Luke 3:1-6
These verses describe the beginning of the Gospel of Christ. It began with the preaching of John the Baptist. The Jews could never say, that when Messiah came, He came without notice or preparation. He graciously sent a mighty forerunner before His face, by whose ministry the attention of the whole nation was awakened.
Let us notice first, in this passage, the wickedness of the times when Christ’s Gospel was brought into the world. The opening verses of the chapter tell us the names of some who were rulers and governors in the earth, when the ministry of John the Baptist began. It is a melancholy list, and full of instruction. There is hardly a name in it which is not infamous for wickedness. Tiberius, and Pontius Pilate, and Herod, and his brother, and Annas, and Caiaphas, were men of whom we know little or nothing but evil. The earth seemed given into the hands of the wicked. (Job 9:24) When such were the rulers, what must the people have been?–Such was the state of things when Christ’s forerunner was commissioned to begin preaching. Such were the times when the first foundation of Christ’s church was brought out and laid. We may truly say, that God’s ways are not our ways.