A People Prepared
3/4/25 Bible Thought (Lk. 3)
I’m sure all of us at some point have been stuck driving on a road that was filled with potholes. If they’re bad enough, it’ll literally toss you around in the car. Similarly, I’m sure we’ve all driven on mountainous roads that are filled with twists and turns around the mountain and countless ups and downs. Knowing roads that are bumpy, twisty, and frankly chaotic, I truly appreciate when we find ourselves on a nice straight road that has been freshly paved and has that beautiful black finish to it with crisp yellow lines.
In Luke 3, we see the ministry of John the Baptist, and his ministry is described in terms of preparing a way for the Lord. The average citizen probably isn’t too keen on busted up roads, but surely if we were going to have a president or king, or someone of great significance coming to town, we wouldn’t want to put them on the bumpy road into town.
John’s ministry is foretold by the prophet Isaiah,
“The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. 5 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, 6 and all flesh shall see the salvation of God’” (Lk. 3:4-6; Is. 40:3-5).
What’s interesting though, is that John doesn’t come to prepare a literal path, but a people. Many thought that because they were the offspring of Abraham, they were good to go. To this, John the Baptist cries out that God could raise up offspring of Abraham from the stones! (Lk. 3:8b). As such, his message comes, “Bear fruits in keeping with repentance” (Lk. 3:8a). The apostle Paul would later say something similar, that Jewishness and circumcision weren’t merely outward things, but a matter of the heart (see Rom. 2:28-29).
There was no DNA lottery that would guarantee someone was accepted in God’s sight. It wasn’t just a matter of descent, it wasn’t just being part of God’s covenant people but truly being One of His people through an obedient faith. Certainly, all through the Old Testament there were “children of Abraham” who didn’t follow in their ancestor’s footsteps of faith. Just look at all the wicked kings of Israel who served false idol gods!
John the Baptist comes to prepare a people. He calls them to repentance. Which means, “to change one’s way of life as the result of a complete change of thought and attitude with regard to sin and righteousness.”[1] Generally, it has the positive sense of, “the beginning of a new relationship with God.”[2]
Repentance is an acknowledgement that I need to change. I’m a sinner, in need of forgiveness. It begins fundamentally as a change of mind or heart that results in a change of actions. It’s not supposed to be an outward conformity alone, but it begins with a heart transformed by the grace of God. We come to agree with His description of our sin. We acknowledge that our sin is indeed sinful, as God has said. Then, when we truly see the nature of our sin internally, we turn from it externally.
“Repentance is an acknowledgement that I need to change.”
Hence, the baptizer says to bear the fruits of repentance. Don’t just say you’re sorry, show that you’re sorry! I’m sure everyone has seen the kid who says they’re sorry a thousand times but rarely shows it (truly this is where we’re at right now!). Every time I say to my daughter, “Don’t just say you’re sorry and keep doing the same thing, you need to stop doing (whatever it is)” I can feel my Father looking down, saying the same thing to me.
John says to the one blessed with two tunics, to share with those who have none, to the tax-collector he says to collect no more than he’s supposed to, and to the soldier to be content with his wages and not to extort anything from others (Lk. 3:11-14). If you’re sorry for your sin, and your mindset around your sin has truly changed. Then you: change. What might John say to us today?
He came to prepare a way for the Lord, truly to prepare a people for the Lord, whose hearts had been softened from their hardened state. This brought about an expectation, perhaps John was the Christ? (Lk. 3:15). The people were prepared, ready for God to move. They wanted more than just to be a descendant of Abraham, but to be truly have a relationship with the living God. Are our hearts prepared for the Lord to work in them today? Do we have persistent sin in our lives that has separated us from our God? Things we say that we’re sorry for, but keep doing? Repentance is supposed to bear fruit, and if there are things out of alignment in our lives, let’s fill the potholes that we might be prepared for the King to come and work in our lives.
[1] Johannes P. Louw and Eugene Albert Nida, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament: Based on Semantic Domains (New York: United Bible Societies, 1996) 509.
[2] William Arndt et al., A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 640.
Can I push back a little?
As I've come to see, repentance is indeed a turning, a changing of one's mind. However, this is more to do with how I see Christ, and less about how sorry I am.
Yes, of course I am truly sorry, and indeed purpose to better behavior in the future.
But I repent when I see that my works, be they sinful or selfless, have in fact no bearing on my status as a child of God, wholly forgiven and cleansed. Prior to this, I was always looking at my walk - oh today I was pretty good, well, better than yesterday. Of this I repent.
I repent of ever seeing myself loom large, and Christ's work as all in all, well it's there too.