©2003 Pastor Tom Miles
Matthew Chapter 3
Matthew 3:1-2: The public ministry of John the Baptist. John's message in the wilderness of Judea and everywhere he went was "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!" John's entire message was repentance and it was a call - a call to action! To repent doesn't mean just feel sorry about or think about, but it means taken an action! John's call to repentance wasn't for those hearing to feel sorry about their sins but instead to make a change about their way of living! Repentance is what we must do to come to God!
Matthew 3:3-4: Just who was John the Baptist. The prophet Isaiah (40:3) spoke saying, "The voice of one crying in the wilderness: 'Prepare the way of the Lord; make His paths straight.'" And John the Baptist was clothed in camel's hair, a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. John was the prophesied precursor to the Messiah. It was the purpose of John to prepare hearts for the coming Messiah. It was his purpose to make the people aware of sin so they would be ready to receive the gift of salvation that would be offered by Jesus the Messiah. To make the way clear, to prepare the way is a symbolic phrase because there is no true path or road that needed to be cleared - instead it was the way of our individual hearts that needed to be prepared. Prepared to receive the gift of salvation from Christ Jesus. It is not an easy road to prepare the way for Christ! But we all as Believers must prepare the way for Christ's Gospel to go forth. We must be bold and fearless as was John the Baptist. John is compared to Elijah who was fearless in his call to Israel to repent (2 Kings 1:8). John was motivated to deliver the message of God in the only way he knew how and that he did with great confidence and love - to prepare the way for Christ.
Matthew 3:5-6: John's ministry was very successful and the people came out to him from all of Jerusalem, Judea, and the region around Jordan. He baptized all that came to him confessing their sins. John was well accepted and many people came to recognize their sin and desired to make their hearts ready to receive the coming Messiah. John didn't come forth with a cry of "You're a sinner, you need to repent," no, John came forth with a message saying, "The Messiah is coming get your heart ready." They came and were baptized by John as they made confession of their sin. We must also make our confession of sin before we can come before the throne of God. Before the Messiah can come into our heart we must prepare the way for Him. We must recognize our sin and desire to do away with it. And John baptized them - John didn't sprinkle them - he immersed them. Baptism means to overwhelm or immerse. In other words John put the whole body under the water. It was an outward sign of one's acceptance of something!
Matthew 3:7-12: John's ministry was so popular it drew the attention of the Pharisees and Sadducees and he calls them a brood of vipers! John accuses them of deceitfulness. They come acting like they are longing for the coming of the Messiah yet in their hearts they do not want to repent and do not have their hearts prepared to receive the Messiah. If a person is truly repentant it will manifest itself in their life. You must live repentance not just speak it. It is an action that needs to take place and be visible. John also warns them to stop trusting in things that will do them no good. He says that simply trusting in their ancestors will not save them. Abraham was a man of God but faith in Abraham will not bring about salvation - this of course was truly against the Jewish teaching of the day and they needed to receive a new form of salvation that could only come from the Messiah. The baptism John gave was one that only prepared the way, the one to come - the Messiah would surely baptize them in true power. John considered himself not even worthy to carry the sandals of Jesus. Here stood John before a multitude of people yet he proclaimed he was nothing in comparison to the one to come that will baptize with the Holy Spirit and bring about a cleansing and purifying of your very heart and spirit (Ezekiel 37:14). And also with fire - which means to cause the judgment fires that will purify and destroy the evil within the heart. It will burn the decay and rot from the true Believers heart. These haughty Pharisee's and Sadducee's were nothing compared to Christ and truly useless without Christ. The Jewish people felt they were already secure with God and the Messiah was coming for others not for their salvation. They were after all God's chosen people, but John was there to tell them they needed the Messiah just like any one else.
Matthew 3:13-15: Jesus comes to John the Baptist to be baptized. What a wonder this must have been to John! And John recognized Him, he knew this man was the Messiah and He came to John of His own volition. No one forced Jesus to come to him. And when Jesus approached John He told him He needed to be baptized by him. This took John aback because John did not feel worthy of this. John felt it should be the other way around - Jesus should baptize him. Why would Jesus need to repent? He was the Messiah, yet here He was and He would have nothing other than baptism because it was in fulfillment of God's plan. It was God's plan because Jesus was sent as a human and needed to be truly identified with man and this means even in man's sin. In all that Jesus did He did it so that man would have an example to follow and that the plan of God would be fulfilled.
Matthew 3:16-17: So John baptized Jesus and when Jesus came up out of the water the heavens were opened and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove upon Him. And than a voice came out of heaven saying, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." The baptism of Jesus was unlike any John had ever done. This baptism identified Jesus with sinners and was well pleasing to God and His Spirit came upon Jesus and at the hearing of this Voice out of heaven all people there knew that this Jesus was the Son of God - not just another person coming to the river for baptism, but this man - Jesus - was the Messiah.
Father, let us always see Christ as the Messiah and let our hearts be directed towards leading lost souls to You in Jesus name amen.
Where Jesus is Lord!
Living
Vine Ministries
Pastor Thomas Miles
For instructions on being
Born
Again click here or on banner at top of page.
Thank you for reading.