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November 17th: Isaiah 30 & Luke 3:1-22

Alastair Roberts
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November 17th: Isaiah 30 & Luke 3:1-22

November 16, 2021
Alastair Roberts
Alastair Roberts

Warning against going to Egypt for aid. The voice of one crying in the wilderness.

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Transcript

Isaiah chapter 30. And his envoys reach Haines. Everyone comes to shame through a people that cannot profit them, that brings neither help nor profit but shame and disgrace.
An oracle on the beasts
of the Negev. Through a land of trouble and anguish, from where come the lioness and the lion, the adder and the flying fiery serpent? They carry their riches on the backs of donkeys, and their treasures on the humps of camels, to a people that cannot profit them. Egypt's help is worthless and empty.
Therefore I have called her Rahab who sits still. And
now go, write it before them on a tablet, and inscribe it in a book, that it may be for the time to come as a witness forever. For they are a rebellious people, lying children, children unwilling to hear the instruction of the Lord, who say to the seers, Do not see, and to the prophets, Do not prophesy to us what is right.
Speak to us smooth things,
prophesy illusions, leave the way, turn aside from the path, let us hear no more about the Holy One of Israel. Therefore thus says the Holy One of Israel, Because you despise this word and trust in oppression and perverseness and rely on them, therefore this iniquity shall be to you like a breach in a high wall, bulging out and about to collapse, whose breaking comes suddenly, in an instant. And its breaking is like that of a potter's vessel, that is smashed so ruthlessly, that among its fragments not a shard is found with which to take fire from the hearth, or to dip up water out of the cistern.
For thus says the Lord God, the
Holy One of Israel, In returning and rest you shall be saved, in quietness and in trust shall be your strength. But you were unwilling, and you said, No, we will flee upon horses, therefore you shall flee away, and we will ride upon swift steeds, therefore your pursuers shall be swift. A thousand shall flee at the threat of one, at the threat of five you shall flee, till you are left like a flagstaff on the top of a mountain, like a signal on a hill.
Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you, and therefore He exalts Himself to
show mercy to you. For the Lord is a God of justice, blessed are all those who wait for Him. For a people shall dwell in Zion, in Jerusalem, you shall weep no more, He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry, as soon as He hears it, He answers you.
And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction,
yet your Teacher will not hide Himself any more, but your eyes shall see your Teacher, and your ears shall hear a word behind you saying, This is the way, walk in it, when you turn to the right, or when you turn to the left. Then you will defile your carved idols overlaid with silver, and your gold-plated metal images, you will scatter them as unclean things, you will say to them, Be gone! And He will give rain for the seed with which you sow the ground, and bread, the produce of the ground, which will be rich and plenteous. In that day your livestock will graze in large pastures, and the oxen and the donkeys that work the ground will eat seasoned fodder, which has been winnowed with shovel and fork, and on every lofty mountain and every high hill there will be brooks running with water, in the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall.
Moreover the light of the moon
will be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day when the Lord binds up the brokenness of His people, and heals the wounds inflicted by His blow. Behold the name of the Lord comes from afar, burning with His anger, and in thick rising smoke. His lips are full of fury, and His tongue is like a devouring fire, His breath is like an overflowing stream that reaches up to the neck, to sift the nations with the sieve of destruction, and to place on the jaws of the peoples a bridle that leads astray.
You shall have a song, as in the night when a holy feast is
kept, and gladness of heart, as when one sets out to the sound of the flute to go to the mountain of the Lord, to the rock of Israel. And the Lord will cause His majestic voice to be heard, and the descending blow of His arm to be seen, in furious anger, and a flame of devouring fire. With a cloudburst and storm and hailstones, the Assyrians will be terror-stricken at the voice of the Lord, when He strikes with His rod, and every stroke of the appointed staff that the Lord lays on them will be to the sound of tambourines and lyres.
Battling
with brandished arm, He will fight with them. For a burning place has long been prepared, indeed for the King it is made ready, its pyre made deep and wide, with fire and wood in abundance. The breath of the Lord, like a stream of sulphur, kindles it.
The section of Isaiah running from chapter 28 to 39 speaks to Judah in the years prior to 701 BC and the invasion of the Assyrians under Sennacherib, concluding with a narrative account of the events of the siege and other key events in King Hezekiah's reign. The subsection we are currently looking at focuses more directly upon Judah and runs from chapter 28 to 33, a series of chapters containing five woe statements. Faced with the rising Assyrian threat, especially considering the downfall of the northern kingdom of Israel in 722 BC, Judah and its leaders were tempted to turn to Egypt for aid.
These intentions
had likely been alluded to in the preceding chapter in verses 15 and 16. Ah, you who hide deep from the Lord your counsel, whose deeds are in the dark, and who say, Who sees us? Who knows us? You turn things upside down. Shall the potter be regarded as the clay, that the thing made should say of its maker, He did not make me? Will the thing formed say of him who formed it? He has no understanding.
There were also warnings about the unreliability of Egypt back in chapter 20 in the context of the recapture of Ashdod by the Assyrians in 711 BC, as we read in verses 3 to 5 of that chapter. Then the Lord said, As my servant Isaiah has walked naked and barefoot for three years as a sign and a portent against Egypt and Cush, so shall the king of Assyria lead away the Egyptian captives and the Cushite exiles, both the young and the old, naked and barefoot, with buttocks uncovered, the nakedness of Egypt. Then they shall be dismayed and ashamed because of Cush their hope and Egypt their boast.
In chapters 30 and 31 however, Isaiah addresses the plan to go to Egypt for aid much more directly. The Lord is the one to whom Judah should be turning, rather than the unreliable Egypt from whom they will not receive the help for which they are hoping. The plans in question might have been a last roll of the dice, perhaps one forced upon Hezekiah by those around him, when all other avenues of help seemed to have failed.
The history of Israel and Judah with Egypt was of course extensive. Most notably the Lord had delivered them from Egypt by Moses at the time of the Exodus. At that time the Lord had warned them about returning to Egypt and of the dangers of looking to Egypt for military aid, going back there to get horses and chariots.
King Solomon had ended up forming
a marriage treaty with Egypt, marrying the daughter of the king of Egypt. He became an intermediary for Egypt in its trading in the region. Most troubling of all, he ended up emulating the pharaohs in various ways, not least in his turning from the Lord, toleration of idols and subjection of his people to a sort of bondage.
Key enemies of Solomon took refuge in Egypt and, after Solomon's death, Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem and plundered it in the fifth year of the reign of Rehoboam, Solomon's son, stripping it of many of Solomon's treasures. Alliance with Egypt then had very bad precedent. Judah's attempt to ally with Egypt was an act manifesting their stubborn rebellion against the Lord.
John Oswald notes that their adding sin to sin in verse 1 might
refer to their adding of the sin of concealment to their sin of alliance with Egypt. Another possibility is that this recalls the earlier sin of Judah during the reign of King Ahaz when they turned to Assyria for help during the Syro-Ephraimite war against the word of the Lord. Assyria had crushed Damascus and then also Israel but now was turning to Egypt for aid against the Assyrians from whom they had earlier sought help.
Rather than turning
to the Lord, their God and their true king, they returned to the idolatrous Egyptians from whom he had once delivered them. Egypt was at that time under the 25th dynasty, ruled by Nubians from Kush who had taken over Egypt. While they had consolidated their rule in the land of Egypt by this time, the Egyptians were definitely not the powerful force in the wider region that they once had been.
The prophecy underlines the fact that Egypt
would not be an effective or reliable source for aid. Verse 6 likely involves some sort of wordplay. The word for oracle is the same as the word for burden and is a word used elsewhere for burdens carried by beasts.
The beasts of the Negev here probably describe
the wild animals on the dangerous wilderness path between Jerusalem and the land of Egypt. In seeking this alliance, Judah is sending riches into treacherous territory, not merely in the literal sense of the dangerous route that their envoys have to take, but metaphorically in the futility of the venture more generally. Even if they succeed in reaching Egypt with their treasures, Egypt itself is impotent and will be unable to help them.
They should
have learned that lesson from Ashdod a decade earlier. Indeed, the Lord describes Egypt as Rahab who sits still. Rahab is the legendary sea monster, a monster that along with Leviathan can sometimes stand for foreign powers.
Yet for all of its supposed might, this chaos
monster isn't going to budge, not possessing sufficient power to act. This chapter began by describing Judah as stubborn children and in verse 8 the prophet turns to characterise and expose their sinfulness more directly. Books, scrolls and tablets are not merely vehicles for text bearing information.
As physical objects themselves they can serve
a purpose. Whether as a literal instruction or as prophetic imagery underlining the seriousness of the message, the Lord commands Isaiah to write it on a tablet, with the tablet functioning as a memorial and a witness against them from that time forward. The exact message and view is unclear.
Presumably it was some portion of this section from chapter 28 to 33 or maybe
even the whole. Perhaps one of the reasons for this writing down of the message was due to their refusal to heed the message at that time. After they had learned their error the hard way and were in a more chastened state of mind, then the witness of Isaiah's word against them could be heard.
Their unwillingness to hear was displayed in active resistance
to the seers and the prophets. Like fools, they insisted upon flattery and obliging words. They have made up their minds and they are not about to allow the Lord to gainsay them.
They declare that they do not want to hear any more of the Holy One of Israel, probably not literally but in their hearts that is the import, so the Holy One of Israel addresses them. Since they had so rejected his counsel, the judgement for their sin in this matter would hang like the sword of Damocles over their heads, dooming them to sudden and devastating disaster from which there would be no recovery. Their one hope had been returning to the Lord in repentance, trusting in him and holding their nerve.
However, they would not trust
the Lord, trusting rather to their own schemes in order to escape the impending crisis, ultimately fearing the Assyrians much more than their God. For this reason the Lord would deliver them into the hands of their foes, empowering their enemies against them. Isaiah's words in verse 17 recall the words of Moses in his song in Deuteronomy chapter 32 verse 30.
How could one have chased a thousand, and two have put ten thousand to flight, unless their rock had sold them, and the Lord had given them up? Few would be left as they fled from the face of the Assyrians. The flagstaff that remained on the top of the mountain might be a reference to the beleaguered Jerusalem which ultimately survived the siege, even when the rest of Judah was overrun by the Assyrians. Perhaps this fragile remnant explains the claim of the next verse where the Lord declares his intent to be gracious to them when the time comes.
The chapter now turns to a positive message
of salvation. Judgment would not be the Lord's final word to the nation. They would be restored on the other side, and the Lord would be gracious and merciful to them.
The city that had once
been devastated would be restored, and they would be delivered from their distress. Their present suffering, the bitterness of the bread and the water of the siege rations, would be for their teaching, and he would again reveal himself as their teacher, instructing them in the way that they should go, presumably chiefly through the words of his prophets. This word, however, would be near to them at all times, giving them confidence of sure guidance as they moved forward as a people.
One of the immediate effects of the nearness
of the Lord and his instruction would be the utter rejection of idolatry, which they would completely abhor, they would desecrate and violently cast away their false gods. The Lord would bless the land with rain and fertility, as he promised in the blessings of the covenant. As the people turned back to him, they would experience the full measure of his goodness towards them.
That goodness would enrich and heal every area of their lives and land. Instead
of their current darkness and distress, the coming of the Lord would be the advent of glorious light. In another theophanic depiction of the glorious and dreadful coming of the Lord, Isaiah describes the Lord coming in his wrath against the nations.
More particularly, Isaiah speaks of the name
of the Lord coming. John Watts suggests that this usage is unique. We would usually expect to hear of the glory of the Lord coming.
The name of the Lord is connected with his character,
reputation and honour. It is the object of his people's worship and trust. Exodus 23 verse 21 also describes the name of the Lord being in the angel of the covenant sent before them in the Exodus.
The description of the advent of the Lord also recalls the earlier
description of the coming of the Assyrians in chapter 8 verses 7 to 8. The victory and deliverance of the Lord would cause the people to rejoice. In chapter 28 verses 17 to 18, the Lord had warned Judah of the consequences of its alliance with Egypt. Once again there would be a great reversal as the Lord struck the Assyrians with the same devastating power with which he had struck his people by them.
The Lord himself would
fight against his people's foes and as he did so they would worship. He would do so with an appointed staff. The means of Assyria's destruction has already been set apart for the purpose.
Likewise a funeral pyre for Assyria has also been appointed. Just waiting for
the time that its king will be laid upon it. Assyria is doomed and when its day finally comes the Lord would light the pyre, all the might of Assyria being consumed as its flames licked up its corpse.
A question to consider, how could we summarise the contrast between
Egypt and the Lord as sources of help and assistance and as objects of trust that this chapter draws? Luke chapter 3 verses 1 to 22. In the 15th 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 Iturria 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. And he went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, He said therefore to the crowds that came out to be baptised by him, bear fruits in keeping with repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, we have Abraham as our father.
For I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children
for Abraham. Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
And the crowds asked him, what then shall
we do? And he answered them, whoever has two tunics is to share with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do likewise. Tax collectors also came to be baptised and said to him, Teacher, what shall we do? And he said to them, collect no more than you are authorised to do. Soldiers also asked him, and we, what shall we do? And he said to them, do not extort money from anyone by threats or by false accusation, and be content with your wages.
As the people were in
expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Christ, John answered them all saying, I baptise you with water, but he who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.
So with many other exhortations he preached good news
to the people. But Herod the Tetrarch, who had been reproved by him for Herodias his brother's wife, and for all the evil things that Herod had done, added this to them all, that he locked up John in prison. Now when all the people were baptised, and when Jesus also had been baptised and was praying, the heavens were opened, 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.
Once again, as he does in Luke chapter 1 verse 5 and Luke chapter 2 verses 1-2, in Luke chapter 3 verses 1-2, Luke sets the scene within the context of the wider world and its rulers and empires, and of Jerusalem its kings and priests. A new ruler is coming onto the world stage, and from this time onwards the nations and their rulers must reckon with him. While the other Gospels don't mention Pontius Pilate until the time of Jesus' trial, Luke introduces him as a character here.
He also speaks of the surrounding regions,
establishing a more cosmopolitan context for the events that will occur. Seven historical figures are mentioned, Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate, Herod, Philip, Lysanias, Annas and Caiaphas. This roots the narrative in a clear historical context.
It is very easy for us to forget
that history is measured relative to persons, rather than according to the more abstract metric of numbers. To enter into history is to take up a position in the world of human affairs, relative to all these different figures. So we might speak of this particular year as the 2020th year of our Lord, the year of the pandemic, and the 69th year of the reign of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, Donald Trump being President of the United States.
Such a way of dating, as Luke dates the events here, tells us a great deal more than the year 2020. The word of God came to John the son of Zachariah. This is a familiar formula for the word of the Lord coming to the Prophet.
Note the fact that many of the Prophet's books are introduced with a similar expression. The formula is often further contextualised by mentioning the reign of particular kings or rulers, often foreign ones, along with the name of the Prophet and his father. So for instance, the word of the Lord that came to Hosea the son of Beriah in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel.
Or the words of Amos, who was among the shepherds of Tekoa, which he saw concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah, king of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel, two years before the earthquake. Or in the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came by the hand of Haggai, the Prophet, to Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua, the son of Jehozaddak, the high priest. Or in the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to the Prophet Zachariah, the son of Berechiah, son of Iddo, saying, The prophets operate within an international context, speaking as God's representatives to kings and rulers of nations.
Unsurprisingly, John the Baptist is later imprisoned in this chapter for speaking out against Herod, the king. John the Baptist declares a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. As N.T. Wright observes, the remission of sins refers primarily to God's restoration of sinful Israel.
The baptism was an act of national, not just private, repentance. This baptism occurred in the wilderness on the far side of the Jordan. Those who came to be baptized by John had symbolically to leave the land and re-enter it by washing.
John is one preparing the way for the returning king in the wilderness. He baptizes in the wilderness as the one who is the voice in the wilderness, preparing the way of the Lord, making his path straight. He is preparing a people to be brought into the land by Jesus, Joshua.
John was from a priestly family and his actions should be understood in the light of this. Baptism wasn't something that arose out of the blue, but it's something related to the rites of the Levitical system. Nor was John alone in developing water rites.
We have similar ritual washings associated with the Essenes.
John the Baptist here raises the question of who the true children of Abraham are, a question that is central in many other parts of the Bible, not least Romans and Galatians. In using the expression, brood of vipers, he is effectively declaring that the multitudes coming to him are like the seed of the serpent.
In Genesis 3, verse 15, there is enmity placed between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent. And John is suggesting that rather than their being the children of Abraham as they suppose themselves to be, they are actually the children of the evil one. God can raise up children to Abraham from these stones.
God later raises up Christ from the stone grave as Abraham's true heir. And I think that it's possible that John is alluding to Isaiah chapter 51, verses 1-2 here. Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness, you who seek the Lord, look to the rock from which you were hewn, and to the quarry from which you were dug.
Look to Abraham your father, and to Sarah who bore you.
For he was but one when I called him, that I might bless him and multiply him. Israel is raised up from the rock and God can do the same thing again.
John declares that the axe is laid to the root of the trees. The trees are going to be chopped down at their very roots, not just at the trunk. Once again, the image comes from Isaiah chapter 10, verses 33-34.
Behold, the Lord God of hosts will lap the boughs with terrifying power. The great in height will be hewn down, and the lofty will be brought low. He will cut down the thickets of the forest with an axe, and Lebanon will fall by the majestic one.
Those who know the Isaiah reference will recognise that what comes next is a rod growing from the stem of Jesse. The kingdom is cut down beyond even David, and a new David will arise, like life from the dead. The image of the axe and the trees is also reminiscent of Psalm 74, verses 4-7, where the trees are associated with the temple.
The nation and its temple will be cut down by the axe of the Romans in AD 70 and burned. Your foes have roared in the midst of your meeting place. They set up their own signs for signs.
They were like those who swing axes in a forest of trees, and all its carved wood they broke down with hatchets and hammers. They set your sanctuary on fire. They profaned the dwelling place of your name, bringing it down to the ground.
The imagery is also found in Daniel 4, verses 10-16. The visions of my head as I lay in bed were these. I saw, and behold, a tree in the midst of the earth, and its height was great.
The tree grew and became strong, and its top reached to heaven, and it was visible to the end of the whole earth. Its leaves were beautiful, and its fruit abundant, and in it was food for all. The beasts of the field found shade under it, and the birds of the heavens lived in its branches, and all flesh was fed from it.
I saw in the visions of my head as I lay in bed, and behold, a Watcher, a Holy One, came down from heaven. He proclaimed aloud and said thus, Chop down the tree and lop off its branches, strip off its leaves and scatter its fruit. Let the beasts flee from under it, and the birds from its branches.
But leave the stump of its roots in the earth, bound with a band of iron and bronze, amid the tender grass of the field. Let him be wet with the dew of heaven. Let his portion be with the beasts in the grass of the earth.
Let his mind be changed from a man's, and let a beast's mind be given to him, and let seven periods of time pass over him. There Nebuchadnezzar the Babylonian emperor is judged for his pride, and it's a judgment upon the kingdom that he's associated with too. Perhaps we should recognize that the names of verses 1 and 2 in this chapter are also a list of trees, these great trees of the earth that will be brought low.
With the advent of his kingdom, God is bringing a great axe to the forest of the world. Jesus is declared to be mightier than John. Here Jesus is presented as if a powerful warrior.
Once again, perhaps, we are in the world of Isaiah allusions here. Jesus is like the description of the Lord as a mighty warrior, single-handedly working salvation, treading out the winepress on the day of his vengeance in Isaiah chapter 63 verses 1 to 6. John the Baptist isn't worthy to loose Christ's sandals for this treading. The references to strength are significant.
The Hebrew meaning of Gabriel's name also refers to might and strength, and the scene is being set for a showdown with the strong man who holds the world in bondage. Our first introduction to Christ in the New Testament through the testimony of John the Baptist is as the one who winnows at the threshing floor. His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor, and to gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.
Christ is the one who works the threshing floor, much as he is the one who treads out the grapes and the winepress in Isaiah chapter 63 verses 1 to 6 and Revelation chapter 14 verses 14 to 20, where he also reaps the wheat. And only a dull ear would miss the heavy allusion to Malachi chapter 3 verses 1 to 3. The temple of Malachi chapter 3 is replaced with the threshing floor in Luke chapter 3, and it makes sense because the temple was built upon a threshing floor, and the symbolism of these two things get associated with each other. Not muzzling the ox as it treads out the grain is associated as a principle with the way that the priest should be able to eat from the altar.
The priests are the oxen that work in the temple, that work in the threshing floor, they're preparing the grain of Israel for the bread of God. Christ however is the one who purges both the temple and the nation of Israel. He is the one who separates wheat from chaff, burning the latter and gathering the former.
It's a time of judgement, these are images of God's judgement drawn from places like Psalm 1. Herod the Tetrarch persecutes John the Baptist at the instigation of his wife Herodias, and the parallel to Jezebel's instigation of Ahab's persecution of Elijah, in whose spirit and power John came, in verse 17 of chapter 1, that should be clear. Jesus is baptised when all of the people have been baptised, presumably suggesting that it was not just as one of the crowd. Should we see a suggestion that Jesus is the one who completes the full number? Perhaps.
I'm not sure whether Luke intends this, but you might see the flood account in the background here.
When all have entered the ark, God closes the door, then the heavens are opened. The Holy Spirit later descends upon Jesus like a dove, like the dove descended on the new earth after the flood.
I think Luke definitely intends this, but I'm not completely persuaded that he intends a wider set of flood allusions. In the baptism of Jesus we see Father, Son and Spirit in a single event, the voice of the Father from heaven, the descent of the Spirit in the form of a dove, and the Son coming up out of the water. In contrast to other gospel descriptions of the baptism of Christ, Jesus, we are here told, is praying at the time, and this is part of Luke's foregrounding of the theme of prayer more generally.
Why is Jesus baptised by John? Various reasons can be given, and different gospels emphasise different things. Among other things, it creates continuity between the ministry of John the Baptist and Jesus. Just as Moses and Joshua in Joshua chapter 1, and Elijah and Elisha in 2 Kings chapter 2, pass the baton of ministry on the far side of the Jordan, so John passes the baton of ministry, the ministry of the prophets, to Jesus the Son at the same place.
Jesus has the same name as Joshua, and a related name to Elisha, and he leads us into the promised land. His ministry is compared to that of Elisha at various points in the Gospel of Luke, and before Jesus, Elisha was the most prominent miracle worker in the land. In being baptised with the rest of the people, Jesus also identifies with them, and identifies them with him.
He is the one who will lead them into the promised land. He is the new Joshua who will go before the people. As the leader of the people, he also takes their state upon himself, along with all of their history, and so in being baptised, he is assuming the weight of the burden of Israel, present in the land, but not truly enjoying the fellowship with God that they should do, because of their sin.
Jesus enacts the repentance of the nation that he represents by being baptised with John's baptism. At his baptism, Jesus is also being set apart as a priest. He begins his ministry at about 30 years of age, which is the age at which the priests began their ministry.
Jesus' baptism was a baptism into priesthood, and the fact that a genealogy follows should be related to the fact that Jesus is entering into priestly ministry at this point. The genealogy marks him out as qualified for priesthood. The baptism is a confirmation, both to Jesus and to John, of Jesus' status as the Son of God.
In John's Gospel, the descent of the Spirit upon Jesus is that which manifests Jesus to John as the Son of God, and this marks the definitive beginning of Christ's ministry, but it also demonstrates that John's ministry has achieved its purpose. It is important to remember that a qualification for the Twelve was having been there since the baptism of John, and each one of the Gospels highlights the ministry of John at the very outset of their story. John the Baptist is an integral part of the story of Christ.
Jesus' own story is a story of three baptisms. His baptism where he is anointed and manifested in the Jordan, the baptism of his death, and the baptism of the Spirit that he performs at Pentecost. And in Jesus' baptism, he gathers up the story of all the great baptisms of the Old Testament, things like the Creation, the Flood, the Red Sea, baptism into priesthood, the ritual washings, Elijah crossing the Jordan, and many other such events, and he gathers these into his story.
He takes up the baptism from the last great Old Testament prophet, John the Baptist. He identifies with the sinful people, and then out of their broken history, he forges a new one. Our baptism is how we are plugged into his baptism.
We are baptised into him as Israel was into Moses, the one who was drawn from the water. We are baptised with him in the Jordan, anointed with his Spirit for ministry, and declared to be God's beloved children. We are baptised with him in his death, dying and rising to new life.
We are baptised with his baptism of Pentecost, clothed with the mantle of the ascended Christ Spirit, and made one body with him. And the story of all things is gathered together and summed up in the baptised Christ, and we in him. The descent of the Spirit upon Jesus at his baptism should be related to the later descent of the Spirit upon the church at Pentecost.
As Christ ascends into heaven, his Spirit descends upon the church, like the mantle of Elijah fell to Elisha, and Elisha received the firstborn portion of Elijah's Spirit when Elijah ascended in 2 Kings 2. Elijah's ascension is Elisha's Pentecost. A further connection to Luke's account of Jesus' baptism might be seen in the story of Ezekiel. In chapter 1 verse 1, Jesus is a new Ezekiel, as we will see in what follows.
This is the 30th year of his life, as it was the 30th year for Ezekiel. He's by the river, he's with the exiles, the heavens are opened, and he sees visions of God. If John the Baptist was introduced to us like one of the Old Testament prophets, the stage is now set for a new prophet.
A question to consider, what Old Testament accounts might the words of the Father from heaven remind us of?

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Wintery Knight and Desert Rose explore chapters 1 and 2 of the Book of James. They discuss the book's author, James, the brother of Jesus, and his mar
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Risen Jesus
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The following episode is part two of the debate between atheist philosopher Dr. Evan Fales and Dr. Mike Licona in 2014 at the University of St. Thoman
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Risen Jesus
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In this episode, Dr. Mike Licona and Dr. Bart Ehrman face off for the second time on whether historians can prove the resurrection. Dr. Ehrman says no
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#STRask
May 8, 2025
Questions about what to say to someone who believes in “healing frequencies” in fabrics and music, whether Christians should use Oriental medicine tha
Pastoral Theology with Jonathan Master
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Life and Books and Everything
April 21, 2025
First published in 1877, Thomas Murphy’s Pastoral Theology: The Pastor in the Various Duties of His Office is one of the absolute best books of its ki
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What Should I Teach My Students About Worldviews?
#STRask
June 2, 2025
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Licona vs. Fales: A Debate in 4 Parts – Part Four: Licona Responds and Q&A
Risen Jesus
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Today is the final episode in our four-part series covering the 2014 debate between Dr. Michael Licona and Dr. Evan Fales. In this hour-long episode,
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Michael Egnor and Denyse O'Leary: The Immortal Mind
Knight & Rose Show
May 31, 2025
Wintery Knight and Desert Rose interview Dr. Michael Egnor and Denyse O'Leary about their new book "The Immortal Mind". They discuss how scientific ev
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Risen Jesus
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Dr. Mike Licona and Dr. Willian Lane Craig contend that the texts about Jesus’ resurrection were written to teach a physical, historical resurrection
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Licona and Martin: A Dialogue on Jesus' Claim of Divinity
Risen Jesus
May 14, 2025
In this episode, Dr. Mike Licona and Dr. Dale Martin discuss their differing views of Jesus’ claim of divinity. Licona proposes that “it is more proba
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Is It Wrong to Feel Satisfaction at the Thought of Some Atheists Being Humbled Before Christ?
#STRask
June 9, 2025
Questions about whether it’s wrong to feel a sense of satisfaction at the thought of some atheists being humbled before Christ when their time comes,
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What Questions Should I Ask Someone Who Believes in a Higher Power?
#STRask
May 26, 2025
Questions about what to ask someone who believes merely in a “higher power,” how to make a case for the existence of the afterlife, and whether or not
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The Plausibility of Jesus' Rising from the Dead Licona vs. Shapiro
Risen Jesus
April 23, 2025
In this episode of the Risen Jesus podcast, we join Dr. Licona at Ohio State University for his 2017 resurrection debate with philosopher Dr. Lawrence
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More on the Midwest and Midlife with Kevin, Collin, and Justin
Life and Books and Everything
May 19, 2025
The triumvirate comes back together to wrap up another season of LBE. Along with the obligatory sports chatter, the three guys talk at length about th