Hey friends, welcome to Day 3 of our journey through Luke this December. Today we’re in Luke chapter 3, and honestly… this chapter hits me every single time with its theme of expectation. Even with the genealogies at the end, I think about the passage of time, one generation passing the hope on, that we spoke about in the first chapter. Today is my 41st birthday, and I am another year closer to Christ’s second coming. But since Adam and Eve, they had been waiting for the first coming of God’s promised seed. And now…
After 400 silent years… no prophets, no fresh word from God… the silence from Heaven finally breaks. Verse 2 says, “The word of God came unto John” (v2) out in the wilderness. And John doesn’t waste a second. Verse 3 tells us he went all over the Jordan region preaching… Can you feel the electricity in the air? After thousands of years of waiting for the promised Messiah/anointed one, verse 15 says the people were in expectation. Everyone’s whispering, “Could John be the Christ?”
But John? He refuses to let the spotlight stay on him even for a minute. Instead, he does the most beautiful thing; he points past himself to Someone far greater, to One who could exceed their expectations more than he ever could.
- John points to Jesus as the expected Mighty Messiah He tells the crowds, “I’m baptising you with water, but One is coming who’s so much mightier than me that I’m not even worthy to untie the strap of His sandals” (v. 16). What was John preaching? A baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. John’s baptism was an outward sign saying, “I need cleaning.” John preached repentance to help people know they needed the coming Saviour. And then there is a section about showing fruits worthy of repentance… But Jesus? He had no sin, but suddenly As people from all over lined up to be baptised, confessing their sins and their need of the coming Saviour, suddenly Jesus joined the queue and John pointed Him out as the Lamb of God, which take the away the sin of the world (John 1:29). He’ll baptise you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. The Holy Spirit part… that’s the incredible promise that He’ll place you into God’s family, regenerate your heart, do a deep, eternal work that no ritual or religion can ever touch. And fire? Fire reminds us of God’s consuming power and holy judgment, with which Christ will baptise the world. Consuming power – That’s the same fire that burned in the bush but didn’t consume it, the fire that accepted offerings in the Old Testament, the fire that fell on Mount Carmel, the tongues of fire at Pentecost and gave the disciples boldness… but also the fire of holy judgment. One day that same Jesus will thoroughly clear His threshing floor (v. 17). The wheat goes safely into the barn – His people. The chaff gets burned with unquenchable fire. John wants everyone to feel the weight of both the kindness and the severity of God. No wonder John says that in comparison to His might, he is not worthy even to loose the latched of His shoe (16)!
- John points to Jesus as the expected Promised Purifier That threshing-floor image in verse 17 isn’t just a farming tip. It’s a picture of the day when Jesus returns to put an end to all evil. The winnowing fork is already in His hand. That’s a sobering warning, but it’s also mercy…because right now, today, there’s still time to let the Lamb of God take away your sin instead of facing the unquenchable fire yourself.
- John points to Jesus as the expected Just Judge. Look at how blunt John gets with the crowds in verses 7-9: “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? (v7) Don’t say, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ God can raise up children for Abraham from these stones!” Ancestry, religious heritage (v8), being a “good person”—none of that will protect you from the axe that’s already laid at the root of the tree. Every tree that doesn’t bear good fruit gets cut down and thrown into the fire. But even though He is this Just Judge, you can trust in Him, because… flip to the end of the chapter, and Luke gives us Jesus’ genealogy all the way back to Adam. Why? Because Jesus isn’t just the Saviour of Israel; He’s the Saviour of the whole human race, the Seed promised way back in Genesis 3:15 who would crush the serpent’s head. He is the only One who could save the race, whom the world had been waiting for in expectation since Adam (23-38).
So here’s the heartbeat of Luke 3: John the Baptist stands in the river with soaking-wet, repentant people all around him, looks at the crowd, and basically yells, “Don’t look at me; look at Him! He’s the One you’ve been waiting for!”
And friends, that’s still the message today. Jesus is mightier, holier, and more loving than we can imagine. He’s the only One who can forgive, cleanse, and rescue us from the wrath we deserve. So let’s not trust in our background, our goodness, or our religious résumé. With great expectations they waited, and He has finally come. Let’s run to the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world, while the door of mercy is still wide open.
I’ll see you tomorrow for Luke 4. Grace and peace! 🙏