John the Baptist
prepares the people
Matthew chapter 3:1-12
The herald
The narrative of this Gospel goes through an interval of silence of about 30 years, in which Jesus grew in wisdom, stature and grace before God and men together with his parents and his brothers and sisters in Nazareth, obeying his parents and pleasing God (Luke 2:51 -52 and Matthew 3:17).
It was now almost time to start His ministry, and God had already provided and equipped a suitable messenger for preparing His way, in accordance with the prophecy made by Isaiah seven centuries earlier (chap. 40:3-5, cp. Malachi 3:1 and 4:5).
His herald or proclaimer was John (“favour of God”), about whom we find more details in the first chapter of the Gospel according to Luke. He was nicknamed "the Baptist", because he became notorious for baptisms he carried out in the river Jordan.
John the Baptist was son of parents descended from Aaron, both declared, “They were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless” (Luke 1:5,6). His mother was related to Mary, mother of Jesus. His birth was a miracle, because his mother was elderly and barren, and he had the Holy Spirit even before birth (Luke 1:15).
As a boy John grew and was strengthened in spirit and lived in the desert, a barren region between Jerusalem and the river Jordan, until publicly appearing to Israel (Luke 1:80) upon the call of the Lord in year 15 of the reign of Caesar Tiberius (29 AD). In addition to belonging to the priestly family, he abstained from alcohol, dressed in camel's hair, wore a leather belt around his waist and fed on locusts and wild honey.
The Message
The message given to John the Baptist to proclaim to the people was: "Repent for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand" (v.2). The verb repent is a translation from the Greek metanoeo, which means reconsider. It is the same as converting oneself. It pertains to someone who, realizing that he is going on the wrong way, turns back to the starting point to take the right path. It applies to the people of God at any time, for they tend to get lost. Four churches that were going astray among the seven mentioned in chapters 2 and 3 of Revelation were ordered to repent.
Those who do not belong to God are lost, no matter the direction they take, unless they come in through the “narrow gate", the Lord Jesus himself, for the salvation of their souls. The commandment given them is to believe in the Messiah Jesus to be saved (Acts 16:31). To believe in the Lord Jesus implies repentance, and further still, it is to die to yourself and the world and to live for Him.
The expression Kingdom of heaven is used only in this gospel, where it appears thirty-one times, but is equivalent to the Kingdom of God mentioned in all four gospels. The Kingdom of heaven is the place where God's authority is admitted, but it is only in the people who submit to His will. It has two aspects:
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In a general way, it embraces all those who profess to admit that God has the supreme power (Matthew 13:3-9, 31, 32,33).
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In a special way, only those who submit to the authority of God, the converts, enjoy it (Matthew 18:3).
Through the Bible, we find five different phases of this Kingdom on Earth:
- It is prophesied for the future (Daniel 2:44, 7:13 ,14, Jeremiah 23: 5-6).
- It is described as about to arrive, or present (Matthew 3:2; 4:17; 10: 7, Luke 17:21).
- It had a provisional stage on Earth (Matthew 13).
- It will be manifested during the Millennium (Matthew 8:11).
- It will be established forever on renewed Earth (2 Peter 1:11).
We cannot have a Kingdom without a King, and the King of this Kingdom is the Lord Jesus. John heralded the arrival of the King when he said "the Kingdom of heaven is at hand" (v.2). They were phases 2 and 3.
Christ is not reigning in the world today, because the phase 3 has passed. Now we are waiting for the day he will come to establish His Kingdom on Earth in phases 4 and finally in phase 5, when all knees shall bow before His authority.
Although the Kingdom of heaven is not yet here, all those who receive Christ (the Messiah) as their Lord and Saviour become subjects of the Kingdom of heaven and enjoy its blessings (John 3:3-5).
The Audience
People came to see and hear the message of John from Jerusalem, from all Judea and the entire region around the river Jordan, as well as to hear his directives to correct his/her behaviour (Luke 3:11 -14).
John the Baptist was great in the eyes of the Lord, there having no greater prophet than he (Luke 7:28). His costume resembled that of prophet Elijah (2 Kings 1:8) who dressed like him. Their way of life and austere food would be a living rebuke to the luxury and ambitions of the majority of the people, especially their leaders.
The baptism of John
Those who repented were baptized (immersed) by John within the river Jordan, thus witnessing to all their repentance for forgiveness of their sins (Luke 3: 3). The baptism of John, as the Christian baptism, was a public testimony of repentance and conversion. It did not provide forgiveness or any virtue. The pardon came through repentance.
This was made clear by John when the religious of the sects of the Pharisees and Sadducees came to hear him. Wanting to be seen with favour by the people who accepted John as a prophet of God, they had to submit to his baptism.
Knowing that their cover of religiosity hid an evil and corrupt interior, John used harsh words to them, calling them “brood of vipers". They prided themselves on belonging to the people of God, descended from Abraham, as if the privilege of being born his descendants placed them above the need to submit to the laws and precepts of God, and to do His will. However, John razed their presumption, saying that God could raise children for Abraham even from the stones around them. Although the Pharisees declared they were devoted to the law, they were hypocrites, arrogant, corrupt and sectarian. The Sadducees were sceptics who rejected such basic doctrines as immortality of the soul and eternal punishment, the existence of angels and resurrection. They needed a sincere repentance evidenced by a new behaviour. It would be an act of deceit to baptize them.
Simple remorse for sin is not repentance, even less pious words of false holiness. This has no value at all. True repentance is to leave sin permanently and to move on taking the straight path of righteousness and obedience to God.
The new baptisms announced by John
Soon there would come an act of judgment on the part of God: the coming of Christ and His presence would test everyone, and those who did not produce good fruit would be cut off and destroyed.
There would be a big difference between the ministry of John and that of He who would come after him. This one was more powerful and vastly superior. While John baptized with water for repentance, this would baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire.
The baptism of the Holy Spirit came on the day of Pentecost, and that of fire will come in the future, when Christ will bring the judgment of God upon the incredulous and sinful world.
R David Jones
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1 In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea,
2 and saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!"
3 For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, saying: "THE VOICE OF ONE CRYING IN THE WILDERNESS: 'PREPARE THE WAY OF THE LORD; MAKE HIS PATHS STRAIGHT.' "
4 Now John himself was clothed in camel's hair, with a leather belt around his waist; and his food was locusts and wild honey.
5 Then Jerusalem, all Judea, and all the region around the Jordan went out to him
6 and were baptized by him in the Jordan, confessing their sins.
7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, "Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?
8 Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance,
9 and do not think to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones.
10 And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
11 I indeed baptize you with water unto 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 fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire."
Matthew chapter 3, verses 1 to 12