"Prepare the Way" Sermon: Luke 3:1-6

“Prepare the Way”

[Luke 3:1-6]

December 9, 2018, Second Reformed Church

Mark beings his Gospel this way:

“The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. As it is written in Isaiah the prophet, ‘Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way, the voice of one crying in the wilderness: “Prepare the way of the Lord,     make his paths straight,”’” (Mark 1:1-3, ESV).

Mark tells us that John the Baptist is the beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ because it is John the Baptist who first reveals that Jesus is the Christ – the Messiah, the Savior – through the visible sign of the Grace of God in baptism. 

And so we turn to this text on the Second Sunday of Advent.

The first thing we notice in Luke’s text this morning, is that John the Baptist’s preparing the way for the Savior is a historical event.

“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, during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness.”

Luke is the great Western historian of the Gospels.  Luke beings his gospel, “Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the things that have been accomplished among us, just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word have delivered them to us, it seemed good to me also, having followed all things closely for some time past, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, that you may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught. (Luke 1:1-4, ESV).

Luke is the historian of the Gospels in the way that we understand history.  He fixes times and dates and places like we do.  He does not write like the other Gospel writers who write in the Eastern style of writing.  Luke writes for the Westerners – like us, who want linear time and place markers.  And so he gives them –

1. In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar.

2. Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea.

3. Herod being tetrarch of Galilee.

4. His brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis.

5. Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene.

6. The high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas.

7. This is when the Word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness.

That is, in 27 A.D.

Christianity is a historical religion.  If anything in Christianity is shown not to be historical that is meant to be historical, then Christianity is a myth.

Every religion in the world is able to have aspects of its religion that are not historical – except for biblical Judaism, which is to say, Christianity.  If Christianity is not historically accurate in every statement that is supposed to be taken historically, then it is not true, and we are dead in our sins and have told lies about God.

“The Christian faith isn’t an obscure belief system with Jesus as a mythological figure. Rather, Christianity is based entirely on real space-time history; in the words of Francis Schaeffer, its central figure is an actual man who ‘hung on a cross in the sense that, if you were there that day, you could have rubbed your finger on the cross and got a splinter on it’ (The God Who Is There, InterVarsity Press, 1968). Therefore, when you consider the Christian faith, you also have to examine its historical claims of truth” (https://www.dummies.com/religion/christianity/retracing-christianity-as-a-historical-faith/).

            If Christianity is not historical, it is not true.

            The good news here is that there is every reason to believe Christianity is historically true and accurate as everything in the Scripture has been shown to be true – nothing has been shown to be inaccurate, when interpreted correctly.

            Second, John the Baptist is the beginning of the Gospel.

We said that John the Baptist is the beginning of the Gospel because John the Baptist reveals that Jesus is the Christ – the Messiah, the Savior – through the visible sign of the Grace of God in baptism. 

We read:

“And [John the Baptist] went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.”

How does John’s baptism reveal that Jesus is the Savior?

Paul explains it this way:

“Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

“For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus” (Romans 6:3-11, ESV).

This understanding would not be made clear until after Christ’s resurrection.  What was clear at the Jordan – what was utterly shocking – was that John told the Jews that they needed to be symbolically washed for their sins, just like the Gentiles.

Every human has to repent of his or her sins and pay the debt for those sins – or have a Substitute that God accepts pay the debt for those sins – or we will never be forgiven and physical death will result in physical and spiritual Hell.

John the Baptist is the beginning of the Gospel because he reveals the Grace of God in baptism by visually displaying what Jesus would do to pay the debt for the sins of those who would believe in Him.

Third, John the Baptist being the beginning of the Gospel is prophesied.

“As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, ‘The voice of one crying in the wilderness: “Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall become straight, and the rough places shall become level ways, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.”’”

We read in the book of Isaiah, “Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the LORD's hand double for all her sins.

“A voice cries: ‘In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken’” (Isaiah 40:1-5, ESV).

God gave this prophecy to Isaiah after Jerusalem had been conquered by the Babylonians, and they now were serving seventy years of captivity in Babylon.  At the point that this prophecy comes to pass, the Medo-Persians, under King Cyrus, ruled Babylon and the captives.

God speaks with emphasis, “comfort, comfort” – God is expressing His love and care for His people, even though He had to discipline them for their sin.  But they have now come to the end of their time of discipline – and like a parent who has spanked her child or taken away a privilege – when the time has been served, the arms of love and comfort open and receive them – because discipline is to affect a change, based in love – it is not a destructive force.  Discipline does not desire to permanently alienate someone.

Unbeknownst to the people of Judah, God is about to raise up King Cyrus – the Medo-Persian – as His servant – to free the people of Judah – to send them back to Jerusalem – to tell them to go ahead and rebuild the city and the Temple – and Cyrus and other neighboring enemies of Israel and Judah will pay to rebuild it – they will supply all the materials necessary for the rebuilding.

And a voice cries out – and this is not a voice that commands the people to do something – it is a voice that tells them that something is being done which will result in the Glory of the Lord being seen by all the world.

The voice is telling the people of Judah in captivity – after God has told them to receive His comfort, for their discipline has ended – the voice tells them – still in captivity – that the way back to Jerusalem is being prepared.  Every obstacle in the way of God achieving the restoration of His people is Jerusalem is being removed.  And – ultimately – Cyrus, himself, will send them home and make sure they have all the provisions they need for all they will need to do.  This is the Hand of God at work.  It is God Alone who turns the heart of Cyrus to the life and heritage of the Jews – and when they return and Cyrus commands all the other nations to help them – they know that the God of the Jews has done this.  God has revealed Himself to be the God for Whom all obstacles fall away.

The Gospel writers show us that this prophecy has a second fulfillment – and the voice in this case is John the Baptist – he is the herald bringing the message of God to the people of Israel and Judah by the Jordan River.

The prophecy is slightly tweaked to specify that what is being accomplished is the removal of every obstacle that stands in the way of God the Savior coming and securing salvation for all of His people.  Jesus, the Savior, comes with every obstacle removed – the Ceremonial and Sacrificial law is fulfilled in Jesus, Jesus kept the Moral Law – and credits His righteousness to everyone who will ever believe – so we are seen as those who have kept the whole Moral Law.  Jesus takes on Himself the fullness of the Wrath of God for every single sin that every single believer will ever commit throughout time and space – so we are now holy in and through Jesus.

Through Jesus – the way of salvation is straight and smooth – and He is glorious in accomplishing it.

John the Baptist fulfills his part of this prophecy as he baptizes:

“The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, ‘Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! This is he of whom I said, “After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me.” I myself did not know him, but for this purpose I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel.’ And John bore witness: ‘I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, “He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.” And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God”’” (John 1:29-34, ESV).

All the obstacles are John cast away as John declares Jesus to be the Savior.

Finally, we are not to put obstacles in anyone’s way of believing in Jesus.

We do not live during the Babylonian captivity and we do not live in the days of Jesus and John the Baptist, but we are still called to tell everyone that Jesus has made the way for all those who will believe to be made right with God – to be saved – to be forgiven.

And so, we are to do nothing that would put an obstacle up in the way of anyone seeing and believing in Jesus.

That means, we are to do everything we can to stop sinning, because our sinning can be an obstacle to others believing in Jesus.  When people look at me and say, “Yes, Peter talks about Jesus and salvation, but look at all the sins he commits!  If Peter can just keep on sinning like he does, well, it doesn’t seem like Jesus is the real Savior to me, now, does it?”

Our sins cloud and confuse other people – especially unbelievers.  By the Grace of God we have God indwelling us and the power to turn away from temptation and to refrain from sin.  Here is one more reason not to sin – it can be an obstacle to someone believing savingly in Jesus.

Also, we are not to add rules – laws – to what God has said – because those can be obstacles to people coming to Christ as well.

“You can’t have long hair and be a Christian.  You can’t listen to rock music.  You can’t hold hands.  You can’t dance.  You can’t wear pastel colors.”

And, we are not to tell people that they must stop their sins before they receive Jesus.  Hear me out – this is like the saying, “you don’t get cleaned up to take a bath.”  If someone is sinning – stealing, murdering, committing sexual sins, lying – he is to stop those sins – just as we are, but to say that he must stop those sins first – before believing in Jesus – is not something he will normally want or be able to do – and we only have authority over our brothers and sisters in the Church – so it’s not until someone believes that he will listen and see why it is wrong to commit adultery.

We are not to put obstacles in anyone’s way.

God sent His prophets and cleared the way for the Glory of God to be seen.  God sent John the Baptist, and Jesus came to accomplish everything necessary for salvation.  We are to point people to Jesus by telling them Who He is and what He has done to accomplish salvation – and after they believe, then we can help them to realize that the Christian life requires us to put our sins behind us.

God has prepared the way and now we are to open our mouths like John the Baptist and proclaim Jesus.  God will draw His people to Himself, and they will believe.  And then, as God the Holy Spirit indwells them, they will begin to turn away from their sins and pursue holiness – just as we are.

Let us pray:

Almighty God, You have done the work and to You belongs all the Glory.  You discipline Your people and bring them through to further maturity.  You sent Your Son and removed every obstacle that all His sheep would hear Him and believe.  Keep us from being obstacles to others hearing the Gospel and believing.  Help us to speak the Person and Word of Jesus and then pray for You to convert.  May we be a blessing to the world for Your Sake.  For it is in Jesus’ Name we pray, Amen.