Matthew 3

1 In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, 2 “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” 3 For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said, “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; make his paths straight.’ ” 4 Now John wore a garment of camel’s hair and a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. 5 Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to him, 6 and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. 7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 Bear fruit in keeping with repentance. 9 And do not presume 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. 10 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. 11 “I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 12 His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

In the Gospel of Matthew, we see a gap of nearly 30 years in Jesus’ life, picking up with the story of the fore-runner, John the Baptist.

If we think back to the time of Mary announcing her pregnancy to Elizabeth, the baby leapt at the news!

Luke 1:41–44 ESV

41 And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, 42 and she exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! 43 And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 44 For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy.

John’s purpose had been prophesied in the OT:

Isaiah 40:3–5 ESV

3 A voice cries: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. 4 Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. 5 And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

He was the forerunner of the coming Messiah. In his ministry, John came out of the wilderness of Judea preaching a new message. Now, John was not your normal evangelist, he was dressed in a garment of camel’s hair with a leather belt secured at his waist and ate a diet of locusts and wild honey.

Judea was a country area, and had at least 6 cities scattered throughout. This was the base of John’s ministry. If we think back to the ministry of many throughout the Bible, we find God uses these quiet places (wilderness) to prepare men for their ministry. It may be linked to Psalm 46:10 “Be still, and know that I am God. ” His ministry was ground breaking, as no prophet had been found in Israel in about 400 years (Malachi being the last).

There had been no verbal word of God spoken in 4 centuries, and now this ragged, modestly dressed man with a peculiar diet came forward with the words “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand”. Prophecy had been fulfilled. This simple message called those he preached to action - repent- change your life, turn away from sin and turn towards God. Kingdom - it is God’s, the sovereign Lord of the Kingdom of Heaven, and He is coming now. Of Heaven - it is of another world, the third heaven as described by Paul. It is not of the world as we know it, not the atmosphere, and not the cosmos, but a spiritual world created by God Himself.

His ministry was successful, as there were people throughout the region near the Jordan river who were confessing their sins and were being baptized by him. But he caught the attention of the religious crowd; the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and they came to see if this modern-day prophet had truly been sent from God. When he saw them, though, he confronted them “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?” He called out their religiosity, and by calling them vipers pointed out their false doctrine (full of deadly venom). Notice, he did not back away because they were “religious people” in the community, but instead told them of their sins. Flee the wrath to come - those who were spectators only would face God’s wrath. Repent - verbal repentance was not enough. Bear fruit - they were to be changed in their conduct. Overlook their heritage - the righteousness of a family member does not make you acceptable to God. Judgment - those who do not do the work God has called them to, will be removed. It didn’t matter what position they held, what family name they possessed, or their status in the community, judgment comes to all.

John goes on to point out the purpose of baptism, as a symbol for their repentance, but pointed out the one who was coming afterwards - Jesus - was mightier than he was. John even goes on to say he was not even worthy to carry His sandals. Notice, John did not speak of his own ministry, the number of baptisms he had conducted, or the number of people converted, but simply exalted Jesus. You see, God uses the one who exalts His Son, not himself.

Romans 12:3 ESV

3 For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.

Jesus was coming not only to baptize, but to fill the converts with the Holy Spirit and fire. Why would he refer to fire? You see, fire is used for lighting the way, for warming those in need, and for burning. Fire can be as beneficial as detrimental though; it may destroy and consume, but it can also refine and make pure. He comes with winnowing fork in hand. A winnowing fork is a simplified version of a pitch fork used for tossing the grain stalks into the air so the grain could be separated from the stalk, and the wind would carry away the chaff.

Side note: I had a thought on this; do you ever wonder if churches go through a winnowing process? A time where God tosses the church around for the purpose of separating the stalk and the chaff from the grain? Why would this be important? Because it was the grain that had been refined and was of greatest value. Christ came to judge and purge. His ministry gathered wheat, which was an act of sacrifice and love, and to separate and dispense the chaff, which is an act of justice.

Today, there is still a mixture of wheat and chaff in the world. A mixture of professing Christians, and those who are only religious. Christ still sorts them out in judgment, with the grain being gathered into the barn (heaven), while the chaff will be burned with unquenchable fire (Hell).

Jesus’ Baptism

Matthew 3:13–17 ESV

13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. 14 John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” 15 But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented. 16 And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; 17 and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”

Jesus deliberately chose Jordan as the place to launch His ministry. It was in Jordan that His forerunner, John the Baptist, had been preparing the way for Him. You see, the people knew that the Messiah was coming, the prophets had predicted Jesus’ coming time and time again, so the people knew what John was predicting. Yet they expected the Spirit to fire up the nation, and lead the people in freeing Israel and establishing it as one of the greatest nations on earth. They were not prepared for the carpenter’s son.

Nevertheless, Jesus came to be baptized by John the Baptist. He sought out baptism, but not just to be baptized, but to be baptized by John. He identified with John, John identified with Him - He was the Messiah, the Lamb of God who would be slain - the one John was proclaiming.

Why would Jesus desire to be baptized? As the one who knew no sin, He had no need for baptism. He was the one who was making baptism possible and EFFECTIVE for mankind. He needed no repentance, yet He sought baptism “to fulfill all righteousness”. The Righteous One symbolically went through the process of what He was going to do for sinful man. He fulfilled the law of God, one of which was Baptism (anointing in the OT), He would pay the penalty of our sins for breaking the law (the penalty of death), He humbled Himself, emptied Himself, and took on the form of a servant so that He could identify with the ones He came to save. He humbly sacrificed Himself, so that we could experience the free pardon of sin by salvation.

When Jesus was baptized, we see a symbol of the Trinity. Now, some folks get hung up on this word “Trinity” saying it is not in the Bible. Here is a picture of the Triune God all being present at the same time; as Jesus (the Son) came up from the water, the heavens opened and a visible sign (the Spirit of God descending like a dove) rested on Jesus and an audible voice from heaven was heard “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased”. Now, the word Trinity may not be in the Bible, but I see the Son of God (Jesus) present in the flesh, a visible sign (the Holy Spirit) descending on Him, and the audible voice of God the Father speaking. If that doesn’t support the Trinity, I don’t know what does.

Not only do we see this symbol, but listen to the words spoken by God - Beloved - pointing to the love within the Godhead (Trinity); Son - pointing to the deity of Christ; Well pleased - Jesus lived a perfect life, without sin.

Shouldn’t we want to hear those words spoken to us? Well done my Son/Daughter, in whom I am well pleased. You see, as Christians we are adopted into the family of God as a Son or Daughter. And we should want to live our lives in a manner that would be pleasing and approved of by our Father.

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