Luke 3:7-14 Brood of Vipers
Format for Your Devotions
Instructions: Do not read my example devotion until you have completed your own devotional time in the scriptures. Reading my thoughts first may limit your own understanding. Let the Holy Spirit speak to you alone before looking to see what anyone else has to say, whether it is me, a Bible commentary, or a friend. Let God speak to you before you let another person speak to you. I have provided a format, but modify it to fit your needs. For example, I usually combine my application and prayer together talking to God about the application to my own life. You can go through this devotion process mentally, speaking out loud, or in writing as you wish. Don’t worry if you are not following this process exactly. Sometimes, I add extra information and sometimes I emphasize one part more than others. However, you should always think about what you learn about God from this passage.
Step 1: Pray–Ask for the Holy Spirit’s guidance first of all and that God may reveal the lessons that He wants you to have that day. Request that God protect you from Satan’s distractions (and the devil will try to distract you whether it is pinching the baby or putting you to sleep). Ask to see God more clearly as you read and think about the passage.
Step 2: Read the passage–Read to get an overview of the information first. Then start looking at specific parts after the first reading. You may read a larger or smaller section than I have here because you do not have to follow my organization at all.
Step 3: Understand the passage–You can summarize, ask and answer your own questions about the passage, visualize the story, analyze the characters, and relate this passage to other scriptures and personal experiences.
Step 4: What does this reveal about God?–What do you learn about the Father, Son, and/or Holy Spirit from this passage?
Step 5: Apply this to your own life.
Step 6: Prayer
My Example Devotion: June 22, 2018 Luke 3:7-14
Note: In the devotion examples, I leave my questions and thought processes in the text because I am trying to demonstrate that a devotional time is a dialogue with God about what you are reading from His word. As such, any questions or ideas that you have should be explored by talking it out with God. These example devotions are not my attempts to teach you what the meaning of a particular scripture is. They are an attempt to teach you the process of devotions, which is a combination of prayer and Bible study where you explore ideas with God as you read His word.
He said therefore to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruits 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. 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.” And the crowds asked him, “What then shall we do?” And he answered them, “Whoever has two tunics is to share with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do likewise.” Tax collectors also came to be baptized and said to him, “Teacher, what shall we do?” And he said to them, “Collect no more than you are authorized to do.” Soldiers also asked him, “And we, what shall we do?” And he said to them, “Do not extort money from anyone by threats or by false accusation, and be content with your wages.”
(Understanding the Text) John was dealing with a people who thought that they were special and chosen. Even the tax collectors would have felt that they were better than even the most good-hearted generous Gentile. In effect these were Laodicean Jews. “For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked” (Revelation 3:17). The Jews of Jesus’ day thought that they were rich in God’s favor and blessings and needed nothing more. It was John’s job to show them that they were wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. John had to wake them up out of their self-satisfaction so that they could see their need for God.
John employed harsh words to wake his people up. He called them a bunch of poisonous snakes. Matthew says that John was saying this specifically to the religious leaders. “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?” (Matthew 3:7). I’d guess that John actually said it multiple times to many different self-satisfied people. It would have been memorable when he said it to the religious leaders because that would have been shocking. These were the men who tithed tiny herbs and only walked a certain distance on the Sabbath and gave long prayers to God in public places. John treated them as common sinners who were full of the poison of sin and going to be condemned by God because of it.
People were coming in huge crowds and being baptized by John. Guzik’s commentary says “There was nothing strange in the ceremony of baptism (a ceremonial immersion) itself. The strange thing was that Jews submitted to baptism. This was a common ritual for Gentiles who wanted to become Jews. For a Jew to submit to baptism was to say, ‘I’m as bad as a heathen Gentile.’ This was a true mark of humble repentance, a radical rededication to the Lord.” I never before thought about what it meant to have a baptism of repentance, except to think that it was inferior to the baptism of Jesus. However, John’s baptism required the people who went through it to admit that they were like Gentiles who needed conversion into the true religion. By being baptized by John, the Jews were humbling themselves in the baptism itself and opening their hearts to change and following God. They were admitting that their Jewishness was not their ticket to heaven.
(Revelation of God) We think of John’s message as an Old Testament prophet-style fire and brimstone message while we think of Jesus’ message as love and forgiveness, but actually they both have the same message. Jesus said “Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits. And the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.” (Matthew 21:43-44). Jesus was telling the leaders that they would not be saved simply because they were children of Abraham by blood. He told them that they had to be broken in order to enter the kingdom of God. This is a message to repent because they were far from God. It’s also a message of threat and judgment that the stone would crush those who refused to change, to repent.
John started with harshness so that people would understand how unworthy they were, but he ended with hope. He told them to live honestly in accordance with God’s word and character, and he pointed them to the Messiah. “John answered them all, saying, ‘I baptize you with water, but he who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire'” (Luk3:16).
John gave the message with the light that he had received. God had not yet revealed His full character to the people in the form of Jesus, so John’s message was incomplete when it came to the theology we know now after Jesus’ ministry on earth. John’s message was the one that was needed to prepare the way for Jesus. It was one of showing the people’s need of change, of repentance and opening the heart to God and people. It was one of looking to the Messiah for more information. It was one of humility before God. When we arrive at this point, we are ready for God to display Himself to us; we are ready to listen and change.
(Application) Jesus said to Laodicea “I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see. Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me. The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne” (Revelation 3:18-21). Both the Jews of Jesus day and we self-satisfied Christians of today need the true message that God is giving us, not the tainted, poisonous message that has been combined with worldly ideas and ways, but the pure, refined message that comes through humility and trials. The Jews of Jesus day and we proud people of today need Jesus’ gift of His perfect beautiful character to clothe our own selfish greedy prideful characters. They and we both need our eyes opened to the truth of our circumstances and the truth of who God is. We need to repent today as much as the Jews of John’s day. The message of repentance and salvation is the same then and now.
I never noticed the similarities between the Jews of Jesus’ day and the Christians of Laodicea before. The message is the same with harsh words to wake us up to our horrible condition, a message of repentance and change, and the advice to look to our Savior for rescue. We need to first repent and prepare ourselves for Jesus’ coming and then we need to prepare the way for His coming by taking our message of repentance to the world, especially other Christians who think they are rich while still cherishing pride, self, harshness, and greed.
I love one of Guzik’s commentary’s points about John. “i. At the same time, we should admit it: John was weird. Any man who preached like this, lived in the desert, wore funny clothes and lived on grasshoppers and wild honey was just plain weird. Jesus didn’t have a ‘slick’ advance man with a thousand dollar suit and a two-hundred dollar haircut. God uses weird people.”
(Prayer) I don’t want to be lukewarm. I want to repent and be ready for all the messages that You have for me. I want to be hot for You and always ready to do Your will. Help me to serve You as Your other faithful followers (like John) have served. Don’t let me become self-satisfied. Always draw me closer and closer to You.