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We will use the account according to Luke. This is one of the few events in the life of Christ that is recorded in all four of the Gospels. Nothing is recorded for us concerning the early years of Jesus from His 12th. year to His 30th. year, when He started His ministry.
Tradition has it that Joseph died shortly after they came home from Jerusalem and even though Jesus was only 12 years old at the time, He was the oldest and he went to work at the carpenters trade and supported the family until He was 30 years old. It is at that time that we pick up in this lesson.
John the Baptist appears out of the Wilderness where he had been for many years, to begin his ministry. Luke goes into great detail to date this event. "In the 15th. year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar." Tiberius was the 3rd. of the 12 Caesars and he reigned from 14 AD to 37 AD, which made the time of this event 29 AD. Luke also dates it by saying that it was when Pontius Pilate was Governor of Judaea. Pilate was Governor from 26 AD to 36 AD, thus he had been Governor only about 3 years. Luke also dates this event as during the time when Herod, Philip and Lysanias were "Tetrarchs" of Palestine. These three had divided up the region that had been under Herod the Great who was king at the time of the birth of Christ. Also Luke says it occurred at the time when Annas and Caiaphas were High Priests. God had appointed that there would be only one high priest at a time, but we see here that two held this position at this time. Tradition has it that they rotated the work schedule but some believe that actually one was high priest and the other was his assistant. Historians say that followers of the Patriarchs, Moses and Aaron, demanded that there be a high priest from each of these houses and that Caiaphas represented the House of Aaron and that Annas represented the House of Moses. Either way, all this establishes the date at 29 AD when John was 30 years old.
Notice the origin of John's message. Luke says, "The Word of God came upon him." Weather by Angel, or dream, or vision, or enlightenment, we are not told. John was the son of a High Priest by the name of Zacharias. According to custom, he would have, by this time, entered the Temple Service, but God had called him to a far greater mission. He came to the people in the country around the Jordan River. This was the first land that the Israelites took possession of in the Promise Land.
He preached a "new baptism". It was not a ceremony, it was a sign. It was a sign of repentance, a profession of sins. He baptized them with water. Were they "sprinkled" or were they "emersed", it dose not say. There were times during the rainy season when the waters of the Jordon were indeed deep enough to emersed someone like it was when the Syrian Naaman dunked himself 7 times and was cured of leprosy but most of the time the river was relatively shallow.
John fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah (E-sai-as) who said there would be " one crying in the wilderness, preparing the way of the Lord." John's mission was exactly that, preparing the hearts of the people for the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Notice verses 5 and 6 describe what the effects of the Gospel of Jesus Christ will be.
Notice the results of John's ministry. "A multitude came forth to be baptized by him." Notice how he greeted them. "You generation of vipers, who warned you to flee the wrath to come?" Vipers.... poisonous, disobedient, hating one another. A multitude of people seeking to escape the wrath of God.
Notice the difference in John's message and the message used by evangelists today. John spoke of wrath and judgement, today they speak of love and forgiveness, but notice John did offer a way of escape.... "Repentance", repentance that brings forth change in a persons life and fruit. John warns that excuses will not suffice on the "Day of Judgement". Being Jewish will not excuse them. Being descendants of Abraham will not excuse them.
Notice how his warning about the wrath of God was received:
Notice to these people, John makes some suggestions:
Verses 15 through 20 cover a period of time known as John's ministry. We are not sure how long this was, perhaps only a few months. People hearing John began to think that he was the Messiah, but John straightened them out immediately. He did this by comparing the "baptisms", John baptized with water, Jesus baptized with the Spirit. He also compared their authority, John's authority ended with the coming of Christ, Jesus' authority never will end.
Luke ends this account by saying that Herod put John in prison because of the accusations of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife. Mark 6:20 records that Herod later listened to John and probably found no fault in him but because he feared the people (Matt. 14:5) and because of the request of Salome (Matt. 14:6) he imprisoned John and later had him be-headed.
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