Daily Bible Reading 14th April 2026 // Luke 3:7-18
7 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? 8 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. 9 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.”
10 And the crowds asked him, “What then shall we do?” 11 And he answered them, “Whoever has two tunics is to share with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do likewise.” 12 Tax collectors also came to be baptized and said to him, “Teacher, what shall we do?” 13 And he said to them, “Collect no more than you are authorized to do.” 14 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.”
15 As the people were filled with expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Christ, 16 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 with fire. 17 His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”
18 So with many other exhortations he preached good news to the people.
In other words, John the Baptist is speaking here of the initiation of the new covenant, by which stony hearts are made into hearts of flesh (Jeremiah 31:31; Ezekiel 36:26) - the covenant which Christ had come to inaugurate and which He sealed in His blood. As to the nature of that covenant, it is well expressed in the words John uses to describe Christ's baptism. 'Holy Spirit' and 'fire' are not to be thought of separately, still less does one refer to grace, the other to judgment. Fire is the symbol of the Holy Spirit. Further, the preposition should be 'in', not 'with'. Christ plunges us into this fire (one thinks of the association of this idea with Romans 6, being baptized into Christ's death and resurrection. This is the 'fire' which seals the new covenant to our lives. The fire, then, indicates the nature of what Christ seeks to do for us and in us. It represents divine energy (cf the burning bush and the pillar of fire in Exodus) working in grace towards men. In this sense the qualities it suggests are cleansing and life-giving. On the one hand, fire imparts warmth and life. Fire 'lays hold upon cold, dead matter, making it sparkle and blaze, and turning it into the likeness of its own leaping brightness'. This is what happens when the grace of God lays hold of one dead in trespasses and sins. As spring coaxes life into dead branches and twigs, so the fire of the Spirit awakes life where death has reigned. Christ kindles a fire on the cold hearth of men's hearts and sets them aflame with love for God and man. But fire is also a purifying agent, separating the dross from the pure metal. Indeed, it is when love is kindled in our hearts that it burns all the impurities out of our system. This is one of the things Paul means when he speaks of the love of God being shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. The cleansing power of the Spirit of God, as He applies the merits of Christ's blood to our hearts, is the glorious message of good news that John proclaimed.