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Read Luke 3:1-20 every day this week. This is the account of the beginning of John the Baptist’s ministry. Each day this week, if possible, choose several different translations and ask God to open your eyes to new revelation from His Word.
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Luke 3:1-3
“In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar— when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and Traconitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene— during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the desert. He went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.”
Christmas is rapidly approaching and the so-called festive period will soon be upon us. We’ll all get ‘wrapped up’ in the commercialism of the time and be bombarded with incessant refrains of “Oh I wish it could be Christmas every day” in every store. Santa Clause will be coming to town and he’s going to find out who’s been naughty and nice. Every parent will be asking their children to behave otherwise they’ll get nothing for Christmas. The promise is that if they behave then they’ll get what their asking for.
It’s important to know that God keeps His promises. He will never go back on His word to us and will always do what He says He going to do. However, some of His promises are conditional. “If you do this, then I will do that”. We can’t expect God to do something for us if He’s asked us to do something ourselves first.
This is what we see in this verse today. There is a very clear conditional promise from God that is somehow missed in most translations. The phrase ‘Baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins’ rolls off the tongue and its meaning isn’t always understood.
The Williams New Testament (1936) translates it like this: “baptism conditioned on repentance to obtain the forgiveness of sins.” I think this makes things much, much clearer. The forgiveness of sins is actually a conditional promise based on repentance. If there is no repentance, then there is no forgiveness. “If you do this, then God will do that”.
So what does repentance actually mean? At its simplest, it means a change of mind. Whatever we were thinking previously, we know think differently. It’s not an act of the will that says I’ll try to be different, or I’ll behave in a better way. It’s an acknowledgement of incorrect thinking and changing those thoughts in a sincere way to match what God is saying to us. While this particular verse is in regard to forgiveness of sins, repentance can apply to so many areas of our lives.
What do you think of yourself? Do you consider yourself to be of little use? Well, what does God say about you? He calls you His child, He says you’re forgiven, you’re chosen, He has redeemed you, You’re His bride, you’re beautiful. If we continue to think of ourselves as anything else, then we are in need of repentance. We can miss out on so much that God has prepared for us, just because we’ve not changed our thinking to match His. Is it time you started thinking differently?
- Take a few minutes to think about what God says about you and then compare this to what you actually think about yourself. Record this in your journal and pray a prayer of repentance asking God to reveal more of Himself in your life.
- Read Luke 3:1-20.
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