Day 277—We are in the TENTH month of Bible reading and studying the New Testament Gospels.

    Day 277 – Matthew 3, Mark 1, Luke 3 (John the Baptist, Jesus baptized, early ministry, Luke’s genealogy)

In all three Gospel accounts, we see more details about John the Baptist. Luke 3 sets the political scene, with Tiberius as Caesar, Pontius Pilate as governor, Herod as tetrarch (king) of Galilee, and high priests Annas and Caiaphas.  Most of these will play a role in the life of Jesus.

Luke connects John with the priest Zechariah and tells how John spent his years in the wilderness. When the time is right, John arrives in Judea at the Jordan River, calling people to repent and be baptized.  Luke quotes Isaiah 40:3-4, who wrote that someone (John) would be a “voice crying in the wilderness to prepare the way of the Lord….for all flesh will see the salvation of God. ”   

We also see a bit of the fiery preaching by John, calling the religious leaders to task, “You brood of vipers!  Who warned YOU to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruits in keeping with repentance.”  Unlike the leaders, the crowds of people cried out, “What should we do?”   John preaches love, service, honesty, compassion, kindness, and contentment, all compatible with a repentant heart.  With many other exhortations, he preached the good news to the people. 

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Mark 1 begins by titling his work as ‘the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.’  He also refers to the Isaiah passage about the Baptist, stating that when John began baptizing, “all the country of Judea and Jerusalem came out to him and were baptized, confessing their sins.  He also describes John, saying he was “clothed with camel’s hair, wore a leather belt, and ate locusts (carob seed pods) and wild honey. 

John claimed that he only baptized with water, but One, who was coming, was mightier than him and would baptize them with fire and the Holy Spirit. (Zechariah 12)

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Matthew 3 also shows John as Isaiah’s “voice,” wearing rough clothes and eating raw. He tells about many coming to him to be baptized, including the Pharisees and Sadducees, whom he called a “brood of vipers,” and warned that if they didn’t repent, only the axe and unquenchable fire awaited them.

All three gospels tell of John baptizing Jesus, but Matthew’s has the most detail. 

Jesus came from Galilee to the place in Judea by the Jordan river to BE BAPTISED. John was not thrilled with this saying that Jesus should be BAPTIZING HIM. 

“Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness,” said Jesus.

(Jesus was identifying with us sinners, though He had NO SIN in Himself. He came to be our substitute sacrifice when, on the cross, the wrath of God was poured out against sin, and the sentence of death was applied.  Jesus was the perfect, spotless Lamb and substitute for us, paying the price and “fulfilling all righteousness” in God’s sight.)

So John immersed Jesus in the Jordan water, and when Jesus came up, “the heavens were opened, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on Him.”  Both He and John heard the voice of God saying, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”

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Luke 3 closes this chapter with the genealogy of Jesus, tracing His lineage back through David’s son Nathan (not Solomon) to Judah, Abraham, Noah, Seth, Adam… to God, HIMSELF (with whom Jesus existed in eternity past.).