ESOCS Devotional 24 December 2025 – The Voice in the Wilderness
MEMORY VERSE: “Then said he to the multitude that came forth to be baptized of him, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?” Luke 3:7 KJV
TEXT: LUKE 3:7-15
Then he said to the multitudes that came out to be baptized by him, “Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. 9 And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”
10 So the people asked him, saying, “What shall we do then?”
11 He answered and said to them, “He who has two tunics, let him give to him who has none; and he who has food, let him do likewise.”
12 Then 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 what is appointed for you.”
14 Likewise the soldiers asked him, saying, “And what shall we do?”
So he said to them, “Do not intimidate anyone or accuse falsely, and be content with your wages.”
15 Now as the people were in expectation, and all reasoned in their hearts about John, whether he was the Christ or not,
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It was in the 15th year of the reign of Tiberius, that the voice of John the Baptist sounded across the wilderness: “Prepare ye way of the Lord. Make His path straight.” The humble in heart would be saved and satisfied, while the proud and arrogant would be brought low. Dishonest men would become morally upright, while those that were uncouth and crude would become submissive and refined.
Throughout the centuries, Israel had been called to repent of their sins and turn back to the Lord their God, but sadly the nation continued in its ungodly way. John had been sent ahead of the Lord Jesus to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, teaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins – but there were many pretenders among the crowd who came out to hear him.
John’s baptism in water was meant to be an outward sign of an inner change of heart, and he insisted that true repentance would be demonstrated by a changed life. John challenged the people of Israel to produce fruit of righteousness to show, beyond a shadow of doubt, that their repentance was genuine. It was under these circumstances that we find John the Baptist crying out to the crowds who were going out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?”
There were many souls who heard the message of John the Baptist, repented of their sins, and returned to the Lord their God. But there were those who heard his message with a cold and rebellious heart whom John identified as “a brood of vipers.”
There is a call for believers to truly check their hearts to know what exactly brought them to Christianity. Are you a Christian because you have known the Christ and believed Him and now walk in the newness of life or you are a Christian because you want to belong to the group that go to church, yet living your normal life like the rest of the world? As John the Baptist already preached, “REPENT” and quit the pretense so that you will worship God with a sincere heart.
CHALLENGES
- Have you met Jesus yet as a Christian?
PRAYER POINT
- Merciful Father, look upon us with pity and cause us to worship you in spirit and you truth.
FURTHER READING: Ecclesiastes 1:1-11; 2:12-26; Luke 3:1-6
ESOCS Devotional 24 December 2025
