John the Baptist came preaching a message of judgement and repentance.
It appears that there was a movement of the Spirit of God across the land of
Israel and when people heard about this wilderness preacher, they started coming
by the thousands to hear him and many were willing to repent and be baptized.
As we said yesterday, John first addressed the religious crowd that came to
hear him, trying to find out why all the country seemed to be flocking to hear
him. They were not interested in his message of repentance. They were blindly satisfied
with their religious rituals and ceremonies.
So, John addressed them first and called them a “brood
of vipers”. A bunch of poisonous snakes! He warned them of the judgment of
the “wrath to come”. That they needed to repent like everyone else and
just being a Jew wasn’t enough! John went on to say, that already the axe is
laid to the root of the trees, which meant that the Messiah was here, and judgement
by being thrown into the fire, was sure if they rejected Him.
Then it appears that John has a message for three different
groups of people. In verse 10, “the people”, which would be the
multitudes of common people that were there. In verse 12, “the tax
collectors” that came to be baptized. And in verse 14, the Roman soldiers
possibly were there to keep order because of the crowds. They were coming under
conviction by John’s powerful preaching!
It is interesting that each of these groups all ask the same
question upon getting baptized and now wanting to bear fruits that gave
evidence of their repentance. Their question was, “What shall we do?” This
sounds like a familiar question that was often asked in the Book of Acts. On the
day of Pentecost after Peter preached his powerful message about the death,
burial and resurrection of Jesus, in Acts 2:37, the people listening “were
cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, "Men and
brethren, what shall we do?"
In Acts 9:6, we see the Apostle Paul’s response when he met
Jesus on the road to Damascus. After he acknowledged that it was Jesus speaking
to him, he asked, "Lord, what do You want me to do?” After the earthquake
and the jail doors opened in Acts 16:30, the Philippian jailer asked Paul and
Silas, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
What a great question! It is a sign of truly coming under
the convicting power of the Holy Spirit and wonderful evidence of genuine
repentance! And John had an application for each of these groups. To the people
he said, “that whoever has two coats, let him give to him that hath none;
and he that has food, let him to likewise" (Luke 3:10, 11). The
message for the people was mercy and charity. This indirectly exposed the sin
of the people, namely, selfishness.
To the tax collectors he said, “collect no more than
that which is appointed you?" (Luke 3:12, 13). John the Baptist did
not hesitate to deal with sin. The publicans, who were the tax collectors, were
notorious for overcharging people for taxes. And to the soldiers, John the
Baptist gave a threefold answer. First, “do not intimidate anyone.” Soldiers
have the means to do violence to people. Secondly, “do not accuse falsely."
Soldiers could be very evil to people by bringing false accusations. Roman
courts readily accepted the testimony of a soldier. And thirdly, “be content
with your wages”. Contentment with wages reflects an attitude that is not
poisoned by materialism.
What is the Holy Spirit speaking to you about today? Will
you respond, “Lord, what will you have me to do?”
God bless!
