Luke is showing the fact that he is a historian by identifying the year that John begins his ministry by naming the political and religious leaders. We see that John traveled the region around the Jordan River. Where he called the nation of Israel to repent of their sins and receive forgiveness. This was his task in preparing the coming of the Messiah. His ministry was to fulfill the prophecy of Isaiah 40:3-5, the “voice of one crying in the wilderness.” Israel, at this time, was in a spiritual wilderness. They were a nation that was building laws upon laws, in what is known as the Oral Traditions or Oral Laws. These Oral Laws were like fences built around the Mosaic Law. If you didn’t know, the Mosaic Law contains only 613 laws that the Jews needed to abide by. The Oral Laws “enhancements” to these to make sure that the Jews didn’t break the Mosaic Law. In other words, if you were to break an Oral Law, there’s still “wiggle room” before you were to break the Mosaic Law. The problem being, the religious leaders would put the Oral Laws ahead of the Mosaic Law, as if their made-up laws were akin to God’s Holy Word.
John’s call was that they should repent. He was addressing those who were willing to confess their sins. When the multitudes came to John for baptism, he realized their insincerity and called them out for it. That is why he addresses them as a brood of vipers (Jn. 3:7). The way they show their repentance is via a transformed life. One who genuinely repents of their sins will produce the fruits of the Lord. The Jews however were teaching that they could be saved by their heritage, which leans into the warning John gives in John 3:8-9.
The Jews being warned not to trust in their ethnic heritage is something we can look at in today’s society and see that Americans have done something similar with Christianity. How often we do hear some say that America is a “Christian nation” and believe the lie that because they are born in America they are therefore “Christian”. Your ethnic heritage does NOT play any role in your salvation. What makes one a Christian is having a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. This can be done in three easy steps:
- Accepting that we are all sinners in need of God’s forgiveness (Romans 3:23)
- Believing that the there is nothing we can do to obtain God’s forgiveness on our own. But that He sent His Son, Jesus Christ to take the punishment of our sin. By believing in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ we have forgiveness (Romans 5:8; Ephesians 2:8-9)
- Confessing our need for forgiveness and our belief in Jesus Christ (Romans 10:9)
Jesus Chris would test the reality of man’s repentance. Those who would repent will bear the fruits of repentance That is the point in the examples John gives in verses 11-14. These good works would prove the sincerity of the Jews of the day. For us today, our good works are the evidence of our salvation, not the means of our salvation.
Side Note…
I want to drift to a side note, because this will be important in future chapters. The Pharisees had a process for investigating those who would claim to be the Messiah. Their process was two-fold.
Observation
They would start by observing the things that were being said, taught, and done. The job of the Pharisees was to determine if the movement was significant or not. They were to ask no questions or pose no objections. This explains John’s reaction a bit. The Pharisees weren’t there to be baptized by John, they were there to investigate him. Soon they will start the investigation of Jesus.
Interrogation
After the initial observation, a second group of Pharisees and scribes would be sent out to ask questions, pose objections and look for a basis to either accept or reject the movement. This is the phase we find John at in Luke 3. And eventually this same interrogation will begin with Jesus. One common theme you will see is that what happens to the John will happen to Jesus. Not in an identical manner, but similarly. Keep this in mind as we read through the story and look at the lives of both the Herald and the King.
