Luke 3:1-20 – Jesus: Judge or Savior

Introduction

I just want to start off by letting you know that this passage in Luke is overwhelming. There is so much here. I could easily preach eight or nine sermons with eight or nine big ideas.

We could look at the reliability of the Scripture and the historicity of Jesus, the nature and necessity of repentance, the fruit of repentance, the biblical idea of Jesus as the Christ, the reality of a coming judgment and the necessity of turning to Christ for salvation, the mercy of God in Christ to sinful man, the reality of the Holy Spirit's refining work of sanctification, or the persecution that God's people can expect when sharing the Gospel of Jesus.

But, I’m not going to do that. We are just going to look at the message of the coming judgment of God as good news to those who mourn over their sin and embrace the reality that Jesus lived, died, and rose again to cleanse us of our sins and make us a holy people.

Background

For a little background of this passage, in case you have just joined us, we are looking at Luke from the perspective that Jesus is the Savior of the World. In our story so far, Jesus has been born, grown up to about 12, and has shown that his purpose is to do his Father's will, which is to save us. From our last sermon, we have skipped forward 18 years, probably sometime around 27-29 AD. Jesus is about 30 years old.

We really don't know anything about Jesus' life from age 12 until 30, except that he grew wiser and stronger both physically and found favor with God and people. Jesus is now about 30 and here we begin.

Exposition

Now, before I get into verses 1-20, I would like to give you a picture of the flow and the big idea of the next few chapters so that we don't get lost in these smaller sections.

In this section, 3:1-20, we see Jesus as Yahweh who will bring either salvation or wrath. In 3:21-37, we see Jesus as the unique and perfect beloved Son of God who is a fit vessel for the Spirit. In 4:1-13, we see Jesus as the Son of God, the perfect second Adam, who perfectly trusts and submits to God. Then in 4:14-15, we see Jesus as the One empowered by the Spirit who teaches and receives glory. Finally, in 4:16-30, we see Jesus as the liberator of his people, the Savior.

Luke is choosing stories in the life of Jesus to clearly show that Jesus is both God and man who is truly the Savior of the World. Now that we have our framework, let’s look at our text.

Look at how accurately Luke describes the time when Jesus began his ministry. In verses 1-2a he pinpoints a historical setting and date. It is the 15th year of Tiberius, which is around 27-29 AD, given Tiberius’ reign, the other tetrarchs, and who was in the high priesthood. He isn’t trying to hide anything. He wrote this before the close of the 1^st century, and so the people of this time could have validated all these things.

Also, look at verse 2b. John, the son of Zechariah, received the word of God. This phrase, “the word of God came to John,” is similar to how other prophets in Israel received revelation from God. This language is found throughout the major and minor prophets. The last of these, Malachi received the word of the Lord some 460 years earlier. Thus, Luke wants us to know that John’s message is as trustworthy as these other prophets. John is a legit prophet. Why? He speaks God’s words.

And what are these words? That all must repent in order to be forgiven of sins. If you are unsure of what repentance, forgiveness, and sin mean, let me help bring clarity. Repentance is the idea of changing our minds or turning about. It is a conversion toward God. It is having remorse or regret for how our views and actions have misaligned with God’s. We feel sorry for rebelling against him and living after our own desires. We now accept and obey God’s will instead of ours, we now live differently.

Sin is any want of conformity unto or transgression of the law of God. It is departing from God’s divine standards and standing in guilt and shame before him for our rebellion against him. It is not doing what he commands and doing what he forbids.

Forgiveness is pardon or cancellation of the debt or punishment that God required for our sin because he can’t allow evil in his presence. And so, John was preaching or proclaiming, making an announcement that if anyone repents, they can receive forgiveness of their sins before God.

This repentance grants us something, but not because of the actual act of repenting itself, as if we are pardoned because of how good or genuine our repentance is, but rather, because of the reality that Jesus is the means of our pardon because we are throwing all our trust in his person and work. He died to pay our penalty and rose from the dead to prove it worked.

In other words, our repentance is simply our alignment with the truth that we believe that we have sinned, departed from God’s divine standards, and are guilty before him and obligated to be punished eternally for our guilt. Since we know that God offers pardon or the cancellation of this obligation by trusting in Christ, we throw all our trust upon Jesus to free us from the justice that we deserve.

Now that we understand John’s message as summarized in verse 3, let’s dig into our first point from verses 4-5. Here we see the answer to the question, “Who is Jesus?” Which is that he is Yahweh the king.

In these verses, John quotes Isaiah 40:3-5. These verses were, for the Jews, a type of representation of God's coming salvation that they were all waiting for. These verses were part of an introduction to chapters 40-55 of Isaiah, which announces the ultimate fulfillment of the saving message of God.

Isaiah 40:1-2 speaks of the consolation that God's deliverance brings, which is the restoration of God's people. Verses 3-5, which John quotes, is a response to this restoration and calls for transformation in preparation for Yahweh's return. The way for the Messiah will be expedited as obstacles are removed for him. He will level the playing field, and the humble, weak, and sinful people will receive him. The coming of the Lord spoken of here is the coming of Yahweh, the I Am, the eternal God. By quoting this in reference to Jesus, John is saying that Jesus is Yahweh. Then, in verse 5 of Isaiah 40, it speaks of the universal vision of God's salvation. All flesh, all people groups, will be allowed to see and embrace salvation through Jesus, the Savior of the world.

The purpose of this quote from Isaiah aligns with Luke's purpose, to establish Jesus as the Savior of the World. He will restore Israel to God. He will ensure the mission to the Gentiles as promised to Abraham. He will show the power of God's word. He will show his power compared to the frailty of his enemies and his people’s enemies.

This quote by John the Baptist, and really this whole section helps us to understand Jesus' ministry. Which we see in our second point from verses 6 and 7, where we see the question of “What will Jesus do?” answered. He will either bring salvation or judgment.

Verse 6, which is a brief citation of Isaiah 52:10, answers the question, “What will Jesus do?” He will bring salvation to the world. When it says all flesh will “see the salvation of God,” it is speaking of the great reality that God has, in Christ, opened salvation to non-Jews. They can now, in Christ, become a part of his people.

All those who embrace Christ have received the way of peace that the angels proclaimed to the shepherds at Jesus’ birth. Those who receive this peace are those whom God is now pleased with through his Son.

In verse 7, we see that Jesus won’t just bring salvation, but he will also bring judgment upon rebels. John the Baptist calls some of the crowd a "brood of vipers” that had been warned of “…the wrath to come." They are proving to be the offspring of the serpent spoken of in Gen. 3:15. They think they can escape this wrath by simply being baptized by John. In Isaiah 59:5-8, which parallels Isaiah 40:3, these vipers are those whose ways are crooked, living lives of injustice, not the way of peace.

Thus, these people who reject and oppose Christ will meet the reality of the “wrath to come,” the destructive fire of judgment. This language parallels Mal. 3-4 which speaks of the coming messenger, who is John. 

And so, in these verses, we see that Jesus will either bring salvation or judgment. John is laying this before those who are listening to him.

This brings us to our third point, which is the logical question when such weighty things are presented. This question is found in verses 8-14, “What must we do?” This is answered by calling people to prepare the way in themselves by exercising repentance and bearing fruit.

In verses 8-9 John lays out the idea that the people of Israel cannot rely upon their Abrahamic ancestry. Instead, they must repent and bear fruit. John gets this imagery from Isaiah 51:1b-2 where the prophet speaks of Abraham as the rock from which God's people were cut and have God's blessing upon them. Israel was supposed to be God’s people, in God’s place, living under his rule and blessing. God’s blessing to Abraham would ultimately lead to blessing the nations. Jesus would be the offspring promised to Abraham who would bless the nations, and as Jesus taught, those that are found in him would bear good fruit among the nations, just like the land that God promised to Israel would be abundant and fruitful. In other words, those who are brought into Christ will bear fruit in keeping with the reality of their salvation.

John the Baptist is telling these Israelites that Abrahamic ancestry by itself will not make them God's people. Even though they are like stones cut from Abraham, God can take actual stones and make them Abraham's children. This is the imagery found in Ezekiel 36:26-27, where God says to his people, “And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.” This is clearly pointing to Jesus as the Savior of the world. Paul, in his letters, speaks of those who have faith as true children of Abraham.

Throughout the OT, at various times, Israel is called a fruitless vine. These fruitless vines are not good for anything. They need to be cut down and thrown into the fire. This imagery of fire is seen in Malachi 3-4, as I mentioned before, which is prophesying of John the Baptist's ministry of proclamation of the coming Messiah.

In verses 10-14, some of the people are convicted and don’t know what to do. They ask John for guidance. He tells them to live lives of love to God by loving others. Throughout the Scriptures, God clearly speaks of love for God as demonstrated in care for others by helping the hungry, cold, homeless, widows, and many others, as well as making sure not to defraud others for the good of self.

It seems like John is telling them to fulfill the second tablet of the law in response to God’s great salvation in Christ. This is a reiteration of the idea found in Exodus 20 in the preface to the Ten Commandments. “I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Therefore, you shall…” John has told them of what God is doing through Christ, and now he gives them a command to live a life of loving others.

Our final point is found in verses 15-17, which answers the question, “What will the results be?” The answer is that judgment will come upon those who will not repent, and purification will come upon those who do. And those who do are God’s people who are united to Christ.

The people hear John the Baptist’s amazing words and are filled with expectation of the coming kingdom of God. In this expectation, they are wondering whether John might be the Christ, the Messiah.

Why would they wonder this? The answer is found in the idea that the Messiah is the one who "comes," which refers to Malachi 3:1 and Psalm 118:26. They were obviously a little off, because they missed the messenger who would prepare the way for Yahweh. The Messiah or Christ is the strong one, the anointed one. This strong one is God. The Messiah is the anointed, or chosen One on whom the Spirit of the Lord will rest, the one who will walk in the power of the Spirit. This is seen Isaiah 11:2, which says, “And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.”

You see, the one who prepares for the way of the Lord, the Messiah, will simply proclaim the message and prepare the people for his coming by baptizing them with water as a symbol of repentance and cleansing, but the Messiah, the Christ, he will be given the Holy Spirit, who will rest upon him, and he will pour out the Holy Spirit upon his people out of the gift of the Spirit he has been given.

The language of a baptism with the Holy Spirit and fire, is not referring to two baptisms, but one. We can see that because it is addressed to "you," which is one group.

The language of Spirit and fire are found together with the imagery of water in Isaiah 30:27-28. Here it speaks of the discriminating judgment of God. When this is taken with Isaiah 32:15, it shows us that Jesus will either bring judgment or he will purify his people through his own work. You see, either people will be cleansed by the fire of the Holy Spirit, or they will be punished and destroyed as chaff that is burned up.

On Pentecost, Jesus ascends to heaven. At his resurrection, he was gifted with the Holy Spirit, and now, because of this, he gifts the Holy Spirit to his people. Because we are sinful and in need of sanctification, we receive the Holy Spirit in the form of tongues of fire, which points to our need of purification. Yet, as we will see in the next passage, Jesus receives the Spirit in the form of a dove.

Why does Jesus get a dove, and we get fire? Because Jesus is the perfect landing zone for the Spirit. He is completely perfect in every way and we are not.

This passage ends John preaching the good news of Christ as the coming king in verses 18-20. But he also called out the evils that were being done by Herod, like taking his brother Philip’s wife. For this and other things, he was thrown in prison. With this, John’s story ends. He fades away in a cell, eventually to be put to death. But Jesus is now the primary focus. Why? He, Jesus, is the Savior of the world.

Application

Now, with all this explanation, what is the application?

The Good News of the Gospel is Good News for some and bad news for others. For those who do not embrace it, it is bad news. Jesus comes with his winnowing fork, basically, a tool used to throw up the wheat in the air and have the chaff, the outer shell of the wheat, separated so that it could be burnt up.

For those who embrace the Good News of Jesus, they are embracing the reality that they are sinful, broken, and in need of forgiveness. They believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, who came to grant forgiveness for their sin through his life and sacrificial death. They repent of their rebellion and turn to God, despising their sin and the person they were who would dare rebel against a perfect God.

Jesus did come in time and history in the early 1^st century, but he is coming again. Each and every person must either embrace Christ as Savior, or they will experience him as Judge. Every person must prepare themselves for this second coming of Jesus Christ. Everyone must accept the reality of their sinfulness and need for salvation and embrace the salvation of God that is only found in the person of Jesus Christ.

Have you recognized Jesus as King, the savior of the world? Have you exercised repentance for your sin? Have you allowed yourself to be cleansed by the fire of the Holy Spirit? If not, what are you waiting for? The day of judgment is coming.

But, if you are found in Christ, since you have turned to him in faith and repentance, and are waiting for his second coming, then this passage has a few things in it for you.

First, live a life of love toward others by sharing your possessions with those who have none. Consider taking your excess goods and finding someone who is in need and helping them. How many outfits do you have? Do you need them all? Can you help someone who has nothing?

Second, live a life of love toward others by sharing your food with those who have none.  Consider finding a good ministry like Southern New Hampshire Rescue Mission or Family Promise, that helps those who are struggling, and donate to them or volunteer.

Third, live a life of love toward others by being honest in your dealings with them. Don’t try to buy things from people and rip them off. Don’t try to sell things to people for more than they are worth.

You see, love to God requires love to your neighbor. God made each person and he wants his people to care for them since they are his creation and valuable to him.

Live a life of love and be holy, set apart, as your God who is in heaven and is with you is holy.