Luke 3:1-6 - Waiting on God's timing

Scripture:

 

Luke 3:1-6
Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip was tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias was tetrarch of Abilene,

2 in the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John, the son of Zacharias, in the wilderness.

3 And he came into all the district around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins;

4 as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet,

 

"THE VOICE OF ONE CRYING IN THE WILDERNESS,
'MAKE READY THE WAY OF THE LORD,
MAKE HIS PATHS STRAIGHT.
5'EVERY RAVINE WILL BE FILLED,
AND EVERY MOUNTAIN AND HILL WILL BE BROUGHT LOW;
THE CROOKED WILL BECOME STRAIGHT,
AND THE ROUGH ROADS SMOOTH;
6 AND ALL FLESH WILL SEE THE SALVATION OF GOD.'"
NASU

 

 

Thoughts:

 

At long last, the miraculous child of Zacharias and Elizabeth, John the baptist,  is called into ministry.  He has stayed in the wilderness up till now (Luke 1:80, below), waiting on God's direction (verses 2-3).

 

Luke 1:80

80 And the child continued to grow and to become strong in spirit, and he lived in the deserts until the day of his public appearance to Israel.
NASU

 

Verses 4 through 6 reference Isaiah 40:3-5 showing the special responsibility given to John, as prophesied by Isaiah roughly 700 years before.  He is to be the forerunner of Christ, announcing His coming ministry, to prepare the people of Israel, as the angel had told his father Zacharias before his birth:

 

Luke 1:17

17 "It is he who will go as a forerunner before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, TO TURN THE HEARTS OF THE FATHERS BACK TO THE CHILDREN, and the disobedient to the attitude of the righteous, so as to make ready a people prepared for the Lord."
NASU

 

Given that John must have known what God's will for him was, we can take away a lesson in waiting on God's perfect timing from him.  Unlike Simeon's waiting in Luke 2, John had a choice.  Simeon could not make Christ appear any sooner than He did, but John could have attempted to begin his ministry before God wanted him to.

 

 

Prayer:

 

Lord, how hard it is to stay in a place of obscurity, until You say to go!  John waited in the wilderness, my times of waiting tend to be in the monotony of life. 

 

Like John, help me to wait on Your timing of changes in my life and ministry.  Help me not to get ahead of You, or fall behind. 

 

Amen

Scripture quotations taken from the NASB.