Lesson 4304

 (Lesson 4304)(11-12-23) Luke 3:1-6

    “ Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judaea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of Ituraea and of the region of Trachonitis, and Lysanias the tetrarch of Abilene, Annas and Caiaphas being the high priests, the word of God came unto John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness. And he came into all the country about Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins; As it is written in the book of the words of Esaias the prophet, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways shall be made smooth; And all flesh shall see the salvation of God.”

    Today’s quote introduces us to John the Baptist. It also defines his divine mission, which was to preach; “the baptism of REPENTANCE for the remission of sins. And, prepare the way of the Lord. John DID NOT preach water baptism for the remission of sins, he preached REPENTANCE for the remission of sins. In order to repent, Jews were required by law to, first, be immersed in “living” water so as to present themselves in the temple as ritually cleansed.

    There are two very important lessons in today’s quote. The first being that “the baptism of John” was NOT just an immersion into water. But rather, it was the entire action that John was to accomplish. That action ALSO INCLUDED the ceremonial water cleansing required of ALL Jews under the Law of Moses, before they could enter into the process of repenting.

    The second lesson, therein, defines the overall task that John was charged to accomplish.”

That task being to; “prepare the way of the Lord, make His path straight”.

    John was simply to take the necessary steps required to bring repentance to the Jews inpreparation for the coming of Jesus. 

    It is very important to remember this lesson when studying the purpose of water baptism.~