3

So did John’s baptism forgive sins, was this baptism essential to save their souls from damnation? In Acts 19 we learn more about John’s baptism here and that, although not mentioned here in Luke, the point of this baptism was to prepare people to accept their Messiah who would remit their sins on the cross through his death and resurrection by simply believing on Jesus.

1. Acts 19:4 says “Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus.”

2. Biblically, the word “repentence” is Strong's G3341 - metanoia and it just means “to change your mind”. Our modern dictionaries do not have Biblical definitions for this word and people confuse it to mean other things like contrition. Although contrition may be involved and happen it is not a “required” outcome or meaning of this word.

3. In John 1:29 we clearly see John stating Jesus would take away or bring remission of sins “The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.”

John 1:31 tells us that the whole point of the water baptism was to show Israel this was their Messiah. “And I knew him not: but that he should be made manifest to Israel, therefore am I come baptizing with water.”

1. We also see here even John didn’t know Jesus was the Messiah “And I knew him not”. This is why God gave John the sing of the dove so he would know and then point Him out to Israel (John 1:32-33).

In conclusion, John was preparing people to “change their mind” this is what the word repentance means (and even ways but these good works would not save them). It was a baptism to prepare them to receive their Messiah. John is the forerunner to Christ (Matthew 3:3) to prepare the people so they could receive and believe on Him and have forgiveness of sin. The water is almost symbolic for the Spirit baptism that would come with Jesus (John 1:33).

John was this “one” prophesied of in Isaiah 40:3 “The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.”

In order to understand what Luke means here we must read on to verses 10-14 but essentially this is a metaphor speaking of the hearts of the Jews, the people John was crying out to and preparing to receive their Messiah.

Initially prophesied in Isaiah 40:5 “And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.”. Then as we read in Titus 2:11 after Jesus had died and rose again “For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,”

Matthew 3:7 gives us more details than Luke here ands makes it clear John wasn’t talking to the average person that came out into the wilderness but this rebuke was specifically to the Pharisees and Sadducees. He, like Jesus, rebuked them for who they were: “But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?”

“ We have Abraham to our father” The Jews thought they were automatically the children of Abraham through their blood line, John was trying to wake them up unto the reality they need a savior. They will likewise perish in their sins just like Gentiles, Jesus said the same thing in John 8:24 “I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins.” and Luke 13:3 and 5 “I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.” Again, repent here means change their mind about who Jesus is. Then, in John chapter 8 the later portion, Jesus goes back and forth on this same topic, trying to wake the Jews up that they don’t know God and them denying He is of God and wanting to kill Him is proof.

Here John is trying to shake them up so that they believe upon Jesus their Messiah. It is easy to get distracted by sin and the world, he tells them here to bear fruits, not for salvation but so that they won’t miss the One through whom salvation would come.

John says “God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham” and this is exactly what God did when He called the Gentiles as Paul tells us in Romans 11 he raised up children from the Gentiles.

1. In Romans 11:11 Paul says even though God did this, He still wants the Jews so He “raised up stones” in hopes it would cause the Jews to be jealous “I say then, Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy.

2. Most Jews missed their Messiah that John tried to prepare them for because they sought salvation through the law and not Christ “For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.” Romans 10:3-4

   1. It is only by faith one can be a child “unto Abraham” as Galatians 3:7 says “Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham.”

Jesus Himself says this same exact thing in Matthew 7:19 “Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.”

1. This wording of both John and Jesus sound quite similar to what Jesus says in John 15:6 about unfruitful branches being cut off and burned “If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.”

2. The solution given by Jesus was to abide in Him in order to bear fruit John 15:4-5. He also said you can’t bear it on your own John 15:4. How do we abide? 1 John 4:15 says anyone that confesses that Jesus is the Son of God abides in God. In summary, if a person believes the gospel they will bear fruit (Philippians 2:13).

   1. The gospel brings forth fruit as Colossians 1:6 says “ For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel; Which is come unto you, as it is in all the world; and bringeth forth fruit, as it doth also in you, since the day ye heard of it, and knew the grace of God in truth:”

In the book of Jude it is perhaps the most clear explanation of what constitutes a fruitless tree being cut down. Those rejecting Jesus are again described as trees. It describes them as “ungodly men” that are guilty of “denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ” in verse 4. They are described as trees that are “without fruit” in verse 12. These are men that never knew believed in Jesus. They were never saved because as verse 5 says, they “believed not” and “to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever.” verse 13 says. The axe is at the root of every man (tree) and he is given a choice to receive or deny Jesus. Those that deny Jesus, without their sins forgiven, will be “hewn down” and cast into darkness and fire (Matthew 8:12, Matthew 22:13, Mark 9:43).

1. Jesus uses this same language in Matthew 7:18 describing people as trees and says that a corrupt tree cannot bring forth good fruit. A corrupt tree is a man without Christ. He says good tree brings forth good fruit. A tree doesn’t strive to produce the fruit on it’s branches, rather it is the natural outcome of being rooted and planted. Likewise, someone that has believed the gospel is then in Christ (Ephesians 2:12-13). He will bring forth this fruit in a person.

In summary, John was the forerunner to Christ, preparing the way. In Acts 19:4 we see John prepared them to believe upon Jesus which once they did this would then cause them to become a good fruit bearing tree, one whom Jesus would not “hewn down”.

Now we get to the explanations of what Luke 3:5 above means. The rich are referred to as mountains and those with “two coats”. They are brought low by giving of their excess to the poor. The poor “he that hath meat” is a valley that gets filled from the rich giving to them:

“Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways shall be made smooth;” is referring to. We have rich and poor in this verse:

The publicans or the corrupt tax collectors, are referred to as “crooked” and are told to “Exact no more than that which is appointed you”. In doing so they will “be made straight” as verse Luke 3:5 says:

“Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways shall be made smooth;” is referring to. We have rich and poor in this verse:

The soldiers are told to “do violence to no man, neither accuse any falsely” This violence and false accusation represent the “rough” we read about in Luke 3:5, where John is telling them how to be made “smooth” by changing their ways:

“Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways shall be made smooth;”

Why did Jesus have to get baptized if He had no sin and did not need a savior like the people? There are two reasons He was baptized we read of:

1. The first is so John knows this is the Messiah John 1:33 “And I knew him not: but he that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and remaining on him, the same is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost.” Interesting enough, later John questions if Jesus is the Messiah in Matthew 11:2-3 but Jesus reassures him in Matthew 11:4-6.

2. In Matthew 3:15 Jesus says it is needed to fulfil all righteousness “And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Then he suffered him.”

Some have cited a contradiction between the Matthew 1 genealogy and this one here in Luke but this is just do to a surface understanding of the texts. Since a child has two parents we should expect to see two genealogies in the Bible even though Jesus wasn’t the blood son of Joseph.

1. Matthew 1:16 clearly says that genealogy was that of the father Joseph “And Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.” The word “begat” clearly states Joseph was his son. Unlike what we read here in Luke.

2. In verse 23 here it reads ”(as was supposed) the son of Joseph” which gives a clue as in Koine Greek there is no word for “son-in-law”. So we can assume Heli’s daughter was Mary and Joseph was his son in law. We clearly know that Jacob was Joseph’s father from Matthew as he”begat” Joeseph so Heli cannot be Joeseph’s father. So in conclusion Luke is showing Mary’s bloodline.

3. The genealogies differ from David onward showing that both Joseph and Mary were in the bloodline of David.