Off with His Head Pt 4.

Luke 3:15-22

15 The people were waiting expectantly and were all wondering in their hearts if John might possibly be the Messiah. 16 John answered them all, “I baptize you with water. But one who is more powerful than I will come, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 17 His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” 18 And with many other words John exhorted the people and proclaimed the good news to them.

19 But when John rebuked Herod the tetrarch because of his marriage to Herodias, his brother’s wife, and all the other evil things he had done, 20 Herod added this to them all: He locked John up in prison.

21 Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heavens were opened, 22 and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form, like a dove; and a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”

This is actually a continuation of Pt. 3, maybe we can call this Part 3, Part 2? Confusing? Yeah, maybe not. Anyway, it is following up with the verses of where we left off with Pt. 3 which was Luke 3:7-14. Getting into these verses it jumps around a slight bit since verse 19 and 20 seem to come out of left field.

The people were wondering if the crowds were following John because of the spiritual strength John possessed, if he was the Messiah, the one to save them. Messiah in the New Testament means Great Deliver when translated from the Greek. The Jews believed the Messiah would be a political force as well as a spiritual leader and would lead the people to salvation. John had these qualities, so it would make sense that he would be the Messiah. John answers them humbly, saying he only baptizes with water and is unworthy of untying the sandals of the one to come. John had spoken about not being able to untie the Messiah's sandals before. John wanted them to make sure they understood he was just the one to usher the Messiah into his ministry. John talks to the people and lifts them up and to be aware of what will happen soon and proclaimed the good news to them. He tells them the gospel of the one to come.It's like hearing a lot about a person through what you think is valid information and come to find out its nothing like you had heard. John created this huge stir among the Jews, which they thought was gonna change a lot of things for there future. Which in fact it did, but just not the way they were expecting.

Verse 19 and 20 seem a bit out of order, but they give us vital information to why John was thought to be the Messiah. John had enough cahones to tell Herod how messed up it was to marry his brother's wife, but more so the evil things he had done. I am not sure through my research what the evil things he did were, but I can tell you he built his capital city of Tiberias on part of a graveyard. This may have been an intentional move since more pious Jews would not go to a place they would ritually be considered impure. Herod would have gotten word that John may be the Messiah of the Jews and had John locked up out of fear just as much as for defamation. It was wrong of what Herod did with divorcing his wife and marrying his brother's wife and John wanted it to be known among the people that it was.

Jesus was baptized by John with everyone else. Jesus did as everyone else did. He was a God-made man and lived as we do. It is interesting to note whether Jesus was being baptized, and in the water, at the time the Holy Spirit came up to him or whether it was later as he was praying. Matthew's account was after he was out of the water. In either instance, how wild would it be to have a heaven open up and the Holy Spirit coming down on Jesus as he was praying, then a voice speaking to him. It would be a great witness to the thousands of people who were there to get baptized. It would be a moment that would fortify everything John had said in an instant. Those who were there would not be able to deny what they saw and heard. John the Baptist testifies to Jesus being the Chosen One (John 1:34). John also calls Jesus the Lamb of God (John 1:36). Jesus is very close to starting his ministry, since John has set up everything he needed to do.