1 In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, 2 during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness. 3 And he went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 4 As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet,

"The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. 5 Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall become straight, and the rough places shall become level ways, 6 and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’"

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 in 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 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. 19 But Herod the tetrarch, who had been reproved by him for Herodias, his brother's wife, and for all the evil things that Herod had done, 20 added this to them all, that he locked up John in prison.

In the inter-testamental period, the 400+ years between the prophet Malachi and the birth of Jesus (approx. 5 B.C.), the Jewish nation was hardly quiet. Over that period, they were ruled by the Persians, the Greeks, the Egyptians, and the Syrians (war after war, conquering after conquering) until 164 B.C. when the Jews led by Mattathias and his son Judas (called “Maccabeus”) revolted and gained their independence as a nation. In 164 B.C., they revolted and regained control of the Jewish temple and religious ceremonies resumed (after having been paganized). The event is still celebrated by Jews each December as Hanukkah, the “Feast of Lights.” 

At this point as an independent nation, under Maccabean rule, two important groups were birthed— the Sadducees were political and religious elites, priests who ruled over the people. The Pharisees were a sect that in some sense was born out of trying to connect with the common Jewish people, to reject the corrupt rule, and instead to be teachers of the law to the people. However by 63 B.C., the independent Jewish nation was in so much disorder the Romans conquered the Jews. The Romans hardly kept the sanctity of the Jewish traditions. There are stories of the Roman rulers entering the temple, even the innermost Holy of Holies, and defaming the temple. Thus over the decades leading up to Jesus’ birth, there was an undercurrent of the Jews hatred towards the Romans and Romans disrespect and eventual destruction of the Jewish nation. 

Luke begins Chapter 3 by locating us to this very specific time and place and setting in Jewish and Roman history. Caesar, Pilate, Herod, Philip, Lysanias, Annas, and Ciaphas were all appointed rulers and priests (see diagram here). The injection of the coming Messiah was unwanted news (thus Herod the Great killing all the Jewish first-born boys in Luke 2). It threatened their power, their positions, the smoke and mirrors, and all that the Jewish leaders had worked to achieve over these past 400+ years. 

In verse 2, Luke makes an incredible point that John the Baptist was a true prophet (amongst all the Jewish leaders and priests) and he received a prophetic word from God after 400+ years of “silence.” In other words, while God was sovereignly moving history in the inter-testamental period, He was purposefully silent with His word. He was not speaking into the Jewish nation's desire for independence, power, authority, and rule. The word given to John from God was not that different from the prophets of the Old Testament— a call to repentance, to turn back to their holy and jealous God— but it was distinct in that John was able to point directly to Jesus as the Christ, the true Messiah, the Son of God, “the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie”, who will baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire. God began speaking again, and Jesus was the word.