EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR
4/19/2026 8:35 PM
My
Worship Time Focus: “The Geographical Setting”
Bible
Reading & Meditation Reference: Luke
3:2b-3a
Message of the verses: “the word of God came to John, the son of
Zacharias, in the wilderness. And he
came into all the district around the Jordan,”
I think that one thing we can learn
about all that we have been looking at as I started looking at the book of
Luke, is that God does things His ways, and it probably is not how things would
be done if they were done by humans. So
one could hardly have envisioned a less auspicious location for the beginning
of a public ministry of John the Baptist, the son of Zacharias, than
the wilderness. Like I said that
God does things His ways, and you can be sure that they are perfect in the way
He always does them, even though we don’t always understand it. So surely the forerunner of the Messiah would
be expected to make a dramatic appearance at the temple, or at least somewhere
in Jerusalem. There was no more barren,
desolate region in Israel than the wilderness of Judea. This wilderness stretched from the hill
country of Judah on the west to the shores of the Dead Sea on the east, and
extended north into the Jordan River valley. John MacArthur writes “According
to one writer,
“It is
difficult to describe adequately the foreboding desolation and howling
barrenness along the shores of the Dead Sea….If there could be fixed in one’s
mind the image of the almost-painful sterility of the Sahara or of Death
Vallen, and then multiply that by a factor of four or more, one might come
close to capturing the geographical reality to which he is exposed along the
shores of the Dead Sea. (Barry, J. Beitzel, The Moody Atlas of Bible Lands [Chicago:
Moody, 1985], 41).
“It was in that harsh, unforgiving environment
that John grew to manhood. Since his
parents, Zacharias and Elizabeth ‘were both advanced in years’ when he was born
(Luke 1:7), John may have been orphaned at a young age, and then moved to the
wilderness after the death of his parents.
Despite the claims of some, however, there is no evidence that John ever
lived at the famous religious community of Qumran, which was located in that
region (cf. Bock, Luke 1:9:50, 198). That John’s entire ministry was
spent in the district around the Jordan (cf. Matt. 3:6, 13; John 1:28;
3:23, 26; 10:40) in no way diminished his enormous popularity (cf. Matt. 3:5;
Mark 1:5).”
(cf. Matt. 3:6, 13; John 1:28; 3:23,
26; 10:40)
“6 and they were baptized by him in the river
Jordan, confessing their sins.”
“13 ¶ Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to
John, to be baptized by him.”
“28 These things took place in Bethany across the
Jordan, where John was baptizing.”
“23 John also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim,
because water was plentiful there, and people were coming and being baptized”
“26 And they came to John and said to him, “Rabbi,
he who was with you across the Jordan, to whom you bore witness—look, he is
baptizing, and all are going to him.’”
“40 He went away again across the Jordan to the
place where John had been baptizing at first, and there he remained.”
(cf. Matt. 3:5; Mark 1:5)
“5 Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the
region about the Jordan were going out to him,”
“5 And all the country of Judea and all Jerusalem
were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the river Jordan,
confessing their sins.”
“The phrase The word of God came
to John does not imply that God revealed Scripture to him. Instead, the use
of the more specific term rhema (word) as opposed to the more
general term logos (cf. 5:1) suggests that Jon’s call to a prophetic
ministry is in view here (cf. Jer. 1:1-2; Ezek. 1:3; Hos. 1:1; Joel 1:1; Jonah
1:1; Mic. 1:1; Zech. 1:1; Hag. 1:1).
After years of isolation, John suddenly, dramatically stepped onto the
public stage.” These verses are all
pretty much the same as they show the calling of each of the prophets listed.
“The location of John’s ministry was
a rebuke to the religious establishment, located primarily in Jerusalem. That John ministered in the wilderness
symbolized God’s disdain not only for Gentile idolatry, but also for hypocritical
Jewish legalism. John kept his distance
from both, remaining untouched and unpolluted by either. It also symbolized John’s attack on the
establishment (Matt. 3:7-12), and the necessity for truth seekers to leave it
(Matt. 3:5-6).
(Matt. 3:7-12)
“7 ¶ But when he saw many of the Pharisees and
Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, "You brood of vipers!
Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 Bear fruit in keeping with repentance. 9 And do not presume 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. 10 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. 11 "I baptize you with water for repentance,
but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy
to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 12 His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will
clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he
will burn with unquenchable fire.’”
(Matt. 3:5-6)
“5 Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the
region about the Jordan were going out to him, 6 and they were baptized by him in the river
Jordan, confessing their sins.”
“Finally,
like the Messiah he heralded, John was humble.
He did not minister in the temple, or a royal palace, but in the
humblest of circumstances (cf. Matt. 11:8).”
(cf. Matt. 11:8)
“8 What then did you go out to see? A man dressed
in soft clothing? Behold, those who wear soft clothing are in kings’ houses.”
“That
illustrates the truth that God chooses the humble and the lowly (1 Cor. 1:26-29).”
(1 Cor. 1:26-29)
“26 For consider your calling, brothers: not many
of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not
many were of noble birth. 27 But God
chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in
the world to shame the strong; 28 God
chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring
to nothing things that are, 29 so that
no human being might boast in the presence of God.”
“As the
Jews had to be purged in the wilderness after they had left Egypt before
entering the Promised Land, they would also be required to return to the wilderness
again to be cleansed, baptized by John to prepare their hearts to receive
Messiah’s kingdom.”
4/19/2026
9:10 PM
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