Annas and Caiaphas being the high priests, the word of God came unto John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness.
The word of God came to John in the wilderness during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, marking him as the promised forerunner who would prepare the way for the Messiah. The beginning of his public work came at a time of public unrest. He is identified as the son of Zacharias.
Zacharias dwelt in the hill country of Judea and went up to Jerusalem to minister in the temple for one week, a service required twice a year from the priests of each course, and by lot it fell to him to burn incense when he went into the temple of the Lord. He stood before the golden altar in the holy place of the sanctuary with the cloud of incense and the prayers of Israel ascending before God, and an angel of the Lord stood on the right side of the altar, a position indicating favor. For many years he had prayed for the coming of the Redeemer, and heaven sent its messenger to announce that those prayers were about to be answered, but the greatness of God's mercy was more than he could credit, so he was filled with fear and self-condemnation.
The wilderness kept John away from the hurry and distractions of city life, where people could attend to the things of God in nature. There God filled him with the Holy Spirit to give a warning preparing the way for the coming Messiah and to carry a message of mercy to the world. From the wilderness he proclaimed repentance and the nearness of heaven's kingdom, and multitudes came, confessed their sins, and were baptized in the Jordan.
The passage from this verse onward presents John's call to repentance and its fruits as a call to conversion and to becoming fruitful in the Lord's vineyard, warning that continued failure to bear fruit disappoints Christ's expectation and brings the judgment pictured by the command to cut down the unfruitful tree. Those God chooses are taught by Him, as He taught John in the wilderness, with the Holy Spirit speaking to the hearts and minds of men to fit them for His work. In that sense the verse means God raises up instruments in the spirit of John the Baptist to make the truth of His word widely known with a hundredfold more power, and if His professed people bar the way by lack of faith and lack of earnestness He will raise up others to do it even when darkness has covered the earth and gross darkness the people. It likewise shows that God teaches His own instruments to do His work in the spirit of John the Baptist when His professed people bar the way by lack of faith and fail to make the truth of the word widely known, a work done when darkness has covered the earth and gross darkness the people.
The word of God came to John in the wilderness during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, marking him as the promised forerunner who would prepare the way for the Messiah. The beginning of his public work came at a time of public unrest. He is identified as the son of Zacharias.
Zacharias dwelt in the hill country of Judea and went up to Jerusalem to minister in the temple for one week, a service required twice a year from the priests of each course, and by lot it fell to him to burn incense when he went into the temple of the Lord. He stood before the golden altar in the holy place of the sanctuary with the cloud of incense and the prayers of Israel ascending before God, and an angel of the Lord stood on the right side of the altar, a position indicating favor. For many years he had prayed for the coming of the Redeemer, and heaven sent its messenger to announce that those prayers were about to be answered, but the greatness of God's mercy was more than he could credit, so he was filled with fear and self-condemnation.
The wilderness kept John away from the hurry and distractions of city life, where people could attend to the things of God in nature. There God filled him with the Holy Spirit to give a warning preparing the way for the coming Messiah and to carry a message of mercy to the world. From the wilderness he proclaimed repentance and the nearness of heaven's kingdom, and multitudes came, confessed their sins, and were baptized in the Jordan.
The passage from this verse onward presents John's call to repentance and its fruits as a call to conversion and to becoming fruitful in the Lord's vineyard, warning that continued failure to bear fruit disappoints Christ's expectation and brings the judgment pictured by the command to cut down the unfruitful tree. Those God chooses are taught by Him, as He taught John in the wilderness, with the Holy Spirit speaking to the hearts and minds of men to fit them for His work. In that sense the verse means God raises up instruments in the spirit of John the Baptist to make the truth of His word widely known with a hundredfold more power, and if His professed people bar the way by lack of faith and lack of earnestness He will raise up others to do it even when darkness has covered the earth and gross darkness the people. It likewise shows that God teaches His own instruments to do His work in the spirit of John the Baptist when His professed people bar the way by lack of faith and fail to make the truth of the word widely known, a work done when darkness has covered the earth and gross darkness the people.