LifeTalk Podcast
LifeTalk is the official podcast of LifeHouse Church MOT. Our heart for this podcast is to help our church grow and to go deeper here at LifeHouse. We’ll be interviewing staff members & hearing their testimonies. We’ll be discussing various topics such as parenting, marriage, day-to-day functions of the ministry and so much more from a biblical perspective. Our goal is to help equip our church to glorify JESUS in every area of life.
LifeTalk Podcast
S7E6 - Luke 3 - Preparing The Way
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A voice in the wilderness breaks centuries of silence and calls us to a change we can see. We dive into Luke 3 with Luke’s signature precision—anchoring the story in Tiberius, Pilate, and Herod—so faith rests on facts, not fog. From there we follow John the Baptist as he planes the road for the King with a fierce, loving call: repent, and bear fruit that proves it. When the crowds ask, “What should we do?” the answers are wonderfully ordinary—share your extra, refuse exploitation, be content—because real repentance shows up in real life.
We talk about the wilderness as a forge where God shapes messengers before he sends them. John’s boldness is matched by humility: he will not compete with Jesus, insisting he’s unworthy even to untie a sandal. He points us to the One who baptizes with the Holy Spirit and fire, offering both comfort and warning in the image of wheat and chaff. Faithfulness costs John his freedom, and eventually his life, reminding us that gospel courage may demand comfort, safety, and status.
Then the river opens to glory. Jesus enters the water not to repent but to identify with us and model obedience. The heavens part, the Spirit descends like a dove, and the Father’s voice declares delight in the Son—a vivid window into the Trinity and a powerful anchor for our hope. We close by tracing Luke’s genealogy back to Adam, highlighting Jesus as Son of David and Son of Adam, the promised King who represents all humanity. This lineage ties promise to history and whispers that God keeps his word across generations.
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What's up, Life House family? Welcome back to the Life Talk Podcast. We are so thankful that you are joining us for another episode coming to you every single week on Monday mornings. Hope it's a great way to start off your week. I know you may listen at other times, but we just want to encourage you throughout. And uh man, today continuing with an all-star cast that we have for uh these episodes. And I continue to have Mr. Jeremy Alrich to my right. I know the listeners can see my right and left, but you know, I'll I'll start on the right, you know, because good a reason as any. What's going on, Jeremy?
SPEAKER_01:What's happening, mate? Always excited to be here. Good week since the last episode. You've been keeping busy. Yeah, just chugging along, you know, busy as ever, but you know, it's all good.
SPEAKER_02:I hear you. Jonathan is back with us. Jonathan, how's it going today?
SPEAKER_03:Uh it's going well. Uh I I am looking forward to summer though, because I am tired of the uh cold, and uh, I'm looking forward to the light because these early morning, dark, dark evenings, and dark mornings, just not happy with it.
SPEAKER_02:I am with you, you know, really February. At least the days are getting a little longer, right? We're slowly making our way, but it has been dark for so it is hopeful. That's right. There is hope. And then Rico da Silva back with us. He he didn't abandon us after the first episode. We so we appreciate you coming back, man.
SPEAKER_00:I was so excited to come back. All right, man. We got you amped up and ready. This is my weather, so I'm not sure what you guys are hoping for, but I'm hoping aren't you from the the near the equator, man? Shouldn't you be more on the that's the old mean name? Do not bring the old do not bring my old pants. This is my kind of weather like this. Go to the new you that it's I am glad you can enjoy this weather. I appreciate it. I guarantee some of the audience that they appreciate that.
SPEAKER_01:Like when it gets super hot, like I'm not I'm it's not me. Like I'm with Rico. I like the uh I like a little cool.
SPEAKER_02:Put more layers on, you can't take them off, right? So I'm looking forward to April. That's that's what I'm looking forward to. Yes. And we will be in Luke still in April. So that's a good segue of continuing. And so, yeah, life talk. Uh family listeners, we are again appreciative of your joining us. We're continuing our journey through the book of Luke and opportunity to just uh get a lot of perspective, dig in, uh just hear from all these guys and study together. So we hope this has been encouraging to you. And today we are going to be in Luke chapter three. We're gonna be covering all of chapter three, so much that it gives us in terms of continuing to see the life of Christ and and how we continue what Luke tells us, the orderly account that just brings us a lot of confidence. And Jonathan's been studying hard, has some some really good thoughts, and uh I'll turn it over to you to kick the conversation off.
SPEAKER_03:Uh thanks, Nate. Yeah, I'm looking forward to uh this chapter um going through it this week. It's uh uh if you haven't had a chance yet, I encourage you, you know, maybe just to pause the podcast and and go through it and read it in its entirety. Um we're gonna kind of hit the high points, if you will, um just in part, just to keep this so we aren't you know extending this podcast beyond what it needs to, but not going all Joe Rogan and you know, like three hours on your end. So yeah, you don't Joe Rogan can do it. This this guy, no. Um working our way up. But in Luke 3, as you read it, uh some of the things you should sh uh highlight, just big picture is uh you know, going with this alliteration again. You know, I was inspired last week, but you got John, Jesus, and Joseph. I love it. We'll bring you back just for that. So oh, there you go. But uh yeah, it starts off basically so if you remember at the end of chapter two, uh we finished with uh Jesus and kind of as a child his submission to his parents, uh, but he was in the temple and he was on mission. Uh but now we're gonna kind of just there's a break here to where uh we're gonna talk about John and importantly, in part, the the prophecy and some of that of who John is and and the prophecies that allude to him. And uh looking to the purpose of him is really his testimony, and he was to go before Christ, and he was um to acknowledge who Christ was. And you talked a little bit about that last week, uh Nate, with uh Christ, you know, the the Son of God and uh his mission. And then that will lead into basically we're gonna see here at the end of uh John or of Luke was that uh when John's mission ends, Christ's mission picks up. So and then uh finally uh we end with a genealogy, which a lot of people, as you read that, when you get to the end of a chapter and you start seeing names, one, it's like, well, man, I don't even know how to say that. But uh two is a lot of times it's just you see it and you go, oh, it's a bunch of names and you kind of skip to the next. But I think there's a will we'll take a little bit of time to really impact of what what those names imply and kind of what Luke was, you know. He didn't write just a list of names for a list of names. There was there was a reason for that. So any any thoughts of just we're gonna make you read all of those names and pronounce them correctly.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, that'll be fun.
SPEAKER_01:There'll be a test afterwards, right?
SPEAKER_02:That's right. Sorry, Pastor Mark. I definitely uh we'll not pass that. I'll tell you that right now.
SPEAKER_03:He listens, I think. So you know he's gonna be checking up on you. That's all right. We'll we'll do the best. You just gotta be confident, that's the big thing. Just got to be confident about it. And then everybody's like, oh, that's exactly how you say it. Exactly. So all right, so let's start off uh with John. So we see in uh the first verse it says uh Luke gives us the time. It says in the 15th year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being the governor of Judea, and Herod being Tetriarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip Tetriarch of the region of Eutrea and uh Trachnidas. Yeah, there you go. Along with you didn't make it up very far. I didn't make it very far.
SPEAKER_02:We'll let you keep going.
SPEAKER_03:Uh but we see uh basically a time frame here, and uh if you look uh in the kind of some of the history and what we know uh with the we have the emperor and these Tetriarchs who uh essentially what Rome had done is they went from having kings uh to splitting these into regions, and so it was a rule of four, and uh so that's who is being listed here. And really, you had uh uh Herod and uh that family was who uh was part of that, and so this was some brothers that were the Tetriarchs and and are being listed. And if you take all of kind of the reigns we have from the time frame, uh for instance, with um the emperor, uh so if you remember Augustus was emperor when Jesus was born, but he has since died, and so Tiberius was now Caesar, and so he uh started reign in 14 AD. Um, and then uh like Herod uh Antipas, who isn't Herod the Great, um he was uh one of his sons, uh was basically uh he started his reign uh 4 BC and went all the way to 39 A.D. And so putting all the timeline together, we think probably the timeline was about 29 AD, plus or minus about a year, uh if you do the math on that. And so we can kind of get an idea that, well, what's the significance of that? You know, is is that Jesus was probably about 30 years old. And the significance of that is if you look at the again getting back to the law or the old testament, was that that was the age that you could start your service, start, you know, was you're officially able to start the mission or the work, you know, whether you're a Levite or uh in service in the in the military, uh armed service, was 30, which for us is kind of weird, right? You know, I mean 30 is like, man, you're old already, right? But uh, but for in that time, that was when kind of you became a full adult. So uh so during this time also we had uh the high priesthood of Anias and uh Caiaphas, and the word of God came to John, the son of Zachariah, in the wilderness. And uh with this uh is now we're being introduced to John, and this introduction for uh for that the highlight of it is is that the word of God came, that is what identifies a prophet. And uh from the Old Testament, uh, we can see examples like Isaiah, Jeremiah, and the word of God always came to the prophet. It wasn't the prophet seeking them, it was or seeking out what God had to say. It was that God came to them and identified them, and and uh and so now we have him in the wilderness, and he went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for forgiveness of sins. And John Um, as it is written in the book, in the words of Isaiah, the prophet, and we'll pause right there, but just with it we see his starting message of what um he was proclaiming, and ultimately it's the gospel. This was probably the first, or this is the first uh preacher we had who shared what the gospel was, and it was to repent and be saved. And and the purpose of that was to uh he was what in um in the old testament in Isaiah uh we can see in the other books also uh bring up in Matthew 3 and Mark 1, in John, uh the first and third chapters, all uh bring up with John baptizing uh in the region of the Jordan River, and uh that was where his ministry is at.
SPEAKER_02:So any any thoughts or yeah, I think really critical, like you pointed out too. Luke gives us such a rich picture of the timeline here because I think you brought up a great point in terms of the age of Christ when he starts his ministry. This gives us confidence. We've talked about this as a continual theme for you know, our listeners who've been with us in Luke. Of Luke is very precise, you know, in terms of the historical context and and really knowing what's going on. So I think you highlight that really well in terms of giving us confidence of like, hey, this isn't just a tall tale, this isn't something we're making up, like this is you know, real history. You know, we talked about good news, not good advice, you know, when it comes to the gospel. So yeah, just how Luke continues that theme, and I think you bring up really important on Jesus fulfilling. We talked about that last episode of everything about Christ's life is that obedience, fulfillment of the law. He didn't come to do away with the law, but to fulfill the law. And so even that you know, 30-year-old service, I think, builds into that. So some really great points.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, well, um, what I see, like, or just to add on, like we we talked about John the Baptist uh a couple of weeks ago as well with Zechariah and um and John's John's birth, but like we see the you know God, the prophetic silence ending, like the Malachi uh that that Malachi talked about in Malachi 4, you know, we see this that uh that now like God is speaking again.
SPEAKER_03:Um and it had been almost like 460 years about since the last prophet had spoken.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, and this idea of John being in the wilderness, um you know, I've mentioned in previous podcasts that I'd have a have a Kinect group and we're going through Samuel and like You're gonna be inviting people to win your connect group. I'm gonna have to get some more space and some more seats. But uh it's been it's it's really awesome.
SPEAKER_02:We're going to promotion for Kinect groups. If you're not in a Kinect group, you need to be in one. So I love it. There you go.
SPEAKER_01:You know, John's wilderness experience can, you know, got uh God often shapes us through wilderness experiences. And what are what are what wilderness experiences are we going through in our own life? They might not be the actual wilderness, but you know, and when we're going I mentioned my my group because we studied David and like and and David in the wilderness of Engedi, and that's where God shaped him into a king that he wanted him to be, right? So and then it's just that same concept of being in the wilderness isn't necessarily a bad thing, it's might it might be a time of God shaping you and preparing you for something greater.
SPEAKER_00:I like the fact that what scripture tells us that when the word of the God comes to somebody we need and somebody who has been set apart for his word. Uh when he says the word of the God came to John in the wilderness, like sometimes we're so busy that we can't even hear his word. And for somebody who he set apart, for somebody meaning God set apart, that he had to go and set him to the world where nobody sees, nobody hears, isolation for the first time preaching, hey, repentance. How do I preach that if not in twine with what he is uh trying to preach to his people? So when I look at this, it's like man, he was literally out there with nobody which is so deep for me.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, he uh yeah, in uh verse four it picks up just uh we can see the prophecy of what of who they were expecting or who the prophet said would come, and it says, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord, make his path straight, 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, and all flesh shall be the salvation of God. Which is, if you uh got your notes there, that's from Isaiah forty, uh, and really the in context it's three and five. Um and so that is who was prophesied to come, and that that is a uh the purpose of what he was doing when he was bringing the message, when he was bringing the gospel, it it is to do this. It is for Jesus um to to make uh to allow um the hills and the mountains and everything to be made right is really what looking at. And it was interesting as I was studying this, the uh just context-wise, um uh the individual of someone like John, in that day, a lot of times uh a harbinger or you could think of like a pioneer, was someone that it was a military type term, and it was a uh where someone goes before the king that's coming to make their way easy. So that when the king comes, it's it is the king doesn't have to worry about any logistics, any ability to, you know, oh, how do we navigate this valley or how do we navigate over this ford? It was the that was their job. And so to some what that example or that picture then is for for John is that that was he what he was doing for Christ, is King of Kings, Lord of Lords, his job was to bring that message and to allow it basically tee up for when Jesus is here. Not that he needed it, but just for the people, really. I think it was more probably for the people than than for Christ to realize wow, the Messiah is coming. Like something, like, like kind of okay, we need to wake up here. We like this is going on, like there's something going on. And because militarily, if you saw that you knew the king was coming, it was either going to bring fear or it was gonna bring joy, depending on what your circumstance was, right? Whether you saw the king as a savior or if you saw him as a tyrant, you know.
SPEAKER_02:So yeah, really great stuff. And man, I think I like what you said there preparing the way, you know, the going before the king, not that it's necessary, but we just continue to see this fulfillment. We just continue to see the table set for you know Christ to come. And again, why we value you know Luke's account, every gospel is amazing, you know, and does its own things, but Luke gives us this really full picture, you know, that I think you're bringing out, you know, there. And Matthew and Luke do a whole lot of as it is written, as it is written, as it was prophesied. So don't miss this, you know, and John the Baptist being, you know, this the first half, especially, and and even the genealogy confirms that, but gives us that confidence, you know, this is what Christ is all about, this is who John was, this is his purpose, and and he's going to be pretty clear about that too, right? Because a lot of people were you know thinking, like, well, are you the Messiah? Are you the one we should expect? But John's gonna tell us not so much.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, he definitely he he brings his message, but it's a message that has change with it. It's not a message just like, oh, good to know. It's like, no, you need to you need to change. Like you need to repent. And uh we get into as as uh as we see, so this is who John was in uh verse seven there. He he drew crowds, he drew people to him. And and he responded to the crowds, and he said to the crowds in uh verse seven uh that came out to be baptized, you brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit in keeping with repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, we have Abraham as our father. For I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. And even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees, every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. So it's not inconsequential here what's going on. Is he his message isn't just uh a message that is uh necessarily easily received or something that's that people want to hear. It's it's warning them that what is to come, the king that is to come, is is either going to bring joy or if if you have repentance or it's gonna bring condemnation because you don't repent. And so you need to see change in changed lives. And that is uh further because uh if we continue on the crowds ask him, and you know, because they hear that I go, okay, so what are we to do? What what is uh what is our response to be? And he answered, Whoever has two tunics is to share with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do likewise. The tax collectors also came to be baptized and asked him, Teacher, what shall we do? And he said to them, Collect no more than the than you are authorized to do. And in and in verse 14 it says, The soldiers who asked him, and we, what shall we do? And he said to them, Do not exhort money for anyone by threats or by false accusation, and be content with your wages. And and in each of these we get examples of the response is is do what's right. Live righteously, live right before man in the jobs that you have. It wasn't, you know, I was kind of I find found it interesting. It wasn't that, you know, because if you look at like those last two examples of the tax collector and the uh soldier or the Roman, they weren't liked. They were seen as the enemy. Like they were, they were, you know, the one was a traitor and the other was a uh invader, right? And so it is um interesting that for them he didn't say, well, stop being a Roman, but he said, In in your duties, carry your duties out as they should.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, a lot to be said, and it's what you hit on earlier. I think you said, be changed, don't be the same. You know, this is not a you know, just repent and and just kind of keep doing what you're doing, but but truly show the change that the gospel makes. You know, truly show this is good news, you know, not good advice, it's reality. You're accepting this need for repentance. And yeah, John's, like I think you said earlier, pointed out, like, this is the gospel, you know, have faith, repent, believe, and and walk differently. Like, don't be the same. We know it's not illegalistic, like you couldn't have done those things and earned your way, but now that you know the truth, be different. It'd be easy for them to just continue to do the same old things, but John's exhorting them to accept this and as truth.
SPEAKER_00:This is so good to us because in order to receive the good news, Pastor Mar mentioned this before you need to know what the bad news are. And as we dive in in this chapter, we can see that the new the good news came in a way now to sound good to the ear, but point to the heart. And the first word that he said, repent, what does it not mean? As far as we know, we doing what we're supposed to be doing. And he clearly gives some structures in order for the people to know what repentance is, not just to say sorry, but to change your ways, you turn, go back, and as he's gonna read in in the in the chapter, is the posture of what truly repentance is. Right, and that's so good to us, why? Because true repentance is a manifestation of a wrongdoing, making it right.
SPEAKER_01:Absolutely, yeah. Um, I think you hit it right on the head, Rico. It's just like we need to understand what what repentance is. Um, and I've heard it many times for a few different pastors that have been when when they taught through such a concept like this, but it's like I'm not a Greek, so I'm probably gonna butcher the Greek, but like this word metanoia or metaneo and what that what does that actually mean? Um that that's a word for repentance, right? Like oftentimes when you see there'll be a couple words that are used, but sometimes when you see the word repentance, it might be that metanoia. Um and that's what does it mean? It's like a change of heart and a change of direction. I was going one way, but I turned and I went another way. Like that and it often In this passage, we can see that repentance uh it has a visible like a visible result, right? Like repentance is not just oh I I say I'm sorry, but it leads to actions that that are different. Um John says, do these things, right? And Paul later on in Acts 26, in his defense to Agrippa, um 2620, he is saying that he's doing these things, he's preaching uh to uh in the region of J Judea and also to the Gentiles that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds in keeping with their repentance. So repentance will change not only our hearts, but it will change how we act, it'll change the things that we do.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, because out of the heart flows, you know, all our intent and who we are, and and uh it's you know part of that sanctification process for all of us is is that when we repent is is it's not just a one-time deal. It's yes, I want to change direction, but then I gotta keep going in that direction, and and that's that sanctification process we do daily, is uh you know, picking up our cross and following Christ. So with John, um we see here then that that this message he's bringing, it's like okay. And they all knew who John was, right? Because I mean, Zach, we talked about a few weeks ago with you know that that wasn't just a normal birth. It wasn't, you know, there was probably a lot of people, you know, like, hey, do you remember John's dad and everything? So they were they had anticipation of what what what is how is God going to use John? Um, but with that, we can see here in verse 15, it, you know, a lot of them were saying, you know, well, is he the Christ? Is he the Messiah? And he rightly deflects that, or he he rightly corrects that. And he says, you know, I baptize with the water, but he who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose handles I am not worthy to untie, he will baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winning fork is in his hand, to his clear threshing floor, and to gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire. So here we can see he's pointing to Christ, is basically uh in any, you know, the the example here is like I don't even compare. Like I'm the message I bring is what I say is true, but what Christ is going to do is far surpasses anything that uh of who I am. You know, I'm simply the the the message that has gone, messenger that has gone before. And so, you know, we get to Jesus now who uh is just much more superior than who John is.
SPEAKER_02:And I think it was like you say, John pointing to Christ. It was a funny story. I had a great opportunity to be be around and share the gospel with a friend of mine who was going through a hard time, and man, amazingly he accepted the gospel, he gave his life to Christ, you know, right there we prayed together. But a funny thing I remember about that, you know, again, sharing the gospel, coming to faith, and he's like, Did you save me? And I was like, No, no, no, no, absolutely not. He's I was like, it is through Christ, but I was blessed, you know, kind of, and I am not even John the Baptist, right? Like we are none of us are worthy, but it was just that cool opportunity. So John the Baptist has that opportunity to point others to Christ, and and we get that same opportunity of looking to Jesus for our salvation in all things. And I think talking about the baptism of the Holy Spirit and fire as well, you know, John the Baptist pointing, and you know, we're blessed to see so many people go through baptism, the importance of baptism, you know, John the Baptist, you know, of seeing those kind of things and why we do, of course, you know, as a church, believe baptism is hugely important in your obedience and profession of your faith, but it's the ultimate baptism that Christ gives us with the Holy Spirit. And I know Jeremy brought that up last time on, you know, we were talking about Simeon, you know, being filled with the Holy Spirit and and what that means, so and so deep here in terms of what John is telling us.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, and this uh in this in these verses, um, this his statement about you know not being worthy to untie you know his his sandals, like that was a that was a task that was a low for a servant, right? Like it was like a servant's task to go do those things. And even the and the disciples like thought that was beneath them, but John places himself lower than that. Like I'm not even worthy to be a servant of the of the one who's coming. Uh and and just you get the a look into his mindset and and um you know just the our condition and who and and our lostness. Um we're not in in and of ourselves, we're we're not worthy. It's only because of the Lord's grace and mercy and to us.
SPEAKER_00:I lean I really like the and we we spoke about in previous episodes about the identity or who you are, and and this is so clever coming from from him, from John, because he said, you know, the one who comes, I'm not even worthy, you mention it, that he knows what was his purpose. His purpose is was not his name, propaganda. Look at me, this is what I'm doing. I was in the wilderness. I came to get the word repent, do not look at me. There's somebody greater that's gonna come for me, but hey, I am not even worthy enough. The bottom of the bottom again. Again, we see that in previous. If you listening to this, go back and listen to what we talk about Jesus in childhood, how he came in into the world, the lowest of the lowest. Right? So for so to see the cadence or how scriptures so relate to us in where we have to be purpose-driven. You go to the Nother P. We're going back in episode now. Uh looking at the purpose of who you are, remove yourself that he may increase in you. So people, when they see you, they don't see your faults. They know you're gonna repent, they know they're gonna repent, but they see Jesus through you. So that's that's good to point out. Amen.
SPEAKER_03:And as we uh as we you know consider what John was doing here, you you know, you you'd say there's that level of humility of really what um hopefully all of us, you know, is what God is instilling in us is is that to be humble because it's got in Christ we can do some pretty cool things, but it's not us. It's you know, like you were saying, Nate, it's not it's not because of what I said, it's because of what the Spirit's changed in you uh that you are saved. And so when we have that, you know, sometimes I think we do that we though think that, oh well, it's gonna be rainbows and sunshine and all this, but we see here with John, his his end wasn't rainbows and sunshine, uh, because it it ended with that he basically in telling the truth and preaching the truth, he ended up with his head cut off that we see in the uh the other gospels. Here it's fairly short. It just says that uh he was imprisoned and locked up uh in verse uh 20. Uh but then uh it that ending though isn't the end of the story, if you will. It's just it begins basically then that is with Jesus and and what Luke does. It's timeline-wise, it it kind of is out of order here because he got locked up after he baptized Christ. But I think part of why uh Luke put it in this order with John and Jesus is basically okay, John has now handed off the baton to cr to Jesus. And so now this is where Jesus, we see him um basically being identified uh as part of uh the Trinity here and being identified by God. And uh it says in verse 21, now when all the people were baptized and were and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heavens were opened, and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove and voice came from heaven. You are my beloved son, with you I am well pleased.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I mean, to hit on what you talked about with John, um you see that you know, faithfulness, um John's faithfulness, but it it cost him something, right? Like faithfulness to us might cost us comfort or safety. Um, but you know, and in in 2 Timothy, like Paul gives us probably not one that like we have on our uh a promise, but probably not one that we like have on our refrigerator. But you know, all who desire to live godly lives will suffer persecution. Um, but you know, it's one of those promises that it would if you're being faithful, it may cost you something. And like and what is the cost? Jesus talks about the cost of discipleship, and you know, when he's talking to his disciples. And um another thing that John like John demonstrates is that boldness may must be you know it has to be rooted in in truth. And and he spoke truth, and he also as much as he could, that maybe maybe not calling people brood of vipers, but like it was something that needed to happen, but he did it in love as well. Like, because the most loving thing to tell someone when Mark says this is to tell them the truth, right? And speak the truth. Um then like you know to see what we see here with the the Trinity. This is one of the times that we can see the Trinity with Jesus' baptism, the Father, the Spirit descending like a dove, the Son being baptized. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, it's beautiful. It's definitely uh a good a good uh picture there that helps us, you know, get back to the Nicene Creed and you know, solidifying some of the theology and and understanding of who God is and and uh how he presented it throughout the Bible.
SPEAKER_00:One thing to bring to light here is when John baptized Jesus. Something very clear, just jump out of the page. Jesus did not need to be baptized for repentance. So the question is like why did he get baptized? It it brings to the attention that he set the example for everybody to see to follow him in what he was going to do in this life, right? So basically what it does, it tells me, okay, if Jesus did not need to be baptized, why did he get baptized?
SPEAKER_01:So I think one of the one of the one of the things that you can see through that is his identification with us, right? Like he came and identified with us. He absolutely lived a sinless life. We know that. Um, but he was but he identified with us through his baptism. Um and he didn't need to repent, but he but he he didn't that he was baptized, he was identifying with us through his baptism.
SPEAKER_03:It foreshadows what he would go through, you know, which was his death, burial, and resurrection. But it also um in a way it also shows that baptism in and of itself wasn't what was saving people, it was the changed lives, and it's through Christ. And so I think in a way, what is being identified here really is is God's spirit, and and God himself is just here I am, the Christ, and and and bringing life, bringing light, like a lot of imagery and stuff here. Um, but it's just going from we had a prophet, but now we have who the prophets are pointing to, who is Christ Jesus. So that um brings us basically then to your pronunciation test in the gene genealogy. All right, well, here I'm gonna I'm gonna uh what's the hardest one in here? So oh Adam, right? Yes, yes. But the genealogy, and I know like I was saying earlier, this a lot of times we see this, and it's just like I'm gonna skip over this, you know, it's just a list of names. I know, okay, yep, I know who Jesus is, I know who Joseph is. Oh, yep, I see Adam there. Uh Seth, I kind of remember Seth from the Old Testament, etc. But um really it's like these these lists, and there's another list. Uh if you get you guys familiar with where the other list is at, or Matthew. Matthew, there you go. Yeah, Matthew starts off with it, right? Right at the beginning, Matthew 1. And so um these lists, the importance of it, and really what what Luke and Matthew, the purpose of doing this is to show uh the lineage, but not just the list of names, but it's it's to tie us to one in here goes all the way back to Adam. And so Luke, I think here is trying to connect us with mankind. It's not just the Israelites, it's not just Abraham, which is who Matthew goes back to. Or actually Matthew, Matthew actually takes it the other way. He starts in Abraham and works forward, you know, for the Jew that would identify with us, um, the Israelite. Whereas for us, uh, or for Luke, you know, more for the everybody, he works from Joseph all the way back to show that that connection there. And uh I know sometimes uh if you compare the two lists, there are some differences. I know we chatted a little bit beforehand about that and what that means. Uh for some individuals that you know they want to try to undermine God's word to say, oh, well, obviously this is a mistake. God didn't know what he was doing, or the people writing down they made mistakes over the years. Um, but I would I would argue that that that's definitely not the case. And really, uh, not that I can emphatically say what you know why the differences are, but I think there is definitely the uh the differences there or the nuance of it is something that I can trust God and know that no, there is a congruent uh of of this list here. It's just I don't quite understand why some of these names don't match up. Um and so some of the I know uh uh you were telling me, Jeremy, earlier, just a little bit, you know, one of the one of the thoughts of it was that maybe we had Mary's lineage here in Luke versus Joseph's lineage uh through the through Joseph uh in Matthew. Um any thoughts on that?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, uh well, I mean, there are a number of theories like you could talk about, like if they both trace through Joseph, then it's possible that you know you see um in uh in Luke's narrative, you see him tracing the lineage through one of David's sons, Nathan.
SPEAKER_02:Of course, Nathan is a hey, uh this is clearly the right genealogy. That's all I can say. You know, if it's through Nathan, it's gotta be good.
SPEAKER_01:And you can't question it. That's right. And and Matthew goes through, I believe, Solomon, right? Like, yeah. So I mean, but it like it's possible like that, even if it was through they were both through Joseph, that they're not incorrect. Like that they that there was some little level of intermarri like marriage there or what down the line. But and like you said, Nate, there are like you said, there was like um it's just like there's a lot of it's not a close-handed issue for us on this issue on this point.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, because some of the potential is, you know, if you look at the Levitical law, is that the uh you know, there were things for families, you know, whether through tragedy or you know, you could just say the consequences of sin, uh, where uh the law would bring it back because a lot of times, you know, everything was about the the sons. And so if you didn't have sons, well, what were you to do? You know, so then it would be passed through the a daughter, potentially, if you if hopefully if you had any kids, or or if what happens to the husband if he passes for his wife? Well, if he had a brother, he was to take her as his wife. And so some of these things it's just like, well, okay, so how does that play out then? How does that look? Well, that that makes it kind of the that family tree, if you will, it's like, oh, whoa, something happened here. And and when you see it kind of for us, we're having this picture. If we weren't there, we really don't under the circumstances or how this came about. But I'm sure if you as you got closer to knowing these individuals, you could explain it. It's just all of that was over time was what was lost.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, and I think that like the the bigger picture for me here is you know, Luke spanning back. Matthew had a very specific reason for writing the way that he did. He was writing to the Jewish people, right? And Luke is writing in a different way to a different audience, and so spanning back, going back past Abraham, all the way back to Adam, you see that you know, Jesus represents all humanity. Jesus and salvation is not just for the Jew, but for all humanity. Um, you see God's promises. Like when you look at all these generations in these genealogies, you can see God's promises span generations. God's fulfilling his word that he promised throughout the generations. And and and going back all the way to Adam, you can also see that Jesus is as the second Adam, Jesus is restoring what Adam lost. And you know, Luke is like highlighting that in his past in his message here.
SPEAKER_03:And for and for either sorry.
SPEAKER_00:Oh no, uh just to to insert something in there that was very uh pointed out to us, uh, if you go back uh two previous episodes, especially when we were starting this year, the the the place and the purpose for Luke, he was not part of the disciples. He was a doctor. And if you heard the episode in where we discuss that what doctors do, they keep record, they interview individuals. This is an account that he went back to the diligence to make sure that oh, I'm not just going to go borderline, I'm gonna go to the beginning, I'm gonna go to the alpha, knowing who he was and his profession. I think that's very deep to understand. That why did he why didn't that came from the other disciples? I mean, for the other apostles.
SPEAKER_03:I think in part it it brings a richness, it expands upon with what scripture we already had. And and so I think but they both agree upon, I think ultimately what we get from the one thing you can take from the genealogy is that they both emphasize that Jesus was the son of David, um, you know, and that that's who they were looking for. It would be a son of David, would be who who would be the Messiah. And then also Luke identifies, you know, just from the beginning that it was from the virgin birth. And so you're meeting key requirements of who the Messiah should be.
SPEAKER_02:I like the parentheses, as was supposed that he was the son of Joseph. So so yeah, I think to your point, you know, this shouldn't be something that causes us doubt. If anything, like having four gospels, it really enriches, you know, we just see more of the history and how God's working. So for our listeners, make sure continue to dive in. Uh again, lot to chapter three, and hopefully you're really getting a lot more just to enrich your faith, grow in seeing who John the Baptist was, uh, really how the genealogies bring a whole lot about, and uh just everything we covered here today. So thanks for joining us. Join us next time, a big, big chapter as we move ahead into uh four and the temptation of Christ, which is really man, so much we can learn from that. So we'll look forward to seeing you next week. Thanks for tuning in to the Life Talk Podcast. If this episode encouraged you, please be sure to like, comment, subscribe, and leave a review so others can find this content as well. And we'll look forward to seeing you next Monday for another great episode.
