Over the next few weeks, I will be writing blogs on the Gospel of Luke and hopefully giving some insights from the perspective of Jesus per Luke's writings. The purpose of the Book of Luke was seemingly to present an accurate description or account of the life of Christ. Luke's presentation of who Jesus is calls Him the perfect human and perfect Savior. Reading about Jesus in the book of Luke further illustrates the truth that He impacted people in a miraculous way all along the roads He traveled. Luke holds many more parables of Jesus and his friendship with Paul exposes a Jesus connection beyond compare. I have enjoyed reading Luke and the gospel deepens my understanding of the teachings of Jesus.
Luke was a Gentile, and the only known Gentile author in the New Testament, and the gospel of Luke is the first of two accounts written by Luke. The book of Acts was the second. The Book of Luke was written somewhere around A.D. 60 in Rome or Caesarea. Luke was a physician and his attention to detail helped me see and hear more of Jesus than the other gospels. I will pick up the book of Luke in Chapter 2:52 where scripture says 52 Jesus grew in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and all the people.
John the Baptist was a significant "voice shouting in the wilderness" as Isaiah had prophesied in Isaiah 40: 3 Listen! It’s the voice of someone shouting, “Clear the way through the wilderness for the Lord! Make a straight highway through the wasteland for our God! 4 Fill in the valleys, and level the mountains and hills. Straighten the curves, and smooth out the rough places. 5 Then the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all people will see it together. The Lord has spoken!” The message of John the Baptist was for the people to "turn from their sin and turn to God for forgiveness." John called out their sins specifically and called out the people by calling them a "brood of vipers" in Luke 3:7.
John further illustrates the truth that everyone has a purpose in God's work. John was baptizing people and preaching for them to repent of their sins. The baptisms showed they were repenting of their sins, but John said there was someone who was going to do more, and that someone was Jesus. Luke 3: 1 At this time a message from God came to John son of Zechariah, who was living in the wilderness. 3 Then John went from place to place on both sides of the Jordan River, preaching that people should be baptized to show that they had repented of their sins and turned to God to be forgiven.
John did not hold anything back when preaching to the people who gathered to listen and here are some of his words to them in Luke 3: 7 When the crowds came to John for baptism, he said, “You brood of snakes! Who warned you to flee the coming wrath? 8 Prove by the way you live that you have repented of your sins and turned to God. Don’t just say to each other, ‘We’re safe, for we are descendants of Abraham.’ That means nothing, for I tell you, God can create children of Abraham from these very stones. 9 Even now the ax of God’s judgment is poised, ready to sever the roots of the trees. Yes, every tree that does not produce good fruit will be chopped down and thrown into the fire.”
The people then asked John what they should do in response to his preaching. In verses 10-14 John told them some specific things they should do to be made right and in those specific life changes John was speaking to obvious sins in their world at that time. His was more a "works" repentance and no doubt a change of mind would result in a changed attitude. But there was more to be done in the people's lives and the following verses speak to the "more." Luke 3: 15 Everyone was expecting the Messiah to come soon, and they were eager to know whether John might be the Messiah. 16 John answered their questions by saying, “I baptize you with water; but someone is coming soon who is greater than I am—so much greater that I’m not even worthy to be his slave and untie the straps of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. 17 He is ready to separate the chaff from the wheat with his winnowing fork. Then he will clean up the threshing area, gathering the wheat into his barn but burning the chaff with never-ending fire.” 18 John used many such warnings as he announced the Good News to the people.
You may say "Good news?" The good news was Jesus was coming to make everything right and the "right" He was bringing was eternal and did not come from them changing their ways, but was the result of grace and life change provided by a holy sacrifice. Things were moving from a very earthly, human way of living to a very spiritual way of living and that power was the Holy Spirit working. There had to be a beginning for the Holy Spirit to begin to move and He came on the scene in the next verses in Luke 3: 21 One day when the crowds were being baptized, Jesus himself was baptized. As he was praying, the heavens opened, 22 and the Holy Spirit, in bodily form, descended on him like a dove. And a voice from heaven said, “You are my dearly loved Son, and you bring me great joy.
When the Holy Spirit descended on Jesus the next thing that happened was His journey to the cross and the ministry in the middle, and our salvation was the result. Praise God for the Holy Spirit descending! In Luke 3:23 Luke writes this 23 Jesus was about thirty years old when he began his public ministry. The public ministry of Jesus is what we will be looking at over the next few weeks and the effect Jesus had on His society will give us perfect direction in our faith and our calling as believers in Jesus. It is my desire that you join me on this journey of faith as we look deep into the steps Jesus walked and learn to follow those steps in our pilgrimage in life as we read The Gospel of Luke.
The Pilgrimage Continues
David Warren