Part of a sermon delivered at IGBC 13 Dec 2009
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, during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness. (Luke 3:1-2 NKJV)
In my previous post entitled, A Prophecy of Two Messengers, I explained how Malachi had prophesied about two messengers of God who will be sent to Israel: the first, called "My Messenger" who will prepare the way for another much greater messenger, called "The Lord" or "The Master".
In that year
One day this prophecy of the one called "My Messenger" by God himself came true and is recorded for us in Luke 3:1-20.
It was the 15th year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar. Pontus Pilate was then governor of Judea. Herod was tetrach of Galilee while his brother Phillipi was tetrach of Iturea and Trachonitis. And Lysanias was tetrach of Abilene.
All these names can be verified in the literature of secular history, showing us that it was in that particular year, at that particular place in the world that the prophecy of Malachi 3:1 began to get fulfilled. That year, Annas and Caiaphas were high priests over the people of God.
John the Baptist - "My Messenger"
John son of Zechariah is more commonly known as John the Baptist to us today. Luke chapter 3 says that the Word of God came to him, and he went into all the region around Jordan. He preached a baptism of repentance - for the remission (NKJV) or forgiveness (NIV) of sins.
John was highly respected by many. In v.12-14 we can read that tax collectors and soldiers went to see him and called him Teacher. At the same time he was highly unpopular with one man, the powerful tetrach, Herod. (v.20)
John's preaching was beginning to bring about the drastic change as prophesied in Malachi 3:1-5, as we shall see in the following sections of this post.
A voice crying in the wilderness
Another prophecy written about John the Baptist is recorded in Isaiah 40:3-5 ESV,
3 A voice cries: "In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD;
make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
4 Every valley shall be lifted up,
and every mountain and hill be made low;
the uneven ground shall become level,
and the rough places a plain.
5 And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed,
and all flesh shall see it together,
for the mouth of the LORD has spoken."
Let us look at the "crying out" of John the Baptist more closely in Luke 3:7-14. Here are some strong words from this voice in the wilderness to people who came to him to be baptised:
He called them a brood of vipers! (v.7) And he noted that they were fleeing from the wrath of God that was coming upon them.
He also told them to bear fruits in their lives - fruits that are worthy of repentance (v.8), warning them against thinking of themselves highly as Jews who descended from Abraham.
And finally he prophesied that "every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire".
This very same cry for repentance in the wilderness was to be repeated later in the ministry of the apostle Paul, in obedience to his vision of the Lord Jesus at Damascus, going every where calling people to repentance, a ministry that is summarised in his own words when making his defence before King Agrippa in Acts 26:19,20
"Therefore, O King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, but declared first to those in Damascus, then in Jerusalem and throughout all the region of Judea, and also to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds in keeping with their repentance. . . ."
What shall we do then?
The people who heard John's crying out for repentance asked him, "What shall we do then?"
[Malaysian slang, "So, like that then how leh?"]
John's answer:
Share your necessities with the poor and needy. He who has two sets of clothes must give away one set to him who has none (v.11). And he who has food should do likewise, i.e. share half of it with him who has no food to eat!
He went to tell the tax collectors and the soldiers to flee from greed:
To the tax collectors, John said, "Stop collecting more than required by law" (v.12). And to the soldiers, "Stop threatening people, or falsely accusing people for gain" (v.14)
In other words, John's message to them was that they should be contented with what God had provided them.
The most important question
Finally, we see in v.15-17 that John the Baptist answered the most important question of all,
"Is this person the Messiah, or not?"
Note that they dared not confront John the Baptist, but had instead reasoned in their hearts, tacitly as it were, conferring among themselves this crucial question.
Somehow, John the Baptist was aware of this tacit question. He began to tell them of the Second Messenger that was prophesied in Malachi 3:1 - the messenger whom they longed for, and in whom they delighted to see, the one who was called Adon, the Lord in Malachi 3:1.
John told them that while he baptized them with water for repentance, (to turn them away from the love of the world to the love of God), the second messenger who would come later would baptize them with God's Spirit (to make them God's children, see Romans 8:13-14) and with fire (to make them pure).
This reminds us that Malachi 3:2 has prophesied that when the Adon comes, he would bring about a great purification in Israel:
Malachi 3:2
But who will be able to endure the day when he comes? Who will be able to survive when he appears? He will be like strong soap, like afire that refines metal.
Indeed, John says, the winnowing fan is in the hands of this second messenger, the Adon of Malachi 3:1, who will thoroughly clean out his threshing floor. He will gather the wheat grains but he will burn the chaff with unquenchable fire.
In this way, the Lord Jesus who would come after John the Baptist, would bring about the great and drastic change among the people of God as prophesied by Malachi: a purification, a restoration and a final judgement - by unquenchable fire.
The Adon, Jesus the Messiah
In closing let us read Luke 3:12-22. It tells us that Jesus of Nazareth, who had no sin, who needed no repentance, also went to John the Baptist to be baptized by him. Note carefully that after Jesus came up and out of the water, he received the Holy Spirit of God in him. And the voice of God, his Father, spoke from heaven saying, "This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased"
In this way, our Lord Jesus had indeed become the pioneer of all Christians. Like him we too must be buried together with him in death during baptism. Like him, we will also be raised to a new life and will receive the Spirit of God in us when we come out of the waters of baptism. In this way we are to be born again, by water and by God's spirit.
Later, in John 3:5, our Lord Jesus told King Nicodemus,
"I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. . . ."
Brothers and Sisters in Christ, let us heed the cry of this voice in the wilderness - a cry telling us to turn away from covetousness and from the love of money. A cry that tells us to let God's Spirit to come upon us, to fill us and to empower us, giving us new birth as children of God. And it is a cry that tells to let God's fire purify our lives from sin and to restore us to be a holy and royal priesthood of God, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
