtiel.  While Mary's line came through Nathan and Joseph through Solomon, both intersect again at David.  While it isn't shown in Matthew, they would have both began at Adam  Luke shows the continuity from the curse of the first Adam to the remedy for the curse in the last Adam, Jesus.  Jesus will accomplish what Adam could not.  Luke also shows us this salvation comes to all of mankind, not just the sons of Abraham. 

 

Because of the curse of sin, our bloodline is also destined to be cut off.  Spiritually, we were already dead in our sin.  When we are adopted into the family with Christ, our genealogy jumps to the line of Christ, as if His blood was our blood. 

 

Luke will begin to show us the ministry of Jesus.  He presents it in a very geographical way.  Jesus in Galilee, then Jesus on the way to Jerusalem and then Jesus in Jerusalem.

 

©2019 Doug Ford