Lucas 3

Lucas 3

Guzik comments that "John had many reasons to be proud, yet he was humble. He had a miraculous birth, a prophesied destiny, a man called to personally fulfill great prophetic promises, a powerful preacher, and a man with a great following.. “What was the reason, think you, of John’s always retaining his proper position? Was it not because he had a high idea of his Master, and a deep reverence for him? Ah, brethren, because of our little estimate of Christ, it is often unsafe for the Lord to trust us in any but the very lowest positions.” (Spurgeon)i. John was both strict and humble. That is an all-too-rare combination." (Enduring Word - Luke) ILLUSTRATION - I once heard E. V. Hill, the pastor of Mount Zion Missionary Baptist Church in Los Angeles, tell of the ministry of an elderly woman in his church whom they all called 1800 because no one knew how old she was. 1800 was hard on unsuspecting preachers because she would sit in the front row, and as soon as the preacher began she would say, "Get him up!" (referring to Christ). After a few minutes, if she did not think there was enough of Christ in the sermon, she would again shout, "Get him up!" If a preacher did not "Get him up!" he was in for a long, hard day! Here John the Baptist's response to misplaced adulation was to "get him up"—a noble task because it is the chief purpose for our existence....John was the greatest of all men, he was having the greatest of all ministries to date, multitudes were at his feet, but he knew that he wasn't worthy to perform even the humblest act for Christ. If we aim to "get him up," we need to "get ourselves down." (K. Hughes) He will baptize (baptizo) you with the Holy Spirit - Notice that here ​John functions as a prophet giving a prophecy which summarizes the ministry of Jesus. See commentary describing the fulfillment of this in Acts 2:1-4. John baptized them in the Jordan River symbolizing their outward confession of repentance. One can be water-baptized without being baptized with the Holy Spirit, and vice versa. Thus John's baptism would only be external if it were not accompanied by heart change. The Messiah's baptism however would be mightier, the result of supernatural power which could only be performed by God. Messiah's "baptism" would be internal, for when one entered the New Covenant in Messiah's blood (Lk 22:20+), they would receive the gift of the permanently indwelling Holy Spirit (see Paul below). This had been promised to the Jews in the OT in Ezekiel in the context of the New Covenant in which God declared “I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes (NOTE GOD'S PROVISION), and you will be careful to observe My ordinances (MAN'S RESPONSIBILITY WHICH IS ONLY POSSIBLE AS ONE RELIES WHOLLY ON THE POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT). (Ezekiel 36:27+) He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire (pur) - While the interpretation of this passage is controversial, the context would clearly indicate the fire of judgment (something John has already alluded to in the preceding context - "wrath to come" - Lk 3:7+). John was only a man could not send anyone into judgment, for that authority belongs only to Jesus "For not even the Father judges anyone, but He has given all judgment to the Son." (Jn 5:22) Not all writers agree that fire here refers to judgement, even though clearly fire refers to judgement in the immediate context (Lk 3:17). Those who see only one baptism (D A Carson in comments on Mt 3:11), take the fire as a purifying agent. One of the main arguments to support this premise is that there is only one preposition with (Greek = en) before Spirit and fire. In other words there is no separate "with" before fire, which as Carson says "suggests a unified concept, Spirit-fire or the like." Fire is used repeatedly in both testaments to describe future judgment - Old Testament - Isa. 29:6; 30:33; 31:9; 66:15–16; Ezek. 38:22; Zeph. 1:18; 3:8, Malachi 3:1, 2, Mal 4:2 New Testament - Mt. 7:19; 13:40, 42, 50; 18:8; 25:41; Lk 9:54; 12:49; 17:29; Jn 15:6; 2 Th. 1:7; Heb 10:27; 2 Pe 3:7; Jude 7; Rev. 14:10; 19:20; 20:10, 14–15; 21:8 Criswell: The reference to baptizing with the Holy Spirit and fire is understood by some to refer to one act, that of purification by the Holy Spirit as the fire burns away impurity. Others understand two acts: baptism with the Holy Spirit for those who are saved, and baptism with fire for those who are damned. The context suggest two acts. (The Believer's Study Bible:) John MacArthur on Holy Spirit and fire (pur) says "Many interpreters take this (and fire) to be a part of the Holy Spirit baptism, which began at Pentecost and which in that instance was accompanied by "tongues of fire" (Acts 2:3+). But the Acts account says that those tongues "appeared to them" (that is, the waiting disciples) "as of fire." They were not fire, but looked like licks of fire. In his last promise of the soon-coming baptism with the Holy Spirit, Jesus said nothing about actual fire being a part of the experience (Acts 1:5+). And when, a short time later, Cornelius and his household were baptized with the Holy Spirit, no fire was present (Acts 10:44+; Acts 11:16+; cf. Acts 8:17+; Acts 19:6+). Other interpreters take the fire to represent a spiritual cleansing, as described in the quotation above from Ezekiel. But nothing in Ezekiel's text, in the context of John's message here, or in the Pentecost reference to the tongues "as of fire" relates to such cleansing. Consequently, it seems best to consider fire as representing God's coming judgment, which, as we have seen, is so frequently in Scripture symbolized by fire. In both the preceding and following verses (Mt 3:10, 12+) John clearly uses fire to represent judgment and punishment. It is impossible that the middle reference to fire would concern an entirely different subject. Both of the adjoining verses contrast the fates of believers and unbelievers, those who bear good fruit and those who do not (Mt 3:10) and the valuable wheat and the worthless chaff (Mt 3:12+). It therefore seems logical and natural to take Mt 3:11 also as a contrast between believers (those baptized with the Holy Spirit) and unbelievers (those baptized with the fire of God's judgment). (MacArthur New Testament Commentary) J