John the Baptist Preaching by the JordanBible World
3:3Luke 3:3
And he came into all the country about Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins;
The coming described is that of the forerunner raised up from among the faithful in Israel to go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways. His coming was in answer to the prayers of Zacharias and of Israel for the Redeemer, announced by an angel standing on the right side of the golden altar in the holy place while the cloud of incense ascended before God.
He proclaimed and prepared the way for the Messiah in the wilderness. The wilderness drew people away from the distractions and confusion of city life, where they could attend to the things of God in nature. There God's Spirit equipped him to give a warning and a message of mercy in preparation for the Messiah.
He was the link between the two dispensations and a lesser light preparing the way for Christ the greater light. He was appointed to call people to repentance and to clear obstacles to the Messiah's work, turning them from sin to righteousness. God inspired and illuminated his understanding so he could remove the superstition and darkness that false teaching had built up among the Jews.
He proclaimed the coming of the Messiah and called the people to remember their sins and to repentance and conversion. That call meant acknowledging sins and seeking the Saviour, with repentance and confession of sin. By remembering their sins and repenting they would be ready to appreciate Christ's work.
His preaching of the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins joined baptism to repentance as the way toward forgiveness of sins. He called the people to repentance and baptized them in the Jordan as they repented and confessed their sins. His preaching plainly exposed their wrongdoing and urged them to turn from it. His baptism in the waters of the Jordan was a symbol of cleansing from sin, a significant object-lesson declaring that those who claimed to be God's chosen people were defiled by sin and that without purification of heart and life they could have no part in the Messiah's kingdom.
Repentance requires inward reform in which wrong practices are put away, pride is brought low, and conduct is made upright. Those who repent must show it in good fruit and practical fairness toward others, becoming fruitful in the Lord's vineyard. Those who answered his call and obeyed are represented by the son who first refused his father's command but later repented and went. He prepared for that work through a disciplined life so he could urge them toward a higher and holier life. When God's people undergo this reform, others see God's salvation.
His earnest proclamation to make the truth of God's Word widely known, trusting God and obeying His Word zealously, faithfully, untiringly as doers of the Word, is the model for God's work. That spirit means laboring with a hundredfold more power than now seen, with hundreds at work where now there is one. When His people bar the way by lack of faith and limit God and do not strive more earnestly, God will raise up other instruments taught by Him to do His work in John's spirit. That work goes forward while darkness has covered the earth and gross darkness the people, as those taught of God with the Holy Spirit speaking to hearts and minds.
The coming described is that of the forerunner raised up from among the faithful in Israel to go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways. His coming was in answer to the prayers of Zacharias and of Israel for the Redeemer, announced by an angel standing on the right side of the golden altar in the holy place while the cloud of incense ascended before God.
He proclaimed and prepared the way for the Messiah in the wilderness. The wilderness drew people away from the distractions and confusion of city life, where they could attend to the things of God in nature. There God's Spirit equipped him to give a warning and a message of mercy in preparation for the Messiah.
He was the link between the two dispensations and a lesser light preparing the way for Christ the greater light. He was appointed to call people to repentance and to clear obstacles to the Messiah's work, turning them from sin to righteousness. God inspired and illuminated his understanding so he could remove the superstition and darkness that false teaching had built up among the Jews.
He proclaimed the coming of the Messiah and called the people to remember their sins and to repentance and conversion. That call meant acknowledging sins and seeking the Saviour, with repentance and confession of sin. By remembering their sins and repenting they would be ready to appreciate Christ's work.
His preaching of the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins joined baptism to repentance as the way toward forgiveness of sins. He called the people to repentance and baptized them in the Jordan as they repented and confessed their sins. His preaching plainly exposed their wrongdoing and urged them to turn from it. His baptism in the waters of the Jordan was a symbol of cleansing from sin, a significant object-lesson declaring that those who claimed to be God's chosen people were defiled by sin and that without purification of heart and life they could have no part in the Messiah's kingdom.
Repentance requires inward reform in which wrong practices are put away, pride is brought low, and conduct is made upright. Those who repent must show it in good fruit and practical fairness toward others, becoming fruitful in the Lord's vineyard. Those who answered his call and obeyed are represented by the son who first refused his father's command but later repented and went. He prepared for that work through a disciplined life so he could urge them toward a higher and holier life. When God's people undergo this reform, others see God's salvation.
His earnest proclamation to make the truth of God's Word widely known, trusting God and obeying His Word zealously, faithfully, untiringly as doers of the Word, is the model for God's work. That spirit means laboring with a hundredfold more power than now seen, with hundreds at work where now there is one. When His people bar the way by lack of faith and limit God and do not strive more earnestly, God will raise up other instruments taught by Him to do His work in John's spirit. That work goes forward while darkness has covered the earth and gross darkness the people, as those taught of God with the Holy Spirit speaking to hearts and minds.