From thirty to eternity

​Jesus, when he began his ministry, was about thirty years of age…

Luke 3:23a

This marks the onset of the most important public life ever lived. At thirty years of age Jesus stepped from the obscurity of a carpenter’s shop into the Jordan river and was baptized by John, anointed by the Holy Spirit, and blessed by God the Father. And then the world would watch the Son of God, living among the people of God, proclaim the Word of God, do the works of God, and bring salvation in the gospel of God.

He would go on to defeat the devil’s attempt to derail that work by succeeding in the wilderness where Adam had failed in the garden and where Israel had disobeyed in the desert.

John the Baptist would also declare Him “the Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world.” Jesus would gather disciples who would clumsily follow Him, men Jesus would remake into leaders who would carry the saving gospel to the nations in a vast reshaping of the world that still goes on right now as churches proclaim the gospel and make disciples as He commanded. Jesus taught with authority, healed the sick, cast out demons, and proclaimed the rule of God in a new kingdom.

The King had come to rescue us. The thirty year old carpenter from Nazareth was truly the obedient Son of God, the promised Messiah, Son of David, Lamb of God, triumphant Son of Man, and Savior. What began at the Jordan’s banks would spread throughout Israel, culminate in Jerusalem, suffer unimaginably at Golgotha, and dominate sin, Satan, and death by resurrection in a garden tomb. Finally what began at thirty will now always impact and control eternity.