Two Different Baptisms, So Choose Wisely (Luke 3)

Luke 3 starts off with a pretty incredible verse whose purpose is put a date to the passage. Luke names the Caesar and the year of his reign, which should be enough. Then he rattles off four government officials who were in office at the time. In v2, he names the two high priests of the time. How about that for dating it?

All four gospel accounts cite Isaiah 40:3-5 to some extent, yet Luke is the only one that includes Isaiah 40:5. Here's the passage from Isaiah:

3A voice is calling,
"Clear the way for the LORD in the wilderness;
Make smooth in the desert a highway for our God.
4"Let every valley be lifted up,
And every mountain and hill be made low;
And let the rough ground become a plain,
And the rugged terrain a broad valley;
5Then the glory of the LORD will be revealed, And all flesh will see it together;
For the mouth of the LORD has spoken."

Luke 3:6 repeats Isaiah 40:5 as follows:

AND ALL FLESH WILL SEE THE SALVATION OF GOD.

Why does Luke include this? Hmm...

Next, John speaks to the crowds and what a way to start his message, Luke 3:7-9

7So he began saying to the crowds who were going out to be baptized by him, "You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?

8"Therefore bear fruits in keeping with repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham for our father,' for I say to you that from these stones God is able to raise up children to Abraham.

9"Indeed the axe is already laid at the root of the trees; so every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

Why the in the world does John begin his message w/ "You brood of vipers"?!?! Well, at least it grabbed their attention...

3:8 is a pretty incredible statement. All along the Israelites have been the chosen people. To say that their forefathers were Abraham, Isaac and Jacob was really something. Now John comes and essentially tells them NOT to say that! What gives? "... for I say to you that from these stones God is able to raise up children to Abraham." If I were an Israelite that day, my world would have been rocked. Here I am living in Jordan, there is no Israelite nation since they are occupied by the Romans and ruled by tetrarch Herod, a half-breed Jew. But I can still claim to be the chosen people- Abraham is my father!! Woops, John blew that one out of the water.

What then if they were not to claim Abraham as father? Luke 3:9. Bear fruit or else get cut down. Ouch, isn't that a little too harsh? Nope. John's younger cousin used the same metaphor in Luke 13:

6And He began telling this parable: "A man had a fig tree which had been planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and did not find any.

7"And he said to the vineyard-keeper, 'Behold, for three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree without finding any. Cut it down! Why does it even use up the ground?'

8"And he answered and said to him, 'Let it alone, sir, for this year too, until I dig around it and put in fertilizer;

9and if it bears fruit next year, fine; but if not, cut it down.'"

Of course, there is also the much more familiar John 15.

Reading Luke 3:10-14, I did not think much about it. Ok, John is now telling the people to be nice and fair to each other. Big Whoop! Yet, this is totally consistent w/ his message and purpose. I recall that the Mosaic Law focused mainly on defining sin, the sacrificial system and penalties for sin. The main thing I recall that was not related to sin was the amazing Jubilee Year in Leviticus 25 and 27. Here, John began to instruct the people beyond the Law, hence "paving the way" for Jesus. John in fact foreshadows Paul's message in Romans 3:20-

19Now we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Law, so that every mouth may be closed and all the world may become accountable to God;

20because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for ⁽through the Law comes the knowledge of sin.

Also note that John's message is solely a message of repentance- the beginning of the gospel message. Jesus brings the full message- repent of your sins and believe and have eternal life.

Now the people are wondering if John is the Messiah and he's quick to correct them, Luke 3:16-17:

16As for me, I baptize you with water; but One is coming who is mightier than I, and I am not fit to untie the thong of His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 17"His winnowing fork is in His hand to thoroughly clear His threshing floor, and to gather the wheat into His barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.

John's doing his job here- pointing to the coming King and Judge- Jesus Christ, who will baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire. A winnowing fork is a pitchfork farmers used to throw the grain into the air and husk of the grain (chaff) would be blown away in the wind. The grain is brought to the storehouses while the chaff is burned. Note the clear image of Hell here: unquenchable fire. What first comes to mind when you read the word "unquenchable" preceding "fire?" See Luke 12 for more on this.

So who gets to be baptized with the Holy Spirit and who gets to be baptized with fire? Or, who are the grain and who are the chaff?

It is interesting that John doesn't say anything about what it will be like to be baptized by the Holy Spirit, rather he focuses on the fire, the part about judgment.

Finally, the story shifts to Jesus in 3:21. Jesus was also baptized and the Holy Spirit descended on him like a dove. The Father speaks, "You are my beloved Son, in You I am well pleased." What is the relevance of this event in the context of this passage? In and of itself, the baptism is a new beginning, symbolized by the rising out of the water- a new birth. Though Jesus is God, He too is "baptized" by the Holy Spirit. And Jesus is just beginning his public ministry here. Technically, He hasn't achieved anything yet. But the Father considers his Son his beloved and is well pleased. That tells me that Jesus' relationship with the Father is not about his performance. Imagine that.

But in the context of this passage which focused heavily on John up until now, perhaps John didn't say (or Luke didn't write down) what it would be like to be baptized with the Holy Spirit since Jesus is the perfect living example!! What if God the Father says the same thing He said about Jesus for everyone as well who is baptized with the Holy Spirit, and not with fire?? "You are my beloved child, with you I am well pleased." Just a conjecture, I'm not sure. But that'd be pretty awesome- since, as Christians, we are filled w/ His Spirit.


So... what's the point? John preaches the coming judgment- You're either going to get the Holy Spirit or fire. It doesn't matter that the Israelites were descendants of Abraham. That's why Luke, a Gentile, includes Isaiah 40:5- everyone, not just Jews, will see the salvation of God. So everyone will be judged, Jew or Gentile, and the "sentence" will be either baptism by the Holy Spirit or by fire in Hell. As the old knight says to Indiana Jones at the end of "The Last Crusade," "Choose wisely."

(BTW, there's some irony in John's words. John baptizes with water, Jesus baptizes with the Holy Spirit or with fire. Water/Fire- get it?)

Lastly, Luke traces Jesus' genealogy. It'd probably be pretty fascinating to examine each and every name and it's meaning or to research the life of each name. But just a couple observations:

• Traced through Jesus' supposed father, Joseph.
• Traced all the way back to Adam.
• Adam is the first human "son of God." The genealogy stops at God.

What is the significance? In line w/ this chapter, tracing Jesus' lineage all the way back to the first man, from whom we are all descendants, Luke asserts that Jesus is Savior of all, not only for the Jews.

In contrast to Luke, Matthew's purpose was to make a case to the Jews that Jesus is their rightful king. He even says, "David the king" in Matthew 1:6. Matthew begins his account with the genealogy and starts with Abraham and works his way up to Jesus. Matthew traces Jesus' line through His mother, Mary. Additionally, Matthew includes four other women in his version (Tamar, Rahab, Ruth Bathsheba).

Mark and John do not include Jesus' genealogy.