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Review:
Last week we finished the first two chapters of Matthew’s Gospel.
We saw how Matthew worked hard to demonstrate Jesus’ credentials as the long hoped for Messiah.
We looked at his Jewish roots found as far back as Abraham, and his kingly lineage coming from David.
We saw that Jesus was not just any man but one conceived by the Holy Spirit, that he was God in the flesh - a savior who would save his people from their sins.
This baby Jesus would fulfill many of the OT scriptures even at a very early age.
He was born in Bethlehem, he would come out of Egypt symbolically demonstrating that he would lead his people out of exile - a new exodus of sorts.
He would be a new Moses, one who would lead his people out of their bondage to sin.
Yet, as the prophets of the OT had said, he would be despised and even rejected by men.
That he would be a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
Matthew described him as a Nazarene, not simply because he would grow up in Nazareth but because this was to be symbolic of Jesus’ life as one who would be held in contempt by his Jewish counterparts, to be labeled a Nazarene was something of a byword for those who were disliked by those of more noble birth.
John the Baptist
Now in chapter 3 Matthew takes us forward in history almost 30 years later to the time of John the Baptist just prior to Jesus’ public ministry.
Let’s pickup the story in chapter 3 starting in verse 1,
3 In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, 2 “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” 3 For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said,
“The voice of one crying in the wilderness:
‘Prepare the way of the Lord;
make his paths straight.’
John the Baptist is last of the OT prophets and his primary purpose is to prepare the way for Jesus the Messiah.
On the outset we see him preaching in the wilderness of Judea calling for repentance and declaring that the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
John comes preaching
Now preaching is a heralding of sorts, John was publicly declaring that something new was happening, in this case, the kingdom of heaven was at hand, it was near.
In the Middle Ages trumpeters would blow their trumpets indicating that the king was about to appear.
This was John’s role.
He was announcing that the Kingdom of God was here and that its king was about to make his appearance.
His preaching was also calling the people of God to something, it was calling the people of Israel to repentance, and preaching today is very much the same, the preacher proclaims the word of God to the congregation and then calls them to obedience.
It’s what I hope to do here today in Matthew’s Gospel.
John living in the wilderness
John the Baptist preached from the wilderness of Judea near the Jordan River.
It was just as it sounds, a desolate place, like a desert, yet more similar to what we would call an arid climate, where rain certainly falls, but not often, and only during certain times of the year.
John was not from the metropolis of Jerusalem but lived most of his life largely in isolation, and still even at this time, during his public ministry, the people came to him to be baptized.
The wilderness was also a place of common origin for the prophets of the OT and John’s life and home was no different.
John was preaching some 30 miles outside of Jerusalem along the Jordan River calling the people to repentance.
This was his job, to prepare the hearts and the minds of the people for the coming Messiah, this man born king of the Jews.
This is why Matthew quotes from Isaiah chapter 40 verse 3,
A voice cries:
“In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD;
make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
John himself had been foretold by the prophets of the OT that he would come and prepare the way for the Messiah.
The apparel of a prophet
“5 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes.
6 And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.”
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In the OT Elijah has an eschatological role, in other words he plays an important role in Scripture’s end time prophecies, so when Matthew connects John with Elijah he intends to point to the immediacy and nearness of the kingdom of heaven which the Jewish people have been looking forward to since Malachi.
In fact, it appears that John comes from the same area where Elijah was carried up to heaven in a chariot of fire, as if indicating that this same Elijah had returned symbolically in the person of John the Baptist.
The apparel of a prophet
Continuing in verse 4 of chapter 3 we read,
4 Now John wore a garment of camel’s hair and a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey.
5 Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to him, 6 and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.
Now remember Matthew has the opportunity to mention anything he wants about John the Baptist in chapter 3 but he chooses only certain things, things that are of particular importance, and it’s up to us to see what it is he intends for us to see.
This is no less true as he makes mention of what John is wearing and what he eats.
He says that “John wore a garment of camel’s hair and a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey.”
Matthew is making it clear that John fits the bill of an OT prophet, down to the clothes he wears and the food that he eats.
We read about the prophet Elijah in when king Ahaziah asks about a particular prophet’s identity his messenger answer him by saying, “He wore a garment of hair, with a belt of leather about his waist.”
And he said, “It is Elijah the Tishbite.”
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They answered him, “He wore a garment of hair, with a belt of leather about his waist.”
And he said, “It is Elijah the Tishbite.”
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We also read in about God’s judgement of false prophets, Zechariah says this, “On that day every prophet will be ashamed of his vision when he prophesies.
He will not put on a hairy cloak in order to deceive, 5 but he will say, ‘I am no prophet, I am a worker of the soil, for a man sold me in my youth.’
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On that day every prophet will be ashamed of his vision when he prophesies.
He will not put on a hairy cloak in order to deceive, 5 but he will say, ‘I am no prophet, I am a worker of the soil, for a man sold me in my youth.’
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Zechariah points to the fact that false prophets would dress themselves in such a way to give the people of Israel the impression that they were indeed genuine prophets, such apparel included a hairy cloak, and we see here John the Baptist wearing a garment of camel’s hair just as we would expect from a prophet come from God.
John baptizes and they confess their sins
We go on in verse 5 and read that, “Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to him, 6 and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.”
Matthew tells us that the common people of Israel are coming out in droves to see John in the wilderness, they are responding to his call to repent, and are being baptized in the river Jordan.
We see in their practice of confessing their sin that their repentance is genuine.
They are not fearful of coming to the light, rather they’re more concerned of whether their heart is right before God than whether their sin is being exposed before men.
John baptizes them as as symbol of their need to be cleansed of their sin - it’s a baptism of repentance.
I think the question that arises here for us is whether we would have readily postured our hearts in similar fashion before God.
Would we have been willing to confess our sins publically and be baptized by John?
Would we have been willing to turn from our sin?
Would we have been willing to acknowledge our sin before others?
Would our love for God compelled us to do so?
The Pharisees and Sadducees unrepentant
Unfortunately, we see in verses 7-12 of chapter 3 that the religious leaders of Israel were not so eager to repent.
We read starting in verse 7,
7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers!
Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 Bear fruit in keeping with repentance.
9 And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham.
10 Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees.
Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
11 “I baptize you with water for 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 fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.” ( Matthew 3:7-12)
The Pharisees and Sadducees hadn’t come down to the Jordan River to repent and be baptized, they had come down to see what all of the commotion was about.
You see, the confessing of sin naturally flows out of the act of repentance and the last thing these religious leaders were going to do was acknowledge their own sin, especially not publically.
They were quite content to be esteemed by the people.
They craved the praise of men and would do anything for it and anything maintain it.
describes it this way, “for they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God.”
They did not seek to please God, for if they had they would have received John.
Jesus is later recorded in Luke chapter 7, starting in verse 24, as saying this about John the Baptist,
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version.
(2016).
().
Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.
They did not seek to please God, for if they had they would have received John.
Jesus is later recorded in Luke chapter 7, starting verse 24, as saying this about John the Baptist,
24 … Jesus began to speak to the crowds concerning John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see?
A reed shaken by the wind? 25 What then did you go out to see?
A man dressed in soft clothing?
Behold, those who are dressed in splendid clothing and live in luxury are in kings’ courts.
26 What then did you go out to see?
A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet.
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