LESSON VII.-SABBATH, FEBRUARY 17, 1894

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Feb 5, 1894

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 20, No. 14.

LESSON VII.—SABBATH, FEBRUARY 17, 1894.

JESUS BAPTIZED BY JOHN.

Lesson Scripture, Luke 3:1-38.

1. Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Cæsar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Ituræa and Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene,

2. In the high-priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came unto John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness.

3. And he came into all the region round about Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance unto remission of sins;

4. As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make ye ready the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.

5. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low; and the crooked shall become straight, and the rough ways smooth;

6. And all flesh shall see the salvation of God.

7. He said therefore to the multitudes that went out to be baptized of him, Ye offspring of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?

8. Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance, and begin not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father; for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.

9. And even now the ax also laid unto the root of the trees; every tree therefore that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.

10. And the multitudes asked him, saying, What then must we do?

11. And he answered and said unto them, He that hath two coats, let him impart to him that hath none; and he that hath food, let him do likewise.

12. And there came also publicans to be baptized, and they said unto him, Master, what must we do?

13. And he said unto them, Extort no more than that which is appointed you.

14. And soldiers also asked him, saying, And we, what must we do? And he said unto them, Do violence to no man, neither exact anything wrongfully; and be content with your wages.

15. And as the people were in expectation, and all men reasoned in their hearts concerning John, whether haply he were the Christ;

16. John answered, saying unto them all, I indeed baptize you with water; but there cometh he that is mightier than I, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose; he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire;

17. Whose fan is in his hand, thoroughly to cleanse his threshing floor, and to gather the wheat into his garner; but the chaff he will burn up with unquenchable fire.

18. With many other exhortations therefore preached he good tidings unto the people;

19. But Herod the tetrarch, being reproved by him for Herodias his brother’s wife, and for all the evil things which Herod had done,

20. Added yet this above all, that he shut up John in prison.

21. Now it came to pass, when all the people were baptized, that, Jesus also having been baptized, and praying, the heaven was opened,

22. And the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily form as a dove, upon him, and a voice came out of heaven, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased.

23. And Jesus himself, when he began to teach, was about thirty years of age, being the son (as was supposed) of Joseph.

NOTE.—The genealogy of Jesus traced backward through Joseph to Adam, the Son of God, is omitted to save space.

It would be well if all would read again before beginning this lesson, chapters 1 and 2. Try to recall the substance of chapter 1, according to the outline suggested in lesson 4. The following may serve as a topical outline of chapter 2: Birth of Jesus; announcement of the angels to the shepherds; visit of the shepherds; presentation of Jesus in the temple, and recognition by Simeon and Anna; Jesus in the temple, with the doctors. Try to group the contents of a chapter around as few points as possible, and you will be able to grasp and retain them much better. In this lesson we have the time when John began his work, and an account of his teaching, the chapter closing with the baptism of Jesus, and his genealogy.

When did John begin to preach?
Who were high priests?
Where was John when the word of the Lord came to him?
Where did he preach?
What was the subject of his preaching?
Of what prophecy was his preaching the fulfillment?
What does the prophecy say that all flesh shall see?
How many came to hear John’s preaching?
How did he address the Sadducees and Pharisees? Luke 3:7; compare Matt. 3:7.
To what did he exhort them?
What did he tell them they must not think themselves to be?
How did he show them that God was not obliged to recognize them as children of Abraham?
How thoroughly did he say the work of rejecting the bad would be done?
When the people asked him what they must do, what did he say?
What did he reply to the question of the publicans?
What did he say in response to the soldiers’ demands?
When the people wondered whether he was Christ or not, what did he say?
How much greater than he was the One who was to come after him?
What did he say that that One should do?
Which portion did he say should be burned with fire?
While all the people came to be baptized, who came with them?
What took place after Jesus was baptized?
What did the voice from heaven say?
How old was Jesus at that time?
To whom does Luke trace his genealogy?

26. What was done to John because of his faithfulness?

NOTES.

1. NOTE the exactness of the inspired history. It was in the year 12 A.D. that Augustus associated Tiberius with him in the empire, and in the year 14 that Tiberius began to reign as sole emperor; but his reign is properly computed from the earlier date, since that is when he really began to reign. The fifteenth year of Tiberius would, therefore, be A.D. 27. For a full discussion of this matter, see “The Life of Our Lord,” by Andrews, pp. 22-25.

2. JOHN came “preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins.” He preached remission of sins through faith in Christ (Acts 19:4), therefore his baptism was “Christian baptism” in the fullest sense. That everybody who was baptized by him fully understood the significance of the rite, cannot be supposed, judging from the great numbers of people who are baptized in these days, without any real knowledge of Christ.

3. THE prophecy in the fortieth of Isaiah shows that the one crying in the wilderness is preparing the way for a King. A straight and level road must be prepared for him. “Behold the Lord God will come with strong hand, and his arm shall rule for him; behold his reward is with him, and his work before him. He shall feed his flock like a shepherd; he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young.” Isa. 40:10, 11. This evidently reaches to the second coming of Christ, when his reward is with him, to give every man according as his work shall be (Rev. 22:12), showing that the work that John the Baptist begun is to be continued till the Lord comes in glory. The lesson to be learned from the prophecy is that Christ’s power and glory, when he comes the second time, are the measure of his power now to save those from sin who trust in him. He saves and comforts, as priest, with all the power and authority of a king. And his kingly, priestly power is that of One who created the heavens and the earth, who calls the stars by name, and who, by the greatness of his might, keeps every portion of the universe in its appointed place. See Isa. 40:25, 26; Col. 1:11-19.

4. “BEGIN not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our Father; for I say unto you that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.” The Pharisees would begin to say, “We are Abraham’s children,” as the Jews did afterwards to Christ, meaning by that that they were all right. They thought that their position as children of Abraham—birthright members of the church of Christ—made it unnecessary for them to repent. They considered themselves above all danger. God had made promises to Abraham and to his seed, and so of course they were sure of everything. But John told them that they could hope for nothing on the ground of birth and position. “The promise that he should be the heir of the world was not to Abraham and his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.” Rom. 4:13. “They which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham.” Gal. 3:7. Rather than acknowledge them in their bigoted self-righteousness as children of Abraham, God would make from the stones men who would accept the righteousness of God by faith in Christ, and thus be true children of Abraham. Here again we find ample evidence that God is no respecter of persons, and that he never shut himself up exclusively to the Jewish nation. The fact that the Jews were not God’s peculiar people, except as their righteousness through faith made them so, is clearly set forth. Read Rom. 4:11-14.

5. “WHOSE fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor, and will gather the wheat into his garner, but the chaff he will burn up with unquenchable fire.” Chaff is very combustible, and quickly consumed by fire. If it were thrown into the fire, the fire could scarcely be quenched quickly enough to keep it from destruction. Even a much more enduring substance than chaff will be utterly consumed when fire breaks out in it, if the fire is not quenched. But here we have chaff, a most inflammable substance, cast into unquenchable fire. How could the utter destruction of the wicked be more strongly stated? “But must not unquenchable fire always continue to burn?”—Not by any means. Many a man has found to his sorrow that the fire which broke out in his house was unquenchable, notwithstanding the strongest efforts of the firemen. The result was that the building was de-

stroyed, when the fire went out of itself, because there was nothing left to burn. This burning up of the chaff with fire unquenchable is the baptism of fire spoken of in the preceding verse. Not all men are to be baptized with the Holy Spirit, neither will all receive the baptism of fire. Those who will not receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit are counted as the chaff, and will at last be consumed, by immersion in "the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death." Rev. 21:8. "Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father." Matt. 13:41-43.