Preparing the World for Christ
If the authorities have enough warning, they do their best to get people out of their houses to stop them being trapped. They drive round parts of the city announcing that trouble is approaching and that people should leave at once. They make announcements on the local radio and television. Imminent danger needs urgent action.
That’s the kind of work John the Baptist was doing. We don’t usually think of preachers going around making that kind of announcement. Even politicians don’t usually tell us things are getting very urgent—or, if they do, we usually take no notice. But people believed John, and came to him for a different sort of flooding: baptism, being plunged into the river Jordan.
What was the emergency, and how would being plunged in the Jordan help people to avoid danger?
1. God’s timing is always perfect. (vs. 1-2)
Rome had ruled the area for about a hundred years, but only since AD 6 had there been a Roman governor resident in the area, living in Caesarea (on the Mediterranean coast) but also keeping a base in Jerusalem. Augustus Caesar, the first Emperor, had died in AD 14, and his place had been taken by the ruthless Tiberius, who was already being worshipped as a god in the eastern parts of the empire. Two of Herod the Great’s sons, Herod Antipas and Philip, were ruling somewhat shakily, under Roman permission, in the north of the country, but Rome had taken direct control of the south, including Jerusalem itself. Most Jews didn’t regard Herod’s sons as real rulers; they were a self-made royal house, ruling, like Rome, by fear and oppression. The high priests weren’t much better. Popular movements of resistance had come and gone, in some cases being brutally put down. Everybody knew they couldn’t go on as they were. Something had to happen. But what?
Devout Jews had longed for a new word from God. Some believed that prophecy had died out but might one day be revived. Many expected that a movement would begin through which their God would renew the age-old covenant, bringing Israel out of slavery into a new freedom. The old prophets had spoken of a time of renewal, through which God himself would come back to them. They had only a sketchy idea of what this would all look like, but when a fiery young prophet appeared in the Judaean wilderness, going round the towns and villages telling people that the time had come, they were ready to listen.
2. Our call is to proclaim the true gospel. (vs. 3)
Rome had ruled the area for about a hundred years, but only since AD 6 had there been a Roman governor resident in the area, living in Caesarea (on the Mediterranean coast) but also keeping a base in Jerusalem. Augustus Caesar, the first Emperor, had died in AD 14, and his place had been taken by the ruthless Tiberius, who was already being worshipped as a god in the eastern parts of the empire. Two of Herod the Great’s sons, Herod Antipas and Philip, were ruling somewhat shakily, under Roman permission, in the north of the country, but Rome had taken direct control of the south, including Jerusalem itself. Most Jews didn’t regard Herod’s sons as real rulers; they were a self-made royal house, ruling, like Rome, by fear and oppression. The high priests weren’t much better. Popular movements of resistance had come and gone, in some cases being brutally put down. Everybody knew they couldn’t go on as they were. Something had to happen. But what?
Devout Jews had longed for a new word from God. Some believed that prophecy had died out but might one day be revived. Many expected that a movement would begin through which their God would renew the age-old covenant, bringing Israel out of slavery into a new freedom. The old prophets had spoken of a time of renewal, through which God himself would come back to them. They had only a sketchy idea of what this would all look like, but when a fiery young prophet appeared in the Judaean wilderness, going round the towns and villages telling people that the time had come, they were ready to listen.
Baptism, plunging into the river Jordan, was a powerful sign of this renewal. When the children of Israel had come out of Egypt—a story they all knew well because of their regular Passovers and other festivals—they were brought through the Red Sea, through the Sinai wilderness, then through the Jordan into the promised land. Now they were in slavery again—in their own land!—and wanted a new Exodus to bring them to freedom. Since the old prophets had declared that this slavery was the result of Israel’s sin, worshipping idols rather than their one true God, the new Exodus, when it happened, would have to deal with this. The way to escape slavery, the prophets had said, was to ‘return’ to God with heart and soul; that is, to ‘repent’. ‘Return to me, and I will return to you’, one of the last prophets had said (Malachi 3:7).
Hence John’s agenda: ‘a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins’. John was doing what the prophet Isaiah had said: preparing a pathway for the Lord himself to return to his people. This was the time. Rescue was at hand.
But the people were not in good shape. Indeed, since baptism was part of the ritual Gentiles had to undergo if they wanted to convert to Judaism, John’s summoning of Israel itself to baptism speaks for itself. Nor was it simply that the nation was in trouble politically; everybody in the crowds needed to face their own moral predicament. John wasn’t going to be satisfied with a mere outward ritual, in which many could hide their real selves behind an outward conformity to this new movement. If God was coming back, he wasn’t coming just to tell them that because they were Abraham’s children everything would be all right. The reason God brings rescue and salvation is precisely because he is the holy and faithful God, keeping covenant with his people—but, if that is so, he is bound to bring judgment as well as mercy. He isn’t a tame God.
3. The gospel prepares the world for the coming of Christ. (vs. 4-6)
Luke identifies the voice crying in the wilderness in Isaiah with John who “[prepares] the way of the LORD” (3:4; Isa 40:3). In the context of Isaiah, “the LORD” refers to YHWH, for Israel is expecting God to return to Zion. Luke transfers the reference onto Jesus, as John is the forerunner of the Messiah. Whereas the Isaianic quotation ends with 40:3 in Mark 1:3 and Matt 3:3, Luke includes two more verses, culminating in the declaration that “all flesh shall see the salvation of God” (3:5–6; Isa 40:4–5). This extended citation brings out Luke’s universalism and echoes Simeon’s prayer that God’s salvation is for Israel and the nations (2:31–32; cf. Acts 1:8).
The substance of John’s proclamation implies that Israel is far from ready to receive the Messiah. This prophet must issue an urgent call to repentance like his predecessors of old.5 Presenting oneself to be baptized constitutes a public admission of sinfulness, a humiliating thing to do in a status-conscious society that elevates honor and denigrates shame. A penitent person would assume this posture of humbleness and receptivity to be baptized by John.
The purpose of baptism is explicitly stated, but how baptism is a fitting ritual to signify repentance and forgiveness of sins is less obvious. The notion of baptism is related to washing and cleansing. In the OT, washing signifies repentance (Isa 1:16–17; Jer 3:14) as well as God’s cleansing of a person from sin (Ps 51:5; Ezek 36:25, 33). The Jews practice cleansing for purification (Lev 14–15), but these rites are performed repeatedly whereas John’s baptism seems to be a one-time event. John himself cannot dispense forgiveness, since it is a divine prerogative, but he can at least prepare those who are willing to receive God’s forgiveness and salvation when the Messiah comes.