Luke 3:1-20

3:1 | Tiberias ascended to the Roman throne on the death of Augustus in AD 14, which means his fifteenth year would have been AD 28-29. Pontius Pilate, to whom Luke gives the general title governor, ruled from AD 26-36.

3:2-6 | John the Baptist was announcing the end of Jesus’ private life and the beginning of His public ministry. Jesus surely welcomed John’s message that the kingdom of heaven was at hand, for He knew that His Father’s business is the kingdom of heaven.

3:3 | The first word of the gospel is repent (Acts 2:38; 19:4) – a person must turn from sin, to Christ.

3:4-6 | Luke used Isaiah 40:3-5 to show that John the Baptist fulfilled this prophecy as a forerunner to the Messiah. Luke quotes more of the text than either Matthew or Mark (Matt. 3:3; Mark 1:2-3) and gives special attention to the prophecy that all flesh shall see the salvation of God. By this, Luke emphasizes that Jesus came as the Savior of the world, not only as the Messiah of Israel.

3:7-9 | John’s ministry focused on repentance – the putting away of sin (like removing mountains and straightening crooked paths, as declared by Isaiah 40:3-5) – as a necessary preparation for the arrival of the Messiah. Simply being natural descendants of Abraham had no lasting value; God could just as easily create new children from these stones as He could cause rocks to praise His Son if the people refused to do so.

3:10-14 |True repentance always manifests itself in changed behavior, as the apostle Paul would later note (Acts 26:20). Truly repentant people share what they have with the less fortunate, treat people fairly, and refuse to use positions of power to enrich themselves at other’s expense.

3:15-17 | John was able to reject the notion that he might be the Christ on several counts: the Messiah would be more powerful, worthy of far more reverence, and have a broader ministry. Also, the Holy Spirit would work differently in the Messiah’s ministry, supplying it with a purifying, judging, and saving aspect that John’s did not have.

3:19-20 | Herod Antipas had married Herodias, formerly the wife of his brother, Philip. John publicly rebuked Herod for this prohibited union, a bold action that eventually led to his imprisonment and execution (Mark 6:17-29).