John the Baptist prepares the way
3 In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the Desert of Judea 2and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.” 3This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah:
“A voice of one calling in the desert,
‘Prepare the way for the Lord,
make straight paths for him.’ ”
4John’s clothes were made of camel’s hair, and he had a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey. 5People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and
the whole region of the Jordan. 6Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River.
7But 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? 8Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. 9And 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.
10The 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. 11“I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. 12His 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.”
Matthew’s designation of time is very general when he tells us that John the Baptist began preaching in the desert “in those days.” Luke tells us exactly when this was: “In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar—when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod tetrarch of Galilee, his
brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and Traconitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene—during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas” (Luke 3:1,2).
John began preaching in the desert country near the Dead Sea along the Jordan River. This country was barren, uninhabited, wild, and mountainous.
This terrain was an appropriate symbol of the spiritual state of the people of Israel. It also calls to mind the wilderness in which the Israelites wandered for 40 years when their unbelief delayed their entry into the Promised Land. In the wilderness John the Baptist called the people to repent
of their sins, and he pointed to the Messiah, who alone could bring people into the kingdom of God. John’s message of repentance echoed the call of all the Old Testament prophets, and soon Jesus would also be calling his people to repentance. Repentance involves a change of mind and heart and a change of direction in daily behavior and life. The full definition of repentance includes recognizing your sin as disobedience to God’s commandments, feeling truly sorry for your sin, having the sincere desire to amend your sinful ways, and trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ alone for forgiveness and salvation.
Repentance is not a one-time act. In his famous Ninetyfive Theses, which mark the beginning of the Reformation, Martin Luther declared that the entire life of a Christian is to be characterized by repentance. In his Small Catechism, Luther tells us that our baptism should remind us to drown
our old Adam by daily contrition and repentance. There is no such thing as an impenitent Christian, and it is not possible to repent of only some sins. Repentance includes all our sins, even those of which we may not be aware, and Jesus’ forgiveness is also total. When he forgives us, all is forgiven.
Anything less would be of no value, for the guilt of a singlesin would condemn the sinner to eternal torment in hell.
The kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of God are synonymous expressions. These terms do not refer to earthly territory or to citizens or subjects we can see and count; they refer to God’s gracious rule in people’s hearts. These terms describe the process by which God saves sinners. The climax
of that saving process was at hand, for the promised Savior had come into the world. Jesus was about to begin his public ministry. After living a life of perfect obedience to all of God’s commandments, he would willingly lay down his life on Calvary’s cross to atone for the sins of the world. On the third
day he would rise again, proving that God’s kingdom had triumphed over the kingdom of Satan. These momentous events were going to happen soon. That was why John could proclaim, “The kingdom of heaven is near.”
Matthew identifies John as the “voice in the desert” of whom Isaiah the prophet had spoken (Isaiah 40:3). To “prepare the way for the Lord” and “make straight paths for him” was essentially a description of the repentance John called for. Just as the road would be smoothed and straightened
and leveled for an approaching Asian monarch, so John’s listeners were to clear away everything that would be an obstacle to Christ’s coming to them. It was like saying, “Christ is coming. Drop everything and get ready to welcome him!”
John’s food and clothing were not as unusual as we might imagine. His clothing of camel’s hair and his leather belt were characteristic of God’s prophets. See, for example, the description of Elijah in 2 Kings 1:8. Such rough and rugged clothing was particularly appropriate for men whom God sent with a message of judgment and a stern call to repentance. Today a coat of camel’s hair may be expensive and luxurious,
but John’s clothing would not fit that description.
Wild honey was abundant in that desert region, and locusts were food poor people would eat when nothing better was available. They would remove the wings and perhaps also the legs of the locusts. Then they would dry or roast the locusts or grind them up and bake them. The law of Moses
had specifically told the Israelites, “You may eat any kind of locust, katydid, cricket or grasshopper” (Leviticus 11:22), but making it permissible did not make it popular.
Modern evangelists are likely to rent a stadium, an arena, or an auditorium, and advertise widely to attract a large audience, but John did nothing of the kind. He preached out in the desert, and people flocked to him from Jerusalem and Judea and the whole area. They listened to his message, openly confessed their sins, repented, and were baptized by John in the Jordan River.
John’s baptism was something new, but the Jews were familiar with many kinds of ceremonial washing, so this did not seem strange to them. We cannot say exactly how John applied the water when he baptized, but the opinion that he baptized by immersion cannot be proven. The word
baptize was used to describe numerous methods of washing with water. It does not necessarily mean to immerse.
Some Bible commentators speak of John’s baptism as being only symbolic, and they suppose that those who later became members of Christian congregations were baptized again. It is clear, however, that there was no essential difference between John’s baptism and the Baptism later commanded by Jesus (28:19). The Lutheran theologian J. Ylvisaker clearly stated, “John’s baptism was an effective sacrament, which mediated regeneration and the remission of sins.” This is what Mark tells us when he speaks of John the Baptist as “preaching a baptism of repentance for
the forgiveness of sins” (Mark 1:4). Jesus’ disciples and John the Baptist were baptizing simultaneously (John 3:22,23), and there is no indication that there was any difference between their baptisms. So when Jesus commanded the apostles to go and make disciples by baptizing and teaching (Matthew 28:19,20), he was not telling them to do something new and different. He was telling them to keep on doing what they and John the Baptist had already been doing; only now they were to extend their ministry to all nations.
John did not baptize everybody who came to him seeking to be baptized. He commanded people to repent, and he required that they show visible fruits of repentance. When many Pharisees and Sadducees came to be baptized, he absolutely refused because there were no fruits of repentance in their lives. He called them a “brood of vipers.” The Pharisees and Sadducees had little in common except their opposition to Jesus and his message. The Pharisees believed they were righteous in God’s sight because they kept the law. They even added many regulations of their own to the laws of
Moses, so they imagined that they were not even close to the point where God might condemn them. Repentance was fine for others, but they didn’t think they needed it personally.
The Sadducees, on the other hand, did not believe in any resurrection or in the existence of angels. They were concerned only about this life and this world. They had no interest in the kingdom of heaven that John was proclaiming.
Why, then, did these Pharisees and Sadducees come to John to be baptized? Evidently, they saw the people flocking out to John, and they did not want to be left out. They were the religious leaders of the Jews, and they hoped to hold on to their power and prestige by going along with the crowd and not openly opposing such a popular messenger of God.
But they were not able to deceive John. When John addressed them as a “brood of vipers,” that was like calling them children of the devil. Genesis 3:15, the first promise of the Savior to come, spoke of the enmity that would exist between the offspring of the woman (Jesus) and the offspring of the devil, who had spoken to Eve through a serpent. That enmity became more and more evident during Jesus’ ministry and reached its climax in his trial and crucifixion. The “coming wrath” from which they were trying to flee is described in following verses as a fire of divine judgment.
Just as serpents would scurry away from a brush fire or a burning stubble field, so these people were trying to escape God’s judgment by going through the motions of Baptism, but they would not succeed. To be baptized would only have increased their guilt before God—just as unworthy communicants are warned that they only bring God’s judgment upon themselves (1 Corinthians 11:27-30).
Being Abraham’s descendants did not mean automatic acceptance in God’s kingdom—even though these Pharisees and Sadducees and many more of the Jews imagined that nothing more was required of them. No one can get to heaven by virtue of the faith or piety of his ancestors. As a matter of fact, unbelieving and impenitent children and descendants of pious parents and grandparents are doubly guilty before God. They had special opportunities to know their Lord and his way of salvation, but they despised God’s Word and the Savior who is revealed there. Just as God had made Adam out of the dust of the ground (Genesis 2:7) and had made Eve from Adam’s rib (Genesis 2:22), so he could also make children of Abraham out of the stones of the
desert if he so desired. He wasn’t “stuck with” unbelieving Pharisees and Sadducees just because they were physical descendants of Abraham.
God doesn’t need any of us either. If we insist on going our own way or trying to get into heaven on our own terms, God will reject us and find plenty of other people to populate heaven fully. We must not imagine that he needs us. At the same time, let us never forget that he wants us and that
Jesus has done everything necessary for our eternal salvation.
Unproductive trees are marked for destruction. They are chopped out of the ground at the roots and thrown into the fire. Then room becomes available for productive trees.
In the same way, professing Christians who produce no fruits of faith will be separated from believers at the time of God’s judgment, and they will be thrown into the lake of fire that will never be quenched. Jesus makes the same point in his parable of a wedding feast. Those who refused to wear the
wedding garments provided by the bridegroom and insisted on being admitted on their own terms were cast outside into darkness, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth (22:1-14).
The purpose of John’s ministry was not to gain followers for himself but to direct people to Jesus, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. From the very beginning of his ministry, John spoke of the more powerful one, for whom he was not even fit to be the lowliest servant. This more powerful one “will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire,” John foretold. This is a clear promise of the sending of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost. Just before his ascension into heaven, Jesus told his apostles, “John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 1:5).
John ends this discourse with another description of God’s judgment. He speaks of a farmer separating the grain from the chaff on his threshing floor. As a farmer would toss the threshed grain into the air, the breeze would carry away the light chaff, and the heavier kernels of grain would fall to
the ground. In the same way, Christ will separate believers and unbelievers (penitent and impenitent). He will consign the impenitent to hell and gather the penitent into the heavenly mansions.
The message of John and of Jesus is timeless and universal. Nobody will be able to escape God’s judgment, and there will be no appeals to another court. “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned” (Mark 16:16). That’s what the whole Bible is all about.