The Nearby Kingdom

Matthew 3:1–12 NIV

In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah: “A voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.’ ” John’s clothes were made of camel’s hair, and he had a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey. People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River. But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. “I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me comes one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

The vast, foreboding wilderness seems an odd place for a new beginning. We don’t always think of vast, foreboding, deserty areas as being a place for new things to begin or grow—yet that is what we see here in the text.

In the midst of the wilderness, something new is happening. We’ve seen it throughout the story of Scripture: Moses receiving a call from God in the wilderness; the people of God being delivered from Pharaoh’s hand and continually being provided for in the wilderness; the forty days of Jesus in the wil- derness (though that story happens after today’s). Throughout the breadth of Scripture God’s hand and provision have been present even in the harshest places, the most barren lands.

In church history, we see mothers and fathers who intentionally travel to places of wilderness to deepen their faith with God; mystics who meditate, pray, and write, who call the church to be who we are supposed to be. While most of us spend time avoiding wilderness places and spaces in our hearts and lives, it appears that, while seemingly barren, these are the very grounds on which God chooses to birth new life.

Here in today’s text, we are again in a wilderness. We are not in a synagogue, not in a temple, not in a city—but at the edge of a river in a barren land. As someone with wild hair and crazy clothes cries out, “Something new is happening. Someone is coming. Repent! Be ready! Be ready for this new thing that God is doing!”

A Jesus Exodus

This passage has sometimes been referred to as ushering in the new exodus. b. It takes place in the wilderness.

We know that the wilderness was a big image in the exodus.

Moses was called in the wilderness.

The people wandered in the wilderness for forty years.

There is a connection between the forty years of wilderness wandering and the forty days Jesus spent in the wilderness, which occurs shortly after today’s text.

Moving into a new place, away from the old.

The reference to Pharisees and Sadducees could be seen as criticism of thinking they had all their theology correct. It could also be seen as a call for change that needs to happen because of what’s coming.

The reference to Abraham and creating children from stones is directly stating that God can make new children if God wants.

While the children of Israel were the chosen ones before, God is creating a new people.

This new exodus is to be led by the Messiah.

The baptism shows a passage through the new Red Sea.

Through the journey they will be formed into the new people of God, following the Messiah.

John the Baptist: The New Elijah?

The reference to John the Baptist’s clothes is to connect him to Elijah, the Old Testament prophet (2 Kings 1:8).

Later in the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus directly refers to John as Elijah (11:10, 14; 17:11–13).

While we often mistakenly place “fortune teller” on the backs of prophets, what they really are is truth tellers. They see the world for what it is and reveal what is wrong. John reveals several issues here for the people to confront.

The attitude that what they do doesn’t matter because they are the children of Abraham.

He makes it clear that God can create children from whatever and whomever he wants.

Lineage is not what saves us; repentance and grace are.

The kingdom of heaven is near, literally; repentance is needed

Repentance doesn’t just mean to seek forgiveness; it means a completely new way of thinking.

People entangled in the idea that law, theology, and lineage save them are going to need new eyes to

see the new way Jesus offers.

Bear the fruit of repentance. It isn’t enough to give lip service to this baptism and this new way; it

must be embodied in the way we live as God’s people.

There will be a division of people: those who repent and follow (the wheat) and those who don’t (the

chaff).

John the Baptist is revealing a new way of living as he points toward Jesus, preparing a path for him.

Entering our own Wilderness to Prepare for Messiah Jesus

Advent is a time for us to enter our own wilderness places—the places we avoid or don’t want to confront—and cultivate and look for new growth.

Just as a new thing was happening in the wilderness of our text, new things are also happening around us and in us, if we look.

The first step is repentance, seeing with new eyes. What areas in our lives need new eyes? How can we look at them differently?

Once we see things with new eyes, we must bear the fruit of that repentance. What needs to change in our lives? What kind of people are we being called to be?

We are called to be the children of God. God did not call rocks to be God’s children; God called us.

What does it look like for us to be the children of God?

We are to live knowing we are part of this new kingdom that Jesus ushered in.

Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is near...