Matthew 03

 

The Ministry of John the Baptist

¹ In those days John the Baptist came into the wilderness of Judea proclaiming,

There were most likely many rumors flying around about John the Baptist and his ministry. During his pre-birth, his father had been mute and deaf for over nine months. John was a Levite, but instead of going to rabbinic school and learning the Oral Law from the rabbi, he headed to the wilderness to complete his studies and wait for his call from God. He did not teach in the local synagogues. He taught in the desert, dressed like Elijah, and many went out to hear him speak.

² “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.”

This was a new message. None of the rabbi taught in this manner. John was telling his large following that the Messianic Kingdom of heaven was very near to the Jewish people. It was very near, because the Messiah was in their midst. If they would have believed in Jesus, then the Kingdom would have arrived in their lifetime. However, this was impossible, because Bible prophecy dictated a different sovereign plan of God.

³ For he is the one about whom Isaiah the prophet had spoken: “The voice of one shouting in the wilderness, “Prepare the way for the Lord, make his paths straight.’”

Isaiah predicted that the Messianic King would have a forerunner. The purpose of the forerunner was to prepare the people for the coming of their King.

⁴ Now John wore clothing made from camel’s hair with a leather belt around his waist, and his diet consisted of locusts and wild honey.

John was dressed like Elijah. There had not been a prophet in Israel for 400 years, so his dress caused curiosity in Israel.

⁵ Then people from Jerusalem, as well as all Judea and all the region around the Jordan, were going out to him,

Crowds from all over Judea were traveling to the desert to hear John's message. There was no air-conditioning in the desert. There were no pews. There were no high-speed buses to transport the people. There were no fancy restaurants around to visit after John's sermons. People traveled in the desert because either they were spiritually hungry or out of curiosity.

⁶ and he was baptizing them in the Jordan River as they confessed their sins.

The Greek word for "baptize" means to immerse a cloth in dye and change its color. Those who were being baptized were identifying themselves with John, his message, and the people who were following him. His message was to leave Judaism and look for the Messiah whom John was going to identify.

⁷ But when he saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “You offspring of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?

The Pharisees and Sadducees were not coming out to hear John's message of repentance. They were coming out to investigate his message to see if it was a threat to Judaism. There were three stages in this investigation. First, they just observed and listened. Second, they asked questions. Third, they used their power and prestige to remove the problem. These religious leaders were in the first stage of their investigation.

John was not a seeker-friendly pastor. He called them "offspring of vipers," meaning that their doctrine was poisonous to the Word of God. Their doctrine killed others and sent them to hell. He warned them of the coming wrath. The coming wrath was the temple destruction of 70 A.D. Those religious leaders who rejected Jesus would find themselves dead when Titus marched down from Rome and destroyed the Jewish Temple.

⁸ Therefore produce fruit that proves your repentance,

The religious leaders were commanded that they were not to produce poison. Instead, they were to produce good fruit. If they produced good fruit, then it would prove that they had changed their attitude about God.

⁹ and don’t think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you that God can raise up children for Abraham from these stones!

The poison that these Jewish religious leaders taught the people was that all Jews who come from Abraham will enter into heaven. In Judaism, Abraham stood at the door and he would allow all of the Jews entrance into heaven. John told them that this was bad theology.

¹⁰ Even now the ax is laid at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.

John told these religious leaders that they were fruit trees that did not produce any good fruit. A fruit tree that does not produce good fruit is useless, so it must be cut down to make room for other good fruit trees. The cut down trees will be thrown into the fire. This was the fate of these false teachers of Judaism.

¹¹ “I baptize you with water, for repentance, but the one coming after me is more powerful than I am – I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

John baptized them with water to identify that there was a change of attitude and direction in the intellect of his followers. Those who identified with Judaism would now be immersed into paint and they would come out as a brand new beautiful color. Their new color would be identification with the Messiah who John was going to identify.

Many thought that John was a great prophet, but John informed them that he was not even worthy to carry the sandals of the coming Messianic King. This King would offer two different kinds of baptisms to all men. Those who believe will be baptized with the Holy Spirit forever. Those who do not believe will be baptized with the Lake of Fire for eternity. Sometimes, charismatics will pray for the baptism of fire. When they do this, they are praying for eternal life in the Lake of Fire.

¹² His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clean out his threshing floor and will gather his wheat into the storehouse, but the chaff he will burn up with inextinguishable fire.”

The Messianic King will carry a farming tool in his hands. He will go to the threshing floor at the top of the hill and throw the wheat into the air. The wheat will fall to the ground to be harvested. The chaff will blow down the hill and be gathered to be burned. The wheat are those who believe in the Messianic King. The chaff are those who reject the Messianic King.

The Baptism of Jesus

¹³ Then Jesus came from Galilee to John to be baptized by him in the Jordan River.

Those in Galilee were despised by those in Judea. Judea thought that their rabbinic schools were superior to those of Galilee. Jesus came to be baptized by his forerunner.

¹⁴ But John tried to prevent him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and yet you come to me?”

John did not think that he, as a human, should baptize the eternal God-man.

¹⁵ So Jesus replied to him, “Let it happen now, for it is right for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John yielded to him.

Jesus desired to be baptized for several reasons. First, he was to keep the Mosaic Law. Second, he was to identify with John's message. Third, he was to identify with sinners.

¹⁶ After Jesus was baptized, just as he was coming up out of the water, the heavens opened and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming on him.

The Trinity was involved in the baptism of Jesus. First, Jesus was there in His human form. Second, the Holy Spirit was there in the image of a dove. The rabbi taught that the Holy Spirit descended upon the earth in the form of a dove at creation in Genesis 1:2.

¹⁷ And a voice from heaven said, “This is my one dear Son; in him I take great delight.”

Third, the voice of the Father came down from heaven. This was the first time the voice of God had spoken since the days of Malachi.