Lesson for March 8, 2023
The Doctrine of Christology
Lesson 5
Jesus Begins His Earthly Ministry
John the Baptist was the “forerunner” of Christ, sent by God to announce the coming of the Messiah to the nation of Israel. John and Jesus were cousins, and both were Jewish. This is an important fact to consider in understanding the baptism that John performed, including the baptism of Jesus, where His earthly ministry began. (Luke 3:21-22)
Who was this man John the Baptist? John’s birth was a miracle itself. His mother Elizabeth was very old and unable to have children, but by the grace of God and for a special purpose, she became pregnant with John by her husband Zacharias, a priest. John, like Jesus, was born into a family of faithful believers. John would have become a priest like his father, but God had another special purpose for his life. Perhaps one of the most privileged men in history, John the Baptist was given the ministry of announcing to Israel the arrival of their Messiah.
A “forerunner” was prophesied by the prophet Isaiah and John was this man, chosen by God for this important task. His message was simple but direct: “Change your mind (repent) and believe in Christ for the forgiveness of sin.” He also prophesied the baptism of the Holy Spirit, which was fulfilled on the day of Pentecost (ten days after Christ ascended to Heaven). (Isaiah 40:3; Matthew 16:18; Acts 1:5, 2:4, 11:15-18)
John had taken a Nazarite vow according to Luke 1:15. The term Nazarite comes from the Hebrew word nazir, meaning “consecrated” or “separated.” The Nazarite had to keep himself from becoming “ritually unclean” under the Mosaic Law. The regulations which applied to him actually agreed with those for the High Priest and for the priests during worship, as described in Leviticus and Ezekiel. This vow required the man to observe the following: 1) abstain from wine, vinegar (which was made from wine), grapes, and raisins and all intoxicants 2) refrain from cutting one’s hair and beard 3) avoid corpses and graves, even those of a family member.
A vow, though it doesn’t specify the duration, was kept for a length of time based on the understanding of the person. Some kept it for life, some for years, and others a much shorter duration — 30, 90 or 100 days. At the end of that time, the man would immerse in water and make an offering that included a lamb, a sheep, a ram, or a basket of bread and cakes. There are cases where parents would make this vow for their child, which the child would observe for his entire life.
We must remember that the four Gospels are accounts of Christ in Hypostatic Union. This period in itself can be thought of as a transitional dispensation, though it is actually a part of the Age of Israel. Believers who were alive when the Church Age began on the day of Pentecost transitioned from the Age of Israel into the Church Age. The message that John preached was to believe in Christ and enter the kingdom of God as a result. The Kingdom of God includes all believers in all dispensations.
The water baptism that John performed was identification with the Kingdom of God. The baptism of Jesus was unique. Since Christ is the king of the Kingdom of God, it would not be necessary for Him to be baptized for identification with the Kingdom of God. So why did Jesus ask John to baptize Him? The answer is that Jesus was identifying Himself with the plan of God the Father. The Father’s plan was for Christ to go to the Cross, to pay the penalty for sin by His substitutionary spiritual death, to die physically, and to be raised from the dead. This is exactly what the water baptism of Jesus symbolized.
At the baptism of Jesus, the Holy Spirit, represented by a dove, was sent to Him as a guarantee that Christ would be sustained throughout His earthly ministry. God the Father spoke from Heaven and announced that Jesus was indeed the Son of God, the promised Messiah. The baptism of Jesus marked the beginning of His earthly ministry. Jesus was 30 years old at the time His earthly ministry began. It would be only three more years before He was crucified to pay for the sins of the world. (Matthew 3:13-17)
Shortly after Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist, He made a journey to His hometown of Nazareth. Contrary to the warm reception that He received in other parts of Galilee on His way to Nazareth, He was not received favorably by those in His hometown.
Luke 4:14-24, “And Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about Him spread through all the surrounding region. And He began teaching in their synagogues and was praised by all. And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and as was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and stood up to read. And the scroll of Isaiah the prophet was handed to Him. And He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written: ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He anointed Me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim release to captives, And recovery of sight to the blind, To set free those who are oppressed, To proclaim the favorable year of the Lord (Isaiah 61:1-2).’ And He rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down; and the eyes of all the people in the synagogue were intently directed at Him. Now He began to say to them, ‘Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.’ And all the people were speaking well of Him, and admiring the gracious words which were coming from His lips; and yet they were saying, ‘Is this not Joseph’s son?’ And He said to them, ‘No doubt you will quote this proverb to Me: ‘Physician, heal yourself!’ All the miracles that we heard were done in Capernaum, do here in your hometown as well. But He said, ‘Truly I say to you, no prophet is welcome in his hometown.”
When Jesus arrived in Nazareth, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath and began to read the Scriptures. From this statement, we see that Jesus was raised by His parents as a faithful Jew and was obviously taken to the synagogue where He would have been trained in the Scriptures. This passage confirms the fact that Jesus had to study and learn the Scriptures since He was well-versed in reading from them. The Greek word for brought up is “trepho” and means to nourish or to feed. It means His parents supplied all the necessities of physical life for Him as a youth and took Jesus to the synagogue for spiritual nourishment as well.
When Jesus rose to read the Scriptures, He chose a specific messianic passage from Isaiah 61:1-2. However, Jesus made the application personal since He read it in the first person. Jesus also took the proper liberty with this passage in paraphrasing certain words or phrases without changing their meaning. By doing this, He made the passage more understandable for those listening to Him.
The phrases Jesus used like release of captives, the proclamation of liberty, the recovery of sight to the blind, to set free the downtrodden and to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord were spiritual not literal.
The last phrase in Luke 4:20 tells us that the eyes of the congregation were fixed upon Christ. The Greek word for fixed is “atenizo” and means to stretch muscles or ligaments, to strain, or to gaze intently.
At first, the congregation was marveling at the eloquence of words going forth from Christ’s mouth and how they were spoken. However, they failed to make the connection that the words which Jesus read were a reference to Himself as Messiah. What they were saying was, “isn’t this Joseph’s (Mary’s husband) son and just listen to Him speak – our hometown boy has made good.”
After a brief pause, Christ once again began to speak, He spoke as if His audience was saying the words (No doubt you will say to me). He also identified the true reason that this group seemed to flatter Him – they wanted Him to perform a miracle or two like He had done at Capernaum (Physician, heal yourself!). Christ, of course, refused to be coerced into performing a miracle just to satisfy their curiosity. The saying, “No prophet is welcome in His hometown” was applied properly to this group in Nazareth. They exhibited a lust for the stimulation of the senses and completely missed the message of the fulfillment of the prophesies regarding the Messiah.
It was looking good for Jesus until we read Luke 4:28-30, “And all the people in the synagogue were filled with rage as they heard these things;and they got up and drove Him out of the city and brought Him to the crest of the hill on which their city had been built, so that they could throw Him down from the cliff. But He passed through their midst and went on His way.”
When they realized that He was referring to Himself as the Messiah, they became enraged and wanted to kill Him. Jesus understood what all this commotion meant and immediately identified their true character. As we read, He was able to escape their attempt to kill Him.
We see a similar trend in churches today. Stimulation of the senses – eyes, ears, touch, smell, taste – has replaced the accurate teaching of God’s Word. The spiritual life is overwhelmingly being replaced with a system of emotionalism and human good works. God is being reduced to a “fairy godmother” Who will grant your every wish as long as you conform to a set of rules, taboos, code of ethics, a system of good works, or giving money. All this, of course, is satanic in origin and has nothing to do with God, His Word or the Christian life.