The Salvation Of GOD

 "It was the fifteenth year of the rule of the Emperor Tiberius: Pontius Pilatus was governor of Judea; Herod ruled over Galilee, his brother Philip ruled over the country of Iturea and Trachonitis; and Lysanias ruled over Abilene.  Annas and Caiaphas were the High Priests at the time when the word of GOD came to John, the son of Zechariah, in the desert.

John proclaimed a baptism, for repentant people to obtain forgiveness of sins; and he went through the whole country bordering the Jordan River.  It was just as is written in the book of the prophet Isaiah: Listen to this voice crying out in the desert, 'Prepare the way of the LORD, make HIS path straight!  The valleys will be filled and the mountains and hills made low.  Everything crooked will be made straight and the rough paths smooth; and every human being will see the salvation of GOD!'" - Luke 3:1-6

(Luke provides us with facts that enable us to situate JESUS in history.  It is the year 27after CHRIST and actually JESUS is about thirty to thirty-five years old.  The Jews have lost their autonomy, and their country is divided into four small provinces.  Herod and Philip, sons of the Herod mentioned at the birth of JESUS [see Matthew 2:1] rule over two of these provinces.

In the first two chapters Luke has shown us how the Son of GOD inserted HIMSELF into humanity.  As Paul says in his letter to the Galatians, HE was "born of a woman, subject to the law" [Galatians 4:7] which means that HE had to be formed by a culture, marked by HIS era, limited by the human context of HIS time.  We are now going to see that HE did not begin HIS mission in a grandiose way with prodigious miracles but very simply entered a movement initiated by another one, John the Baptist.

The first paragraph shows how the Holy Land was divided, a challenge to the promises of GOD.  In the case of several high priests there was contempt for the law of GOD, for the high priests should succeed each other, father to son, and remained in office all their lives.  In this degrading situation a new element would rock the people: the preaching of John the Baptist.

Listen to this voice crying out in the desert.  The text which follows is from Isaiah [40:3] John renews the tradition of the prophets after four centuries of interruption and like many among them, he speaks of an imminent judgment.  To confront the judgment of GOD is always most fearful and John speaks of rebuilding a sense of justice.  John speaks of the punishment to come.

John awakens the expectation of a savior.  It is easy for us to say that the savior was JESUS and that GOD's judgment would come a few years later with the war that destroyed the Jewish nation, but for those who were hearing John it was difficult to imagine what this savior might be.)

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