Luke 3:1-2a
“The Word came to John part 1”
*Introduction
*Vs. 1-2a When the Word came to John
Introduction
In the 3rd chapter of his gospel, Luke reintroduces to his readers John the Baptist whose birth was a part of the focus of the first chapter. The fact that John appears in 2 of the first 3 chapters indicates to us that to Luke he was one of the hinges on which all of human history turned. John is introduced in the gospels by three different titles:
- In Matthew’s account he is known as John the Baptist.
- Mark refers to him as John the Baptizer.
- In John’s account he is known simply by the name by his first name John.
- Luke is the most formal in his identification calling him John the son of Zacharias.
Many individuals found in the Bible have their only known references of them within the pages of scripture. But that is not the case of John.
In the year 37 AD a Jew named Joseph was born, he grew up to become a general in the Jewish resistance and during the Jewish-Roman war of 66-70 AD General Joseph and the Jews were defeated by the Romans at Galilee. He defected to the Romans and remained on their side until his death at around 60 years of age in 100 AD. He took on the Roman name Flavious Josephus and became a historian recording the events of the war as well as the whole history of the Jews that collaborates all the Old Testament.
Of further interest to Bible students as a man living in the 1st century is that he has some things to say about Christianity that supports the gospels in a number of things as well as people mentioned in the New Testament.
He writes of King Herod, Pontious Pilate, Agrippa, Felix and Festus. He detailed the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD which shows the accuracy of Jesus prophecies found in Matthew 24 as well as Luke chapter 21. Josephus does make mention in his writings of Jesus as well as James, His half-brother and as it directly relates to the passage, John the Baptist, all of which gives the believer yet another evidence for historical truth of the gospel account.
In Josephus book called the “Antiquities of the Jews” in book 18 chapter 5 he gives his account of who John the Baptist was and how he died. Writing on Herod’s death he says, “Some of the Jews thought that the destruction of Herod’s army came from God, and that very justly, as a punishment of what he did against John, that was called the Baptist: for Herod slew him, who was a good man”. He goes on to write that, “Herod, who feared lest the great influence John had over the people might put it into his power and inclination to raise a rebellion thought it best, by putting him to death.” Which we will examine when we get to verses 19-20.
The focus of these 20 verses will naturally be upon John and I believe that we will best be able to examine this by dividing it into four parts. The theme of these 20 verses I have taken from verse 2 as “The Word of God came to John”:
- Vs. 1-2a When the Word came to John
- Vs. 2b-6 How the Word’s call came to John
- Vs. 7-18 The exercise of the Word in John
- Vs. 19-20 Herod and John
Vs. 1-2a When the Word came to John
Vs. 1-2a As students of the Bible there are sections of the text under our investigation that we feel inclined to pass over quickly as we see no personal application of importance and I suppose that some would look at this long sentence making up two verses as just such an example. However, Luke as the historian he was takes the time to mention when John the Baptist appeared on the scene with regards to his ministry. Remember that it had been 400 years since there had been a prophetic voice in Israel.
Luke mentions seven different men with regards to the timing of when the Word of God came to John. What ought to be obvious to the student is that all seven of these men as far as society was concerned were important men! One is a Roman emperor, the most powerful person in the world. One is a governor, three of them are tetrarchs which means they were rulers over a 1/4th of an area. Those five all dealt with the political power of the day in the Roman world whereas the last two dealt with the religious Jewish society as we are told they were co-high priests.
The time that the Word of God came to John is specifically given and placed exactly in place in human history, but I believe that this is not the only purpose the Holy Spirit had in giving us these seven names of “important people” and it is understanding that purpose that we can gain application for our own lives.
Without spending too much time on historically going back and looking at each of them, what we can say generally is that these seven men were as wicked as they were powerful. They were all corrupted to the core of their being and to speak of their acts would cause us all to blush in embarrassment. We get a taste of this just by looking at Tiberius Caesar who was the 2nd of the Roman emperors and we are told that as it relates to The Word of God coming to John” that it was in the 15 year of his reign would have been around 28-29 AD as he didn’t become emperor until 14 AD. This man was so perverted that he retired to the Island of Caprice while still emperor living such a sick and debased life that those in Roman actually thought that he had killed himself by abusing his excesses. They were so convinced of this that they announced Caligula his successor while Tiberius was still alive. His response was retaliation with such brutality that when he regained power those in Rome smothered him in his sleep.
Yet Luke says that it was during his “reign” that the Word of God came to John. The word “reign” in the Greek is the word that means “world mastery or world dominion”. And so it was at THIS TIME when this sick despot had world mastery and dominion in absolute authority that the Word of God came to John. And if not for the gospel accounts we would never have known of this. Do you suppose that if Tiberius Caesar had known about the “Word of God coming to John” that he would have thought it important?
Luke goes on to mention on a smaller scale four other men that were also in power and who were as wicked as they were powerful, and also believed that they had power and “world mastery or world dominion”. Men like Pontius Pilate, Herod or his brothers who had the power of life or death over the sphere of their influence. Then there were also those who not unlike these Roman officials had power over the religious affairs of Israel and we are given the name of the two High Priests of the day in Annas and his son in-law Caiaphas. Rome had appointed Annas 6 AD and as such he became the first Roman appointed high priest where he served for the next 10 years.
He was then removed by Rome but he remained one of Israels most powerful and influential people aided by the fact that he had five sons and one son in-law Caiaphas who served 18 years as high priest but the real power was still in the hands of Annas and it is why Luke records two high priests and not one. Clearly this was not according to biblical law as Annas was allowed to still be the head of the Sanhedrim which was the supreme judicial and legislative body of the Jewish people, having authority over all religious, civil, and criminal matters.
They were an assembly of 23 to 71 members, including priests, scribes, and elders, and was essentially the Jewish Supreme Court. The Sanhedrin was responsible for interpreting and enforcing Jewish law, making it the ultimate legal and spiritual authority in the Land of Israel.
So what we see is that these co-religious leaders were corrupted by political power and of no use to the people. And it is under these world and religious conditions that The Word came to John in the wilderness.
Do you see that? When God wanted to His Word to come and prepare the way for His Son, He didn’t send this message to Rome sitting upon 7 hills full of pride and perversion. Neither did God send His Word to Jerusalem that looked far more like Rome then God’s Holy City. The Word of God passed over the emperor, the governor in Pilate, all the tetrarchs who ruled over 1/4th of an area, and also the corrupted priests. And instead God chose a man He had prepared, and He found him in the wilderness. The wilderness because that was what the world and the Holy Land had become.
This was the start one of the most important events in human history the coming of the “Word of God” to man. And when the Word came to John there wasn’t even a gnat’s ripple on the ocean of humanity, they all were totally unaware it was happening. Yet God had placed John in the wilderness for around ten years as he is around 30 and would have to enter the priesthood at 20 after he completed his studies.
John may have gotten a degree by the time he was 20 but he had gotten his master’s during those 10 years in the wilderness. There have been many a servant that God has chosen that got their postgraduate degrees at the University of the Wilderness. Moses, Elijah, David and even Jesus spent 40 days at that same university in preparation for His ministry.
Here is where we can draw our application: We often look at our world, we see the corruption, the despair. We see the powerful and important people who are part of the problem and not the solution. We tend to think that we are too small, we don’t have enough education or knowledge to speak of Jesus. We are so prone to focus on our lack of resources and fail to see that In God we have all we need.
John the forerunner and servant of the Lord was called to exercise a mighty ministry making way for Someone greater. I can’t but think that the Lord might be wanting to call a few more people.