Luke 3,v15-end , January 12th 2025.
Luke 3:5-38 Waiting expectantly
What is the first image you think of when you hear the word expectancy? For me I
think of a mother with a big belly. She is expecting, hopefully waiting for, the birth of
a baby. Waiting expectantly is looking forward with good hope.
The passage we just heard speaks of waiting expectantly: ‘The people were waiting
expectantly and were all wondering in their hearts if John might possibly be the
Messiah.’ Luke 3:15.
Difficult times
The people during the time of John the Baptist were living in difficult times. The
country was occupied by the Romans, who had appointed king Herod Antipas, a
non-Jewish king. His family came from the Edomites, the people group that had been
enemies of the Jews for centuries. The people longed to be free from oppression.
During the times of king David and his son Solomon, the kingdom of Israel was on
its peak. The country was rich and powerful, and all their enemies were subdued.
But after these kings the kingdom came into decline, because the kings and the
people didn’t wholeheartedly serve God. It resulted in the break up of the kingdom in
a northern and southern part and later in the exile of the people. The people of the
North were exiled by the Assyrians, those from the South by the Babylonians.
Promises
The prophets had warned them for these calamities, but also given them hope. Isaiah
and Jeremiah prophesied that the people would (1) return to their land after 70
years of exile. Ezekiel prophesied that the (2) temple would be rebuild and that it
would be even bigger and more splendid than before.
The people of Israel did indeed return to their land and rebuilt the temple, but it was
not as big and beautiful as before. Those who had known the original temple cried
when they saw it. And God’s glory didn’t fill the temple as a cloud, as it did when the
original temple was dedicated by Solomon. And although the country by times had
had some autonomy, the kingdom of David was never restored.
All these prophecies had not been fully fulfilled.
Throughout the Old Testament, the prophets had also (3) prophesied the coming of
the Messiah, meaning the Anointed One, or the Chosen One, who would be the
deliverer of the people, a Son of David who would restore the kingdom.
John – Hope, expectancy
So when John the baptist started preaching, the people were waiting expectantly and
were all wondering in their hearts if John might possibly be this promised Messiah.
He attracted a lot of attention. He was not just a rebel who called the people to fight
against the Romans. The people recognized he was a man of God, a prophet, who
without fear called the people to repent of their sins and to return to the LORD their
God. They liked a man with a spirit like that who could lead them.
Would he be their promised Messiah, who would deliver them and restore David’s
kingdom?
No, the Messiah is coming after me.
No John says. I’m baptizing you with water, but I’m not the Messiah. This baptism
with water is symbolizing the cleansing of sins, and prepares the way for the
Messiah. He is coming indeed, but the Messiah is from a complete different level
than I am. If you think I am powerful, please realize I’m nothing compared t Him. I’m
not even worthy to untie his sandals, the task for a low ranked slave or servant.
Baptizing with Holy Spirit and Fire
John points towards the Messiah, the chosen one who will deliver his people. But he
tells them that His coming will have a huge impact on their own personal lives as
well. The Messiah will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. That baptism with
the Holy Spirit speaks of being soaked in and filled with God’s presence and power.
The baptism with fire has two sides: it speaks of love, enthusiasm and excitement of
God’s presence, but it also speaks of judgment, testing and purification. God is holy,
so whatever is not godly needs to leave where HE is present, where HE is king.
Winnowing Fork – wheat & chaff
Be prepared, John says, The winnowing fork is in his hand. He will clear the
threshing floor and gather the wheat into the barn, but he will burn up the chaff with
unquenchable fire.
Winnowing is the process of getting rid of the chaff, the outer skin of the wheat, so
you would only keep the wheat grains. In those days the farmers used a kind of fork
with which the wheat was scooped and thrown in the air. It was usually done in the
afternoon when there was some wind, so the wind would blow the chaff, which was
light weight, a bit further while the heavier grains of wheat would drop directly back
to the floor. So the wind helped to separate the wheat from the chaff. The useless
chaff would be burned.
Jesus being baptized
The Messiah would come after John, but the people didn’t have to wait till John
passed away. One day, while John was still preaching and baptizing, Jesus came to be
baptized as well. And when he came up from the water and was praying, heaven
opened and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. A voice
came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”
These words echo Psalm 2, where it is written: “You are my son; today I have
become your father.” A Psalm which has always been understood as pointing toward
the Messianic king who one day would come.
Jesus, born from the virgin Maria and grown up as the son of Joseph, is son of man,
but also declared son of God.
In the past it was the tabernacle and the temple in which the presence of God was
found. God’s presence didn’t come upon the temple which was built after the
Babylonian exile, God’s house among the people. But the Holy Spirit did descend on
Jesus in bodily form like a dove. God’s presence among the people is found in Jesus
Christ, as it written in Col.2:9 “For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in
bodily form”
What is the message for us today here in Amersfoort?
What does God want to speak to you and me now, for our personal lives at home, in
our relationships, in our working space? I think we can learn a few things.
(1) Waiting expectantly
The people in the time of John lived in difficult circumstances, under the occupation
of the Romans, and the foreign king Herod. They waited expectantly for the Messiah.
Jesus the Messiah did come. He died for the sins of mankind, defeated the evil
powers, rose again to life and is seated now at the right hand of the Father.
But like the people waited then, we can still wait expectantly for Him to show up,
and help us in our challenges, our difficulties of life.
If you have surrendered your life to Jesus, the past is forgiven and we we are
guaranteed that He is with us always. Jesus doesn’t guarantee us a life free of
difficulties. He wants us to live life with Him, in connection with Him, depending on
Him through the difficulties.
David speaks waiting expectantly for Him as well in Psalm 5:1-3.
Psalm 5
1 Listen to my words, LORD, consider my lament.
2 Hear my cry for help, my King and my God, for to you I pray.
3 In the morning, LORD, you hear my voice;
in the morning I lay my requests before you
and wait expectantly.
If you are a bit like me, this is not a lifestyle that comes automatically. I try to solve
my problems myself, sometimes worrying, sometimes just working hard to get things
done. In the morning reading my Bible and asking God to help me, but then during
the day I so easily switch to higher gears, being busy the whole day, forgetting to
think of Him and be open for His guidance.
In this Psalm we read of David speaking out his requests using his voice, and waiting
expectantly. It speaks of being attentive to see how God works things out throughout
the day, or the following weeks. We can surely expect his help, because as Eph.3:20
says, “God can do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine.”
(2) Baptism with Holy Spirit and Fire
The holy Spirit visibly came upon Jesus when he was baptized. John’s prophecy was
fulfilled visibly as well in tongues of fire on the disciples at Pentecost. And we, when
we surrender our lives to Jesus will be filled with the Holy Spirit as well. Like all
clothes will be soaked when someone is baptized by full immersion, God’s Spirit will
also penetrate to a all areas of our life. He will guide us, teach us, convince us of sins,
transform us more into His likeness.
He will not only baptize with the Holy Spirit, but also with Fire. The apostle Peter
writes ‘Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to
test you, as though something strange were happening to you’ (1 Pet.3:12). It’s often
the difficulties in our life that God uses to purify us, to draw us closer to Him. So we
learn to not solve the problems ourselves, but become more and more dependent on
Him, and turn away from our self-centered way of living.
(3) The winnowing
The winnowing process is also a process of cleaning, of purification.
(1)In Psalm 1 we read about how the good people will be blessed, and how the
wicked people will be blown away like chaff. So in this separating of wheat
and chaff we can also think of the believers and unbelievers who are separated,
like Jesus elsewhere speaks of separating the sheep and the goats.
(2)However we can think of another meaning as well. Chaff is the skin around the
grains of wheat, the parts that are not useful for eating. That’s why the farmer
wants to get rid of it through the process of winnowing.
Our lives can be compared with grains of wheat as well. When we repent from
our way of living without God and turning toward Jesus, He promises his Spirit
to dwell in us. Walking our life with Him will change us from within. The good
fruits of his spirit will grow steadily. The fruits of love, joy, peace, patience,
kindness goodness, faithfulness (Gal.5). And we have to give up everything in
our lives that is not good, not honoring Him. That’s all like the chaff that burns
in the fire, it can’t remain in the presence of God’s Spirit.
I don’t know what challenges you are facing in a specific relationship, a work
situation, a loneliness, a financial burden, or whatever presses on you.
May God’s word challenge you today to voice out those concerns to God, and wait
expectantly for his solutions!
If you can see God allows that problem, that fire, in your life, you can even thank
Him for that. You can pray: Lord, I don’t like this difficulty, but I thank you that you
will use it to purify and cleans me. When the chaff is gone, the good wheat grains
remains.
You can trust Him that He can do immeasurably more than all you ask or imagine.
Not only in the outward circumstances, but also within you. His Spirit is within you,
so He will steadily transform you from within. You will grow more and more into his
likeness, filled with his desires and thoughts in your heart.
Let us repent, turn to Jesus the Messiah, for all we need, and wait expectantly
for his deliverance in difficult situations. Trust that God uses the fire of those
difficulties to purify us, so that we become more and more filled with his Spirit.