Luke 3:21-22  :

Now it happened, when all the people were baptized, Jesus also had been baptized, and was praying. The sky was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended in a bodily form as a dove on him; and a voice came out of the sky, saying “You are my beloved Son. In you I am well pleased.”

Today we consider the time when Jesus was baptized by John. This was an amazing event that I also discussed when going through John and provides us with evidence that Jesus was the Messiah. Many people who were there heard a voice from the sky saying "You are my beloved Son. In you I am well pleased." This single event makes it extremely hard to put Jesus in a category with any other religious leader, let alone any other human.

There has never been another human that I know of that a voice from the sky actually approve of everything they did in front of many witnesses except for Jesus. The Bible makes it clear that this was God the father speaking in a voice so that everyone there would have this evidence to pass around and because of Bible writers I pass it on to you. God clearly approved of Jesus and what He was doing. In fact, God hasn't approved of anyone else like this. Paul tells us that all mankind is full of sin in Romans and that the best we can do is like dirty rags. God said that Jesus was "well pleasing" to Him.

God's voice in front of these witnesses also made it completely clear that this was His Son. There can no question that Jesus is the Messiah if Luke is telling the truth here. Now we can see way some so-called "Christian leaders" attempt to discredit all miracles in the Bible. It allows them to conveniently edit out places like this where Jesus was declared as greater by far than Buddha and Muhammad. Buddha and Muhammad never claimed to be God, that all came later when they were deified by their following.

Some claim that Jesus followers did the same, but the problem with this is the nearness to the event that these writings were made. There were just too many people who could have discredited the evidence that Jesus claimed to be God when Luke wrote this down. Deification of other "prophets" took place after eyewitnesses were gone.

All of the evidence points to the fact that God actually made a voice come out of the sky here and make it clear that this Jesus was special and that we were to think of Him that way. We are not to put Jesus in the same category as any other man or leader. Jesus is the only one like Him and He is the only one that has ever "well pleased" God. He is also the only one who could save mankind and makes all other ideas merely religion but not truth.

Luke 3:18-20  :

Then with many other exhortations he preached good news to the people, but Herod the tetrarch, being reproved by him for Herodias, his brother’s wife, and for all the evil things which Herod had done, added this also to them all, that he shut up John in prison.

I want to take a little time today to talk about this issue of speaking out against evil leaders. Romans 13 tells us to be subject to our leadership for they represent God, but here we have John speaking out boldly against the leader of his time. In order to take Paul's writing to the Romans in context, we need to pay very close attention to both things together and not act as if one or the other doesn't exist.

I believe that what we see here is that the passage in Romans 13 is limited in that you are only supposed to follow leadership when they are asking you to do things that are within God's given commands. If leadership asks us to do things outside of those commands, then we must disobey and follow God instead. John demonstrates that we also must obey God in exposing evil no mater who is doing it. There is no excuse, especially for a leader, to be doing evil and it is our job as those who represent God to expose that evil so that it can be seen by those who may be deceived by it.

If John the Baptist didn't expose the evil of Herod, then some of his followers might have considered that John thought it was OK to do things like steal your brother's wife as long as it is within your power to do. Instead, John called it evil so that the people could distance themselves from it in preparation for the coming of the Messiah. John had to disobey Herod in order to do what God wanted him to do. John did, however obey in every other way that was possible.

Notice what Dr. Luke does here.  He said that he "added this also..." meaning that on top of all the evil that Herod had done, he also put John in prison which was Luke's way of calling Herod "evil" too.

Not only should we not feel wrong about speaking up against the evil of leadership, we ought to make sure that we do in order to properly represent Jesus to this world. We should not cater to those who permit evil, but we should care for those who have been burned by evil so that they know that Jesus takes no part in and will punish it when He returns. We should warn those who are being tempted by the evil that these leaders do so that they can avoid these things.

John demonstrated a greater fear of God than of mankind. He wasn't afraid to speak out against the evil of his day and it did get him killed. His eyes were on God and his future with him instead of on himself and his circumstances on earth. Only God can give us the power to live this way.  May God help us to live and speak out against evil no matter what may happen to us.

Luke 3:15-17  :

As the people were in expectation, and all men reasoned in their hearts concerning John, whether perhaps he was the Christ, John answered them all, “I indeed baptize you with water, but he comes who is mightier than I, the latchet of whose sandals I am not worthy to loosen. He will baptize you in the Holy Spirit and fire, whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly cleanse his threshing floor, and will gather the wheat into his barn; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

John was always very careful to tell people immediately and clearly that he was not the Christ or Messiah. Here he also explained how much lower in importance he was by telling us that he wasn't even worthy to be a lowly servant who took care of dirty feet. In that culture, feet would get much dirtier than in many cultures today because roads were dirt or mud when it rained and people wore sandals. To add to that they usually walked from place-to-place as that's what they could afford for transportation. I understand that even today in the middle east today, feet are still a lowly part of the body culturally.

It is good to note that when a righteous man is spoken of as if he were the Christ, he is to refute it immediately just as John did in this example. I must be very honest in saying that this one of the biggest concerns I have with President Obama. It is extremely important for anyone, including him, to make it clear that there can only be one Messiah and that is Jesus Christ. This is a very serious matter and John explains that here too.

Notice that Jesus is coming to do two things not just one. I hear a lot about the Holy Spirit today but I don't hear that much about the coming fire of Jesus. It is true that Jesus has brought us the Holy Spirit and has been gathering His church together for many years, but John's message of warning should be equally important to us. Jesus will be coming with fire and as John says "he will thoroughly cleanse his threshing floor." This means that no one will get away without getting what they deserve.

Those who trust in Jesus to save them from their sin will no longer deserve punishment, but those who deny Jesus' salvation "he will burn up.. with unquenchable fire." Just as this is natural to do in agriculture, it will be natural for the Son of God to ultimately destroy evil. There is no equality between good and evil as is believed by some. Eventually, all evil will be destroyed by Jesus.

Realizing this, what should we do? Let those who haven't believed in Jesus believe and we who are to see Jesus soon should live lives consistent with that fact as I discussed in the last post.  Jesus could come any minute and the job won't be done until the evil is completely burned up.

Luke 3:7-14  :

He said therefore to the multitudes who went out to be baptized by him, “You offspring of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance, and don’t begin to say among yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our father;’ for I tell you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones! Even now the axe also lies at the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that doesn’t bring forth good fruit is cut down, and thrown into the fire.”

The multitudes asked him, “What then must we do?”

He answered them, “He who has two coats, let him give to him who has none. He who has food, let him do likewise.”

Tax collectors also came to be baptized, and they said to him, “Teacher, what must we do?”

He said to them, “Collect no more than that which is appointed to you.”

Soldiers also asked him, saying, “What about us? What must we do?”

He said to them, “Extort from no one by violence, neither accuse anyone wrongfully. Be content with your wages.”

Wow. How can a guy who calls his audience the "offspring of vipers" get so popular? God caused him to reach the moral conscience of his hearers so that they questioned their own readiness for the visitation of God. It was a good thing to do because they were being hypocritical and they were just about to be put to the test by the Messiah. It would be completely wrong for us to accuse the Jews, however. This kind of hypocrisy is still alive and well today and this message, is applicable to Christians in a very similar way as it was applicable to the Jews that John was speaking to. I like how John remarks about the cause for their behavior by saying that they weren't bringing "fourth fruits worthy of repentance." The way that the people were acting revealed that their hearts had not been changed, but they continued to act as if God wasn't going to come to them.

This is a major Biblical theme. God has already visited the earth in wrath and their are many who deny it. All around us we see evidence of a great flood that destroyed the ancient earth. There are water animal fossils on mountains and large water erosion formations the have severely cut into the landscape that speak of a terrible cataclysmic past. This was the last time that the wrath of God was made known to mankind as a whole.

Some recent articles posted on Amen Me! caused me to consider how much focus I had lost in recent years by simply forgetting about the return of Jesus to the earth. Jesus is coming for us soon, and even though that coming will not be "wrath" for us, it will bring a time of judgment in that our deeds here on earth will be judged as to how beneficial they really were to the kingdom of God.  Knowing and believing that Jesus really could return at any moment should have an affect on the way we live each moment of each day.

Wrath is not coming for us and that actually gives us a reason to look forward to Jesus return. Still, if we don't live in a way that is pleasing to Jesus today, Jesus' return won't be very desirable to us. If we are kind of wishing that Jesus doesn't return, we ought to question our repentance just like John says here.  We need to look at our behavior and make sure that we bring "fourth fruits worthy of repentance" too.

Luke 3:3-6  :

He came into all the region around the Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance for remission of sins. As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet,

“The voice of one crying in the wilderness,
       ‘Make ready the way of the Lord.
Make his paths straight.
       Every valley will be filled.
Every mountain and hill will be brought low.
       The crooked will become straight,
       and the rough ways smooth.
All flesh will see God’s salvation.’”

John the Baptist's ministry was written into the Bible before he was born. The passage quoted by Dr. Luke here comes from Isaiah 40:3-5. Have you ever wished that God would have written down your ministry so that you can read it and do what it says and know that you are doing the right thing? Believe it or not, even if that were true, we would still not always have confidence and I have proof from John the Baptist himself.

John was later to question his own ministry when he went into severe trials which proved to me that he is a man just like me. The great thing about John was that when he was doubting, he went strait to Jesus and asked Him what He thought. Jesus did not accuse or become disappointed with John. In fact, the Bible records that He then gave John the biggest commendation that any man had ever had up to that point. So, this one thing appears to be very clear. Even when we doubt, we must not forget to go to Jesus and let Him minister to us so that we can regain our vision no matter what our circumstances or how we feel. Jesus will encourage us and put our mind back on the right track without finding fault. He doesn't find fault with us because He has paid the price for us and understands our weakness. The biggest fault would be for us to not come to Him.

The other point I want to make is that God does have a plan for each of us. Jesus said that God even keeps track of the number of hairs on your head. Believe me, if He can do that, He has a plan for you too. Perhaps the reason that God doesn't tell us the plan is because part of that plan is for us to learn to depend on His leadership every day of our lives.

Thinking about what God said about John the Baptist's purpose, it is difficult to see how a desert living, locust eating, strait-shooter could accomplish this great task by just preaching and submerging people in water. If it were up to me to figure out the details, I would probably have chosen the wrong thing because I am quite sure that I wouldn't have done the "John the Baptist thing" the way He chose. What's interesting is that it worked and I have no idea how. Perhaps this is what God is trying to tell me.

Jeremiah 10:23  :

Yahweh, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man who walks to direct his steps.

I need to stop trying to figure everything out. I don't need to worry about the details. I can trust that God will work those out and surprise all of us, including me.

Luke 3:1-2  :

Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, in the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John, the son of Zacharias, in the wilderness.

This is a long, two verse sentence in which Dr. Luke provides very specific historic detail about when John the Baptist started his ministry. Just seeing this kind of specific data makes be have more confidence in the Holiness of the Bible.

The Bible has had many enemies over the time in which it has existed. Many times in many places, attempts have been made to completely destroy it or pervert it in some way. These verses have survived for almost 2,000 years now and we have this specific detail that continues to be available to every critic. You'd think that if Dr. Luke's accuracy was in question that it would be passages like this that would expose significant error, especially if the work had been made by someone who wasn't careful or who had attempted to make up the data. Instead, Dr. Luke's record continues to be respected among scholars today, providing important details about history.

Here we have the political leaders of Judea, Galilee, Ituraea and Trachonitis as well as the fact that there were two people involved in the high priesthood of Israel at the time. It also specifies that John was in the desert. Now these facts are hard to manufacture, and if they were, it appears to me that there is enough detail to expose a lie. Instead, after 2,000 years the accuracy has held up. This is one of the reasons that makes it difficult to not accept Dr. Luke's information about the miraculous things that he claims were witnessed by eye-witnesses. There is absolutely no reason for Luke to start making things up in this narrative! He clearly has a mind for detail and it just doesn't make any sense to me that he would add strange details into his accurate account if it weren't for the fact that he truly believed that they were just as real as the names and places that he specified here.

I am so glad that we have these details now. They give us insight into the importance that history is to Christianity and demonstrate to the world the reality of God's visitation and provision for mankind.

Luke 2:52  :

And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.

I am very interested in this little verse because it shows that Jesus not only had the favor of God but that He had the favor of men too. Although Jesus gained some pretty high-profile enemies that eventually killed Him later, this shows us something about how to gain a correct relationship with others. I don't think it is good teaching to suggest that Christians should always have a good reputation among non-believers, but we do know from this passage that there is a natural tendency for people to be attracted to a wise person.

There are many examples in the Bible that demonstrate that public opinion is not a way to decide what to do. It is God's will that that should guide our decisions not the majority. On the other hand, I believe that it is only natural that one who is wise will be liked because a wise person knows how to deal with things that happen in life. People like to be around those who know how to deal with situations that arise and understand the way life works. God made all people and so it isn't too surprising that when someone lives a godly life that they would have traits that others find appealing.

The most important trait is that we learn to how to be in favor with God and this is a topic that is well covered in the Bible. If you want to learn more about that I suggest that you read my posts on Galatians as this is one of its main topics of that book. It is clear that when we have a right relationship with God, He will help us to maintain a good relationship with mankind and that is what I believe made Jesus have popularity with others.  Jesus always had many people who loved Him even when He had such powerful enemies. We shouldn't measure ourselves by the power of those who like us! We should treat all people with value just as God does and realize that the power structures of this world have been manipulated by the God of this World (Satan).

Luke 2:42-51  :

When he was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem according to the custom of the feast, and when they had fulfilled the days, as they were returning, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. Joseph and his mother didn’t know it, but supposing him to be in the company, they went a day’s journey, and they looked for him among their relatives and acquaintances. When they didn’t find him, they returned to Jerusalem, looking for him. It happened after three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them, and asking them questions. All who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. When they saw him, they were astonished, and his mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us this way? Behold, your father and I were anxiously looking for you.”

He said to them, “Why were you looking for me? Didn’t you know that I must be in my Father’s house?” They didn’t understand the saying which he spoke to them. And he went down with them, and came to Nazareth. He was subject to them, and his mother kept all these sayings in her heart.

This has always been an interesting piece of history to me and was one of the things that Mary kept in her heart, and the Dr. Luke was able to write down for us. This reminds me of something important to discuss about parenting.

It is easy for us as parent to try to control every aspect of the lives of our children in order to give them the very best in life. Even if we don't attempt to control our children, we may go the other way and not be concerned about the direction that they are going. Both ways are wrong. We see here that Mary and Joseph weren't paying close enough attention to the truth about Jesus and, perhaps, not close enough attention to God's will. Evidently, God wanted Jesus to stay longer in the temple that day, but Mary and Joseph were caught up enough in the procession that they didn't even realize that Jesus wasn't with them for a whole day of travel.

I do think it is wonderful to a have a community of faith that works together to take care of children. I don't see any fault in that, but the real problem appeared to be that Mary and Joseph didn't realize that God wanted Jesus to stay longer and not only did they miss God's clues, they even got distracted enough to get a whole day out of the city without considering it.

I noticed that vacations can be a time when I really focus on Jesus or a time when I get distracted and focus on my own interests. I prefer the vacations that are Jesus focused because I look back on those times as points in my life when I really rested. I can see that running around town for a day looking for Jesus was probably not Joseph's idea of fun!

As children, we see that obeying God should take first priority. If parental guidance goes against what God wants you to do then you must go with God. We also see that Jesus still "was subject to them" as soon as it was God's will to do so. It is important, however, to know what God's will is by reading the Bible and keeping our minds on the truth that He has already told us.

Luke 2:39-41  :

When they had accomplished all things that were according to the law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee, to their own city, Nazareth. The child was growing, and was becoming strong in spirit, being filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him. His parents went every year to Jerusalem at the feast of the Passover.

Mary and Joseph were godly parents in that they gave God first place in how they lived day-by-day. The believed God and so they carefully did everything that was required of them, even though it meant that they had to travel. This lifestyle of faith is a good example to all parents. Our lives should demonstrate what we believe and our actions should go along with our words.

What a great thing it is for a child to grow up in a home in which God is given first place. In a home like that children get exposed to the kind of influences that will cause them to grow inside and out. I am sure that it was God who was helping Mary and Joseph as they relied on Him. That's how it is for us. We don't really know what to do sometimes as parents, but trusting in God is a good way to find out since He is the one who created all of us.

Specifically here, I like how Mary and Joseph took a "yearly vacation" to spend time with others who shared the same faith. That is very important for us today. Families should spend time together with each other in a setting of faith so that it can counteract the world and build up children and their parents. Just like today, Mary, Joseph and family lived in a culture that was antagonistic toward a godly lifestyle and doing this each year must have given their family a good set of memories that included God and His people interacting naturally with less inhibition and distraction.

It's good to note that Mary and Joseph had other children and they raised them quite well. Jesus own brother became an important leader after Jesus went up into heaven. It is obvious that this earthly family had troubles and made mistakes as we read later, but this involvement with things of God must have made it much more healthy than it would have been otherwise.

Luke 2:36-38  :

There was one Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher (she was of a great age, having lived with a husband seven years from her virginity, and she had been a widow for about eighty-four years), who didn’t depart from the temple, worshipping with fastings and petitions night and day. Coming up at that very hour, she gave thanks to the Lord, and spoke of him to all those who were looking for redemption in Jerusalem.

It is very interesting that Dr. Luke records two witnesses in the temple. As I mentioned when we went through John, the law required that two witnesses prove a matter and right here on this day in the temple, two prophets testified that Jesus was Israel's redeemer. Dr. Luke, being educated, was probably very aware of this fact and was careful to write it down for us.

I like to consider Anna because she had been a widow for a very long time having only been with her husband for seven years before he died. It would have been easy for her to complain or fall into despair but God gave her strength and through faith in Him she completely dedicated herself to temple worship both "night and day." This is a very real similarity to Christianity.

We have also died to our old way of life and our old way of life has died to us. We dedicate ourselves to God in worship both night and day and for ever because of God's grace to us and to mankind for the new life He has given us.

It is very understandable that Anna was ready to become a powerful witness for Jesus when He came. She spent all day praying and paying close attention to the things of heaven and when heaven came she recognized Him and "spoke of him to all those who were looking for redemption in Jerusalem." I believe that when our focus is on heavenly things, our witness for Jesus becomes very strong. May God help us to be prepared to make Jesus known to those around us, who are looking for redemption through faith in His word.