Matthew leaves Jesus in Nazareth as a young boy at the end of chapter 2 and picks up the story here with the preparatory role of John the Baptist. Some thirty pass with no information from Matthew; only Luke provides a single episode from Jesus’ life in the interim, the familiar story of Jesus being left behind at the Temple around age twelve. But here, John’s ministry is clear and prophetic. He leads the Jewish people to repentance, preparing the way for the Lord. He rebukes the religious leaders for the hypocrisy and self-righteousness, proclaiming the certainty of judgment. John the Baptist glorifies Jesus and then has the surprising role of baptizing His Lord. The final verses of this chapter display the presence of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Let’s take a look.
1) V1-6 – 1In 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’” [Isaiah 40:3]. 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.
With the words “In those days,” Matthew skips some 30 years of the life of Jesus, and turns to the man who was predicted to “prepare the way for the Lord” (v3), John the Baptist. Luke’s gospel begins with the circumstances surrounding the birth of John the Baptist, but Matthew just brings him onto the stage around the age of 33. John the Baptist, as we find out from Luke, was a Levite, a descendant of Aaron the first priest; he was the son of Zechariah, who served as a priest in the Temple, and his wife Elizabeth, who was an older woman, likely past the typical age of childbearing. Elizabeth was also a “relative” of Mary (only the King James Version of the Bible translates this general Greek term as “cousin”). But Mary, as a descendant of David, was from the tribe of Judah, so how exactly Mary and Elizabeth were related is uncertain. One author says, “Whether Mary and Elizabeth were first cousins, or second cousins, or second cousins once removed (“once removed” is merely a genealogical term for a second, third, fourth etc. cousin who is in the generation up from one’s own) is a range of possibilities with Mary and Elizabeth since Mary was a teenager and Elizabeth was in her “old age” when they had children (both Jesus’ and John’s conceptions were miraculous).” Whatever their relationship, it made their offspring relatives as well, which, of course, made John the Baptist a “cousin” of Jesus.
Tradition suggests that John the Baptist and Jesus grew up together, being only a few months apart in age and having mothers who were apparently close friends. (After all, of all the people Mary could have visited after hearing from the angel about her miraculous conception, she chooses to visit Elizabeth.) We have no way of confirming or denying the thought, but it does seem likely. John was called “the Baptist,” because of his activity, which consisted of preaching a message of repentance (an internal reality) and urging an external response to it, namely baptism. John lived an unusual life as a spectacle of sorts (v4) out in the desert, undoubtedly reminding people of Elijah (whereas Jesus would follow him akin to Elisha). He preached out in the desert, and surprisingly, people left the towns and villages throughout the region (v5) just to go and listen to him. He taught that “the kingdom of heaven is near” (v2), and Matthew confirms that the prophet Isaiah predicted his role accurately (Isaiah 40:3). John’s message of repentance and the nearness of God’s kingdom softened many hearts (and hardened others), as people confessed their sins, acknowledging their need for a savior, the role Jesus would fill as determined before creation.
Though John’s baptism is the first baptism mentioned in Scripture, baptism was not a foreign concept to the Jews. Pagan proselytes would be baptized into Judaism, and there are numerous shadow-references to baptism throughout the Old Testament, such as Naaman dipping himself seven times in Jordan River to be cleansed of his leprosy, the entire account of Noah, and the crossing of the Red Sea. There are several references to a sprinkling for cleansing as well. However, it doesn’t seem likely that those born into Judaism were baptized at any point during their lives; circumcision filled that type of role. So John’s demand for baptism was not unique; it was appropriate, a humbling step for the truly repentant to take.
2) V7-12 – 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. 11I baptize you with [or in] 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.”
John the Baptist chided the religious leaders of his day, calling them a “brood of vipers,” language that Jesus would later use with them as well (Matthew 12:34; 23:33; cf Luke 3:7). This rebuke suggests they, as the shepherds of God’s people, were preying on the people for their own benefit (Ezekiel 34). John asks them a question, seemingly with a hint of sarcasm, “Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?” Apparently, the people coming to hear him and be baptized in the wilderness by the Jordan River were concerned about God’s judgment, and they wanted to address that by repenting internally and being baptized as an external sign of the internal reality in their lives; surely the religious leaders wouldn’t submit to John’s baptism, for he had no seminary degree, impressive title, or even a pulpit from which to speak! Later on, Jesus will pin the religious leaders on this very issue, asking them if John’s baptism was a manmade doctrine or teaching from God Himself (Matthew 21:25; Mark 11:30; Luke 20:4). They obviously didn’t come into the wilderness to repent and be baptized, equivalent to fleeing “from the coming wrath,” so John commands them to “produce fruit in keeping with repentance” (v8).
The first of Martin Luther’s Ninety-Five Theses was that the entire life of a believer was to be lived with an attitude of repentance. And that is an internal reality that others can discern from the outward attitude. John saw no humility or genuine reverence in the religious leaders, and so he rebuked them sternly. He knew the common response to any teaching thought radical or false was to turn back to pedigree, relying on one’s heritage and ancestry as a descendant of Abraham. John denied the validity of that claim (v9), something both Jesus and the Apostles labored to do (John 8:31-47; Galatians 3:9,26-29). On the contrary, John declared that God could place any people into the family of Abraham; God could make any people His children, even Gentiles, even from the stones on the ground that are said to praise Him if and when people do not (Luke 19:40). In v10, John says, “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.” In other words, judgment is near, and repentance will be required to avoid eternity in hell. Again, Jesus reiterates this teaching in His Sermon on the Mount and later (Matthew 7:17-18; 12:33; Luke 6:43).
John turns to a defense of his baptism in v11. He is quite appropriately using water as a physical and outward symbol of the cleansing and forgiveness that comes with the inward reality of genuine, humble repentance. But then John the Baptist, seemingly making light of himself and what he is doing, points to the One who would come after him, Jesus the Messiah, who would preeminently baptize with fire and the Holy Spirit. V12 explains that Jesus would separate the wheat from the chaff in a ministry of judgment, condemning those who fail to repent of their sin.
As we will learn from Jesus Himself, there was a stern element of judgment in His ministry, but only toward those who would not humble themselves in repentance, only toward those of whom much was expected and required, namely the religious leaders. For example, on one occasion Jesus said, “For judgment I have come into the world” (John 9:39). On the other hand, Jesus’ ministry was one of compassion, mercy, and grace to those who humbled themselves and strived to see Him for who He is. John says, “God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him” (John 3:17). And this is a good picture of God – fully just and righteous in His perfect character while at the same time merciful, compassionate, and patient toward His people.
3) V13-17 – 13Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. 14But John tried to deter Him, saying, “I need to be baptized by You, and do You come to me?” 15Jesus replied, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John consented. 16As soon as Jesus was baptized, He went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on Him. 17And a voice from heaven said, “This is My Son, whom I love; with Him I am well pleased.”
As John was preparing the way for Jesus to come, Jesus came (v13). Why did Jesus come to be baptized? Many Christians – and non-Christians – have asked this question, and we see in v14 that John wondered the same thing. John knew that Jesus was the One for whom he had prepared the way, and he knew that Jesus should be baptizing him instead of the other way around. But Jesus said, “It is proper…to do this to fulfill all righteousness” (v15). Whatever God sovereignly decrees (His decretive will determines whatsoever comes to pass) is right; therefore, whatever Jesus does is right. It was right for Jesus to be baptized, in the same ways that it was right for Him to be circumcised on the eighth day, presented in the Temple at day 40, and confirmed at age 12 (bar mitzvah). But people rarely concern themselves with the other benchmarks, so why is the baptism of Jesus such a big deal?
Several reasons have been expressed. First, Jesus was identifying with His people; “He was numbered with the transgressors” (Isaiah 53:12; Luke 22:37). He was uniting Himself to us in every way. The 40 days He would spend in the desert, to be explained in the next chapter, were parallel to the 40 years of wilderness wandering experienced by the Israelites after the Exodus. The temptations Jesus would face in the wilderness were akin to the temptation Adam and Eve faced in the Garden of Eden. Everywhere we look at Jesus’ life, He is succeeding where His people had failed. That fact enables Him not only to forgive our sins through His death on the cross, but also to give us the righteousness we need to stand before a holy God. His perfect life becomes ours, and His baptism was a part of that.
A second reason Jesus was baptized was to approve of John’s witness to Him. People wondered about John and his ministry, and Jesus’ baptism confirms both his validity as the precursor to the Messiah and the validity of his message of repentance. Third, Jesus was baptized, perhaps, as a visual sign of what He would have to do just a few years hence – die, be buried, and rise again. Fourth, Jesus’ baptism prepared Him for His strenuous ministry ahead. The baptism of Jesus was effectively the beginning of His public ministry, just as He would later undergo another baptism – death by crucifixion, bearing the sins of His people and drinking from the cup of God’s wrath against sin – that would effectively end His earthly ministry. Finally, going along with the previous reason in preparing Him for public ministry, Jesus was baptized to reveal both the presence of the Holy Spirit, which was “like a dove…lighting on Him” (v16), and the audible approval of His Father in heaven (v17). In this revelation of the Trinity, Jesus, along with all those present, hears God the Father declare that Jesus is His Son, that He loves Him, and that He is pleased with Him. What an energizing encouragement for Jesus moving forward, something He undoubtedly needed in His humanity as He was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to face Satan.
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