John the Baptist Begins His Ministry

Take Every Passage to Prayer - Volume 2, The Gospels
^{Thursday May 30, 2024}

Matthew 3:1-6, Mark 1:1-6, Luke 3:1-6

Father, Jesus was approximately 16 years old when Tiberius became co-emperor and He most certainly talked about the new emperor with family, friends, neighbors, and customers in His father’s carpentry business. Jesus didn’t fear man and most likely didn’t fear making shocking statements that Your name, the name of His Father in heaven, was the only name on earth that should be worshipped or feared. Jesus most likely knew that it was this Caesar who would reign in Rome during His crucifixion 17-18 years later.

It was around the year 27 AD when John the Baptist, the son of Zechariah and Elizabeth, began to preach repentance and forgiveness of sins to the people who lived in the wilderness areas of the region. His mission was to see to it that all the people of the land will see God’s salvation. John was the fulfillment of Isaiah 40:

1. He was to comfort the people that their sin has been paid for by Jesus and that the grace they have received is twice the amount of their sin. It is an abundance of God’s grace.
2. He was to make Jesus’ ministry easier and more effective (like paving a highway in anticipation of royalty traveling through a land) by boldly shouting “here is your God”, preparing hearts with the “good news” so that they will be receptive to Jesus when His ministry begins in the near future. According to Isaiah 40, John would preach:


• Jesus will raise up the humble and humiliate the proud.
• He will bring healing to people whose lives are difficult.
• He will glorify God.
• His Word will endure forever.
• He will rule with His mighty arm.
• He will reward those who trust in Him.
• He will be like a shepherd who tenderly tends His flocks and carries them close to His heart.
• He is the Creator of all that is, and He is the sovereign God who sustains all of creation.
• He knows all truth and has all wisdom. We simply cannot grasp what Jesus understands.
• Jesus is greater than all the nations and He controls all authority on earth (even Tiberius).
• He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.
• Those who trust in Jesus will experience renewal and their spirits will soar like eagles.

Our text points out that John began his preaching in 27 AD when:

• Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea (served 26-36 AD). Pilate was the governor who approved the crucifixion of Jesus.
• Herod the Tetrarch (Antipas) of Galilee (served 1-39 AD). It was this Herod to whom Pilate would send Jesus for interrogation, but Herod was not interested and sent Him back to Pilate.
• Philip the Tetrarch (served 4-34 AD). He was Antipas’ half-brother. He ruled the region north of the Sea of Galilee and east of the Jordan River.
• Lysanias ruled the region around the slopes of Mount Hermon, which is on the border today of Syria and Lebanon, far north of the Sea of Galilee.
• Annas was the first high priest of the Roman province of Judea which was formed in 6 AD, when Jesus was around 10 years old. He, and his son-in-law Caiaphas, were the high priests who would eventually preside over the trial of Jesus prior to His crucifixion (John 18:12, 23). According to the historian Josephus, Joseph ben Caiaphas was appointed as the high priest by the predecessor of Pontius Pilate.

Father, I ask myself why it was so important for Luke to share with us the historical information in Luke 3:1-2. Two words come to mind in response to this question: “time” and “place”. When did the events of Jesus life occur? In 300 BC? In 200 AD? No. The events of Jesus life occurred during the reign of Pilate, Herod, Philip, Lysanias, Annas, and Caiaphas. Where did the events of Jesus life occur? In Rome? In Spain? In Africa? In Asia? No. They occurred in the lands where these men had authority - the southern Levant, which includes modern-day Israel, Palestine, Jordan, and, in some definitions, southern Lebanon and southern Syria.

The story of Jesus Christ is not a fairytale about a “galaxy far far away”. It is not about Narnia and it is not about Middle-Earth. It is not about the planet Vulcan where people have pointy ears. It is not even about the unchartered island named after Gilligan. The details of the story of Jesus Christ are as real as the details of the history of the Roman Empire. If one claims that Jesus did not exist, one must also claim that Tacitus, the famous Roman historian, was a liar when he wrote the following:

“...To get rid of the report, Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations, called Chrestians by the populace. Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilatus, and a most mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out not only in Judea, the first source of the evil, but even in Rome, where all things hideous and shameful from every part of the world find their centre and become popular.” Annals 15.44

Father, we read in this passage that John the Baptist wore clothes made of camel’s hair and that he had a leather belt around his waist. We also learn that he ate locusts and honey.

At first glance, this is not a favorable description of John the Baptist for the 21st century American reader. He sounds like someone who has escaped and needs to be taken back to the institute before dinner is served. Few of us have even seen a locust, let alone ate one. Our only encounter with a camel is at the public zoo. While honey comes in a jar at the local grocery store, few of us would sit down and consume a jar of it for a meal. We must admit, however, many of us do wear leather belts.

To tell the truth, it is our ignorance that would lead us to this conclusion.

• Ignorance of world culture, where many people to this day wear clothes made of camel’s hair (Mongolia, Tibet, Afghanistan, Iran, Russia, China, New Zealand, and Australia) and eat locusts (a delicacy in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia) .
• Ignorance of the Word of God, where You put locusts on the menu for Israel (Leviticus 11:22). In addition, none other than Elijah was reported to wear a garment of camel’s hair and a leather belt in 2 Kings 1:8. We also know from I Samuel 14:25, Deuteronomy 32:13, and Psalm 81:16 that You made honey readily available in the wilderness for consumption, especially in the rocks where honeybees built nests. After all, You had promised Israel a land flowing with milk and “honey” (Exodus 3:17).

Therefore, we come to another conclusion about John the Baptist from this description.

• He was quite sane, dressing and eating as many others did in that day and age, especially the rural poor.
• He may have been trying to emulate the clothes of Elijah, since he knew he had been compared to him (Malachi 4).
• He was making a ministry statement, identifying with the poor in the wilderness who were humble and most likely to be receptive to the gospel of Jesus Christ. The political and religious elite in Jerusalem wore fashionable and expensive silk garments and silk sashes.
• He determined ministry is easier when you can eat and clothe yourself from what is found on the land instead of having to transport food and clothing supplies for months. He was an ancient version of the TV character, “MacGyver”, with a unique ability to make use of things he found along the trail. Jesus had this same approach to ministry, rejecting the owning of a home with possessions that He would have to take care of (Matthew 8:20).

If John were insane, people would not flock into the wilderness “from Jerusalem and Judea and the whole region of the Jordan” (NIV) to see him. They might walk down the street to see a fool’s performance, but they wouldn’t journey for several days into the wilderness to see a fool. John offered these travelers something of great value - the forgiveness of sins. We can conclude that You had prepared a plentiful harvest of souls (Matthew 9:37) in the Jordan River region in preparation for the coming Messiah. People longed for a spiritual savior. Political saviors, the kind that would overthrow the Romans, would be found among the elite in Jerusalem.

These 1st century seekers confessed their sin in response to John’s teaching and were baptized in the Jordan River by John. Mark 1:4 is the first reference to baptism in the Bible, considering the chronological order of events. The Greek word for baptism means to “dip” or “immerse”. When the person is immersed in the water, they are symbolizing the death of Jesus Christ, who buried our sins in the grave. When the person is raised from the water, they are symbolizing the resurrection of Jesus Christ and our new life in Him, our old sinful nature having been washed away. Baptism doesn’t save. It is merely a public statement of an individual’s profession of faith in Jesus Christ (Luke 12:8-9).

Father, there is a truth in this passage that I’ve missed in five decades of listening to preachers. Jesus had yet to go public in His ministry. How, then, were these people baptized into a faith where the Savior had not yet been revealed to them publicly? There are two answers:

1. Jesus was already well known in the region, even though He had never gone public with His ministry. Word had circulated that He was born of a virgin and that many young children were killed because Herod wanted Jesus dead. Word had also circulated of a pre-teen who had stunned the leaders of the synagogue with His knowledge of the Old Testament. Therefore, the people John preached to were effectively told, “Yes, the One you have heard about. Him. Yes, He is the Son of God, the Messiah, and the Savior.”
2. Jesus was not well known in the region. John preached that the Son of God, the Messiah, the Savior would soon be revealed. They were told to place their faith in this as yet unknown Savior for their salvation.

In either case, those who were baptized became Christians for having faith that the cross of calvary will happen in the future. Those of us in the 21st century are Christians because we have faith that the cross of calvary did happen in the past. I wonder, Father, if perhaps John’s baptizing people before Jesus went public in His ministry is a hint for us of how the faithful in the Old Testament were saved: they too believed that their sins would be forgiven because a Savior would come in the future who would die on the cross for their sins. Amen.