Anchor My Faith

John Hears the Call to Start

Scripture: Luke 3:1-3; Matthew 3:2

With this lesson our journey along the gospel path begins our investigation of the first year when John and Jesus establish their ministry. The text we are working from is the narrative compiled by Jerry Peyton and copyrighted in 2015. He has established that this year of preparation and beginning happened during AD 28 – 29. It was “In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene” (Luke 3:1 ESV).

As background information, Luke gives the names of those ruling at the time and the area over which they had authority. It was the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar when John appears on the public scene. At that time Pontius Pilate, who we will encounter at various times in our study, was governor of Judea and Herod was tetrarch of Galilee. This is Herod Antipas, the son of Herod the Great. Galilee was part of his father’s kingdom and was left to him to rule and had the title of tetrarch. The region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, which his brother Philip was tetrarch, was an area east of the Jordan River and largely north of the Yarmuk River known as Ituraea. Lysanias ruled an area situated in Syria, northwest of Damascus and southeast of Mount Lebanon. It was adjacent to Galilee.

It was “during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness” (Luke 3:2 ESV). At any given time, there is only one high priest, so why did Luke give the two names of Annas and Caiaphas? Often the name of a priest who had been in that office is mentioned, especially when they still possessed some civil office after they had left the high priesthood. In this case Annas was high priest before Caiaphas and was the father-in-law of Caiaphas. It is also highly probable that Annas still held an office under the Romans, and was perhaps president of the Sanhedrin. It was during this time that the Holy Spirit spoke to John, who was living in the wilderness, and informed him that it was time to begin to speak out.

“And he went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, ^{Mt 3:2} proclaiming, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Luke 3:3; Matthew 3:2 ESV). Notice that this piece of information comes from two gospels. His area of ministry was all the region around the Jordan River. From Luke we learn that he proclaimed a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins because according to Matthew, the kingdom of heaven was at hand. John spoke of the people’s sin and the need of repenting and asking for forgiveness. Those who are convicted and repent and ask for forgiveness are to come forth to be baptized as a public witness. This is important because the kingdom of heaven is at hand and you need to get ready. Soon Jesus will arrive on the scene and develop the idea of the kingdom of heaven.

Prayer

Father, we are now ready for John to arrive on the scene to prepare the way for Jesus, our main character. I pray for guidance as we move ahead.