Matthew 3

CHAPTER 3THEME: John the Baptist, the forerunner of the King, announces the Kingdom and baptizes Jesus, the King

Matthew 3:1

MINISTRY OF JOHN THE BAPTISTNow, all of a sudden, John the Baptist walks onto the pages of Scripture. If we had Matthew’s Gospel only, we would ask, “Where did he come from, and what is his background?“because Matthew gives us none of that, and the reason is obvious. The prophet Malachi had said that the messenger would come ahead to prepare the way for the coming of the King"Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me …” (Mal_3:1). This messenger was John the Baptist. You don’t really need to know about the background of a messenger. When the Western Union boy delivers a message to your door, do you say to him, “Young man, did your ancestors come over on the Mayflower?

What is your background?” You’re not interested in that. You are interested in the message because the message is all-important, and that is what you want. So you thank him, give him a tip, and dismiss him. You are through with him. John the Baptist made it very clear that he was just the messenger, and Matthew is making that clear, too. Therefore, he walks out onto the page of Scripture, preaching in the wilderness of Judea saying, “Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Now let’s deal with these expressions: (1) “Repent ye”; (2) “the kingdom of heaven”; and (3) “is at hand.” They are very important. “Repent” is an expression that always has been given to God’s people as a challenge to turn around. “Repent” in the original Greek is metanoia, meaning “to change your mind.” You are going in one direction; turn around and go in another direction. Repentance is primarily, I think, for saved people, that is, for God’s people in any age. They are the ones who, when they become cold and indifferent, are to turn. That was the message to the seven churches of Asia Minor in Revelation 2 and 3, and it was the message of the Lord Jesus Himself. Someone may ask whether the unsaved man is supposed to repent. The unsaved man is told that he is to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. That was the message of Paul to the jailer at Philippi (see Act_16:31). That old rascal needed to do some repenting; but when an unsaved man believes in Jesus, he is repenting. Faith means to turn to Christ, and when you turn to Christ, you must also turn from something. If you don’t turn from something, then you aren’t really turning to Christ.

So repentance is really a part of believing, but the primary message that should be given to the lost today is that they should believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. We like to see folk come forward in a service to receive Christ or sign a card signifying that they have made that decision, but the important thing is to trust Christ as your Savior, and if you really turn to Him, you turn from something else. The expression “kingdom of heaven” means the rule of the heavens over the earth. The Lord Jesus is the King. You can’t have a kingdom without a king; neither can you have a king without a kingdom. Remember Richard III who said in the Shakespearean play, “My kingdom for a horse.” If he had traded his kingdom for a horse, he wouldn’t have been a king. He would have been only a man on horseback. A king must have a kingdom. So what did John the Baptist mean by “the kingdom of heaven is at hand”? He meant that the Kingdom of Heaven is present in the Person of the King. Is there a present reality of the Kingdom of Heaven? Yes, there is. Those who come to Him as Savior and acknowledge Him are translated into the Kingdom of His dear Son. They belong to Him now. And they have a much more intimate relationship than that of a subject with a king. Christ is the Bridegroom, and believers are part of His bride! Then someone may ask whether we are like subjects in a kingdom because we are to carry out His commands. Again I say, there is more to it than that. We are to obey Him because we love Him. It is a love relationship. “If ye love me, keep my commandments” (Joh_14:15). The “kingdom of heaven” is the rule of the heavens over the earth. That’s not in existence today. Christ is not reigning over the world now. There must be something wrong with the thinking of those who insist that the Kingdom of Heaven is in existence in our day. Christ is not reigning in any form, shape, or fashionexcept in the hearts of those who have received Him. However, He is coming someday to establish His Kingdom on the earth. When He does, He will put down rebellion. Believe me, He is really going to put it down. The Kingdom of Heaven was at hand, or was present, in the Person of the King. That was the only way in which it was present. Matthew now tells us that what he is recording is in fulfillment of prophecy

Matthew 3:3

“The prophet Esaias” is Isaiah, and the prophecy is in Isa_40:3. “The voice of one crying in the wilderness"all that John the Baptist claimed for himself was that he was a voice crying in the wilderness. And his purpose was to “prepare the way of the Lord.”

Matthew 3:4

He’s a strange individual, isn’t he? He follows a strange diet and has an unusual way of dressing. I hate to say this, but today John would probably qualify in his looks as a vagrant. His raiment was of camel’s hair, his leathern girdle was about his loins, his meat was locusts and wild honey. We’re told that he never shaved and had long hair. Here’s an unusual man, friend, a man with a mission. He’s really an Old Testament character, walking out of the Old Testament onto the pages of the New Testament. He is the last of the Old Testament prophets.

Matthew 3:5

Notice that the crowds went out to him. John did not rent a stadium or an auditorium or a church, and there was no committee that invited him. In fact, he didn’t come to town at all. If you wanted to hear John, you went out to where he was. Obviously, the Spirit of God was on this man.

Matthew 3:6

In other words, all of this denoted a change in the lives of these people. The very fact that they submitted to John’s baptism was an indication that they were leaving their old lives and turning to new lives.

Matthew 3:7

THE PHARISEES AND SADDUCEESNow see who is coming! Listen to the way he greets these dignified visitors. Suppose your preacher got up next Sunday morning and said, “O generation of vipers”! I imagine that the deacons would be looking for another preacher! This is really strong language. He’s talking to the dignified Pharisees and Sadducees and is telling them, “There must be evidence of this new life. You can’t just go through the act of baptism. There must be fruit in your life.”

Matthew 3:9

Friend, he’s making a strong statement here! You can understand why he was not elected the most popular man of the year in Judea.

Matthew 3:10

A great deal is said in the New Testament about fruit bearing. Fruit bearing is the result of having the right kind of tree. Only a fruit tree can produce fruit. He talks here about the axe being laid to the root of the tree, and the reason is that the tree is not bearing fruit. An apple tree will bear apples, and a plum tree will bear plums. But when a tree bears thorns, it is not an apple tree, and it must be cut down. The root and the fruit go together, by the way, and a tree must have the right kind of root to bear the right kind of fruit. That is exactly what John the Baptist is saying to them here. He is telling them that the wrong kind of tree is going to be taken down and cast into the fire.

Matthew 3:11

John is saying, “l baptize with water. But He is coming, and when He comes, He will baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire"that final “and” is already over nineteen hundred years long. You and I are living in the age of the Holy Spirit. Christ Jesus baptizes with the Holy Spirit in this present age. He will baptize with fire when He comes the second time, and fire means judgment. This distinction needs to be made. Somebody will say, “I thought that on the Day of Pentecost, the believers were baptized with the Holy Spirit and with fire, because it says that tongues of fire sat upon each of them.” Oh, my friend, you ought to read Act_2:2-3 again. The record is this: “And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them” (italics mine). It wasn’t wind and it wasn’t fire; it was the coming of the Holy Spirit. But there was something to appeal to the eye-gate and to the ear-gate. Therefore, when the Holy Spirit came, there was not the fulfillment of the baptism of fire.

Let me repeat that, the baptism of fire will take place at the second coming of Christ. In the present age of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit comes upon every believer. Not just some, but every believer is baptized by the Holy Spirit, which means that the believer is identified with the body of Christ; that is, he becomes part of the body of Christ. This is one of the great truths in the Word of God. John continues to speak of Christ’s second coming

Matthew 3:13

JESUS IS BAPTIZED OF JOHNThis is remarkable, and we are going to ask the question: “Why was Jesus baptized?” and try to answer it.

Matthew 3:14

Why was Jesus baptized? There may be several answers, but the primary reason is stated right here: “For thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness.” Jesus is identifying Himself completely with sinful mankind. Isaiah had prophesied that He would be numbered with the transgressors (see Isa_53:12). Here is a King who identifies Himself with His subjects. Actually, baptism means identification, and I believe identification was the primary purpose for the baptism of the Lord Jesus. Again, the reason Jesus was baptized was not to set an example for us. It was not a pattern for us to follow. Christ was holyHe did not need to repent. You and I do need to repent. He was holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners. He was baptized to completely identify Himself with humanity. There was a second reason Jesus was baptized. Water baptism is symbolic of death. His death was a baptism. You remember that He said to James and John when they wanted to be seated on His right hand and on His left hand in the Kingdom, “Ye know not what ye ask. Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?” (Mat_20:22). You see, Christ’s death was a baptism. He entered into death for you and for me. There is a third reason for the baptism of Jesus. At this time He was set aside for His office of priest. The Holy Spirit came upon Him for this priestly ministry. Everything that Jesus did, His every act, was done by the power of the Holy Spirit. “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him” (2Co_5:21). There was sin on Him, but there was no sin in Him. My sin was put on Him, not in Him.

That is an important distinction. Therefore, you and I are saved by being identified with Him. He identified Himself with us in baptism. And Peter says that we are saved by baptism (see 1Pe_3:21). In what way? By being identified with the Lord Jesus.

To be saved is to be in Christ. How do we get into Christ? By the baptism of the Holy Spirit. I believe in water baptism because by it we declare that we are identified with Christ. The Lord Jesus said, “…him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out” (Joh_6:37). We must recognize that we have to be identified with Christ, and that is accomplished by the Holy Spirit.

Our water baptism is a testimony to this. One time an old salt said to a young sailor in trying to get him to accept Christ and be baptized, “Young man it is duty or mutiny!” And when you come to Christ, my friend, you are to be baptized because it is a duty. If you are not, it is mutiny. This subject of baptism needs to be lifted out of the realm of argument to the high and lofty plane of standing for Christ. How we need to come out and stand for Christ! Let me repeat verse Mat_3:15: “And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Then he suffered him"that is, John baptized Him.

Matthew 3:16

Here we have a manifestation of the Trinity. As the Lord Jesus is coming out of the water, the Spirit of God descends upon Him like a dove, and the Father speaks from heaven. The Father says, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” The Lord Jesus is now identified with His people. What a King! Oh, what a King He is!