Verses 1-6 “1Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judaea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of Ituraea and of the region of Trachonitis, and Lysanias the tetrarch of Abilene,
2Annas and Caiaphas being the high priests, the word of God came unto John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness.
3And he came into all the country about Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins;
4As it is written in the book of the words of Esaias the prophet, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.
5Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways shall be made smooth;
6And all flesh shall see the salvation of God.”
Luke, as an excellent historian, gives precise and accurate information about the political and religious personalities (all of them exceedingly wicked) who lived when John began to preach. We know from Luke’s description that the year is AD 25 or AD 26. This would make John about 22 years old when he began his ministry. At that time the Word of God came unto John, which means that he was called of God to preach and was given by revelation that which God wanted him to preach. John’s ministry was prophesied in Isaiah 40, which Luke quotes here. The words of Isaiah are somewhat figurative and mean that nothing will be able to stop the ministry of John. All Israel shall hear that Jesus has come and that every person must repent to be saved.
John preached “the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins” (v3). To be baptized one had to have repented and have given evidence thereof. Unless a person repents, his sins will not be forgiven by God. Repentance is changing one’s mind about sin, about Jesus, and about one’s self. It is turning mentally and decisionally away from sin and to Jesus. True repentance from sin and saving faith in Jesus come simultaneously and are never separated from each other. They are “two sides of the same coin,” as has so often been said. There is nothing meritorious about either repentance or faith. Neither of them is a work of man. And it is very important to keep in mind that repentance was not for the Jews only. “Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish” (Luke 13:3).